About The Arts Partnership
The Arts Partnership (TAP) is a nonprofit organization that aims to support, advocate and promote artists, arts organizations through programs and financial support that elevate the arts in the Metro.
Founded in 1970 as the Lake Agassiz Arts Council, we changed our name to The Arts Partnership in 2009 to symbolize our partnership with arts institutions, businesses and local government.
Our Mission
To cultivate community through the arts.
Our Values
Support local art and the artists who make it.
Advocate the arts’ role in a vibrant economy.
Promote a creatively enriched community.
Our Vision
We believe that all art forms – from the visual arts to the artisanal arts – make our community a vibrant place to live and work. We envision a community that wholeheartedly embraces and supports the arts as a valuable piece of our shared social and economic success.
Our Team
Tania Blanich, Executive Director
Tania Blanich has served as Executive Director of The Arts Partnership since 2023. She is responsible for strategic and tactical planning for the organization, in addition to oversight of its programs. She has had a 30+ year career in nonprofit and arts management in New York City, Lexington, KY, and in the Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo community.
Lonna Whiting, Communications
Lonna writes content highlighting TAP events, initiatives, partners and grantees.
Christina Johnson,
Project Manager
Christina has worked on special projects for The Arts Partnership since 2017. She helps curate and install art as part of the ArtWORKS program. She also oversees the administration, programming and physical management of Aptitude, the arts incubator and artist studio space at West Acres.
Maia Kim, Project Manager
Maia Kim, project manager for the Artist of Color Cohort, provides mentorship, connection and community to emerging artists in order to further their artistic careers. She also serves as an art therapist at a mental health hospital and several addiction and recovery centers in Fargo.
2025-26 Board of Directors
Chad Belch
Chad Belch brings more than two decades of experience at Microsoft, where he has worked since 2001 in a variety of roles spanning Software Testing, Security Delivery Management, and Customer Success Account Management.
Chad's career has centered on building relationships and solving complex challenges while collaborating with teams across the globe.
Chad is also a longtime advocate for the arts within the corporate community. He was one of the leaders of Microsoft’s Fargo Art Ambassadors Employee Network, where he helped elevate local artists by coordinating in-office exhibitions, artist talks, and hands-on demonstrations. Through this work, he helped strengthen connections between the region’s creative community and one of its largest employers.
A committed supporter of local arts, Chad and his wife, Julie, have been Community Supported Art (CSA) shareholders since 2019. He is a graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead (then MSU), where he earned a degree in Management Information Systems.
Karin Luchsinger
Karin Luchsinger began in the arts as a professional dancer and dance instructor in 1993 at Red River Dance, Fort Wayne Ballet and Trollwood Performing Arts School. She was Artistic Director of Red River Dance for more than 10 years.
Karin's professional experience expanded to the business world in 2006, when she began working for Gate City Bank. Currently, Karin is the Senior Vice President at Gate City Bank where she oversees the strategies, training and data analytics related to retail checking and the customer experience.
Karin served previously on The Arts Partnership Board of Directors (most recently in 2020. She previous served as a board member for the FM Opera, the FM Community Theatre and currently serves on the boards of Red River Dance, Homeward Animal Shelter and the American Red Cross of the Eastern ND and NW MN.
Carol Rogne
Carol Rogne* has been passionate about art her whole life. While art was her passion, in college she decided that accounting would provide a better living.
She graduated from the University of North Dakota and became a CPA. Soon after, she started her own technology company, DFC Consultants, which grew to 3 locations and a team of 25 consultants, serving clients across the country. She loved her career, but she always dreamed of spending time creating art.
In 2018, she sold her business and has been focusing on art. She is a member of Gallery 4 and has served on the boards of the Plains Art Museum and the FM Opera Company.
Carol is also a TAP Partner Artist.
Cairn Reisch
Cairn Reisch, Chair, has more than a decade of experience engaging community members in the mission of organizations. She currently serves as the Community Relations Manager for Marvin, a new role to Marvin. Reisch has enjoyed bringing “non-traditional” partnerships into a fourth-generation family-owned manufacturing company. Reish’s professional career has allowed her to really dive into bringing folks’ creativity out to be showcased and celebrated. Her interest in serving on the Board comes from an appreciation of art and the energy it brings into community spaces, recognizing that art is an opportunity to help create a lasting impact in the community.
Jack Yakowicz
Jack Yakowicz, Director of Operations for AdShark, has lived in the Fargo-Moorhead area since beginning his studies at Concordia College in 2011. His mom, a published author, had three-year-old Jack begin writing short stories and poetry. That love for creative writing blossomed into writing, recording and releasing songs as early as his junior year of high school. Yakowicz continues to flex his creative muscle professionally (as a marketer) and personally (through his pursuit of songwriting). He served on The Arts Partnership board in 2015-2016, and has served on boards for other organizations in the area, most recently as the President of the American Advertising Federation of North Dakota.
Jill Veil-Ehnert, Vice Chair and Secretary
Jillain Veil-Ehnert, Vice Chair and Secretary, is Director of Foundation Relations and Research Grants at Concordia College.
Previously she worked as the Grants Manager at Trollwood Performing Arts School.
Jill's community service currently includes serving on the boards of the Grant Professionals Certificate Institution (current President) and the Cass County Electric Cooperative Foundation (current President). She previously served on the boards of the Fargo-Moorhead Choral Artists and FM Ballet. Veil-Ehnert earned her EdD in 2024 from the University of North Dakota; she has an MA from North Dakota State University and a BA from Concordia College.
Becky Walen
Becky Walen has more than 25 years in financial services, including investment management, relationship management, financial planning and leadership. She is currently SVP, Director of Wealth Advisory Services at Alerus Financial.
An Accredited Financial Counselor and Certified Financial Planner™, Walen holds a master’s degree in financial planning from NDSU and a Bachelor of Science in management from the University of Mary.
Becky's community involvement includes serving on the FMWF Chamber Women’s Executive Leadership Council and as a mentor for the NDSU College of Business Advisory Council.
* Denotes a Primary Arts Partner, either as an individual artist or as a representative of an organizational Partner.
Board Meetings
Meetings of the Board of Directors of The Arts Partnership are open, according to North Dakota open meetings laws. The Board typically meets on the fourth Wednesday of the month at 4:30 pm during the months of September, October, November, January, February, March, April and May. The State of the Arts, the annual meeting of The Arts Partnership is held in June.
While the meetings are open to attendance by Partners and the public, they are not a platform for open discussion and do not include a public comment segment. If you have questions, comments or suggestions for the Board, please send them to Dayna and they will be passed on to the Board Chair. You will receive a written response from a Board member in a timely manner.
Please contact our team if you wish to attend a Board meeting to confirm the time and location of the meeting.
Diversity Statement
The Arts Partnership is committed to inclusivity and accessibility, and seeks to achieve diversity and cultural equity in its leadership, partnerships, grant making and programs. The Arts Partnership seeks to be a supporter and model for all arts organizations in the region, particularly in areas of board make-up, staffing, training and communications practices.
The Arts Partnership carries out its region-wide mission with proactive efforts to embrace differences of culture, ethnicity, race, religion, international origin, sexual orientation, physical abilities, socio-economic status, age and gender.
The Arts Partnership stands by the Statement on Cultural Equity by Americans for the Arts.
