An Immersive Community Experience

When The Nature Place’s fully awarded competitive AmeriCorps grant was unexpectedly terminated on April 25, 2025, we found ourselves facing a critical challenge. Staff and AmeriCorps members relied on that funding, and with Summer Day Camps set to begin in June, we needed immediate support to continue our mission.

This urgency sparked the vision for For the Benefit of Both—a community-centered event inspired by the second part of The Nature Place mission: “to cultivate and inspire a connection between people and nature, for the benefit of both.”

We wanted to remind people of the why. By partnering with local artists whose work is rooted in nature, we invited our community to experience empathy and reconnection through art, storytelling, and hands-on activities. The event wove together the creativity of children at Summer Day Camp with the work of professional artists, showing how art continues to inform, inspire, and connect us.

Partnerships

This event also became a way to strengthen local partnerships:

• Opus Bakery provided food sponsorship, aligning with our mission.

• HSR Associates, known for interior design, helped us imagine exterior design by sponsoring a collaborative mural on the marsh.

• The Pump House and Minnesota Marine Art Museum both contributed artist connections, funding, and materials for collaborative workshops.

Independent Artists

We believe change begins one-to-one. The artists who participated embodied this, sharing their work and stories while engaging directly with community members. Their presence transformed the event into a powerful space for connection.

Interactive Learning Experiences

Because The Nature Place is rooted in hands-on learning, we ensured every age group could participate through free, artist-led workshops:

• Cyanotype Prints with Marble Voight (Marine Art Museum and former AmeriCorps member), using dried native flowers from our gardens to spark conversations about biodiversity and native planting.

• Still Life Drawing with Jody Biergiel Colclough, an artist and mother, reminds us of the restorative power of nature in times of stress.

• Collaborative Mural with Jon King, whose bold, joyful design united participants in a shared work of art—a true rally of hope set against the backdrop of the marsh.

Food & Community

Food became its own form of education and connection. Alongside sponsored bread from Opus, we used vegetables grown in our own gardens to create shared boards featuring zoug, pesto, and other simple, seasonal recipes—demonstrating how common ingredients can expand palettes and deepen our relationship with the land.