Freeborn County Arts Initiative

03/21/2026

We are open!

Come and experience our newest exhibition today. Feel the passion, process the grief, and learn more about what your neighbors have been making in the wake of the 2026 ICE raids.

Gallery open from 1-4 pm at 224 S Broadway.

03/20/2026

We Will Not Be Silenced.

We never wanted to have to say this, but our community deserves honesty about what has happened since DISSENT opened a week ago.

In the days since the exhibition began, we have received credible threats of violence and experienced an attempted break-in at the gallery. The intent was clear: to intimidate us, silence our neighbors, and shut down this exhibition.

DISSENT echoes the voices of our community. It exists to hold space for grief, truth, and free expression, and to share the experiences, fears, and concerns of our neighbors through art. We are exercising our right to free speech, and acts of intimidation like this seek to stifle First Amendment freedoms that belong to all of us.

We want to publicly thank the Albert Lea Police Department for its swift cooperation and response. Your professionalism and support have been immediate and meaningful.

We are also deeply grateful to every neighbor who packed the house last night for Unquiet Night. Your presence, your voices, your courage, and your solidarity filled the gallery and reminded us exactly why this work matters.

We will not back down.
We will not be silent.

We will continue supporting our neighbors, honoring their grief, and creating space for honest conversation through art.

We invite the public to visit DISSENT, engage the work, and take part in thoughtful, civil community conversation. This exhibition was created to make space for reflection, discussion, and the honest exchange of ideas.

DISSENT remains open and free to the public through April 25.

This gallery is, and will remain, a place for reflection, grief, and community dialogue.

Thank you for standing with us, Albert Lea.

-Elisha Marin
Director, Arts Initiative

03/16/2026

Minnesotans killed by masked agents.

Our gallery playlist is curated to complement the show, and today’s feautured song is “Pretti/Good” by Dan Rodriguez.

This song was written specifically for Renée Good and Alex Pretti — the two Minnesotans at the heart of our memorial shrine. Dan Rodriguez (a Minnesota singer-songwriter whose own family story includes Mexican immigrant roots) turned his grief and anger into this track after their deaths.
In the gallery, their photos hang above a bowl of fallen flowers while fresh ones slowly wilt and dry over the weeks. It’s our way of refusing to let that grief be rushed or forgotten.

This song does the same thing with music.

What hits you hardest when you hear it — the title, the lyrics, or the fact that it was written for them?
Drop your thoughts below. We read every single comment.

DISSENT is open now through April 25
Freeborn County Arts Initiative
224 S. Broadway Ave, Albert Lea
Thursday–Saturday 1–4 pm or by appointment
Always free

Unquiet Night Open Mic
This Thursday, March 19 • 7–8 pm
Safe space to bring your grief, your anger, your voice — or just come listen.

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

03/15/2026

“Illegal” is a dehumanizing term. Period.

Our gallery playlist is curated to complement the show, and today’s spotlight song is the live version of “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)” by Woody Guthrie, covered here by Johnny Cash and Johnny Rodriguez.

It’s about what happened in January 1948: a plane carrying 28 Mexican Bracero (farmhand) workers crashed in Los Gatos Canyon, California. These people had spent months working hard, picking the crops that fed American families. Their contracts were up, so they were rounded up and deported to Mexico.

All 32 people died. The four American crew members got named in the papers and proper burials. The 28 Mexican workers? The news just called them “deportees.” No names. No families notified. Their bodies were dumped in a mass grave in Fresno marked only “28 Mexican citizens.” They were not acknowledged as fellow humans, fellow neighbors.

That same dehumanizing language — “illegals,” “deportees,” “them” — is still being used right now to justify tearing families apart.

This song refuses to let us forget. It’s playing in the gallery during DISSENT for a reason. How little has changed in 77 years?

DISSENT is open now through April 25
Freeborn County Arts Initiative
224 S. Broadway Ave, Albert Lea
Thursday–Saturday 1–4 pm or by appointment
Always free

Unquiet Night Open Mic
This Thursday, March 19 • 7–8 pm
Safe space to bring a song, your voice, your anger, your grief — or just come listen.

Johnny Cash and Johnny Rodriguez sing a Woody Guthrie classic, "Deportee." Today in the United States the song is still just as relevant as it was when this...

03/15/2026

What if the things we once promised ourselves are quietly dying right in front of us?

Wende Taylor’s poem, “The Death of Things We Once Promised,” lays it bare: the slow, silent erosion of civil rights, due process, kindness, science, facts, free speech, compassion, bodily autonomy, democracy, trust, freedom… and the simplest command: “Love thy neighbor.”

