EXC: Minnesota’s ‘Cultural Heritage’ Fund Is Giving Millions To Promote Somali Culture

Minnesota has quietly funneled over a million dollars into Somali cultural from the state’s Arts and Cultural Heritage fund. A review of official grant records shows at least two dozen awards supporting Somali museums, music preservation, oral histories, festivals, and youth programs.

The Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund is part of Minnesota’s Legacy fund, designed to “preserve Minnesota's history and cultural heritage.”

In total, $1,269,411 in Legacy funds have been identified as going to Somali-tied projects.

A decade-long funding stream hiding in plain sight

The spending stretches back more than a decade, to FY 2014.

Some of the largest awards were not even given to small nonprofits, but to major state institutions acting as fiscal agents for Somali-specific projects. The Minnesota Historical Society alone received over $310,000 for Somali oral history initiatives. Meanwhile, Somali-specific museums, arts collectives, and cultural organizations repeatedly appear in Legacy funding cycles year after year.

This is occurring at the same time Minnesota has been rocked by historic nonprofit fraud scandals, exposed systemic grant-oversight failures, and admitted that billions in public funds flow through agencies with limited monitoring.

Yet Legacy funding continues to operate largely on autopilot.

What the money paid for

The grants cover a wide range of activities, including:

• Somali oral history interviews archived by state institutions

• Somali-specific museums and artifact preservation

• Somali music, lullabies, and performance preservation

• Youth arts and cultural identity programs

• Somali Independence Day sponsorships

• Microgrants to Somali advocacy and arts groups

The full ledger: Somali-linked Legacy grants

Total identified: $1,269,411

Time span: FY2014–FY2024

Number of grants/projects: 24+

📄 Full grant list (by project)

• Somali Oral History Project — Minnesota Historical Society — FY2014 — $258,184

• Somali Oral History Project (additional interviews) — Minnesota Historical Society — FY2016 — $52,294

• Somali Heritage Artifacts: Collections Inventory & Storage — Somali American Parent Association — FY2014 — $9,491

• Fanka — Ka Joog — FY2016 — $122,500

• Fanka II — Ka Joog — FY2017 — $118,825

• Arts & Cultural Heritage admin allocations — Ka Joog — FY2016 — $2,500; FY2017 — $2,425

• Ka Joog — Ka Joog — FY2020 — $43,380

• History and Art of Somalia — Somali Museum of Minnesota — FY2016 — $10,210

• Somali Museum of Minnesota — Somali Museum of Minnesota — FY2020 — $50,000

• Somali Cultural Presentation — Somali Museum of Minnesota — FY2023 — $75,000

• Somali Cultural Programs — Somali Artifact and Cultural Museum — FY2024 — $120,000

• Flexible Support — Somali Artifact and Cultural Museum — FY2022 — $15,000

• Somali Community Resettlement Services — Somali CRS — FY2020 — $40,000

• Somali CRS Microgrant — Somali CRS — FY2020 — $5,000

• Somali American Social Service Association (SASSA) — FY2020 — $20,000

• West Bank Athletic Club — FY2020 — $25,000

• West Bank Athletic Club Microgrant — FY2020 — $5,000

• Somali Parents Autism Network Microgrant — FY2020 — $5,000

• Soomaal House of Art Microgrant — FY2020 — $2,500

• Unite Cloud — FY2020 — $20,000

• Cultural Music Program for Somali American Youth — Afro American Development Association — FY2022 — $19,903

• Arts Impact for Groups — Somali Youth and Family Development Center — FY2022 — $10,000

• Silsiladda Soomaaliyeed: Sustaining Somali Heritage Through the Arts — The Qalanjo Project — FY2024 — $22,050

• Sing Again: Preservation of Somali Children’s Songs & Lullabies — Marian Hassan — FY2024 — $121,394

• Bringing Somali Culture to the Concert Stage — Saint Paul Civic Symphony — FY2024 — $23,750

• Somali Independence Day Sponsorship — FY2023 — $3,000