Arts and Culture : Featured Stories

Ken and Roberta Avidor have been car-free since 2010. Union Depot is their jumping-off point for bike, bus and train trips around the Twin Cities—and beyond. They're also making a name for themselves in the Twin Cities’ urban-sketching movement.

According to a recent panel discussion, we need to own our cold climate and our ingenuity in order to attract new talent, continue fueling the innovation at the heart of our economy, and create a new and authentic national identity. Shall we call ourselves the North?  

From a fan's perspective, the Minnesota music scene feels like a uniquely supportive community. But he wanted to see if that's a viewpoint shared by artists who have come here from other environs. It is, despite the cold.

Four neighborhood initiatives along the Green Line demonstrate how the Central Corridor is becoming a local and national model for equitable and empowering community-driven transit-oriented development (TOD).    

Kyle Tran Myhre, who performs under the stage name "Guante," is a hip hop artist, two-time National Poetry Slam champion, social justice activist, educator, and writer whose work is to examine the nature of performance – what it means for a culture, how it can serve a greater purpose.

NEA, ArtPlace and others have poured millions of dollars toward creative placemaking projects in the Twin Cities in recent years. What are the street-level results of those investments?

Aiken is a painter, an illustrator, a graphic artist, a muralist, a lecturer, a curator, an arts advocate, and a community collaborator. This article is republished from Creative Exchange.

"What's next for your city?" That the question Urban Innovation Exchange (UIX) will explore at its first national convening this September 24-26, 2014 in Detroit.

The third in our series on Twin Cities artists who build community: Asia Ward integrates the arts and sciences in her public workshops, classes, interactive installations, presentations and artwork, to create the unexpected.

Since 2010, JXTA has been providing paid opportunities for young people to gain skills in art and design. These youth make an hourly wage, between minimum wage and $10 per hour, while being trained in areas like graphic design and contemporary art.

From Seattle to Washington D.C., alleys are being reinvented as people-friendly spaces. Often perceived as dirty and dangerous, alleys are moving beyond garbage and garages to become havens for pedestrians, public art and small business.

The second in our series on Twin Cities artists who build community: Amanda Lovelee, a St. Paul City Artist in Residence, uses big tables, wildflowers, square dancing and love stories to convert people to the power of interpersonal connection through public art.

The Central Corridor is becoming the Twin Cities' new cultural hotspot showcasing local diversity, bringing communities closer together, and boosting economic opportunities.

Creative CityMaking, Intermedia Arts’ bold placemaking, problem-solving collaboration with the City of Minneapolis, recently received a three-year grant that promises to deepen the initiative’s reach in previously unimaginable ways.

Rewire is ambitious “cross-platform” initiative innovated by TPT to speak directly to Millennials—and bridge and reinvigorate TPT’s programming.