Advisory Board - an 11-member active, diverse and apolitical board of local community members, working together to select the artist and advise the staff on the current and potential futures of the program. This is a critical component to a healthy and effective program: the Board functions as community voice and oversight, guiding the ship of the program to serve community wants and needs.

Three of the 11 seats are reserved to be filled by the City of Granite Falls, The Granite Area Arts Council, and the Upper Sioux Community when as and as they see fit. If the seats are not formally filled through appropriate official channels, they will remain empty until that entity chooses to fill “their” seat.

Eight of the 11 seats are filled by individual community members who agree to put their disparate experiences to use in helping design the program, and place shared community service above personal views or agenda.

These 11 board members serve the Granite community and artist residency program as volunteers, offering up their honesty and wisdom at least 3 hours a month - two hours of board meetings and one hour of additional labor. The Advisory Board offer up additional time during the Artist Selection Process, as they and they alone vote to choose the new artist in residence.