Creative Economy : Featured Stories
Jon Spayde Wednesday, July 24, 2013
In a Q and A with The Line, marketer and theater maven Mayer asks: with nearly eighty professional theater companies in town, why don't we do more to promote theater as an attraction that sets the Twin Cities apart?
Jon Spayde Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Croissant-loving editor compares four of the finest products of local artisanship.
Jay Walljasper Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Jon Spayde Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Bill Kelley Wednesday, June 26, 2013
On Saturday night, lensman Bill Kelley braved the threat of another downpour to take some lively shots of Secret City, Minneapolis' answer to the Northern Spark alfresco arts festival, which was based solely in St Paul this year. Check out his images of Aztec dance, djs, fire performance, sound art, and a huge inflatable civic mood ring called MIMMI.
Project for Public Spaces Wednesday, June 19, 2013
"If urban planning is musical composition, then placemaking is improvisational street performance." Five tested tips for doing the much-talked-about, rarely defined, improvisational, street-level, people-oriented form of urban design that's rapidly replacing the old top-down paradigm in the Twin Cities and across the country.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, June 12, 2013
If you're on the board of directors of HUGE Theater in Minneapolis, you have to improvise. That is, you have to actually go onstage and do improv in a three-evening run that is also an official series of board meetings.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, June 12, 2013
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.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, June 05, 2013
For artist/gallerist Pete Driessen and the theater artists of Off-Leash Area, turning their garages into art spaces provided opportunities for innovation, experimentation, and freedom, very close to home. And the neighbors don't mind a bit.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The onetime marketing professional made a career u-turn when he discovered how gardening--and cooking and eating healthy produce right from the soil--could change lives. Now his nonprofit startup helps inner-city newcomers to gardening make healthy foods part of their lives.
Lee Chilcote Wednesday, May 22, 2013
While the Twin Cities duke it out with Portland over which metropolis sets the gold standard of bike culture, other cities--some of them unlikely--are becoming serious players in the boom. Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, DC, and Tampa are among the places where ingenious entrepreneurs are "riding" the new bike culture,
Jon Spayde Wednesday, May 22, 2013
It came into my mailbox the other day--Minneapolis' first-ever study of the impact of the creative sector on the city's bottom line, in terms of sales and employment. There were points of pride, surprises, and caveats, along with ample proof that the arts pull more than their weight in bringing prosperity to the city.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, May 08, 2013
The May Day Parade and Festival is our Mardi Gras--a heartfelt explosion of color, music, art, fun, and earth-friendliness after the weariness of long winters. Bill Kelley caught the parade action last Sunday in the Powderhorn neighborhood as Minneapolitans dressed up and rocked out to say goodbye to the cold.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, May 08, 2013
Monday night I joined urbanist Katherine Loflin, The Line publisher Dena Alspach, colleagues from the Citizens' League, an old magazine-biz pal, and a lively audience for some informal urbanism: an improv comedian emceeing a discussion about why people love/don't love the Twin Cities--and why they stay or go. Craft beer and Asian appetizers were in the mix.
Anna Pratt Wednesday, May 01, 2013
Jen Chilstrom and Kimberly Jurek have just opened (May 1) a new kind of fashion boutique. The Showroom is a combination retail shop/workshop/coworking space where local designers can come, work, exhibit, share ideas, and grow creatively.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, May 01, 2013
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, May 01, 2013
Monday, May 6, The Line and its civic partners kick off a weeklong Placemaking Residency with urbanist and placemaker Katherine Loflin, who knows why we love (or don't love) our cities.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, April 24, 2013
She was the key consultant on the Knight Foundation/Gallup Soul of the Community project, which looked at why people love where they live and how that attachment can drive economic development. The in-demand placemaker is the star attraction at a weeklong series of discussions next week, cosponsored by The Line.
Eric Peterson Wednesday, April 17, 2013
From Greenville, North Carolina to Baltimore, from Tampa to Denver to Cleveland to the Twin Cities, tech savvy, entrepreneurship, and investment are coming together to create bright clusters of digital innovation.
Holly Dolezalek Wednesday, April 10, 2013
While the dynamic CoCo garners the headlines, a quiet coworking space at the edge of downtown Minneapolis welcomes solo entrepreneurs in search of a more serene scene. Owner Jackie Menne understands the needs of one-person, payroll-less microbusinesses--after all, Joule is a microbusiness itself.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, April 10, 2013
What if, instead of you going to a farmers market, the market came to you? That's the vision of an entrepreneurial couple who want to create a fleet of truck-drawn trailers full of food from local farms. They're calling on Kickstarter for help and betting that the market for fresh, local food can only, well, grow.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, April 10, 2013
This week: Three of the Twin Cities most accomplished master-musicians represent three great cultural and spiritual traditions in a concert that spans centuries and civilizations.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, April 03, 2013
Consolidating its position as a laboratory for cutting-edge design thinking, the University of Minnesota's College of Design hosted the first Public Interest Design Week. Its climax was an awards show that displayed ingenious design-driven solutions to the dilemmas of poverty and ill health in America and around the world.
