Creative Leadership : Buzz

A recent analysis from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality shows that Minnesota boasts the best healthcare system in the country, according to the Star Tribune.

The state’s high marks came in the areas of medical clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes.

“Overall, Minnesota ranks third for care of patients with acute conditions, seventh for chronic care and 11th for preventive care,” the Star Tribune story states.

Jennifer Lundblad, president of the nonprofit organization Stratis Health, is quoted saying, “For more than five years we've had an intense collaboration among providers, health plans, state officials and others to tackle both quality and cost issues," adding, "That's hard work ... and this report confirms where we're doing well and where we still need to improve.”

The Pioneer Press reports that a local fashion designer will appear on the next season of Lifetime’s popular reality TV show, “Project Runway.”

The 27-year-old Raul Osorio describes himself as self-taught, according to the story. He’s “known for his attention to tailoring and striking a balance between feminine and masculine designs,” the story states, adding that his combination of hats, rolled-up pants and ankle boots make him a striking sight at fashion events all over town.

Four other Minnesotans have made it onto the TV show. The show’s 10th season starts on July 19.

A story in The Atlantic titled, “The Right to Experience Art,” discusses the “community supported art” program from St. Paul’s Springboard for the Arts.
 
Through the program, people can buy “shares” in local art, the same way they would buy food from local farmers through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).  
 
The story highlights comments from Laura Zabel, who leads Springboard.  
 
Zabel is quoted as saying, "The art is wonderful and it's always beautiful, but the purpose of the program is to build tight relationships between artists and the community," adding, "We found this incredible audience for this project of people who care about their local economy and community but aren't necessarily from the art community."
 

 

In a recent story, Slate.com profiled a Texas library that occupies a building that had once been a Wal-Mart.

The Minneapolis-based architecture firm Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, Ltd., “breathed fresh life into the warehouse, about as big as two-and-a-half football fields, late last year, when they repurposed it as the country’s largest single-story public library,” it reads.  

Interesting signage, reading nooks, and special spaces, such as a quiet room, several computer labs, and a bookstore and café, have redefined the place.

So much so that the McAllen Public Library won The International Interior Design Association’s 2012 Library Interior Design Awards, the story states.

A Reuters article titled, “Cities' efforts to make exercise easier pays off,” calls attention to Twin Cities’ efforts to help residents get in shape.
 
Fitness results in part from lifestyle and environmental supports, it states, adding that the American College of Sports Medicine's 2012 American Fitness Index (AFI), which ranks the country’s 50 healthiest cities, supports that theory.
 
Minneapolis/St. Paul has jumped to the top of the list for the second year in a row thanks to higher rates of physical activity.
 
The story quotes Walter Thompson, who chairs the AFI board: "When I say Minneapolis ranked No. 1, people give me an 'are you kidding me' kind of look,” who adds, "Between November 1 and April 1 they have cold and snow, but they've addressed that."
 
It has to do with having plenty of gyms and government investment in parks, he says in the story.
 
 

 

The Washington Post recently featured the Minneapolis restaurant the Bachelor Farmer, in its lifestyle section.

Writer Tom Sietsema describes the Nordic-themed restaurant as “homespun and stylish.”

“Cheery blue-and-white awnings welcome diners to the sprawling corner property,” along with an underground cocktail lounge that’s known as the Marvel Bar, the story states.

“Asked to define Minnesota cooking, Eric Dayton says it revolves around the simple use of a few ingredients, preferably local. “There’s a humility to the cooking” in his state, he says. The description sums up my meal in his restaurant, where nothing shouted “Look at me!” but everything reveled in good taste, right through dessert.”  

The internationally touring 48 Hour Film Project, which gives filmmakers a deadline of two full days to put together a movie, included Minneapolis in its 125-city tour this year, KSTP reports. 

As a part of the project, filmmakers had to complete everything from the writing to the editing of a movie within 48 hours, the story states.   
 
Teams also had to work with certain genres and props and some scripted dialogue.

Standout work will be screened at the 48 Hour Film Project Filmapalooza in 2013.

Recently, Kevin VanDeraa, who owns Cupcake, a Minneapolis bakery, won the Food Network’s TV show competition, “Cupcake Champions," according to a Twin Cities Business Magazine story.

