ELY- The board of the Donald G. Gardner Humanities Trust, at its April 10 meeting, voted to award $6,210 in spring grant awards to local arts organizations. The twice-yearly grant program helps the trust to fulfill its goals of enhancing the arts in the Ely area and supporting the Ely Public Library.
“The Gardner Humanities Trust budgeted $9,250 across four grant categories: scholarships, youth grants, individual artist grants, and organization project grants,” stated Peter Schamber, executive director for the trust. “However, not all categories received applications.” The trust did not award any scholarships or youth grants during this grant round because no organization applied for funding.
Schamber explained the importance of adequate detail in an application to the trust. Because of this, the trust did not give out any individual artist grants for this grant round.
“Some of the applications lacked sufficient detail. As a granting organization, it is our responsibility to make sure the trust funds are disbursed responsibly, and applications that are not sufficiently detailed cannot be approved. The trust wants to disburse the full amount budgeted for each grant round.”
Schamber said the trust’s board hopes to continue to improve their online application process and provide more examples and guidance to applicants so they can be successful in the future. “Applicants are also encouraged to reach out before applying for assistance,” he said. All unused funds from the spring grant round have been reallocated to the fall round.
The trust’s project grant program supports activities in the fine arts for activities, presentations, and productions. The following organizations received spring project grants:
 Ely Winter Festival: $2,000 to support the 2025 Snow Sculpting Symposium, a staple of the Ely Winter Festival. At this event, professional snow sculptors will carve 14 to 18 giant blocks of snow and local artists will have the opportunity to carve smaller sculptures and learn from these professionals.
 Mesabi Symphony Orchestra: $2,000 to present a pops concert of movie music in Ely. Eligible students from the Ely Public Schools and Minnesota North College will receive free tickets to this event.
 Tofte Lake Center: $1,250 to host their second annual Day at the Lake event. The Ely public is invited to engage in a free day of art workshops, interactive arts activities, musical performances, nature, food, and fun.
 Dorothy Molter Museum: $960 to record the scripts from the History Happy Hour program as podcast episodes to be released online and freely available to the community.
 The trust also allocated $3,000 for use by the Ely Public Library this year.
Applications for the fall grant round with applications will be due by the last Wednesday of September. The fall budget is $6,500 for youth and individuals, and $6,000 for organizations. Full details will be published in the papers and announced online before the start of the grant round.
Any questions about the grant programs or the trust can be directed to Peter Schamber, Executive Director at 218-365-2639 or at info@gardnertrust.org.