Featured Stories

A Line or Two: Saymoukda Vongsay's "When Poets Found Bass"

Jon Spayde Wednesday, February 20, 2013

In A Line or Two, I share some of my enthusiasms and discoveries as I make my way around the Twin Cities. Call it an editor's note as blog entry. This week: A multi-everything hip-hop/spoken word extravaganza organized by our coolest Lao-American diva and sponsored by the lovable Saint Paul Almanac.

Arts and Culture, Creative Economy, diversity, Entrepreneurship, Nightlife

Downtown/Lowertown

Rock Star Supply Company: Young Professionals Helping Kids Rock the Classroom

Julie Kendrick Wednesday, February 13, 2013

This serious-minded but light-hearted nonprofit tutors at-risk kids in the coolest possible way--by matching them up with adults in creative industries. The result: deep connections, academic achievement, and fun for everybody.

Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Talent Dividend

Placemaking: Why and For Whom?

Brendan Crain Wednesday, February 13, 2013

"Placemaking" is a powerful buzzword in 21st-century urbanism. Do we know what it actually means and whom it's supposed to serve? For Brendan Crain of New York's Project for Public Spaces, the idea that it's all about attracting talent to town and building the new economy is wrongheaded. Placemaking, Crain insists, should be rooted in the immediate needs of the people who already live here.

Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Design, Reuse / Rebuild, Strong Local Economy

A Line or Two: Chez Arnaud, Parisian Patisserie in St. Paul

Jon Spayde Wednesday, February 13, 2013

In A Line or Two, I share some of my enthusiasms and discoveries as I make my way around the Twin Cities. Call it an editor's note as blog entry. This week: A design-y, extremely Parisian patisserie on Saint Paul's Grand Avenue serves up traditonal pastries--and a Franco-Minnesotan hybrid.

Design, Entrepreneurship

Summit Hill and Crocus Hill

The TU Dance Center: Movement in the Neighborhood

Camille LeFevre Wednesday, February 06, 2013

When globetrotting dancers and choreographers Uri Sands and Toni Pierce-Sands, formerly of the Alvin Ailey company, decided to establish a new kind of multicultural dance school in Saint Paul, they knew where they wanted it to be: along the Central Corridor in the heart of the city.

Arts and Culture, Central Corridor, Creative Economy, Design, diversity, Entrepreneurship, Reuse / Rebuild, Transit Oriented Development

Saint Anthony Park

Public Transit Head to Head: Portland versus Minneapolis

Amber Collett Wednesday, February 06, 2013

According to Amber Collett, a transit and bike activist (and a former Twin Cities resident), we've got reason to envy Portland's bike-friendly transit system. But Minneapolis actually wins in the comparison. Why? Read on.

Central Corridor, Transit Oriented Development, Transportation

A Line or Two: Iranian "Ornament and Crime" at Macalester

Jon Spayde Wednesday, February 06, 2013

In A Line or Two, I share some of my enthusiasms and discoveries as I make my way around the Twin Cities. Call it an editor's note as blog entry. This week: A celebrated, exiled Iranian artist brings her images of beauty, repression, and tragedy to Macalester's fine arts center.

Arts and Culture

Macalester - Groveland

The New North Loop: Both Cool and Comfortable

Anna Pratt Wednesday, January 30, 2013

The bars and restaurants in this uber-trendy corner of downtown Minneapolis draw national attention. Meanwhile, developers, community groups, and residents are turning the surrounding neighborhood into a pleasantly dense, lively, and livable urban village.

Arts and Culture, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Reuse / Rebuild, Shopping, Strong Local Economy, Sustainability, Transit Oriented Development

Warehouse/North Loop

Crashed Ice! A Slide Show

Bill Kelley Wednesday, January 30, 2013

It's officially called "ice cross downhill": many men racing like lunatics down a 300-meter track of ice full of bumps, drops, hairpin turns. For the 2013 Saint Paul event, the track began near the city's enormous Catholic cathedral--a bid to summon divine protection for the participants in this most extreme of skate races? Our photo maven, Bill Kelley, was in the crowd, cranking up his shutter speed and trying to stay warm.

Strong Local Economy

Downtown/Lowertown

A Line or Two: Ganesh Versus the Third Reich

Jon Spayde Wednesday, January 30, 2013

In A Line or Two, I share some of my enthusiasms and discoveries as I make my way around the Twin Cities. Call it an editor's note as blog entry. This week: The Walker Art Center hosts an Aussie touring show unlike any you're likely to see this year.

Arts and Culture, Creative Economy

Downtown

The Bush Foundation's Lars Leafblad on Leadership: from "top down" to "around"

Jon Spayde Wednesday, January 23, 2013

For executive-search professional Lars Leafblad, recently named head of the Bush Foundation's leadership program, the top-down leadership paradigm is dying. Despite political gridlock, a new ethic of connectivity, consensus, and compromise is struggling to be born--and he has some ideas on how we can all help it happen.

Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Leadership, Philanthropy

Artist rendering of the Capitol East Station

Central Corridor Success: The Green Line is Already Earning Greenbacks

Conrad DeFiebre Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The Central Corridor light rail line (aka the Green Line) won't be finished till 2014, but it's already earning its keep, writes Conrad LeFiebre of MN 2020, as development advances, once-disrupted business stabilizes, and observers add up the unique advantages of a line that connects two downtowns.

Central Corridor, Coordination/Collaboration, Regionalism, Strong Local Economy, Transit Oriented Development, Transportation

A Line or Two: Robots Invade State Capitol!

Jon Spayde Wednesday, January 23, 2013

In A Line or Two, I share some of my enthusiasms and discoveries as I make my way around the Twin Cities. Call it an editor's note as blog entry. This week: On Monday, the Capitol rotunda in Saint Paul will be surrendered to robots--or, to be more precise, to Minnesota's burgeoning robotics industry.

Geek gals: Can the Twin Cities lead in helping women take their place in high tech?

Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Despite some women-led startups, high tech here, as elsewhere, is still more or less drowning in testosterone. But some strong local initiatives are pointing the way toward more opportunities for women to get their geek on.

Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, diversity, Emerging Technology, High Technology

A Line or Two: Dinner with LaDuke

Jon Spayde Wednesday, January 16, 2013

In A Line or Two, I share some of my enthusiasms and discoveries as I make my way around the Twin Cities. Call it an editor's note as blog entry. This week: Thanks to the cooks-with-a-conscience at Eat for Equity, you've got a chance to share a meal, and a cause, with famed activist (and Green Party vice-presidential candidate) Winona La Duke.

Creative Leadership, diversity, Philanthropy, Sustainability