Featured Stories

October Arts and Culture: Stars, Skin(s) and St. Paul Art Crawl 25

Camille LeFevre Tuesday, October 11, 2016

With autumn in MSP comes "the season," meaning so many art exhibitions, performances, parties and festivals that you could attend several events every evening. Here are our must-do's.

Arts and Culture, Central Corridor, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, diversity, Entrepreneurship, Transit Oriented Development

Como Park, University, Midway, Saint Anthony Park, Uptown/Lyn Lake, Downtown/Lowertown, Northeast

Envisioning an Art Ecology in MSP

Diane Hellekson Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Writer and landscape architect Diane Hellekson outlines a dynamic model for thinking about cultivation of the arts in Minnesota; specifically, she makes the case for seeing the health of MSP's arts and artists in ecological rather than economic terms.

Arts and Culture, Design, Regionalism, Sustainability

Lars Christiansen, Friendly Streets director, and organizer Darius Gray at a temporary parklet

Friendly Streets: Bottom-Up St. Paul Project Changes the Way People Look at Their City

Jay Walljasper Tuesday, September 27, 2016

The Friendly Streets Initiative, which grew out of a group of volunteers working with various neighborhood organizations to make biking and walking safer in the Hamline-Midway neighborhood, is now changing communities throughout MSP.

Central Corridor, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, diversity, Entrepreneurship, Philanthropy, Sustainability, Transit Oriented Development, Transportation

Midway, Thomas - Dale/Frogtown

River Balcony Prototyping Festival, with Craft Beer Overlook, Previews "St. Paul's High Line"

Brian Martucci Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Music, art, craft beer: Earlier this month, MSP'ers enjoyed a tantalizing glimpse of the (possible) future for a 1.5-mile stretch of St. Paul riverfront during the River Balcony Prototyping Festival.

Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, diversity, Nightlife, Philanthropy, Strong Local Economy, Transit Oriented Development

West Seventh, Downtown/Lowertown

Practitioners and Partners: Artspace Evolves Breaking Ground Into "Idea Lab" That Celebrates Artists

Camille LeFevre Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Artspace’s annual Breaking Ground event evolves this year from one dynamic evening of speakers and performances to an immersive, two-day “idea lab” on Friday, October 14 and Saturday, October 15 in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Affordable Housing, Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, diversity, Entrepreneurship, Nightlife, Philanthropy, Strong Local Economy

Riverfront/Mill District, Downtown, Downtown/Lowertown, Warehouse/North Loop, Northeast

September Arts and Culture: Grand Openings, Helmet Art and Community Gardens

Camille LeFevre Tuesday, September 13, 2016

A new independent bookstore! A second ReStore store! Plus a community garden celebration and an art exhibit and fashion show featuring motorcycle helmets highlight September arts and culture.

Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Nightlife, Shopping

Riverfront/Mill District, Downtown/Lowertown, Powderhorn, Northeast

Designers: The New and Expanded Edition

Thomas Fisher Tuesday, August 23, 2016

In the coming years, communities, businesses and nonprofits will increasingly look to architects for design solutions that extend well beyond buildings.

Arts and Culture, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Design

Four Craft Coffee Roasters Building Buzz in MSP

Brian Martucci Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Who are the local players behind MSP’s craft coffee scene? These four local roasters are undeniably at the movement’s fore, sparking a revolution in how we talk about roasting and experience tasting.

Arts and Culture, Central Corridor, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Shopping, Sustainability

Midway, Saint Anthony Park, Uptown/Lyn Lake, Highland Park, Northeast

So Artists Can Celebrate Themselves: Artspace's Remarkable Work with Cultural Communities

Camille LeFevre Tuesday, August 09, 2016

Artspace enjoys a long history of working with culturally distinct groups in the development of affordable artist live/work housing and community spaces. From El Barrio in NY to Honolulu, HI, these projects allow artists to celebrate themselves.

Affordable Housing, Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Design, diversity, Entrepreneurship, Philanthropy, Regionalism, Reuse / Rebuild, Strong Local Economy, Sustainability, Talent Dividend

August Arts: A Few of Our Favorite Things

Camille LeFevre Tuesday, August 09, 2016

Not-to-miss Fringe shows, a neighborhood happy hour, beer and bikes…a few of our favorite things for August arts and culture.

Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, diversity, Entrepreneurship, Nightlife, Talent Dividend, Transit Oriented Development

University, Midway, Saint Anthony Park, Uptown/Lyn Lake, Calhoun - Isles, Downtown/Lowertown

Flower Plots and Food Forests: Community Gardens as Living Examples of Neighborhood Commitment

Loren Green Tuesday, July 26, 2016

The Bancroft Meridian Garden, founded in 1996 on a lot along 38th Street in South Minneapolis, began as a flower garden. But communities change. So do their gardens. Now it's a food forest for the neighborhood.

Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Leadership, Design, Entrepreneurship, Green Jobs, Sustainability

Saint Anthony Park, Southwest

A Dingy Foursquare in St. Paul Finds New Life as a Modern Urban Farmhouse

Camille LeFevre Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Designer David Strand looked beyond the brown asphalt shingles on a drab St. Paul foursquare and found an urban farmhouse ready for a light and airy modernization.

Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Design, Entrepreneurship, Reuse / Rebuild

Summit - University

July Arts and Culture: Floating, Reading, Feasting and Exploration

Camille LeFevre Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Farm-fresh produce, handmade books on a floating library, historic walking tours along the Green Line and feasting locally are our top picks for July arts and culture in MSP.

Arts and Culture, Central Corridor, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, diversity, Entrepreneurship, Philanthropy, Shopping, Strong Local Economy, Sustainability, Transit Oriented Development

Midway, Saint Anthony Park, Thomas - Dale/Frogtown, Payne - Phalen, Powderhorn

Q+A: Olga Viso discusses the Walker Art Center's plans for a more artfully integrated campus

Interview by Joel Hoekstra Tuesday, July 12, 2016

A new campus renovation announced this past spring will better connect the Walker Art Center with the adjacent Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, reinvigorating a longstanding city and art center partnership.

Arts and Culture, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Design

Downtown

Max Boeke (left) & Jordan Standish from Clutch

Microbrewing's Breakneck Growth Continues: 7 of the Coolest New Craft-Beer Concepts in MSP

Brian Martucci Tuesday, June 28, 2016

You don’t need a stats pack to accept the obvious: craft beer is big business in The North, particularly in MSP’s hottest neighborhoods. Here are seven new craft-beer concepts coming soon.

Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Entrepreneurship, Nightlife

Riverfront/Mill District, North Side, Downtown/Lowertown, Warehouse/North Loop, Northeast