Mission Statement
The mission of the Nelson County Arts Council is to ensure the
presentation and preservation of the arts throughout Nelson County
by presenting programs and events that will enlighten, instruct and
entertain our citizens.
History Briefs

Executive
DIRECTOR
Brenda Bjorlie





BOARD OF
DIRECTORS
Debra Hensrud, Pres.
Elizabeth Stromme, V Pres
Rita Loibl, Sec.
Susan Olson
Eileen Dezotell
Susan Bergquist
Sally Simonson
Josh Hagen
Michelle Lynch


STUDENT BOARD MEMBERS
Justine Simonson, Lakota
High School
Mason Beier, Dakota Prairie
High School

Additional Funds Received For Auditorium Phase 3 Renovation Project

Additional grant funds in the amount of $10,107 for the City of Pekin’s auditorium’s phase three
renovation project was announced by Sen. Kent Conrad, Sen. Byron Dorgan and Rep. Earl Pomeroy.  
The funds from the U.S. Department of Agricultural Rural Development Program will bring the total
federal funding to $116,509 for the project.  The Nelson County Arts Council recently received
required matching funds from Otter Tail Power Company’s Communities Connections grant program in
the amount of $1500 and $500 from North Dakota Telephone Company’s Dollars in Motion program.  In
addition, individual donors have contributed a total of  $36,837.  The required matching funds in the
amount of $38,837 has been met and the project will be advertised for bids the first of February 2009.

The Nelson County Arts Council and the City of Pekin Council would like to thank the USDA, Otter Tail
Power Company, North Dakota Telephone Company and each and every individual donor that has
made this project possible.

For more information please contact Brenda Bjorlie at 701-296-4515 or email bebjorlie@stellarnet.com
* Pekin Days Art Show committee was formed in 1994
* After repeated successful art exhibits during the annual Pekin Days celebration and a
growing interest from all Nelson County residents, the committee applied for and received a
501c3 non-profit status under the name of Nelson County Arts Council in 1999
* The ten member Board of Directors is composed of residents representing communities
throughout Nelson County
* Today the NCAC produces the largest judged art show and sales in North Dakota,
displaying artists' work from ND, SD, MN, WY, CO, MT and Canada; a Student Art Show
representing high school students' artwork from Dakota Prairie, Lakota, Larimore, Warwick
and Ft Totten schools; the Stump Lake Fine Arts Youth Camp offering both visual and
performing art classes; an annual Art Auction; and adult art workshops.
NELSON COUNTY
ARTS COUNCIL
PO Box 66    
Pekin  ND  58361           
701-296-4515
bebjorlie@stellarnet.com
Supported in part by a grant from
the North Dakota Council on the
Arts, which receives funding from
the state legislature and the
National Endowment for the Arts
Donations and Memorials
may be given to various
Nelson County Arts
Council funds including:

   Building Fund       
    Memorial Sculpture        
   General Operating   
Youth Programs

NCAC Memberships:  
$15 Per Person
$25 Couple

2009 UPCOMING EVENTS

(Please check this site for cancellations due to weather
conditions and for alternate dates)





Pekin Days Art Show
June 24 - 28


Stump Lake Fine Arts Youth Camp
August 3 - 8
NCAC Sponsors the North Dakota Museum Of Art Traveling Exhibit
SNOW COUNTRY PRISON - Interned in North Dakota
(Click photos to Enlarge)
Dakota Prairie and Lakota High Schools Participate in 2008 NCAC Dinner Theatre
Oil Painting Workshop
Tam Goodman of rural
Towner, ND was the instructor
for the Oil Painting Workshop
held at the Pekin Community
Center in January.  Tam has
been painting for over 20
years.  Everyone had a great
time at this workshop!
Mosiac Workshop
Sue Olson was the instructor for a
Mosaic workshop at the Pekin
Community Center in February.
Sue is standing by some of her own
projects.  Everyone had a great time at
this workshop and made some
stunning mosaic pieces!
Snow Country Prison: Interned in North Dakota

In 1941 the U. S. Justice Department converted Fort Lincoln from a surplus military post into an internment camp to detain people arrested in the
United States as enemy aliens. Over its five-year operation as a camp, the Bismarck facility housed about 1,500 men of German nationality, and
over 1,800 of Japanese ancestry. The first group of Japanese and German men were arrested by the FBI in the days immediately after Pearl
Harbor. The arrests were done under the authority of the Alien Enemies Act, and these so-called "enemy aliens" were removed from their homes,
primarily on the West Coast and East Coast, and sent to camps in isolated parts of the country.

Snow Country Prison: Interned in North Dakota first opened October 4, 2003, in Bismarck at the site of the former camp, now United Tribes
Technical College. We are pleased to present this exhibit now at the McVille City Auditorium, through October 18, 2008.  The exhibition examines
the internment experience of German and Japanese nationals, as well as Japanese American citizens deemed "enemy aliens" following the
renunciation of their citizenship during World War II.

The exhibition, curated by Laurel Reuter, Director of the North Dakota Museum of Art, and organized  by the Museum, features historic photos and
murals of the camp, floor-to-ceiling cloth banners imprinted with images of people interned there, and wall text drawn from the haiku poems of one
of the Japanese internees, Itaru Ina, the father of Dr. Satsuki Ina, a consultant to the exhibition.
(photos by Kayte Avdem)
2009 NCAC Annual Rummage Sale