The mission of Folk Will Save Us is to build community vitality and resilience through the experience of learning and leaning into cultural roots, and empower culturally-rooted artists doing this important work on behalf of their communities.

As part of this mission, in 2024 Folk Will Save Us will begin offering a series of free and low cost consultation and training services to support culturally rooted artists/culture keepers in amplifying their work, including:

Grantwriting Workshops
1-2 hour workshops for culturally rooted artists who are new to the grantwriting process and curious to learn more about how it works, including introduction to some of the opportunities available for culturally rooted artists in Minnesota. Free (but donations of any amount are certainly welcome!)

Grantwriting Support and Advising
Individual consultations to help culturally rooted artists flesh out and structure their project ideas, and provide feedback on application drafts. $35-55/hour sliding scale, with a limited number of free consultations available when funding allows.

Artist/Culture Keeper Career Consulting
Individual consultations with artists/culture keepers on career development, public program design, evaluation, and strategic goal setting and action planning. $35-55/hour sliding scale, with a limited number of free consultations available when funding allows.

About our team

Rina Rossi
Rina Rossi served as a grants program officer at the Minnesota State Arts Board from 2015 through 2023. In this role, she assisted applicants in navigating the application process, including applicants in the folk & traditional arts program area, and assisted grantees in project planning and troubleshooting. She has experience with navigating state and federal arts grant making processes, securing state and federal funding, facilitating group planning processes, planning and producing events, and designing and evaluating programming. She has experience securing over $150,000 in funding for cultural expression related activities as lead grant writer. When not doing arts administration she is a performing musician and dance caller.

Sarah Larsson
Sarah Larsson is a performing musician and community arts advocate, who has written over 30 public and private arts and culture grants, securing over $320,000 in funding. Sarah founded Folk Will Save Us in 2018 to provide support and amplify culturally-rooted art in Minnesota, and believes in the crucial role traditional art and culture can play in building a better world. Sarah applies her experience serving on grant panels to advising other culture-bearers and organizations, resulting in their securing at least $90,000 of their own individual and organizational grants. She also trains and mentors young artists and leaders of start-up cultural institutions in making their first introductions to the landscape of arts and culture funding. Partners and past supported projects include: TempoAfric, Somali Museum of Minnesota, Hmong Museum, Sikh Society of Minnesota, Polish-American Medical Society of Minnesota, Traki Bulgarian Ensemble, Spread the Love Oboe d’Amour Project, and others.