Welcome to
In the District: news from the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District.
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Candidate forums on Arts Oct. 16-17 at Ritz
by Betsy Gabler
The Northeast Minneapolis Arts District Board of Directors is hosting two public forums to address how local government supports, and helps to develop, the arts and arts related businesses in Wards 1 and 3, particularly in
Monday, October 16, 2017 features, as of Sept. 29, Ward 1 City Council candidates: John Hayden,Jillia Pessenda, and Kevin Reich, along with Ward 3 City Council candidates: Steve Fletcher, Ginger Jentzen, and Samantha Pree-Stinson.
Mayoral Debate Click here to RSVP
Tuesday, October 17th, 2017 features, as of Sept. 29, current Mayor Betsy Hodges and six new candidates for Mayor: Raymond Dehn, Jacob Frey, Al Flowers, Tom Hoch, Nekima Levy-Pounds, and Aswar Rahman.
Thanks to the theater's generosity, both events will held at The Ritz, 345 13th Ave. NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413, on their respective nights, from 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. Both will be followed by an open reception with the candidates
from 9 p.m. - 10 pm at the Rogue Buddha Gallery (next door to The Ritz), 357 13th Avenue NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413.
The format for both evenings is (7:15 - 8:15 p.m.) an emcee-guided discussion with the candidates seated on the stage.
Questions for this discussion will be written by the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District Board of Directors and are based on earlier public discussions around Creative Sustainability and the development of the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District. A Q&A session (8:15 - 8:45 p.m.), with anticipated input from the audience, will follow the discussion. Refreshments will be available for purchase.
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When I moved to Northeast Minneapolis 20 years ago I was looking for security. Bounced out of maker space from downtown, I was just
another statistic in the age-old and seemingly natural progression of
derelict space-turned art studio- turned tech firm. All I needed was
some place to work and a place to raise the family. I found this little
slice of blue-collar paradise in a lower northeast duplex that, by the luck of the draw, had power and heat in a garage. What's more, a couple years before, a ragged band of visionary, sage artists had begun work on creating an organized group of creatives to help one another attract ideas and patrons.
Fast forward two decades, and that group, no longer in its infancy, has
helped to create one of the most dynamic art districts in the country. All on the strong backs of working artists. With this success, however, have come more interesting problems. Chief among them is to keep art space affordable to newcomers, reliable to mid-career artists and attractive to those rock stars among our lot. This is what drives my work on the Creative Art Center committee that the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District has commissioned.
Eight or so good folks have stepped up in similar fashion to help
organize our ideas, take the pulse of the needs of this community and
soon to offer a strategic plan for review. The idea is that if a central
portal can help facilitate the business of art for artists, a sustainable
community may be within reach. Current ideas that are pulling our
attention are a virtual (web-based) center that connects folks with arts
events and education, artists with space, and passionate instructors
with curious students. Alongside would be a print edition that brings critiques, Requests for Proposals, grants and opportunities from all over the region to our corner of the city.
In the future, a possible bricks and mortar space could help showcase it
all. After all, real estate has been at the center of the districts success.
Our group has been at it only a short five months. Currently, we are
drilling down on a mission statement "A space to serve as a hub of arts
activity in the district to create, learn, teach, exhibit and connect."
We have begun work toward a vision on how this mission may take
shape. One current concept is a portal that becomes the connective
tissue. Something I call "infill". The idea is to help artists put their
resources to work, both in their talents, but also in fully utilizing tools
and space. We hope to attract challenging exhibits, lectures and public
discourse, cultural exchanges, classes both in technique and criticism as well as providing artist opportunities and workspace options. The idea is that if we can establish this center online the administrative structure will exist and a track record can be shown to justify the expense of a physical space.
If you are interested in participating in this workgroup or have concepts
to share please contact us through me, Malcom Potek at
[email protected].
