Featured Stories

The Building Sustainable Communities Program: Art for Everybody's Neighborhood

Jay Walljasper Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Art lives in the Twin Cities--and not just in the tonier parts of town. Thanks to initiatives like Twin Cities LISC's Building Sustainable Communities program, art and artists are taking major roles in helping some of our most challenged inner-city communities thrive.

Arts and Culture, Central Corridor, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Design, diversity, Philanthropy, Reuse / Rebuild, Talent Dividend, Transit Oriented Development

Phillips, North Side, Thomas - Dale/Frogtown, Powderhorn, Summit - University

Our next hot neighborhood? Put your money on Payne Avenue

Anna Pratt Wednesday, March 20, 2013

It's weathered industry exoduses and foreclosure--but now the proud old East Side Saint Paul neighborhood is home to a hot new bar/restaurant, Ward 6, that's both a sign of, and a force in, a wider renewal.

Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Design, diversity, Energy, Entrepreneurship, Nightlife, Reuse / Rebuild, Strong Local Economy, Sustainability

Greater East Side

Geoff Herbach reading from Nothing Special

Meet Our Writing Elite: A Slide Show

Bill Kelley Wednesday, March 20, 2013

On March 15, the nominees for this year's Minnesota Book Awards got together with the general public--not for the award ceremony, which isn't till April, but for some informal reading, book-buying and pressing of the flesh. Free (or mostly free) of the award-night jitters, it was a chance to celebrate our extremely vibrant literary community--and Bill Kelley was there.

Arts and Culture, Creative Economy

Downtown

A Line or Two: The "Glitter Knitter" to Perform

Jon Spayde Wednesday, March 20, 2013

This week: You've heard of "yarn bombing," knitting as a kind of graffiti (knitted cozies around trees and phone poles, yarn symbols strung through the links of chain-link fences, etc.). But how about knitting as out-there performance art? Our most fabulous local yarnmeister, StevenBe, will be doing just that on March 23rd. How will he turn knitting into performance? By weaving in stories--yarns?--from his glamorous life.

Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Entrepreneurship

Phillips

MNUDL debaters at the National WWII Monument in Washington, DC last year

A Place at the Podium: Debate Drives Success in Inner-City Schools

Julie Kendrick Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Once the exclusive province of privileged young white men heading for law degrees, debate is flourishing in inner-city schools here, thanks to the Minnesota Urban Debate League. The disciplined, demanding, and fun "mind sport" is helping kids of color and of lower income develop study and thinking skills--and get into college.

Creative Economy, diversity, Higher Education, Talent Dividend

The Call of Saint Matthew, by Caravaggio

A Line or Two: Caravaggio at the College of Visual Arts

Jon Spayde Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Despite a feisty ongoing effort to keep it open, Saint Paul's much-loved College of Visual Arts is slated to close--all the more reason to hurry over there to hear a talk about a fascinating Baroque artist, given by a fascinating local art historian/entrepreneur.

Arts and Culture, Creative Economy

Summit Hill and Crocus Hill

A Line or Two: The Ambivalent Hipsters of The Tangential

Jon Spayde Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Stumbling upon the blog/online magazine that may be the one place to go if you want to know what smart young millennials in creative industries here are thinking and feeling. Hint: there's a lot of pop culture, irony, and a self-consciousness about hipsterdom that's intense but cheerful. And some serious stuff too.

Arts and Culture, Creative Economy

Mayor Rybak, Google's Steve Grove, and CoCo cofounder Kyle Coolbroth

The Google/CoCo partnership: a new era for local tech?

Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Last Wednesday's kickoff event for the linkup between the search-engine giant and the local coworking space was full of energy, ambition, and promise for local entrepreneurs, some of whom think Silicon Prairie's ready to bloom.

Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Emerging Technology, Entrepreneurship, Strong Local Economy

Downtown

"Honor the Spirit" Dania Hall Memorial. shot by Allen Zumach

A Line or Two: Our Past, Present, and Future in the Dania Hall Memorial

Jon Spayde Wednesday, February 27, 2013

This week: A greeting card in a coffee shop sends me to a Minneapolis West Bank memorial that recalls a beloved, vanished building and honors the history and traditions of generations of West Bankers.

Arts and Culture, Creative Economy, Design, diversity, Reuse / Rebuild

Cedar - Riverside/West Bank

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

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

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

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

Creative Economy : Featured Stories