When Jamie Millard (right) and Meghan Murphy (both BA 2009) joined Lars Leafblad in publishing his civic-minded, leadership-promoting newsletter Pollen in 2012, they already had a great history of networking across borders with their celebrated art and literary magazine Paper Darts and its intensely attended local music and literature events. Millard and Murphy took Leafblad's digital newsletter and made it bloom on a colorful new website, bepollen.com. The website and bi-monthly newsletter draw on the stories, ideas, and job listings of members to "create positive impact and personal and professional growth." Beginning last spring, Leafblad left Pollen in the two women's capable hands. And this fall, they received a substantial grant from the Bush Foundation to combine their digital platform with the regional organization OTA's event series and create a network of "individuals, organizations, communities, and ideas" to transform Minnesota and the two Dakotas. Read more.Dominick Washington, spokesman for the Bush Foundation, told Twin Cities Business: "I would say that this is consistent with our work to really help develop more leaders who are better-connected and better-networked. We invest in great ideas and the people who power them."
The group envisions concrete accomplishments: conferences and smaller conversation events in out-state towns and Dakotan cities; the continuing work of sharing stories, job connections, and mentorship via bepollen.com. But they also have ambitions to change lives and communities: small business owners in Bismark connecting with (in their words) "the designer, the accountant, and the community development professional who can take their ideas to the next level"; non-profit executives around the region finding "mentors in other community settings to elevate and accelerate similar objectives"; and freelance writers having "an outlet that values story-driven journalism more than advertising dollars."
"When we talk about storytelling," Millard told MinnPost, "what we're talking about is a community-building effort, a capacity-building nonprofit that goes throughout Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota to find transformational individuals who live in those communities. Whether it's metro or rural, we want to spark inspiration to show individuals in other communities how 'someone like me' can also create change."
Millard and Murphy met in 2008 in the year-long course Literary Magazine Production Lab, an English class in which students learn about the diverse functions of publishing and create the University of Minnesota undergraduate art and literary magazine Ivory Tower. "Working on Ivory Tower honed my skills in management, budgeting, grant-writing, sponsorship solicitation, design, editing, marketing, and organizational development," remembers Millard. "Most of all, that class gave me the real-world confidence to believe in myself."
Buoyed by that experience, Millard and Murphy co-founded Paper Darts, with another Ivory Tower-ite and English graduate, Regan Smith. The magazine quickly grew (even while Smith exited): four years later, they've published five issues, as well as a book of short stories. And Paper Darts began collaborating on events with local and national arts entities, from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts to Literary Death Match. Last summer, the organization partnered with SooLOCAL, a division of the Soo Visual Arts Center, for a six-week pop-up residency that brought together writers, sculptors, publishers, magazines, improvisers, video game experts, comic artists, musicians, poets, GIF artists, and stage actors.
"If you're really driven and have an idea of a tangible product that you're ready to create, don't ask anyone else for permission," stresses Millard. "Just go out and start creating that thing on your own."
The Bush grant serves as a reward for that initiative and hard work, but it also represents a substantial challenge. Again, Murphy and Millard seem more than ready. "I'm just so excited," Murphy told MinnPost, "to take what we've learned at Paper Darts magazine and pull it deeper into OTA-Pollen."
