Strong Local Economy : Featured Stories
Jon Spayde Wednesday, December 12, 2012
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: Papaya salad, purple rice, or pho with your pizza?
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, December 05, 2012
Saint Paul's WomenVenture helps woman-run startups get off the ground with a potent mix of feminist spirit, microlending, and business incubation. But as its clients testify, it's the group's commitment to ongoing support that sets it apart.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Shops that pair high-end coffee with edgy, adrenaline-boosting activities are becoming a Twin Cities hallmark. We've got coffee and motorcycles (Bob's Java Hut), coffee and serious biking (Angry Catfish), and now coffee and that artistic test of pain-endurance called getting serious tattoos.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, November 28, 2012
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 venturesome group of artists and poets have created a pop-up gallery in a vacant storefront at 38th and Chicago. This weekend, you're invited to join the Joyface Poetry and Arts Collective as they fill the space with experimental beauty--and plan the future of their project.
Michelle Bruch Wednesday, November 14, 2012
He's an up-and-coming rapper who divides his time between Ghana and the Twin Cities. She's a globetrotting business consultant who trained as a classical musician and an engineer. Together they created Giant Steps, a sort of Startup Weekend for creative types. The idea: business and art can (and should) find common ground.
Holly Dolezalek Wednesday, November 07, 2012
While the concept of the green job is a nice fusion of much-needed employment growth and environmental responsibility, it's been hard to get a handle on the size and even the definition of this part of the job market. But according to Matt Entenza and other experts, the picture in Minnesota is getting clearer as more jobs fit the category. In fact, this small but growing sector may be the IT of the future.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, October 31, 2012
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: At an upcoming potluck and community meeting, you can get to know a unique arts-based activist group in Saint Paul's Frogtown.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, October 24, 2012
The historic Minneapolis building, once given over entirely to commodities like wheat and rye, is turning into one of the major hubs for high-tech in the Twin Cities. Credit an ambitious coworking space as catalyst, an ideal downtown location, and (surprise!) the continuing need for techies to actually inhabit the same physical space.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, October 10, 2012
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 ever-deeper Minnesota-China connection, over breakfast.
Michelle Bruch Wednesday, October 03, 2012
Crowdfunding powerhouse Kickstarter is becoming the go-to support system for a wider and wider variety of business ventures locally and nationally. Here are three Twin Cities success stories: a wallet, a home-security device, a restaurant--that illustrate how Kickstarter fuses funding, marketing, R and D, and even a kind of before-the-fact customer support.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, September 26, 2012
The two groups that anchor the Twin Cities' food and restaurant renaissance--the growers and the chefs--came together in impressive numbers Sunday night for Farm in the Cities, the second annual celebration of furrow-to-table hyperlocal food culture, held at our preeminent Spanish restaurant, Solera. And Managing Photographer Bill Kelley was there.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, September 26, 2012
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 lively lunch at Minneapolis' newest brewpub on its first day--and a first look at Paul's Ball.
Lee Chilcote Wednesday, September 19, 2012
If you've got a startup ready or revving, but don't happen to live in the investment hotbeds on the East or West coasts, it can be a challenge to fund your dreams. Enter crowd-sourced funding. Once pretty much limited to artistic projects like new bands, Kickstarter and its cousins are becoming the recourse of choice for a wider and wider array of baby businesses.
Springboard for the Arts Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Mike Fitzsimmons and John Grider, AKA Broken Crow, explain how the Irrigate initiative helped get their intense, stylish animal images up on a University Avenue business--helping that business to stand out during light rail construction.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, August 22, 2012
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.