Kara Maloney

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Ten years ago, Kara Maloney was a senior at Luther College in Decorah, completing a double-major in Studio Art and Business Management, running cross-country, and feeling excited about her future. 

A bit anxious, too.

“Arts management is a highly competitive field,” Kara says. “I’d done internships at Vesterheim, Lanesboro Arts, and Springboard for the Arts, but I still wasn’t sure where I was headed.”

Kara arrived in Lanesboro, Minnesota, in 2015 for that one-month internship at Lanesboro Arts, a nationally recognized and respected small-town arts center. A year later, she became its full-time advancement director.

She had some reservations about moving to a town whose population barely topped 700. “I grew up in South Minneapolis and always figured the Twin Cities would be my eventual landing spot. My Luther advisor told me to give Lanesboro a try for two years. Now, 10 years later, I’m glad I did! It proved a great fit. People were very friendly, inviting me over for dinner, movie nights, community sings, potlucks. It felt like home right away.”

Today, at the age of 30, Kara is Executive Director of Lanesboro Arts. It’s a position and a place that’s giving her the opportunity to do what she loves most – community-building.

“I love the feeling of people being and working together,” Kara says. “My greatest professional joy is collaborating with others, members of my team, people in Lanesboro, and with other connections I have. Everything I do is community-driven.”

One her major goals is to bring the skills and viewpoints of artists to the community table. “We’re all trying to succeed with limited resources,” she says. “And artists know all about that! They also contribute imaginative thinking, the ability to pivot, and a resiliency that comes from dealing with criticism and critique that helps everyone.”

Kara was raised in an active family, visiting museums, attending concerts, and enjoying the outdoors. Her parents were service-oriented, too, she says. “My dad volunteered at church, among other things. My mom – who’s also an artist – taught classes, created mural backdrops, and face-painted at festivals. They taught me community is important.”

Beyond her full-time work at Lanesboro Arts, Kara quickly jumped in to help with other community organizations. She joined the Lanesboro Area Chamber of Commerce board (which she now chairs), the Downtown Business Promotion Group, the Sons of Norway, the Blandin Community Leadership Program, and LEAN (Lanesboro Entrepreneurial Action Network). She’s served six years on the SEMAC (Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council) board and is part of RUX (the Rural Urban Exchange) based in Winona. In her “spare” time she coaches the Lanesboro Junior High track-and-field team, is a familiar face on the town’s pickleball court, and enjoys personal art projects like rosemaling. “Life does get busy!” Kara says with a laugh. “It’s about making time for priorities.”

And when a community is small enough to literally know everyone, there can be a unique set of challenges and competing thoughts on what should be top priority. “Sometimes we get in the weeds and have tough conversations. People have differing opinions; feelings can get hurt. When that happens it’s important to keep talking and working together.”

Being on the younger side of leadership can feel like a hurdle as well.

“I feel valued and listened to, but there are times when I sense I’m not the most visible person in the room,” she says. “I move past that by seeking conversations and commonality. People my age are eager to build community.”

She sees fellow millennials and younger generations creating space and change across the region, citing Decorah’s Pride Festival and a mental health fundraiser in Lanesboro as examples, both organized by folks with a mix of ages. Kara says it’s important to not get stymied by the often-slow pace of change that’s sometimes a reality in small towns. “We all get impatient at times,” she says. “It helps to remember that ‘change happens at the speed of trust’ and to ‘move slowly, with care.’”

But small towns can also prove that, when neighbors are in need, people come together. Showing up not only builds community, she says, it creates a powerful circle. “When you show up to volunteer at a cancer fundraiser, to usher at a community theater play, to deliver senior meals, you support others. People who do that get supported in return.”

One example of that support had a lasting impact on Kara’s commitment to her community. It happened on the evening of June 18, 2016, the day before “Art in the Park,” Lanesboro Art’s major annual festival. Volunteers showed up in Sylvan Park to set up. So did a fierce Midwest thunderstorm with high winds, heavy rain, and hail. Trees came down, a park shelter was destroyed, event decorations were in shambles. Kara, one of the staff members in charge of the event, was faced with the decision to cancel it.

As they discussed that option, people began showing up at the park to help clear debris. Despite clean-up tasks at their own homes, and working in the beam of car headlights, volunteers brought order to the chaos. Chainsaws buzzed into the night as downed trees and branches were hauled away. “We didn’t make phone calls, people just came,” Kara recalls. “The next day, the festival went off beautifully. But we couldn’t have done it without those generous volunteers.”

Kara thinks about the impact of that type of community care – and the impact she wants to have in the future – every day, every time she works to create space for members of her community. “However long I’m here, I want to help make our community an even more welcoming place. A place where people of all backgrounds feel they belong. A safe and inclusive place where everyone can contribute their gifts. That’s the legacy I hope to leave.”

No matter a town’s size or age of its people, community-building happens best in simple ways, says Kara. “It’s about building relationships. It’s about being curious and staying open-minded. Most of all, it’s about showing up.”

Steve Harris

Steve Harris (steveharrisauthor.com) is a freelance writer who lives in Lanesboro, Minnesota, and can be reached at sharris1962@msn.com.