Jay Walljasper Wednesday, April 03, 2013
Art lives in the Twin Cities--and not just in the tonier parts of town. Thanks to initiatives like Twin Cities LISC's Building Sustainable Communities program, art and artists are taking major roles in helping some of our most challenged inner-city communities thrive.
Anna Pratt Wednesday, March 20, 2013
It's weathered industry exoduses and foreclosure--but now the proud old East Side Saint Paul neighborhood is home to a hot new bar/restaurant, Ward 6, that's both a sign of, and a force in, a wider renewal.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, March 20, 2013
On March 15, the nominees for this year's Minnesota Book Awards got together with the general public--not for the award ceremony, which isn't till April, but for some informal reading, book-buying and pressing of the flesh. Free (or mostly free) of the award-night jitters, it was a chance to celebrate our extremely vibrant literary community--and Bill Kelley was there.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, March 20, 2013
This week: You've heard of "yarn bombing," knitting as a kind of graffiti (knitted cozies around trees and phone poles, yarn symbols strung through the links of chain-link fences, etc.). But how about knitting as out-there performance art? Our most fabulous local yarnmeister, StevenBe, will be doing just that on March 23rd. How will he turn knitting into performance? By weaving in stories--yarns?--from his glamorous life.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Once the exclusive province of privileged young white men heading for law degrees, debate is flourishing in inner-city schools here, thanks to the Minnesota Urban Debate League. The disciplined, demanding, and fun "mind sport" is helping kids of color and of lower income develop study and thinking skills--and get into college.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Despite a feisty ongoing effort to keep it open, Saint Paul's much-loved College of Visual Arts is slated to close--all the more reason to hurry over there to hear a talk about a fascinating Baroque artist, given by a fascinating local art historian/entrepreneur.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, March 06, 2013
Stumbling upon the blog/online magazine that may be the one place to go if you want to know what smart young millennials in creative industries here are thinking and feeling. Hint: there's a lot of pop culture, irony, and a self-consciousness about hipsterdom that's intense but cheerful. And some serious stuff too.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Last Wednesday's kickoff event for the linkup between the search-engine giant and the local coworking space was full of energy, ambition, and promise for local entrepreneurs, some of whom think Silicon Prairie's ready to bloom.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, February 27, 2013
This week: A greeting card in a coffee shop sends me to a Minneapolis West Bank memorial that recalls a beloved, vanished building and honors the history and traditions of generations of West Bankers.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, February 20, 2013
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.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, February 13, 2013
This serious-minded but light-hearted nonprofit tutors at-risk kids in the coolest possible way--by matching them up with adults in creative industries. The result: deep connections, academic achievement, and fun for everybody.
Brendan Crain Wednesday, February 13, 2013
"Placemaking" is a powerful buzzword in 21st-century urbanism. Do we know what it actually means and whom it's supposed to serve? For Brendan Crain of New York's Project for Public Spaces, the idea that it's all about attracting talent to town and building the new economy is wrongheaded. Placemaking, Crain insists, should be rooted in the immediate needs of the people who already live here.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, February 06, 2013
When globetrotting dancers and choreographers Uri Sands and Toni Pierce-Sands, formerly of the Alvin Ailey company, decided to establish a new kind of multicultural dance school in Saint Paul, they knew where they wanted it to be: along the Central Corridor in the heart of the city.
Anna Pratt Wednesday, January 30, 2013
The bars and restaurants in this uber-trendy corner of downtown Minneapolis draw national attention. Meanwhile, developers, community groups, and residents are turning the surrounding neighborhood into a pleasantly dense, lively, and livable urban village.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, January 30, 2013
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: The Walker Art Center hosts an Aussie touring show unlike any you're likely to see this year.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Despite some women-led startups, high tech here, as elsewhere, is still more or less drowning in testosterone. But some strong local initiatives are pointing the way toward more opportunities for women to get their geek on.
Anna Pratt Wednesday, December 19, 2012
What is an art gallery? What should it do, not just for the artists it shows and the patrons who view and buy the art, but for the community as a whole? These are some of the questions Tricia Khutoretsky and her colleagues are asking as they prepare to debut a new, and rather oddly named, art space in Northeast Minneapolis.
