We’re teaming up with the Northfield Arts Guild for our August membership meeting. The focus will be the 10-day Artswirl festival that we’re co-sponsoring with NAG.

The meeting, which is open to the public, will be held Tuesday, Aug. 3, at 8 a.m. in the lower-level dance studio of the Northfield Arts Guild, Third and Division streets. We’ll provide coffee and rolls.

Guest speaker Ann Markusen, director of the Project on Regional and Industrial Development at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, will speak on The Artistic Dividend: The Arts’ Hidden Contributions to Regional Development (PDF). Also see The Artistic Dividend Revisited (PDF), published in March.

Professor Markusen is focusing her research currently on the arts, high tech and defense activities as regional economic stimulants.

After the public meeting, Professor Markusen will meet with the boards and staffs of the two groups for a focused conversation on how we can impact the economics of the Northfield community.