It's a good way to feed your head, 21st-century-style: through the rapid-fire delivery of ideas that will be
Solutions Vol. 4.
Since its first gathering in 2007, Solutions Twin Cities has been packing houses (local theaters, to be precise) with audiences eager to hear about the work of "solutionists" from a broad range of disciplines, but with a common goal: to improve the world and the lives of the people who live in and on it.
The evening will include video, music, performance, and conversation on a broad range of ideas in a fast-paced, digestible format: "20 images x 20 seconds each = 6 minutes, 40 seconds."
Solutions Twin Cities is now a project of
Works Progress, a West-Bank based "network of creative collaborators" that is behind a growing list of past and ongoing projects.
The event will take place on Friday, March 18 at 7 p.m. at the Capri Theater, 2027 W. Broadway Ave., in Minneapolis. A social hour follows at 9 p.m. Tickets are $8�16 ("pay what you can").
Organizations and individuals may also sponsor some of the 50�100 tickets that Works Progress has set aside for adults and teens in the community through the
Northside Residents Redevelopment Council (NRRC), says co-founder Colin Kloecker.
This is Solutions' first foray into North Minneapolis. NRRC member Ariah Fine, whom Solutions Twin Cities co-founder Troy Gallas had met at a separate Works Progress event, was instrumental in bringing the forum to the North Side.
"The more we learned about him, and about the council, it just seemed like a natural fit to work with them," says Kloecker.
While this fourth volume is the first in two years, Kloecker says Works Progress would "like this to happen twice a year, all over the city, and in a new place every time." They hope to direct the content, as much as possible, toward the community into which it is held, he says.
Among the local presenters, for instance, Vol. 4 will feature North Minneapolis resident, educator, artist, organizer, and writer Amoke Kubat, author of
Mothering Mothers and founder of the Yo Mama Institute.
Other "solutonists" will include:Daniel Klein, producer, host and chef of The Perennial Plate, an online video series about "socially responsible and adventurous eating."
Laura Zabel, director of Springboard for the Arts, an economic development organization located in Lowertown St. Paul that connects independent artists "with the skills, information and services they need to make a living and a life."
Joseph Adamji and his students from the
Kitty Anderson Youth Science Center, at the Science Museum of Minnesota, that "empowers young people to change their world through science."
Mirelle Zacharis, artist and co-curator of No Assumption, "a collaborative art exhibition that took place inside a foreclosed home in Northeast Minneapolis."
Matt Olson, co-founder of rosenlof/lucus, ro/lu, (ROLU), an independent design and art studio focusing on "landscape work, furniture design, relational architectural projects, urban planning and innovative collaborative public art."
Virajita Singh, senior research fellow at the Center for Sustainable Building Research, who is "working to raise funds for communities that need sustainable design services."
Hamilton Bell, project director of the Wilder Foundation's Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood, a "cradle-to-career" community-wide effort to ensure that children in St.Paul's Summit-University and Frogtown neighborhoods "succeed in school and life."
Scotty Reynolds, founder of Mixed Precipitation, a performance group that produces short-form projects "highlighting social engagement, and encouraging the exploration of public and private spaces, as well as collaboration across disciplines."
Source: Colin Kloecker, Works Progress
Writer: Jeremy Stratton