SDSU Connect program bringing unique events, experiences to Sioux Falls

This paid piece is sponsored by SDSU.

It’s the perfect partnership: South Dakota’s largest city and the state’s largest university.

South Dakota State University is teaming up with organizations across the Sioux Falls metro area to create a two-way connection and offer expertise, resources and opportunities usually only found at the SDSU campus in Brookings. The collaborative initiative is called “SDSU Connect.”

You might have noticed some SDSU Connect events around Sioux Falls this year, including five concerts hosted at Levitt at the Falls this summer, several films shown at The State Theatre, Jacks Imagination Lab on first Fridays at the Washington Pavilion, a day of science fun at the Brandon Boys and Girls Club and more.

All eight SDSU colleges are hosting events in Sioux Falls that highlight different areas of expertise.

Christi Garst-Santos, director and associate professor of Spanish in the School of American & Global Studies at SDSU, is spearheading the initiative as a team lead. The SDSU Connect task force stemmed from the vision of SDSU President Barry H. Dunn and began with conversations in 2021 between university leadership and Sioux Falls city, industry and business leaders.

While SDSU has hosted several events in Sioux Falls in the past, SDSU Connect is different.

“There’s really a level of intentionality behind it that is new and unique,” Garst-Santos said. “It’s not just about the visibility, but highlighting the impact and the contribution that this mutual relationship brings.”

All SDSU Connect events are free and open to the public. The goal is simply to offer a wide variety of programming that serves the needs of various communities within Sioux Falls, Garst-Santos said.

One of SDSU Connect’s goals is to cultivate and deepen existing relationships with diverse, immigrant and refugee communities in Sioux Falls. To accomplish this, Garst-Santos said, SDSU Connect collaborates with leaders of such communities to create programming that serves their needs and interests. One event to come from these discussions was a series of film screenings in different languages of international films.

“It’s a great way for community members to learn about their neighbors and for new-comer neighbors to feel like they fit into the community,” Garst-Santos said.

The upcoming SDSU Connect events include another season of the World Languages and Cultures Film Festival. Each showing includes a complimentary drink and popcorn:

• Oct. 25 at 6:30 p.m. at The State Theatre — “Drowning Letters” followed by a panel with immigrant and refugee advocates and community leaders
• Nov. 1 at 3 p.m. at The Orpheum Theater — Keynote presentation by Dr. Kim TallBear on genetic ancestry and Indigenous identity, 5 p.m. public reception, 6:30 p.m. panel discussion with the actors, and 7:45 pm screening of “Blood Quantum”
• Nov. 7 at 6:30 p.m. at The State Theatre— African Film Festival short films including “Ruthan,” “Appreciation,” and “Al-Sit”

“The film festival is a really unique experience that would only come to larger cities,” Garst-Santos said. “That’s the beauty of a large, comprehensive university like SDSU. We can provide students and community members with experiences they can’t get anywhere else.”

In addition to the spring 2022 international film screenings out of the School of American and Global Studies, the initiative premiered “Voices of the Prairie: History of Broadcasting in South Dakota,” a local documentary by Rocky Dailey (School of Communication and Journalism) and hosted “Known Unknowns: Macroeconomic Policy, Volatility and Real Estate,” an economic symposium out of the Ness School of Management and Economics.

The program isn’t SDSU “coming in and saying what Sioux Falls needs,” Garst-Santos said. Instead, it’s asking community members what they need and how SDSU can help support the city.

“SDSU Connect is really harnessing the power that of what SDSU does well and what Sioux Falls as a city does well,” Garst-Santos said. “It’s finding those synergies, enhancing them and intentionally developing them to ensure all of us can benefit from the strengths of each community.”