Jay Walljasper Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Jay Walljasper checks in with British urbanist Charles Landry, who recaps his experience touring the Twin Cities, meeting a wide array of local urban changemakers, and applying his principles of city vitality to our reality. And Landry draws some conclusions about how our towns can thrive in the coming decades.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, December 19, 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 look back at 2012 in the local lit world, courtesy of a new web site that keeps track of live poetry and prose events.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, December 12, 2012
On December 7 and 8, Minneapolis' Midtown Global Market turned hyper-crafty as 96 hand-makers of beautiful, funny, and freaky objects gathered to sell their wares. It was more than a holiday craft fair--it was a celebration of the Twin Cities as a leader in the new crafts movement. Our photographer, Bill Kelley, was there.
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.
Tom Niemisto, MN 2020 Wednesday, December 05, 2012
The Theater of Public Policy, cofounded by the improbably named improv guy Tane Danger, uses comedy to probe public issues. Call it improvisational democracy, with real situations, serious intentions, and plenty of laughs.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, December 05, 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: An evening at the JoyFace Poetry and Arts Collective's pop-up celebration, the Full Blast Bliss Reading and Art Show.
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.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, October 31, 2012
No doubt about it: the aristocracy of the circus are the aerialists, the trapeze and high-wire and other up-in-the-air artists who defy gravity (and major injury or death) by soaring high above the crowd. There's a deceptively modest-looking place in Northeast Minneapolis where you can study these arcane skills, and photographer Bill Kelley paid it a recent visit.
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 24, 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: The frightening challenge of not messing up sushi-making at a new, hands-on cooking school.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Web journalist, Ruby on Rails geek, entrepreneur, and DIY maven Bruno Bornsztein, founder of Curbly.com and a handful of other sites, typifies the tech-savvy business guy circa 2012. But his most intriguing characteristic might be the limit he's put on his ambition.
Joe Sheeran Wednesday, October 10, 2012
In the push for STEM-oriented education, are we underplaying the creative and communicative skills that 21st-century business needs just as badly as it needs math and science competence? Minnesota 20/20 communications director Joe Sheeran asks the question in a recent blog post.
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.
Jacie Knight Wednesday, October 03, 2012
The founder and artistic director of Youth Performance Company reflects on what she's learned from the kids she works with about the real source of the "bullying epidemic" in our schools--and why she commissioned a musical theater piece to deal with it.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, October 03, 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 IFP Minnesota Center for Media Arts lauds James Bakkom, a one-of-a-kind artist who also contributed to some of our region's finest achievements in theater and film.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, September 26, 2012
The Dakota War of 1862, the survival of Native languages, Minneapolis' urban Indian heartland--these were the challenging themes that a group of young Native filmmakers took up this summer at an innovative media institute dedicated to reconnecting them with their roots.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, September 19, 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: Check out a mashup of comedy, improv, belly dancing, and scary knowledge this Sunday.
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, September 12, 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 pair of highly unusual--as in flamboyantly libidinous--eco-activists bring their film-in-progress to town.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, August 22, 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: Midway Contemporary Art's library, a genuine hidden treasure.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Our yearly onstage carnival of the odd, the eloquent, the poignant, and the perverse is over for 2012. Bill Kelley was in the audience at the Rarig Center and Intermedia Arts to record six of the 163 shows that took the Fringe stages between August 2 and 12. From a raucous burlesque version of a classic TV sketch to Chinese dance to a surreal Dust Bowl fable, here are images of performance at its edgiest.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, August 08, 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 lunchtime celebration of local Japanese food.
Michelle Bruch Wednesday, July 25, 2012
How are Minnesota and the Twin Cities doing as film production centers and locations? There have been some major disappointments recently, but new moves give us reason to hope we can lure Hollywood back.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, July 25, 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 sublimely glittery Peace House mural is headed for destruction--and a kind of resurrection.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, July 18, 2012
What can the Twin Cities learn from other communities' success with municipal broadband? For one thing, that "bright cable" has a bright future. For another, that every city's situation is different.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, July 18, 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 wild chalkboard mural full of literary allusions enlivens the SubText bookstore's subterranean Saint Paul space.
