News Photo by Reagan Voetberg Alpena Community College Instructor Tim Kuehnlein is pictured in his office at Alpena Community College on Monday. Kuehnlein was recently appointed to the Michigan Arts and Culture Council by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

ALPENA — As of Nov. 6, the Michigan Arts and Culture Council (MACC) will include a representative for Northeast Michigan: Alpena Community College History and Political Science Instructor Tim Kuehnlein.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced last week Kuehnlein’s appointment to the council.

The MACC serves to encourage, develop, and facilitate an enriched environment of creative and cultural activity in Michigan. The council envisions a Michigan where every citizen celebrates the state’s cultural treasures and arts, and ensures cultural experiences are accessible to all its citizens.

Kuehnlein said he submitted an application for the vacant seat, and found out about the appointment through a phone call.

“I’m excited,” he said. “I’m really happy to have the opportunity to represent the…Northeastern part of Michigan.”

Kuehnlein has been in the arts and culture scene in Alpena ever since he moved here to be an instructor at ACC. He joined the Thunder Bay Arts Council within a year or two of moving to the area. Kuehnlein has had the opportunity to engage in arts and culture projects up and down the U.S.-23 corridor.

Growing up, his grandmother was an artist. She was a china painter and dabbled in a number of other things, including making her own porcelain, he said.

“So I grew up with the arts and appreciation for artists and what they do,” Kuehnlein said. “I’ve seen arts and culture as a way of engaging in community and encouraging dialogue, so I almost see it as sort of an extension of civics engagement.”

“It’s just kind of fun at this point in my life and my career to have an opportunity to represent the region at the state level,” he said.

As a member of the council, some of Kuehnlein’s responsibilities include advising the Governor and the Director of the Department of Commerce on matters related to arts and cultural affairs; disbursing, funding, and making grants to public and private arts and cultural entities;

accepting gifts, grants, loans, appropriations, or other aid from the federal, state, or local government; and ensuring fair and equitable distribution of legislatively appropriated grant monies.

The MACC receives approximately $10.4 million to distribute to arts and culture projects across the state each year. The council awards about 800 grants per year to 379 nonprofit arts and culture organizations in Michigan. Grants also go to support the arts in schools across the state.

Arts and culture organizations generate about $1.3 billion in tourism dollars, according to 2016 data from the Council of Michigan Foundations.

In fiscal year 2025, the MACC awarded $49,500 to organizations in Alpena County. In 2024, the MACC awarded $202,250 to organizations in Alpena County.

“I think the fact that we’re at the table is really important,” Kuehnlein said. “I’m not the first. We’ve had people from Northeast Michigan, Anne Belanger, for example, served on the board in the past.”

“We could easily be overlooked; we’re not a huge concentration of the population…but the council is very driven towards equitable distribution throughout the state,” Kuehnlein said. “But having a voice at that table to represent smaller, rural communities that do in fact have a history with promoting arts and culture…I’m just delighted.”

Reagan Voetberg can be reached at 989-358-5683 or rvoetberg@TheAlpenaNews.com.