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Northeast P.E.E.P.s
(People, Events, Exhibits, Places)
Minnesota State Fair update
Congratulations to Minnesota State Fair-accepted artists inadvertently not mentioned in the September Northeast AD Newsletter.
Susan McLean-Keeney, Michele M. Combs, Jerry Majkrzak and Eric Jon Ketelsen, and Karen Ruch Brown were accepted into the 2017 exhibit. Michele Combs' painting, "Afternoon Graze," received Outdoor Painters of Minnesota's State Fair Award for the Best Sense of Place. Karen Brown's terra cotta mixed media piece
"Attitude" won First Place in Ceramics
Calendar Submission deadline extended to October 15th
The Northeast Minneapolis Arts District (NorthEastAD) will be assisting Northeast Community Development Corporation by jurying the submissions for the Northeast Calendar.The 14 month calendar's images reflect the 14 neighborhoods of Northeast, and can be images of any artistic medium. There is also a
category for cover image. Submission requirements and procedures are listed at www.northeastcdc.org, and the deadline has been extended to Monday, Oct. 16 midnight. NECDC has been the Northeast
Minneapolis Arts District's fiscal agent. The Northeast AD board looks forward to further collaboration through and with the NECDC board.
Volunteers Needed
NEMAA is preparing for our
AutumNE Member Art Show (formerly Fall Fine Arts) and we are still in need of volunteers to help prepare for the show, work gallery hours, and reset the space after the show. Can you help?
If you are able to help, reach out to Kate Dougherty of Westra & Co. who is coordinating the event and volunteer schedule and let her know when you are able to assist:
[email protected].
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The Power of Hindsight
By Remo Campopiano
They say you can never go home again, or can you?
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The New French Cafe circa 1985
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It was the eighties, downtown Minneapolis, more specifically the four or five blocks around the New French Bar. Ronald Reagan was flooding the market with borrowed money, but what did
we care; we finally had a real art market.
Once a month all 33 galleries had their openings all on the same Saturday night. Yes, back then the North Loop of Minneapolis had 33 galleries all in one place. Better yet, we had thousands of
people elbowing their way through the overcrowded exhibitions; that's why the StarTribune nicknamed it the "gallery crawl."
I was there, an emerging artist and co-founder of Artpaper. It was an exciting time for all of us.We felt empowered, like we were part of something much bigger than us, a natural phenomenon.
New York, Los Angeles and Chicago were always the most vital art markets in the eighties, but where was Minneapolis in this lineup? Believe it or not, we were fourth. In those heady days
Minneapolis was often cited in national arts publications as the fourth most important art city, right behind Chicago. Yes, national art publications were watching and writing about us!
So what went wrong? A better question is what went RIGHT in the eighties. In this new column I will be talking to the people that were instrumental in the phenomenon known as the Eighties Twin Cities Arts Renaissance. The questions I will be asking are, if we can identify what created the phenomenon, can we do it again? We know history repeats itself, can we give it a little help?
For something this big it's going to take all of us, young and old, to get together with unborrowed vision. I will try to articulate that vision in upcoming columns. But I need your help. Please send
letters to the editor. Tell us what YOU think. What is missing? What do we need to do? Who can do it? Tell us what you think we need to create a second Twin Cities Arts Renaissance.
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Three Main Goals
of
Arts District Planning
 1. Continue to discuss who we are as a community.
2. Continue to define the v
ision of the next 10 to 15 years, in order to drive the decision making.
3. Start a framework on how we can finance the goals of the district. This goal is only possible to discuss if the other two goals can be met.
Recent studies to consider reading:
5.
Take the survey for the
CREATIVE MINNESOTA
ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDY OF MINNESOTA'S ARTISTS AND CREATIVE WORKERS
http://creativemn.org
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Check the Arts District Calendar for events -
or add your District event by clicking here |
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In case you missed it Arts Insights page in the Northeaster?
CALENDAR
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Want to support the district?
Your donation is tax deductible!
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