Minnesota Orchestra Wednesday, July 18, 2012
The massive renovation of the Minnesota Orchestra's home is far from over, but that doesn't mean we can't tour the completed Orchestra Hall digitally.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, July 11, 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: Watch the local entries in the 48-Hour Film Project--and quaff a microbrew or two.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Every organization that wants to make a buck wants a social-media presence. But do you have any idea what the Facebook fan page, the Twitter feed, the Foursquare ID really imply for your business? Pioneer social-media onsultant Jennifer Kane knows, and she compares it to parenthood.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Last Saturday afternoon, the big green field next to the Walker Art Center--where the Guthrie Theatre once stood--morphed into the city's biggest open-air music venue for Rock the Garden 2012. Bill Kelley's images capture the indie-energy.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, June 20, 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: Get to know Irrigate, our public-spirited and art-fueled Central Corridor placemaking project.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, June 13, 2012
In the final Talk-It Hennepin forum on the redevelopment of Hennepin Avenue, experts touched on some touchy subjects, like the purpose of public space, who gets to use it and how, the role of memory in placemaking, and how to celebrate diversity without creating ethnic Disneylands.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, June 13, 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 city once synonymous with dullness has got its urban act together.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, June 06, 2012
They show up in unlikely places around town--scores of yoga practitioners practicing their poses and tossing charitable contributions into a kitty. It's rogue yoga and grassroots philanthropy, and as it grows in popularity, the three women who started it want to keep it unpredictable.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, June 06, 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 rediscovery reconnects me with an unorthodox, original man whose elegant essays helped lay the groundwork for "placemaking."
Bill Kelley Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Managing Photographer Bill Kelley talked to some friends, checked in with some experts, and wandered the city a bit on his own to find the local street art that appealed to him the most. Herewith, his images of art meant to make you stop, look, have a startle reaction, and then continue on your way, energized.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, May 23, 2012
We check in with the literate, stylistically adventurous singer, rapper, writer, and Doomtree hip-hop collective member to get her take on the Twin Cities as a creative community and a nurturer of bold DIY music.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, May 23, 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 preview of what the Walker has in store for its stage.
Karen Olson Wednesday, May 16, 2012
"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.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, May 16, 2012
In town to talk about the Central Corridor, Hennepin Avenue, and other local nodes of city planning, lauded urbanist Charles Landry called for an approach that integrates the cities' diverse cultures into a rich, essentially artistic, mix--and makes everyone feel appreciated and included.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, May 09, 2012
The masterminds behind an ambitious--and nonprofit--little Lyndale Avenue venue called HUGE are taking the Twin Cities improv comedy scene to a new level.
Susan Klemond Wednesday, May 09, 2012
Need a kicky pair of high heels or an affordable, eco-friendly coffin? Two shops sharing a building on Saint Paul's evolving Smith Avenue are ready to help with fashion or funerals.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, May 02, 2012
The New Orleans-based public artist, known for whimsical, low-tech projects that get people talking about the intersection between their cities and their lives, was here to kick off an inquiry into the transformation of Hennepin Avenue and the future of our towns.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, May 02, 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: Let's get our towns deeper into The City 2.0, the exciting urban-idea initiative promoted by TED.
Don Lee Wednesday, April 25, 2012
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.
Douglas Trattner Wednesday, April 25, 2012
They've all ditched a "regular" job to work with their hands, creating beautiful and useful things. Their stories show what it takes: a vision, courage, a willingness to watch your pennies, and a lot of love.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, April 25, 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: an infographic that makes some amusing and very fine distinctions between two closely related species.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, April 18, 2012
From books to documentaries to television appearances, Geoffrey Canada has earned accolades as an education reform leader and the head of Harlem Children’s Zone. Last week he was in Minneapolis to speak to a convention of youth and educators involved in the service-learning movement, where he told them "you never know when you'll be needed."
Bill Kelley Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Saint Paul's Selby Avenue is the home of some celebrated and beloved local institutions. But for this issue, lensman Bill Kelley took portraits of Selby Avenue places that may be a bit below your radar unless you know the street well--plus some cool new businesses that have popped up in recent months. It's our effort to show how one of the Saintly City's most attractive, even genteel, streets is also one of its most dynamic and diverse.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, April 18, 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: SnakPak, one museum professional's off-the-wall online compendium of wit and beauty.
Nancy Crotti Wednesday, April 11, 2012
The teeshirts bearing the brand Forgotten are articles of faith as well as articles of clothing. The fledgling company was created to help the Ugandan farmers and cotton spinners who create the shirts and the inner-city Minneapolis teens who screen-print them. Now a major rock tour is set to take Forgotten gear to a new level.