As such, he took home the $50,000 grand prize.

It was his desserts inspired by the "Yo Gabba Gabba!" children’s TV show that earned the top spot.

Minneapolis's La Belle Vie recently was named one of the top 25 bars in America by Men's Fitness Magazine.

La Bellie Vie is one of the Twin Cities' most award-winning restaurants, the story states.

Its executive chef, Tim McKee, is a 2009 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef Midwest.

"Fittingly you can expect this posh eatery, outfitted with high ceilings and crystal chandeliers, boasts a meticulously chosen wine list, but don’t let an evening go by without sampling a drink from their French-influenced cocktail menu," the story reads.

The Parlez-Vous made with raspberry vodka, pineapple juice, cava, and topped with orange-passion fruit foam is a must-get, it says.

A recent Star Tribune story highlights University Grove, which it calls the state's "own mid-century architecture laboratory."

The New York Times has dubbed it "an architectural time capsule of modern America."

University Grove is a part of a new history crawl of sorts next month.

"University Grove, tucked into a corner next to the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus, was sort of an early version of a planned community," the Star Tribune story states.

More recently, there's been rising interest in building from this time period.

 

KSTP reports in a recent story that the state’s music scene is “experiencing a groundswell of national attention.”

The hip-hop collective Doomtree, which just got back from a national and European tour, is getting quite a bit of traction, the story states. (See this week's interview with Doomtree member Dessa here.)

Kevin Beacham, who is a marketing specialist at Fifth Element and Rhymesayers Entertainment, states in the story that Doomtree was a favorite at the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas, this time around.

"Last year their presence was strong, but this year they were everywhere. People from all over the world were packing these Doomtree shows to see Doomtree,” he says in the story.

A recent post from the Nieman Journalism Lab, which is a project of the national Nieman Foundation at Harvard, features a new app that Minnpost developed.

The new Bill Explorer tool allows “readers to visualize and dive into the issues that were big at the state capitol,” it states.

It’s a spinoff of other “bill-tracker applications that a number of news organizations, watchdog groups--not to mention state legislatures and Congress--have developed to give people a sense of what their elected officials are up to.”

Director of news technology Kaeti Hinck is quoted, saying that the program needs to show value for both experts and laymen. “Our primary audience is civic-minded people who care about state politics in Minnesota. A majority of our readers come to MinnPost for our politics and policy coverage--it’s our bread and butter," she says in the piece.

The Pioneer Press reports that the food truck scene in the Twin Cities “shows no sign of petering out.”

It cites the Orange County Register, which used information from the Roaming Hunger website to assert that the fastest-growing food truck cities are Philadelphia, Raleigh, N.C., and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

At this time, 2,300 gourmet food trucks and carts can be found across the country, it states.

Ross Resnick, who is behind Roaming Hunger, is quoted, saying, "We're adding over 150 trucks to the site every month.”







 

The Walker Art Center magazine features a story about the “Art of Placemaking,” as it pertains to Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis.

“Despite its status as a major, historic thoroughfare in Minneapolis--or maybe because of it--Hennepin Avenue has for decades been regarded as a problematic, contested public space,” it reads.

A project called Plan-It Hennepin aims to change that, by turning it into a “lively, compelling cultural corridor,” the story says.

The story touches on the Walker’s perspective on the process, in which it’s a participant:  It quotes the Walker’s Olga Viso, who says, “Along with our partners in Plan-It Hennepin, we thought that the Walker could help lead a different conversation in terms of creativity and envisioning possibilities, by bringing artists’ voices into the process.”

This story dovetails with The Line's feature this week on Candy Chang.

Business magazine Forbes released its annual "100 Best Corporate Citizens" list, and eight Minnesota companies found a place on the roster.
 
Hormel Foods was ranked the highest of the state's companies, coming in at number 19 on the list, followed by The Mosaic Co., 3M, General Mills, and Medtronic.
 
Also on the list are Best Buy, Target, and UnitedHealth Group.
 
Forbes came up with the results by comparing companies in seven areas, including human rights, employee relations, philanthropy, and environmental awareness.