Featured Stories
Claire Nelson & John Notarianni Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Urban revitalization is not built on stadiums and skyscrapers alone. Vibrant cities begin with passionate people working on the ground, doing the creative heavy lifting to make their communities better. Leading up to Urban Innovation Exchange Sept. 24-26 in Detroit, we take a look at 13 small projects with big potential.
Brian Martucci Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Two years ago, Lars Christiansen and Nancy Fischer sold their car and plunged into the Twin Cities’ rich network of public and alternative modes of transportation, which led to a healthier lifestyle and innovating the Friendly Streets Initiative.
Brian Martucci Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Driven by the seemingly boundless energy of local creatives, community leaders and entrepreneurs, Minneapolis-St. Paul’s burgeoning startup culture shows no signs of slowing down. Here are 10 compelling, life-changing startups to know about now.
Sheila Regan Wednesday, September 10, 2014
NEA, ArtPlace and others have poured millions of dollars toward creative placemaking projects in the Twin Cities in recent years. What are the street-level results of those investments?
Nicole Rupersburg Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Aiken is a painter, an illustrator, a graphic artist, a muralist, a lecturer, a curator, an arts advocate, and a community collaborator. This article is republished from Creative Exchange.
Kyle Mianulli Wednesday, August 20, 2014
During these coveted warm months, wherever the people go, an army of gourmet and artisan food trucks are sure to follow. Here are six new food trucks hitting Twin Cities' streets that you might have missed. Get out and try something delicious.
Matthew Lewis & Claire Nelson Wednesday, August 13, 2014
"What's next for your city?" That the question Urban Innovation Exchange (UIX) will explore at its first national convening this September 24-26, 2014 in Detroit.
Brian Martucci Wednesday, August 13, 2014
The Twin Cities is emerging as a hotbed of innovative agricultural activity. An ambitious group of producers and retailers aims to redefine what it means to be local, and give retaurants and consumers more control over what they eat and drink.
Issue Media Group Wednesday, August 06, 2014
Despite our love of micro-brews, many of the ingredients in our favorite beers haven't been sourced locally. That's changing as brewers tap into the local farming movement in their communities to add more fresh flavors and ingredients.
Brian Martucci Wednesday, August 06, 2014
MSP isn't usually mentioned in the same breath as Silicon Valley and Austin. But our local tech startup scene is leaping forward due to homegrown co-working companies, which lower barriers to success, growth and profitability through collaboration.
Kyle Mianulli Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Is life better without a car? For Patricia Blakely, of Minneapolis, the answer is a resounding “yes!” In her book Carfree Living: Happy in the Not So Fast Lane, and this article, she outlines five simple steps to going car free.
Brian Martucci Wednesday, July 16, 2014
CoCo's coworking spaces, NiceRide's ubiquitous bikes and incubator kitchens were just the beginning. The sharing economy storming the Twin Cities also includes a burgeoning ridesharing (or carsharing) phenomenon.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, July 09, 2014
After decades of population loss, many cities are now growing faster than the rest of their metro areas. Urban living is now the new normal. What amenities are necessary to sustain a dense and vibrant city? The answers might surprise you.
Dan Heilman Wednesday, July 09, 2014
Summer in Minneapolis-St. Paul is all about getting out and about. Here are 10 homegrown apps to help you make the most of your summer in the cities.
Ann Klefstad Wednesday, June 18, 2014
The third in our series on Twin Cities artists who build community: Asia Ward integrates the arts and sciences in her public workshops, classes, interactive installations, presentations and artwork, to create the unexpected.
John Comazzi Wednesday, June 18, 2014
The Twin Cities metro is a hotbed of manufacturers and fabricators innovating and growing their businesses to provide easier, faster, less expensive solutions for design and construction challenges.
Lee Chilcote Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Issue Media Group publications such as The Line in Minneapolis-St. Paul, 83 Degrees in Tampa, Confluence in Denver and Model D in Detroit cover "what's next" for urban centers. In this recurring feature, we highlight the top stories in urban innovation from all across our national network.
Kyle Mianulli Wednesday, June 11, 2014
More than providing a convenient, environmentally friendly transit option, the $957 million Green Line light-rail project down the Central Corridor is proving a catalyst for rejuvenating the once vibrant, 11-mile spine connecting the Twin Cities.
Lee Chilcote Wednesday, June 04, 2014
For today's top talent, the job market is only one thing to consider when choosing where to live. They also want a vibrant city to plug into, a creative place where they can network with other smart people, and a dynamic place where they can find their next job.
