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Minnesota Energy donates $10,000 to Lakeville Arts Center for gas kiln
Summary
Minnesota Energy Resources’ foundation awarded $10,000 to the Lakeville Arts Center to help install a gas kiln in the new Fine Arts Building; center leaders say the kiln will be the first public gas kiln in Dakota County and will expand pottery and ceramic programming.
Minnesota Energy Resources’ foundation presented a $10,000 donation to the Lakeville Arts Center on Feb. 18 to help fund a gas kiln for the center’s new Fine Arts Building. The check was announced during the Lakeville City Council meeting as Friends of the Lakeville Arts Center leaders recognized recent growth at the center.
The Friends of the Lakeville Arts Center said the kiln is something the center’s pottery community has requested for years. “She’s agreed, through their foundation to contribute $10,000 to the cost of this kiln,” said Jeff Larson, vice president of the Friends of the Lakeville Arts Center.
Nicole McCarthy, external relations, Minnesota Energy Resources, accepted the check. “We are really, really proud to be a part of the Lakeville Area Arts Center and to provide this donation,” McCarthy said.
Friends board president Bob Erickson noted the kiln would be the first gas kiln at any public art center in Dakota County. He and Larson credited the city’s acquisition of the former Lakeville Education Center and subsequent conversion to the Fine Arts Building with enabling the expanded programming and the donation.
Nicole Pretzel, the art center manager, described program growth since the acquisition, saying registration and class offerings have increased markedly and that the expanded space allowed the center to run more visual and performing arts classes, give rehearsal space to local theater companies and rent space to partners. She cited an increase from about 666 summer youth class spaces in 2022 to 1,699 in the most recent brochure, and said total class registration income increased roughly 120% between 2022 and 2024.
Friends representatives also used the presentation to thank longtime arts staff and volunteers and to preview upcoming events including a youth art exhibit opening March 25 and a downtown art crawl on May 10.
The presentation closed with recognition of Joe Masciarchen for a decade of service as the former art center manager and a plaque installed at the Fine Arts Building in his honor.
