creative leadership : Featured Stories

Lowertown boasts a growing roster of relocated and expanded businesses—some from the suburbs, others spun out of Lowertown’s COCO, and some born and bred in the district’s office lofts and storefronts.  

We introduce the first in a two-part series about how MSP became the second-largest theater region after New York, as well as mobile, inventive and idiosyncratic.

The arts real-estate nonprofit Artspace is re-scaling its work to take a more geographic approach that includes consulting with a cohort of art organizations in Detroit and developing creative districts in rural Colorado. 

New research reveals the catalytic role that libraries and museums are playing in rebuilding troubled neighborhoods. These important  "anchor institutions" are helping drive economic, educational and social efforts in their neighborhoods.

The multidisciplinary artist, designer, and arts educator has created a number of projects inspired by issues facing his community. Through art, he explores themes of collective community ownership, transportation and land use, and underrepresented populations.

What exactly are accessory dwelling units and what does the City of Minneapolis hope to achieve with them?

Meet Laura Zabel, urban innovator. At Springboard for the Arts, she's leading a national movement to support and engage artists as a vital part of community development.

MSP is in the midst of a redevelopment boom that has touched nearly every part of the Twin Cities. Here are 10 projects opening in 2016 that will further transform our neighborhoods and communities. 

Since Artspace pioneered affordable artist live/work housing in the 1990s, disrupting the SoHo Effect in communities across the U.S., demand for such projects has grown. Which begs the question: Is affordable artist live/work housing becoming the new normal?

It's culture to go this month in our feature highlighting arts, entertainment and culture not to be missed in MSP. Stop into City Center for an on-the-fly dance performance. Check out--on your laptop, phone or tablet--Greycoats' music video shot in architect Ralph Rapson's Glass Cube. Catch District Energy's plume in the night sky in downtown St. Paul.  

In the St. Anthony Park neighborhood of St. Paul, near University Grove's enclave of mid-century architecture, architect John Dwyer designed an award-winning modern home on a tiny infill lot that deploys an ancient Scandinavian light trick.

MSP’s increasingly amenity-rich downtowns offer irresistible quality-of-life benefits that help firms attract and retain top talent. Here’s a look at why some companies moved to the downtowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul.  

The creation of affordable artist live/work housing is a proven initiative that reinvigorates neighborhoods, while artists and their work bring members of diverse communities together.

This month’s arts and culture feature includes visual and literary arts that continue to break boundaries and forge new alliances.

MSP's increasing public awareness about the plight of pollinators has mobilized beekeepers and gardeners, social entrepreneurs, nonprofits, educational institutions and government representatives to create new initiatives on behalf of bees and butterflies.