Chris Dall Wednesday, June 04, 2014
Navigation and exploration are at the heart of Studio/E, a Twin Cities-based entrepreneurial experience. In collaboration with the James J. Hill Library and Babson College, Studio/E brings 24 participants together for four days of exploration into the meaning and the mindset of entrepreneurship.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, June 04, 2014
What turns a pint at the local microbrewery into a feast? Transforms ho-hum lunch hours into culinary adventures? Generates curbside communities? Tests an entrepreneur's appetite for a new business? Twin Cities food trucks!
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, May 21, 2014
A sneak peek at the solar initiatives of a Twin Cities homeowner, nonprofit and entrepreneurial restaurant/farm featured during the EcoMetro Sustainable Living Tour on May 31 sponsored by the Minnesota Renewable Energy Society.
Jay Walljasper Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Gil Penalosa—former Parks Commissioner in Bogota, Colombia, and now president of the 8-80 Cities think tank—toured the Twin Cities speaking at 17 events from the East Side to Wayzata as part of the Third Annual Placemaking Residency.
Lee Chilcote Wednesday, May 14, 2014
A roundup of top innovation stories across the Issue Media Group network, including incubator kitchens, a new "High Line" and housing.
Kyle Mianulli Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Welcome to a new series on Twin Cities' residents who live car-free by walking, bicycling and using Metro Transit. Ali Lozoff: "If I can navigate this city all hours of the day and night on a bus, then anyone can do it.”
Conrad deFiebre Wednesday, May 07, 2014
While it's true that climate has an influence on the extent of nonmotorized transportation from place to place, it's probably not the way you assume. Across the nation, cold-weather locales like ours are nearly indistinguishable from the rest.
Brian Martucci Wednesday, May 07, 2014
Since the passage of the Surly Bill 2012, craft-beer entrepreneurs have rapidly opened breweries with taprooms in neighborhoods throughout Minneapolis and St. Paul. All are doing their part to turn neighborhoods into top-of-mind destinations.
Sheila Regan Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Since 2010, JXTA has been providing paid opportunities for young people to gain skills in art and design. These youth make an hourly wage, between minimum wage and $10 per hour, while being trained in areas like graphic design and contemporary art.
Eric Peterson Wednesday, April 23, 2014
From Seattle to Washington D.C., alleys are being reinvented as people-friendly spaces. Often perceived as dirty and dangerous, alleys are moving beyond garbage and garages to become havens for pedestrians, public art and small business.
Brian Martucci Wednesday, April 23, 2014
The second in our series on Twin Cities artists who build community: Amanda Lovelee, a St. Paul City Artist in Residence, uses big tables, wildflowers, square dancing and love stories to convert people to the power of interpersonal connection through public art.
Jay Walljasper Wednesday, April 16, 2014
The Central Corridor is becoming the Twin Cities' new cultural hotspot showcasing local diversity, bringing communities closer together, and boosting economic opportunities.
Brian Martucci Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Creative CityMaking, Intermedia Arts’ bold placemaking, problem-solving collaboration with the City of Minneapolis, recently received a three-year grant that promises to deepen the initiative’s reach in previously unimaginable ways.
Anne Jin Soo Preston Wednesday, April 09, 2014
Incubator or community kitchens have been gaining momentum in the Twin Cities, bringing together food entrepreneurs, ingredients, and innovation.
Richard J. Alley Wednesday, April 09, 2014
The City of Memphis is on the rise thanks to a growing startup community, investments in bike lanes, a burgeoning arts district, and people moving back to the city. Through it all, the city has listened to its residents and embraced "lean urbanism."
Brian Martucci Wednesday, April 09, 2014
Rewire is ambitious “cross-platform” initiative innovated by TPT to speak directly to Millennials—and bridge and reinvigorate TPT’s programming.
Nicole Rupersburg Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Issue Media Group (The Line's parent company) has launched Creative Exchange, a national online platform for storytelling and resource sharing around creativity and community. Saint Paul artist/organizer Oskar Ly was featured in the first issue.
Frank Edgerton Martin Wednesday, March 19, 2014
James Corner, who re-imagined New York City's wildly popular urban destination, the High Line, is the latest to re-envision Nicollet Mall's potential as a vital, urban public space.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, March 12, 2014
From beer sampling to wearable tech to Pecha Kucha, Club Entrepreneur is cultivating new business relationships and startups by supporting Twin Cities' innovators with actionable content and connections.
Jennifer Gilhoi Wednesday, March 12, 2014
How groups at the University of Minnesota are using design thinking as the creative approach to explore new ways of working and collaborating.