No funeral, no moment of silence. Just a turning away. And in the empty space left behind: chemicals in our soil and food, liars in power, families ripped apart, children harmed, money worshipped above working hands, draft dodgers calling themselves brave, malignant pride dressed up as strength.

And we’re told this is greatness.

This poem is part of DISSENT — one voice among dozens of our Minnesotan neighbors grappling with grief, moral reckoning, and what it means to hold onto (or mourn) the promises we made to each other.

Come sit with it. Bring your own thoughts, questions, anger, hope — whatever’s weighing on you.

The Unquiet Night Open Mic is this
Thursday, March 19
7–8 pm at the Freeborn County Arts Initiative
224 S. Broadway Ave, Albert Lea

A safe, respectful space to share a poem, song, spoken word, or just listen. No judgment. All voices belong here — that’s the whole point.

DISSENT runs through April 25
Thursday–Saturday 1–4 pm or by appointment
Always free

What’s one promise or value from the poem that hits hardest for you right now? Drop it in the comments and let’s have a civil discussion.

03/14/2026

Alex Pretti was gunned down in the street by masked federal agents.

This painting is how Christina Harp answered that loss. She writes:

"When I was approached about creating a piece for this show, an immediate image came to mind: the juxtaposition of a dove something that symbolizes peace — and bullet wounds.
I had been feeling the specific and visceral collective grief of the public seeing Alex Pretti gunned down on the street for trying to protect others.
The dove in the painting has 10 gunshots, mirroring the number of times Alex was shot. This image was important to get on canvas. It tells the story of a man who laid down his own life fighting for others.
I hope those who see it are able to tap into the power of our collective grief — to know that we are in this thing together… and to remember Alex Pretti."

That’s what Christina wrote about “For Alex”. The painting now hangs in DISSENT.

You’ll see it on the wall: a pure white dove soaring against deep blue, olive branch in its beak, ten red bullet wounds bleeding down its wings. A quiet but powerful tribute to Alex Pretti, the Minneapolis VA ICU nurse who gave everything.

Christina is a painter and fabric designer who came to art later in life. Her work is full of vibrant color, texture, and quiet rebellion — inspired by nature’s wild side and the beauty in imperfection. She loves making creativity feel possible and welcoming for everyone.

You can see more of her beautiful work at ChristinaHarp.us.

This is just one of dozens of voices from artists responding to what’s happening in our state right now.
Come stand in front of it yourself. Let it sit with you.

DISSENT is open now through April 25
Freeborn County Arts Initiative
224 S. Broadway Ave, Albert Lea
Thursday–Saturday 1–4 pm or by appointment
Always free.

Unquiet Night Open Mic
This Thursday, March 19 at 7 pm
A safe space to share your voice or simply listen.

Neighbors, doors are wide open. We’d love to have you here.

03/14/2026

We’re grateful and excited — the Albert Lea Tribune just covered DISSENT!

The paper captured exactly what this show is about: art that meets our community right where we are, while the moment is still fresh.

Here are a few lines from the story:
“I curated this exhibition because I’m tired of watching injustice happen and pretending it’s normal… I want people to feel something when they see it and ask themselves what side of silence or dissent they’re on.” — Wende Taylor

“I would encourage the community to come regardless of what side of the issues you fall on. This is a safe and structured place to share your opinion, voice your First Amendment rights and talk about the trauma that our state has experienced recently.” -Elisha Marin

If you haven’t seen the full article yet, click the link below.

Come experience the show for yourself.
DISSENT is open through April 25
224 S. Broadway Ave, Albert Lea
Thurs–Sat 1–4 pm or by appointment
Always free

Unquiet Night Open Mic
March 19th, 2026 from 7–8 pm
A safe space to speak, sing, listen, or just sit with it all. All voices welcome.

See you at the gallery, neighbors. Thank you, Ayanna and the Tribune, for shining a light on local art that matters.

The Freeborn County Arts Initiative on Thursday opened its latest mixed media exhibit, “Dissent,” which focuses on unrest, resistance, grief and other emotions tied to recent events in Minnesota, specifically Operation Metro Surge and immigration enforcement.

03/14/2026

Day 3 of DISSENT — today’s song on the playlist is “Who Would Jesus Bomb” by Jordan Smart.

It’s a modern protest song that sits with a question a lot of us are carrying right now: How does faith guide us in a world where spirituality is sometimes used to justify harm, to draw lines between “us” and “them,” or to call for violence against people we don’t understand — immigrants, Muslims, anyone who feels like the outsider?