Graeme Thickins and Mark Gritter Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Minnebar, our annual, semi-structured geek get-together, is becoming a tradition and a real force in the local tech community. This year's conference happened on Saturday, April 7--and two experienced tech bloggers gave their views of the confab soon after. Here are some excerpts.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, April 11, 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 web site that makes hiking through our towns an exercise in historical imagination.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, April 04, 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 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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, March 28, 2012
German-born Katharina (Katie) Eggers has studied politics in Paris, taught in Thailand, and worked as a UN-EU liaison in Brussels. Now this young, internationally connected overachiever is preparing to launch a print magazine that will highlight the Twin Cities' connections to the nation and the world. And she has some pointed things to say about what it's like to be a newcomer in our towns.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, March 28, 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: Do you live in, or know about, a great microneighborhood in Minneapolis or Saint Paul? A block, an alley, a corner where people come together regularly to have fun and share their lives? Tell us about it.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Native American trail, gaudy entertainment district, forge of gay consciousness, showcase of the arts: Minneapolis' Hennepin Avenue has been all of these and more. Recently, historians, urbanists, and the public gathered to explore the avenue's colorful history as part of the city's initiative to shape its future.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, March 14, 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 visit from an old friend, a lunch on Mears Park, and a film about an ancient pilgrim route produce a Spanish-accented take on Twin Cities cosmopolitanism.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, March 07, 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, 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.
Holly Dolezalek Wednesday, March 07, 2012
This concept-contest, with a deadline later this month, not only rewards great ideas for a better Minnesota--it helps make them happen. This year's theme: connecting across cultures and faiths as the state becomes less white, less Lutheran, less Lake Wobegon.
Anna Pratt Wednesday, February 29, 2012
A far-seeing developer and an innovative culinary artist are turning a hard-luck Minneapolis intersection around with present and future projects that are "artisan, local, sustainable."
Jon Spayde Wednesday, February 29, 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: Carlyle Brown's American Family opens at Saint Paul's Park Square Theatre in mid-March. It's the nationally acclaimed, locally based playwright's first attempt to explore the black experience through a white central character. And it will also mark Brown's first appearance onstage at Park Square.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, February 22, 2012
A handful of local coffee shops are redefining the coffee experience as an art form. From sourcing to roasting, grinding to "latte art," their watchword is quality. If you're looking for quick joe to grab and go, you may need to adjust your expectations upward.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, February 22, 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 look at an innovative art-and-ideas center in Omaha that we just might want to emulate.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, February 08, 2012
He's an architect in a hot firm who also builds model rockets and raises African desert tortoises. She's a psychologist. artist, and author. Their Merriam Park house is as vibrant and unconventional as they are. But getting it built required convincing the neighborhood that they weren't "the enemy."
Jon Spayde Wednesday, February 08, 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 first five of my Top Ten Reasons to Visit (and Love) the Twin Cities. It's a list of offbeat but worthy places and happenings that you might miss if you only visit our big-ticket attractions.
Bill Kelley, Jon Spayde Wednesday, February 01, 2012
In one magical zone in the Twin Cities, there's a loon made of junk, a chimney covered in shattered glass and ceramic shards, and a place to buy tarantulas. It's called the Central Corridor. Here's a second look at what photographer Bill Kelley and managing editor Jon Spayde picked out last year as they traveled down University Avenue and Washington Avenue, seeking out their favorite offbeat, oddball, one-of-a-kind things.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, January 18, 2012
It's a hip hybrid of retail poster shop, design studio, and coworking space where some of Saint Paul's most entrepreneurial artists gather around--yes!--a big table. And it's a bold move to help build up downtown, too.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The Twin Cities poster scene is flourishing, and one of its epicenters is Big Table Studio in Saint Paul, which Camille LeFevre
profiled a couple of weeks ago. Herewith are Managing Photographer Bill Kelley's images of some of his favorite posters on display and for sale at Big Table, by various local artists, celebrating love, evil, beer, bikes, bands, and other exciting facts of life.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, January 18, 2012
One of the major influences on Big Table Studio (see feature above) has been Jenni Undis' Lunalux print shop and paper-goods store in Minneapolis. So we thought it would be opportune to re-run our Lunalux feature from 2011, in which we describe how Undis combines charm and cool, tradition and innovation. (By the way, the other major influence on Big Table is the CoCo coworking space--check out our Big Picture feature below for more on that.)
Jon Spayde Wednesday, January 11, 2012
In a season of economic gloom and doom, the veteran business developer and partner in the CoCo coworking spaces sees a hopeful future in the bright eyes and collaborative ethics of young entrepreneurs.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, December 21, 2011
"Coopetition"--cooperation among competitors or potential competitors--was a force to be reckoned with in the Twin Cities during 2011. Our politics may be gridlocked in partisanship, but the smartest entrepreneurs and civic officials locally are embracing a wider vision than the zero-sum game.
