Downtown/Lowertown : Featured Stories

Your editor helps run a meditative labyrinth-walking project amid the cheerful madness of the Northern Spark one-night, all-night arts festival--and points out another cool artfest that's ongoing.

Governor Mark Dayton signed Minnesota's law legalizing gay marriage on a bright, clear day that broke temperature records. The theme of the outdoor signing ceremony was love, just as love had been a major theme of the campaign to get the law passed. Where else might we use this big word?

The nonprofit Springboard for the Arts used to concentrate solely on career development for artists. Now, under the leadership of Laura Zabel, it's become a powerful force in redefining the whole relationship between artists and the communities they live in--and in marshaling artistic creativity to improve those communities.

Last Wednesday, some 150 Minnesota Muslims got together to share concerns and hopes with their legislators at the ninth Annual Muslim Day at the Capitol, organized by the Muslim American Society of Minnesota. Here's a video look at the event, from our friends at Minnesota 2020.

Both St. Paul and Minneapolis have committed themselves to making their downtowns more residential, with major projects to develop the infrastructure a genuine residential neighborhood requires. But, says Minnesota 2020 fellow Agata Miszczyk, an emphasis on rental units and luxury buildings is holding back the vitality that the downtowns need.

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.

It's officially called "ice cross downhill": many men racing like lunatics down a 300-meter track of ice full of bumps, drops, hairpin turns. For the 2013 Saint Paul event, the track began near the city's enormous Catholic cathedral--a bid to summon divine protection for the participants in this most extreme of skate races? Our photo maven, Bill Kelley, was in the crowd, cranking up his shutter speed and trying to stay warm.

The capital city glows like a jewel box in this time-lapse video, which takes in the Mississippi and the downtown skyline.

Far from simply decorating the light-rail route, Saint Paul's Central Corridor Public Art Plan is redefining art in the public sphere.

Saint Paul's music-loving mayor wants a city with a scene--a dynamic downtown with the special energy that only art and music provide. Last Thursday he shared some successes, some hopes, and some rock-concert memories with The Line.

In A Line or Two, I share some of my discoveries and enthusiasms as I make my way around the Twin Cities. Call it an editor's note as blog entry. This week: a lunchtime celebration of local Japanese food.

"Design Thinking" isn't just about planning an object and making an image of it. It's a process of innovation that emphasizes engagement with real human issues--and it's arrived at CoCo, the local coworking space, in an educational initiative aimed at helping tech entrepreneurs and other freelancers open their minds even wider.

Kate Nordstrum's genre-busting musical programming at Minneapolis' Southern Theater caught the eye of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra's innovative concert planners. Now she's teaming up with the SPCO to present a new series that explores the space between indie-experimental and concert-hall classical.

In A Line or Two, I share some of my discoveries and enthusiasms as I make my way around the Twin Cities--call it an editor's-note-as-blog-entry. This week:The Science Museum of Minnesota kicks off its 2012 Beaker and Brush discussion series--a chance to explore the still-mysterious zone where science and art intersect.

In A Line or Two, I share some of my discoveries and enthusiasms as I make my way around the Twin Cities--call it an editor's-note-as-blog-entry. This week, I note the unusual Facebook alert I received the other day: In Saint Paul on Saturday, March 10, there's going to be a poetry reading in a wholesale bakery.