Jordan Smart isn’t preaching an answer. He’s asking us to look honestly at the gap between what we say we believe and what our actions show.

That same spirit of reflection runs through the whole exhibition. DISSENT brings together the voices of dozens of Minnesotans, each responding in their own way to the recent events unfolding across our state. Grief, conscience, justice, and humanity are showing up in paint, poster board, and somber installations. For many of us, faith and spirituality have always been tools to process these heavy feelings… and this show makes space for all of it.

Come walk through the gallery and hear these voices for yourself. Sit with the art. Sit with your own thoughts. Talk with neighbors if you want to.

DISSENT is open now through April 25
Freeborn County Arts Initiative
224 S. Broadway, Albert Lea
Thursday–Saturday 1–4 pm (or by appointment)
Always free.

Unquiet Night Open Mic
This Thursday, March 19 at 7 pm
A safe, respectful space to share your own song, poem, spoken word — or simply listen and process. All voices belong here.

Nyd de videoer og den musik, du holder af, upload originalt indhold, og del det hele med venner, familie og verden på YouTube.

03/13/2026

Our playlist for DISSENT is all about justice and change.

One of the tunes we’re spinning today is “Highwomen” by The Highwomen. We play it because the song is exactly what this show is about. It reimagines the old Highwaymen classic but tells the stories of women who stood up — including a Honduran mother who died trying to get her kids to safety in America. That hits right in the heart of what we’re showing: families torn apart by immigration arrests, the memorial for Renée Good and Alex Pretti, the protest signs that say “ICE OUT” and “This isn’t about POLITICS, it’s about HUMANITY.”

This song is about women who sacrifice everything for what’s right… and still remain. Exactly the kind of courage and grief we’re holding in this room.

DISSENT is open now through April 25
Freeborn County Arts Initiative
224 S. Broadway, Albert Lea
Thursday–Saturday 1–4 pm (or call for an appointment)
Always free.

Unquiet Night Open Mic
This Thursday, March 19 at 7 pm
Bring your voice. Safe space to sing, speak, listen, or just sit with it.

The Highwomen perform “Highwomen” live at the 2021 Americana Music Honors & Awards with Yola and Jason Isbell. From The Highwomen’s self-titled debut album h...

03/13/2026

Why is there a body bag in our art gallery?

Because some things are happening right here in Minnesota that we can’t just pretend aren’t real.

We placed “The Body” installation right in the middle of the room. It’s a body bag lit by one bare bulb, with the words MURDERED and INJUSTICE written across it, a single peace dove, and other imagery representing lives stolen. Right beside it is the memorial for Renée Good and Alex Pretti: their photos, a bowl of fallen flowers, and fresh ones that slowly die and dry as the weeks go by.

We also brought in dozens of actual protest signs our fellow Minnesotans carried in the streets — real ones — with messages like “ICE OUT,” “Our grandparents fought against fascism — will you?” and “This isn’t about POLITICS, it’s about HUMANITY.”

This isn’t some far-off thing. A block away, our county jail holds ICE detainees. We’ve watched families get torn apart right here in our town. We have seen demonstrations here at home.

So we made DISSENT — art, grief, anger, and a little hope all in one room. Come see it. It’s free.

Freeborn County Arts Initiative
224 S. Broadway, Albert Lea
Now through April 25
Thurs–Sat 1–4 pm or schedule an appointment

Opening Night: Unquiet Night open mic
Thursday, March 19 at 7 pm
Bring your voice. Share a song, a poem, or just sit and listen. It’s a safe place to get it all out.

11/29/2025

📸✨ Perfect Time for Holiday Photos! ✨📸

Since we’re opening during the blizzard, this afternoon is actually an amazing window to stop by Christmasland for your photos — the gallery is warm, cozy, and beautifully lit, and the snow outside is making everything feel extra magical. ❄️🎄

Whether you want to do a quick DIY selfie session for $20, or get a polished professional mini session for $50, we’re here and ready to make it easy.

And remember — if this year’s been rough and money’s tight, just ask for the “Holiday Special” and we’ll give you a free DIY session, no questions asked. ❤️

Swing through, warm up, and let’s make some holiday memories together!

11/29/2025

❄️ Weather Update for Christmasland 2025 ❄️

Due to the snowstorm and to give city crews time to safely clear the downtown streets, we’ll be opening at 12:00 PM today instead of 10:00 AM.

Everything else for Christmasland is still on — the tree is lit, the photo nook is ready, and we can’t wait to welcome you in once the roads are safe.

Please take your time, drive carefully, and we’ll see you this afternoon. ❤️🎄