Susan Klemond Wednesday, November 30, 2011
A couple of distinguished local boutique chocolatiers, one big and one small, are helping holiday chocolate lovers forget the foil-wrapped Santa--with high-cacao-content, eco-conscious, elegant bonbons and truffles.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, November 16, 2011
What's the purpose of meetings, meetups, networking? New ideas, new opportunities, certainly. But for Craig and Patricia Neal, face-to-face gatherings can have a deeper purpose: the transformation of consciousness and, ultimately, of the way we live and do business. Their Heartland company was founded to prove the point.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, November 16, 2011
With no agenda, no speaker list, and a very relaxed schedule, Minnesota's first City Camp "unconference" brought geeks and government-heads together for a radically democratic exploration of how we might design Democracy 2.0.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, November 09, 2011
When her husband left her, her innovative postnatal-care company, her finances, and her hope for the future hit the skids. But then, with courage, savvy, and some high-powered help, she came back, big time.
Anna Pratt Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Did you know that there's a National Park right in the middle of the Twin Cities metro? It's long and narrow, and it's called the Mississippi River. The National Park Service and its local ally, the Mississippi River Fund, want you to know more about our stretch of the river. Get your cell phones, tablets, and laptops out.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Vikas Narula learned early that informal networks of power and influence may be more important to a business than its official org chart. So he started a consultancy to help companies identify their unofficial movers and shakers.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Often, says Concordia University economist and biz-school dean Bruce Corrie, our minority and immigrant communities are seen solely through the "problem" lens. Their struggles are real, but their contributions to our prosperity and potential for growth are greater than most majority Minnesotans realize. And Corrie's got the figures to prove it.
Susan Klemond Wednesday, October 05, 2011
The Twin Cities-based importer of hard-to-find European chocolate sees it as much, much more than a confection. For her, the finest chocolate, like the best wine, has the power to change our lives for the better. That's why she's passionate about issues like cacao percentages, and why she pairs yoga and tai chi classes with chocolate tastings.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Following our selection of some favorite public artworks in Saint Paul two weeks ago, here is our take on the beautiful and the quirky in Minneapolis outdoor art--minus the Spoonbridge and Cherry, which is terrific but a little overexposed. It's just a taste of the richness available, designed to get you outside looking at art before the snow flies.
Elissa Cedarleaf Dahl Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Muralist, public-school teacher, and MCAD professor Elissa Cedarleaf Dahl has a big idea for Minneapolis: a mural program that would engage at-risk kids, create beautiful public art all over the city, and celebrate our neighborhoods and the people who live in them.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, September 14, 2011
There's always something happening on Hennepin Avenue. The wide, lively downtown Minneapolis boulevard has long specialized in entertainment, from the funky to the family-friendly to the high-cultural. Camille LeFevre reports on the kickoff event of an ambitious project that will transform it. The method? Placemaking, with an accent on the arts.
Jeremy Stratton Wednesday, August 24, 2011
CrashPlan, the backup software from Minneapolis-based Code 42, is a major local tech success. Matthew Dornquast, cofounder of the company, has learned some serious lessons about how to do tech startups--like spending a little more time on details and letting your passion show.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, August 10, 2011
A web site's judgment that Minnesota is "the most hipster state" set me wondering about our homegrown sources of cool. Have we become hip by simply being ourselves?
Meleah Maynard Wednesday, August 03, 2011
The hot design-and-marketing shop helps clients win over today's fickle, informed consumers by going way beyond advertising to create product designs and whole new brands that are too cool to ignore.
Meleah Maynard Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Here's a second look at artist-adman Robb Burnham's images of our towns, which we first ran in June: a flute player silhouetted against a towering Gold Medal sign. The orange-lit back door of the Poodle Club. A turreted Saint Paul house with one room illuminated as night comes on. Burnham's drawings capture in a subtle way the soul of our towns.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, June 15, 2011
A hunger for authenticity as well as for good food--that's what's driving the renaissance of the small neighborhood restaurant here, according to star restaurateur Kim Bartmann. And for Bartmann, authenticity goes a lot deeper than you might think.
