Featured Stories

A Line or Two: Joyface!

Jon Spayde Wednesday, November 28, 2012

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 venturesome group of artists and poets have created a pop-up gallery in a vacant storefront at 38th and Chicago. This weekend, you're invited to join the Joyface Poetry and Arts Collective as they fill the space with experimental beauty--and plan the future of their project.

Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Reuse / Rebuild, Strong Local Economy

Phillips

Thanksgiving break this week

Jon Spayde Tuesday, November 20, 2012

The Line will be enjoying a copious Thanksgiving dinner this week, and will return, stuffed with new content, on November 28. A blessed Thanksgiving to all our readers, writers, image-makers, sponsors, and well-wishers,

M.anifest (Kwame Tsikata) and Susan Campion leading Giant Steps

The Giant Steppers: Susan Campion and M.anifest

Michelle Bruch Wednesday, November 14, 2012

He's an up-and-coming rapper who divides his time between Ghana and the Twin Cities. She's a globetrotting business consultant who trained as a classical musician and an engineer. Together they created Giant Steps, a sort of Startup Weekend for creative types. The idea: business and art can (and should) find common ground.

Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Strong Local Economy

Where light rail can't go: "rapid bus" is coming

Conrad deFiebre Wednesday, November 14, 2012

In this blog post from Minnesota 2020, Conrad deFiebre argues that, while light rail is both successful and expanding in the Twin Cities, it's not the only answer to the 21st-century transit question in our metro. Meet the "rapid bus," a transit mode that mimics rail--on rubber tires.

Central Corridor, Transit Oriented Development, Transportation

A Line or Two: SciSpark!

Jon Spayde Wednesday, November 14, 2012

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: You've got a chance on Monday to peek into the laboratories of advanced bio-researchers at the University of Minnesota, as guests of the U's union of GLBTQ scientists.

Coordination/Collaboration, diversity, Emerging Technology, Green Jobs, High Technology, Higher Education, Life Sciences

The New Green Job Scene

Holly Dolezalek Wednesday, November 07, 2012

While the concept of the green job is a nice fusion of much-needed employment growth and environmental responsibility, it's been hard to get a handle on the size and even the definition of this part of the job market. But according to Matt Entenza and other experts, the picture in Minnesota is getting clearer as more jobs fit the category. In fact, this small but growing sector may be the IT of the future.

Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Leadership, Emerging Technology, Green Jobs, Regionalism, Strong Local Economy, Sustainability

Bikes Mean Better Business

Jay Walljasper Wednesday, November 07, 2012

It's long been known that biking is good for your health, good as a transportation option, good for reducing carbon emissions. But it's becoming clearer and clearer that cities that are bike-friendly are also attracting the kind of talent that builds the businesses of the future.

Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Leadership, Sustainability, Transportation

A Line or Two: The Walker Onstage

Jon Spayde Wednesday, November 07, 2012

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 preview of what's coming up in the Walker Art Center's performance program, including Britain's hottest young choreographer and a show in which an elephant-headed Indian god takes on Hitler.

Arts and Culture

Downtown

Xelias Aerial Arts: A Slide SHow

Bill Kelley Wednesday, October 31, 2012

No doubt about it: the aristocracy of the circus are the aerialists, the trapeze and high-wire and other up-in-the-air artists who defy gravity (and major injury or death) by soaring high above the crowd. There's a deceptively modest-looking place in Northeast Minneapolis where you can study these arcane skills, and photographer Bill Kelley paid it a recent visit.

Arts and Culture, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership

Northeast

Gabriel Schlough of WAMM talks health with students in Sierra Leone

Local nonprofits redefine aid to Africa

Julie Kendrick Wednesday, October 31, 2012

With 150,000 immigrants and refugees from Africa living within its borders, Minnesota's ties to the continent are growing. Some nonprofits here are leading the way toward a new model for helping Africa develop, replacing the top-down aid mentality with models of mutuality, transparency, and--most of all--face-to-face friendship.

Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Leadership, diversity, Healthcare, Philanthropy

A Line or Two: Arts Responding to Foreclosure

Jon Spayde Wednesday, October 31, 2012

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: At an upcoming potluck and community meeting, you can get to know a unique arts-based activist group in Saint Paul's Frogtown.

Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Leadership, diversity, Reuse / Rebuild, Strong Local Economy

Thomas - Dale/Frogtown

From Grain Exchange to "Brain Exchange"

Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, October 24, 2012

The historic Minneapolis building, once given over entirely to commodities like wheat and rye, is turning into one of the major hubs for high-tech in the Twin Cities. Credit an ambitious coworking space as catalyst, an ideal downtown location, and (surprise!) the continuing need for techies to actually inhabit the same physical space.

Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Design, Emerging Technology, Entrepreneurship, High Technology, Reuse / Rebuild, Strong Local Economy

Downtown

Franklin Avenue Road Diet: A "Real World Urban Design Experiment"

Bill Lindeke Wednesday, October 24, 2012

From Bill Lindeke's always-worthwhile street-level urban design blog, Twin City Sidewalks: Want to make an experiment to see if reducing the number of lanes of traffic makes street life more vital? Then go to Chicago and Franklin avenues in Minneapolis, where you can compare two street-treatments and decide for yourself.

Design, Transportation

Phillips

A Line or Two: A Sushi Rescue

Jon Spayde Wednesday, October 24, 2012

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 frightening challenge of not messing up sushi-making at a new, hands-on cooking school.

Arts and Culture, Creative Economy, Entrepreneurship

Treating the whole human being: The Penny George Institute

Holly Dolezalek Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The largest hospital-connected integrative-medicine clinic in the United States is in Minneapolis. The Penny George Institute, run by Courtney Baechler, MD, adds aromatherapy, acupuncture, and other once-fringe healing arts to hospital patients' treatments--and the results are earning respect in the medical mainstream.

Creative Leadership, Healthcare, Life Sciences

Phillips