Nonprofit Economic Empowerment: Springboard for the Arts
Over 30,000 artists live in Minnesota, according to the Minnesota State Arts Board, from dancers and musicians to painters and crafters. Springboard for the Arts offers services to all of them.
Executive director Laura Zabel says the organization started small when it was founded in 1991. Now it has offices in St. Paul and Fergus Falls and works with artists across the state. It also supports a national network, Creative Change Coalition, which is a collection of local arts and community-focused organizations from across the U.S.
Springboard’s workshops focus on economic opportunity and access to business capital. It’s involved in a variety of projects from its bases in the Twin Cities and west-central Minnesota. Springboard for the Arts defines the word artist broadly. If you count yourself as an artist, Zabel says its services are for you.
The organization administers a guaranteed income program, which supports 100 artists, Zabel says. Each artist receives $500 a month, for a period of five years, to stabilize their finances; the program is funded through private philanthropy.
Among Springboard’s current projects is one called Artists Respond: Weathering Together. It’s supported by Hennepin County. Zabel says that it “invites local artists to respond creatively to climate change by developing meaningful neighborhood projects.”
Another major project is called Artists Respond: Weaving Social Connection. This endeavor “supports artists and community organizations in co-creating projects that build connection and reduce isolation,” Zabel says. On this work, Springboard is collaborating with four Minnesota-based community organizations: The Aliveness Project, SAGA Youth, Saint Paul Public Library, and MAHUBE-OTWA.
“We support artists and their livelihoods and their ability to make a living and a life because we know that artists have this big impact on their community and have the potential to really bring creativity and culture to their community in a way that makes their community healthier and more vibrant,” Zabel says.
A new partnership with LSS Financial Counseling helps artists get free counseling that’s focused on budgeting, debt management, student loan repayment, home ownership, and credit rebuilding.
Shannon Doyle, financial program manager for LSS’ financial counseling team, says she’s heard how grateful artists are for this partnership and the financial support they can receive from anywhere in the state and region.
“It really felt like a perfect partnership to be able to help them expand their economic empowerment programming and provide the extra support that we know not only artists but many people need as we all navigate the ever-changing economy,” Doyle says.
In 2020, Springboard for the Arts moved its St. Paul offices to University Avenue, which Zabel characterized as a strategic placement to serve artists in the Frogtown/Rondo area. The site had housed a used car dealership but has been transformed into a cultural hub that hosts everything from maker markets to community celebrations.
In Fergus Falls, an invitation from the community allowed the nonprofit to put down roots and offer its resources and programming to artists living outside the metro area.
The two locations enable Springboard to deliver services that ripple out across the state. The organization has an arts-focused business mission, with Zabel calling artists “small business owners.”
“They bring a lot of value economically and in terms of social connection and culture and creativity to our state,” Zabel says. “Figuring out how we support them so that they can feed their families and have a place to live and be able to support themselves is really important.”