Jeremy Stratton Wednesday, June 08, 2011
When Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson got the idea of persuading businesses to give their employees a new kind of freedom--work where and when you like, as long as you get the job done--they hoped the idea would spread around the country and the world. That seems to be happening.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Every summer Northeast Minneapolis struts its artistic stuff at Art-a-Whirl, which bills itself as the largest open-studio and gallery tour in the country, and which highlights the rapid growth of this fine old residential neighborhood into a magnet for artists, gallerists, and edgy restaurateurs. Bill Kelley's images capture the visual--and musical--richness.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, May 25, 2011
For many observers, our high-tech sector is in crisis. There aren't enough angel investors and we've lost our edge. Dan Grigsby, one of the most successful software entrepreneurs in Minnesota, doesn't buy it. In a conversation with The Line, he explains why we don't need to be Silicon Prairie, create the next Facebook, or even worry about venture capital.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, May 25, 2011
On The Line's first birthday, managing editor Jon Spayde takes a moment to reflect on what he's learned about his adopted hometowns in a year. Like the amazing depth of our talent pool, the spirit behind our entrepreneurial energy, and our shyness about self-promotion.
Dan Heilman Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Where Raymond Avenue meets University, artists and innovators have been living and working for decades, lured by cheap rents and a friendly, funky vibe. What will happen to them as light rail comes through, bringing construction disruption now--and an unpredictable development pattern later? The newly formed South Saint Anthony Park Creative Enterprise Zone aims to keep the neighborhood weird--and welcoming.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, May 11, 2011
LOHAS means "Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability"--people concerned with health, the environment, social justice, and personal growth who buy $290 billion worth of goods and services in support of these ideals. The first regional LOHAS conference kicks off tomorrow at the U of M, for merchants, marketers, and others who want to reach these consumers.
Dale Connelly Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Our Resident Tourist continues his exploration of the Twin Cities by dropping in to Ignite Minneapolis, the forum where speakers get five minutes--and not a millisecond more--to excite a crowd with an idea, a vision, a product, or a point of view. Pressure? You bet. Half the audience are Tweeting instant reviews as they listen.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
"I basically took what was happening in the Twin Cities creatively and made my own resume," says Kate Iverson, a triple- or quadruple-threat art promoter, gallerist, and online journalist who lives at the hyperspeedily evolving interface of art, design, and social-media communication. We could think of no better person to fill us in on where those worlds meet in our towns, and to let us in on some of her favorite trendsters and Twitterers.
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Here's an update on 4Front, the ambitious project initiated by local adman/marketer John Foley to make the Twin Cities a world-class innovation hub by calling international attention to our achievements and persuading top creative talent from around the world to come here to work and live. The means? Annual awards in four major areas of innovation, and a world's-fair-like showcase. Foley and a stellar board of directors are working on funding, planning a fall kickoff event, and mulling a new way to connect prizewinners with the community.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Our world-class contemporary-art showcase, the Walker Art Center, will be celebrating--and inspiring--made-in-Minnesota creativity this coming Saturday, April 9, with MN Made, a day of events and workshops keyed to our lovable local blend of sophistication and earthiness. The Walker, like The Line, defines creativity in capacious terms, so you'll not only be able to take part in a crafts sale, seed art and knitting workshops, a gallery tour, and a neo-folkie concert, but you can glean tips on chucking your day job and starting your own offbeat business.
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
When James Garrett Jr., Nathan Johnson, and Erick Goodlow formed an architectural firm, they vowed to do more than create attractive buildings. The three Saint Paulites knew the city and its needs from the ground up, and they wanted to make an impact on the whole urban fabric. Via their company, 4RM+ULA, they're bringing a holistic design sense to some of the highest-profile projects in the Twin Cities--including the Central Corridor.
Michelle Bruch Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Don Smithmier starts companies without worrying about crafting a single image for himself. In fact, he calls the Minneapolis office of Matter Worldwide, his umbrella company, "the physical manifestation of my weird brain." It contains four companies he founded or in which he's a partner: a music studio, a web design firm, a web news aggregator, and a bold new venture in online learning. And then there's his country-and-western band...
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
The Twin Cities design community wields not just national, but international influence. The U of M is developing alliances between its design college and some unlikely partners as design expands from crafting objects to organizing human experience. The economic meltdown, the Katrina aftermath, and the BP oil spill could have been avoided if those in charge had thought like designers. These are some of the insights from Tom Fisher, Dean of the University of Minnesota's College of Design, in the first of our "Big Picture" interviews.
Dale Connelly Wednesday, February 09, 2011
With their Couchoid, their Blockoid, and a sofa bed called The One-Night Stand, the men behind Minneapolis' Blu Dot furniture line make it clear how much they like to tweak the solemn "celebrity designer" image as they craft affordable furniture that is way too cool to be trendy. Our Resident Tourist, Dale Connelly, gets the deets on a company that is as devoted to insouciance as it is to start-to-finish craftsmanship.
