The Minnesota Museum of American Art has lived in eight different places over the course of the past century, but downtown St. Paul’s first and only art museum is staying put on Robert Street for years to come. A new $1.5 million grant aims to make sure of that.

A smaller grant will fund “The Song Poet,” a new Minnesota Opera production chronicling a Hmong man’s journey to America, inspired by the harrowing family story of St. Paul author Kao Kalia Yang.

Six St. Paul initiatives focused on building community through arts, culture, education and outreach will share $2.15 million in grants from the Miami-based John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, with most of the money dedicated to drawing more foot traffic and vitality downtown.

The Knight Foundation announced its latest St. Paul-specific grant awards during a community dinner for foundation partners, local grantees, staff and trustees, held Sunday night under a tent in Rice Park.

The investments focus heavily on St. Paul’s cultural offerings, especially downtown, with an eye toward making existing institutions such as the Minnesota Opera and St. Paul Public Library’s Workforce Innovation Center more accessible to diverse audiences.

“The mayor’s been talking about ‘St. Paul for All,’ and we’re really taking that to heart,” said Jai Winston, director of the Knight Foundation in St. Paul. “The Knight Foundation has been making significant investments in downtown St. Paul over the past 15 years. This is kind of the culmination, in bringing our trustees to St. Paul.”

The foundation, founded by sibling newspaper publishing magnates in the 1950s, has taken special interest in Minnesota’s capital city since about the year 2000, donating $40 million to a variety of efforts.

In the past year, the foundation made a $1 million contribution toward Springboard for the Arts’ new headquarters along the Green Line light rail corridor. It also backed American Public Media’s Glen Nelson Center, the new technology and media start-up hub located in the Osborn370 building on Wabasha Street.

THE M: $1.5 MILLION

The lion’s share of funding will benefit the Minnesota Museum of American Art, which will receive $1.5 million toward making its permanent home within the Pioneer-Endicott apartment building on Robert Street. The award brings the total amount of money raised by the museum’s capital campaign to $25.2 million, with an overall goal of $28 million.

The “M” museum, which had moved between eight locations since the 1890s, landed at the Pioneer-Endicott in December 2012 and has since undergone the first phase of a major remodel.

The museum reopened in December 2018 with a new lobby, the Ecolab Skyway Entrance, the Henrietta Schmoll Rauenhorst Court, the Josephine Adele Ford Center for Creativity, the Otto Bremer Trust Studio and the Securian Financial Studio.

Following the latest grant award, the lobby will be renamed the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Lobby.

“We’re committed to creating a space where all are included and welcome,” said Kristin Makholm, executive director of the M, in a statement. “As St. Paul’s only major art museum, the M is woven into the fabric of daily life, right in the heart of downtown St. Paul. It’s accessible to anyone who works or lives here, or simply visits this dynamic urban neighborhood.”

The M specializes in highlighting Minnesota-made art by curating regional and community-based exhibits.

The museum, which houses 5,000 pieces of artwork, is currently hosting “History is Not Here: Art and the Arab Imaginary” in partnership with the St. Paul-based Arab arts organization Mizna. The exhibit is funded in part by the Knight Foundation.

DOWNTOWN ALLIANCE: $200,000

The St. Paul Downtown Alliance — a business partnership organized in large part by the city of St. Paul — will receive $200,000 toward its efforts to establish a downtown Business Improvement District. St. Paul hosted a pilot program this summer, and the Knight Foundation funding will allow the downtown alliance to explore policies and programs that would continue the effort.

Cities such as Chicago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis have used special assessments on commercial properties, local sales taxes or other funding sources to create special service areas within their commercial corridors, with the funding supporting new signage, human greeters, litter pick-up, added security, public art and outdoor sales or special events.

The goal is to create a more positive downtown experience for workers, visitors and residents.

In addition to funding technical experts, the Knight Foundation award “may lead to another version of the pilot program we did this summer,” said Downtown Alliance President Joe Spencer. “We’re going to continue working with private property owners. At the end of the day, it’s up to them, not up to us.”

CREATIVE ENTERPRISE ZONE: $200,000

The Creative Enterprise Zone is a nonprofit effort to boost the visibility of artists and other “creatives” working along the University Avenue light rail corridor near Raymond Avenue. A $200,000 grant will support the inaugural Chroma Zone Mural and Art Festival, which opened Friday night and runs through Sept. 14.

THE MINNESOTA OPERA: $100,000

The Minnesota Opera, which hosts its performances at downtown St. Paul’s Ordway Center for the Performing Arts by Rice Park, will receive $100,000 to write and stage a new opera, “The Song Poet.”

The story, based on the award-winning memoir by St. Paul author Kao Kalia Yang, revolves around a father’s experience immigrating to the U.S. Yang’s chronicles of her father’s struggles won the 2017 Minnesota Book Award in Creative Non-Fiction. The Minneapolis-based opera company has said it aims to connect with Hmong audiences, specifically with Hmong youth, and the opera will have its world premiere in May 2021 at the Lab Theater in Minneapolis. A possible tour within St. Paul is under consideration, said a spokesman.

LATIMER LIBRARY WORKFORCE CENTER: $100,000

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The innovation center, which is designed to help workers pursue new careers or refine technical skills, will use the money toward public programs, staff training and new technology.

CITY OF ST. PAUL: $50,000

The city of St. Paul’s new “Tech for All” initiative aims to connect residents of color and women of all ages to technology-related jobs and education. The initiative will receive $50,000 from the foundation.