Granary Rural Cultural Center Celebrated for Excellent Acts

Celebrating Acts of Excellence, One Act at a Time

The Acts of Excellence program connects us with individuals and organizations who are building a culture of excellence in South Dakota, one act at a time.Please join us and area inductees to celebrate this Act of Excellence on Wednesday, April 3, 2019, from 4:00 to 5:30 pm at the Isaac Lincoln Gallery on the Northern State University campus in Aberdeen, South Dakota. See all of the event details here.

Old Granary Becomes Center for Art, Culture

A 1928 granary build by a Groton-area farm family was restored and transformed into the centerpiece of a 2.3-acre campus for the celebration of Northern Plains art and culture in the James River Valley of rural Brown County. John Sieh, whose father William Sieh built the original granary, started the restoration project in 1994 as a way to honor his parents and create a place where the arts could flourish. The current campus includes the Granary Memorial Hall with five exhibition rooms, a restored 1912 town hall called Putney Hall, a gazebo and an outdoor barbeque area. It is officially called the Granary Rural Cultural Center.The Sieh family donated the grounds and the granary building. A gift shop was added later, and the campus features space for many permanent sculptures by local artists, both inside and on the grounds. The outside displays are part of a “Walk With Dakota’’ interpretive landscape and sculpture garden that tells, according to Granary literature, the story of the region’s Native American people and of the coming of white settlers to the area. John Sieh is quoted as having said, “We want to celebrate the land and the animals and the people who live here through art. We think the fact that it’s rural – and very rural – is what makes it unique. In 2012, the facility was donated to Brown County. It is administered by Dacotah Prairie Museum of Aberdeen.Learn more at www.dacotahprairiemuseum.com

Submit your own Act of Excellence here