Holly Dolezalek Wednesday, January 12, 2011
A survey by the Knight Foundation and Gallup found that cities do better economically when the people in them want to stay in them.It also found that Twin Citians are held here by many things, including our arts and cultural amenities, our parks and recreational advantages, and our improving transit picture. With a new year has come a new political climate, and fiscal challenges continue at all levels of government. What does this mean for our likelihood of holding on to the things that keep people loving the Cities? Holly Dolezalek asked some experts.
Michelle Bruch Wednesday, December 15, 2010
When USA Network needed a new brand identity, some of the biggest ad agencies in North America competed for the account. The winner? An 11-person agency in Minneapolis with a company brand so low-key that they don't even capitalize their name. Since then, mono has become one of the hottest shops in America, applying loads of hip midwestern creative power to the proposition that simple messages are the most memorable.
Chris Steller Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Like it or not, the Twin Cities are competing with major metropolises around the world--we're talking Amsterdam, London, Tokyo, and the like--to attract creative, innovative, entrepreneurial people who can live anywhere. That's the message of adman John Foley, whose brand-new nonprofit, 4Front, aims to raise awareness of this high-stakes situation by creating a yearly festival that's part competition, part showcase of Twin Cities innovation. The goal: to lure the best and brightest worldwide to our towns.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, October 13, 2010
To celebrate the creation a graduate minor in product design, and raise awareness of the field within the Twin Cities' vibrant design community, the University of Minnesota's College of Design held a wide-ranging symposium on the discipline of designing objects to sell. Experts weighed in on everything from the role of humor in design creativity to the popularity of vintage clothing stores--and more than one presenter warned that the increasing geographical separation of design centers from factories is weakening product design in the US and favoring China, where designers and producers interact with ease.
Meleah Maynard Wednesday, October 06, 2010
Think of them as small, elegant design objects you live in. They take a whole lot less time to put up than your average house--even your average little house--because they are almost entirely prefabricated. They're weeHouses by St. Paul's Alchemy Architects, and they're a hot commodity in the national, and even international, design world.
Dan Haugen Wednesday, September 22, 2010
The three self-confessed "broke, clueless twenty-somethings" who put out MPLS.TV five days a week want to take their cheeky, edgy web-video love letter to the cities to the next level. With new offices in Northeast, a growing fan base and social-media profile, and no end of new ideas, they just might make it.
Amy Goetzman Wednesday, September 08, 2010
When Lili Hall moved her hip marketing agency, KNOCK, from the Warehouse District into a massively remodeled former grocery market on Glenwood Avenue, eyebrows were raised. After all, the street was best known for the municipal impound lot, vacant storefronts, and vast stretches of cracked concrete. But Hall is sure that Glenwood's creative resources (International Market Square, for one) and its role as a gateway to downtown foretell a cool future for the struggling street--and she intends to help it happen.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, September 01, 2010
What happens when an architect designs a house for a designer or some other creative-industry professional? In the Twin Cities, the result is likely to be both stylistically ambitious and sensitive--to the neighborhood, to the neighbors, and to the planet. Two projects by a couple of the area's premier architects show how hip new houses can both stand out and fit in.
Molly Priesmeyer Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Colin Kloecker and Shanai Matteson recently got married--but the wedding was only one of the many connections they've been making as members of Works Progress, a wide-ranging, multi-project organization dedicated to bringing people, ideas, and new perspectives on culture together. Call it face-to-face Facebook, a sharing of real concepts and real skills in the real world, all done in the spirit of improvisation and artistic innovation.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Our intrepid, and maybe just a little lonesome, freelancer Elizabeth Millard decided to road-test Saint Paul's two coworking spaces--offices where people like her, who would normally toil at home or in coffee shops, gather for mutual support, idea swapping, and random chitchat in between bouts of work. This is office life without managers, a dress code, or water-cooler grousing. And there are pancakes.
Dan Haugen Wednesday, July 28, 2010
There's a pair of European-born marketers who, from a table in a literary coffee shop in Minneapolis, turn the earth itself into an ad platform. Dutchman Maikel van de Mortel and Icelander Bjorgvin Saevarsson stamp logos into snowbanks, draw slogans in dirt and dust, and plant flower gardens that spell out client identities. The Internet loves it, and so do the duo's mostly European and coastal-US clients. Is this the earthy new face of advertising?
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Garrio Harrison believes that social media like Facebook and Twitter aren't just the latest slick marketing strategy--they've fundamentally changed the way we do business by making everything, including buying and selling, more personal, more connected, and more human. And he's founded the all-social-media-all-the-time marketing firm Doublethink to prove his point.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, May 26, 2010
What's the special sauce that makes so many bright people who come here stay here--and a lot people who go away, come back? (And what do we need to make that sauce even richer?) Some local creative types weigh in.