When you think about Grand Forks, North Dakota, images of prairie landscapes likely come to mind. But Grand Forks also has a dynamic cultural side with a thriving local music scene, performing arts community, and talented creative professionals. Grand Forks, home of Rydell Cars, invites residents and visitors to explore its cultural offerings throughout the year.
Performing Arts
The performing arts in Grand Forks showcase the best of classical and contemporary instrumental and vocal music and dance. Learn more about the community’s performing artists and the ensembles that engage with their audiences.
North Dakota Ballet Company
Since 1962, the North Dakota Ballet Company has served as the premier nonprofit dance organization promoting classical ballet and other dance styles in Grand Forks and the surrounding areas. Its programming focuses on training children and adults by exposing them to the artistry of movement, musicality, and dance.
Through its Academy Dance Classes, North Dakota Ballet Company offers children ages 7 to 18 opportunities to learn various performance styles such as ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, and pointe. The Youth Ballet Company gives children a foundational education in ballet with an emphasis on technical performance and training. Dancers participate in three annual performances: holiday ballet, Spring Story Book Ballet, and the Academy Concert.
Adult dance programming delivers a dynamic mix of dance class options. For example, the Elite Dance Crew is Grand Forks’ hip-hop performance troupe, and its dancers perform at various events in the region. Those seeking to advance their dancing skills can participate in the pre-professional division. This division is open to adults ages 18 and older.
Grand Cities Children’s Choir
Grand Cities Children’s Choir offers a performance-based music education program to students in the third through ninth grades. Created in 2002, the choir allows students from the Grand Forks and East Grand Forks areas to develop their vocal mastery as they learn and perform music from various styles and historical periods. The choir welcomes the participation of children from all ethnic, social, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Four ensembles make up the Grand Cities Children’s Choir. Children who participate in the respective choirs that comprise the organization are grouped based on age and musical development. Additionally, high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors contribute to the children’s choir by providing mentorship and support to younger students.
Community performances are held in September and April of each academic year and occur at various locations in the Grand Forks area.
Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra
For more than a century, the Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra has performed scores of classical and modern symphonic works. Under the leadership of renowned musician and musical director Alejandro Drago, the Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra delivers musical excellence on stage with every performance. Local and regional musicians contribute their talents to the orchestra’s body of professionals.
The symphony orchestra performs main-stage concerts at the Grand Forks Masonic Temple and the Empire Arts Center, located in downtown Grand Forks. A fall 2020 concert highlighting Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and Tchaikovsky’s “Serenade for Strings” featured acclaimed pianist Dr. Nariaki Sugiura. The symphony orchestra aims to connect its personnel with the community by reaching out with its Random Acts of Music initiative that delivers one-of-a-kind performances and programs to Grand Forks residents.
Visual Arts
When you explore the art galleries and museums of Grand Forks, you’ll discover extraordinary works that enrich the community through paintings, sculpture, and other artistic creations.
Browning Arts
When you enter Browning Arts at 23 S. Fourth St. in downtown Grand Forks, you’ll find an exhibition of fine works of arts from more than 50 area artists. Browning Arts offers an enriching experience with art in diverse forms, from ceramics and computer art to jewelry, painting, and sculpture. Discover antique and vintage maps, Native American art and jewelry, antique and vintage telephones, and fiber arts.
If you have a valuable piece of art that you’d like to have framed or reframed, the knowledgeable staff can assist you in the process. Whether it’s needle art, a painting, historic documents, a family heirloom, or a print, you can rely on the wealth of experience from Browning Arts to help you preserve your art treasures.
Hughes Fine Arts Center
Located on the University of North Dakota’s campus, the Hughes Fine Arts Center is home to the art and design and music departments. The center houses the American Indian Leaders of Distinction exhibit in the Anna Mae Hughes Gallery. Painted in the early 1980s, the mural inside the center has inspired art and design students for generations.
The Hughes Fine Arts Center hosts periodic shows that feature graduate students’ work and the talents of master artists. Visit the art and design department’s website for more information.
North Dakota Museum of Art
Exhibiting contemporary, international art in all media, the North Dakota Museum of Art preserves the Northern Great Plains region’s visual history. Located on the University of North Dakota’s campus, the museum’s collection reflects cultural diversity. Contemporary Western art from 1989 to the present is exhibited with works from the Northern Plains’ early residents. You can also explore art from ancient Egypt, Africa, and the Southern Hemisphere.
Artists such as Nicolas Guagnini, Ana Tiscornia, Sara Maneiro, and Juan Manuel Echavarria have contributed works to exhibitions the museum later purchased to add to its ever-growing collection.
In 2013, the museum opened Barton’s Place, a 21st-Century Artist’s Studio, housing the late New York City artist and collector Barton Benes’ collections of African, Egyptian, and Amazonian art as well as taxidermy, mystical objects, and 20th-century religious art. A collaboration between the museum and Spirit Lake’s Cankdeska Cikana Community College has permitted the museum to fund commissions and art purchases by and from American Indian artists to create a collection of Native American art.
The North Dakota Museum of Art is open to visitors each day. Although the museum does not charge an admission fee, the suggested donation is $5 for adults and loose change from young visitors.
Did We Miss Something? Let Us Know
Rydell Cars is pleased to share this summary of the institutions that support the Grand Forks community’s vibrant cultural life. Are you aware of more cultural organizations that call Grand Forks home? Contact us and let us know so that we can add them to our list.
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