Ann Klefstad Wednesday, March 05, 2014
The first article in a new series on Twin Cities artists who build community, activate space, engage viewers, and stimulate interaction or dialogue with their work, and how their creative placemaking helps reveal and enhance community identity.
Lee Chilcote Wednesday, March 05, 2014
A roundup of stories across the Issue Media Group Network, including ridesharing, hot neighborhoods and the brewing boom.
Conrad deFiebre Wednesday, February 19, 2014
The Green Line sets the stage for a full regional transit network unlike anything we've seen since the heyday of the streetcars.
Carl Atiya Swanson Wednesday, February 19, 2014
The Minneapolis theater company Ten Thousand Things builds connections both radical and backed by tradition by telling stories for intimate and often non-traditional audiences, with the lights up and minimal staging, using the power of communal imagination.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Museums across the Twin Cities are re-thinking traditional museum practices, to attract and increase engagement with untapped audiences and thrive in the 21st century, including the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Brian Martucci Wednesday, February 12, 2014
How key non-profits have forged partnerships with healthcare institutions along the Green Line to generate corridors of opportunity for job seekers, residents, and communities.
Rachel Kaufman Wednesday, February 05, 2014
Smart cities like Saint Paul are renovating their train stations (like the multi-modal hub Union Depot) into neighborhood and urban amenities.
Anna Pratt Wednesday, February 05, 2014
Brian Martucci Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Few organizations have done more to connect locally minded craft-beer enthusiasts with the startups that drive Minnesota’s resurgent brewing industry than the Beer Dabbler, which holds its Beer Dabbler Winter Carnival on January 25.
Conrad deFiebre Wednesday, January 22, 2014
New studies, national honors, and expanding facilities for two-wheel mobility all reflect sturdy growth of this economical, healthful, environmentally sound, and social-fabric-friendly way of getting around.
Brian Martucci Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Finalists have been selected for the second annual Creative City Challenge. The winning, interdisciplinary, public-art installation--selected by popular vote this winter--will be open all summer on the Minneapolis Convention Center plaza.
Brian Martucci Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Jessica Harjo, a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota’s Design MA program and a current PhD candidate, has sketched out a novel orthography for the Osage language.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, January 08, 2014
The Line buzzed in 2013 with articles—many of them in the top 10 most-read of the year—on topics starting with a “b”: beer and architect-designed breweries, beekeeping and bike entrepreneurs among them.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, January 08, 2014
The Line asked Alexis Ohanian, who is speaking at the Walker Art Center and is best known as the cofounder of the social news site reddit, about how to create community on the Internet and his advice for startups.
Lee Egerstrom Wednesday, December 18, 2013
The report, “Financing Worker Cooperative Start-Ups in Minnesota,” produced in a Master’s of Public Affairs course at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School, focuses on the unique funding challenges of cooperative startups and social enterprises.
Brian Martucci Wednesday, December 18, 2013
The burgeoning winter-biking scene wouldn’t be possible without the bike designers, entrepreneurs, co-ops, fests, expos, zines, and coffee shops that give the community its innovative edge and vitality.
Anna Pratt Wednesday, December 11, 2013
The Northeast Investment Cooperative is a for-profit group that enables people to collectively buy, renovate, and manage commercial and residential property. NEIC's first project is reinvigorating Central Avenue with tenants that focus on bikes, bread, and beer.
Alexandra N. Katz Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Dan Heilman Wednesday, December 04, 2013
In the world of handmade guitar gear, Twin Cities inventors are known by guitarists the world over for bringing a range of experience and creativity to products that for decades were mass-produced.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, December 04, 2013
Scott Ervin has opened the first micro-distillery in Minneapolis, Norseman Distillery.
Anna Pratt Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Heather and John McDougall, who are siblings, have designed the bamboo Bogobrush, a "buy one, give one" product that provides toothbrushes to people in need.
Anne Jin Soo Preston Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Galtier Community School in Saint Paul decided to revolutionize education through design thinking after the American Architectural Foundation’s (AAF) Design for Learning program.
Allyson Jacob Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Susan Klemond Wednesday, November 06, 2013
A look at four heritage restaurants in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, their origin stories, their participation in their neighborhoods, and why their loyal patrons—and new generations of diners—keep coming back.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, November 06, 2013
Anna Pratt Wednesday, October 23, 2013
The Makers Coalition is supporting a new generation of industrial sewers and the local makers movement. The coalition brings together 60 businesses, educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, and service providers to fulfill its mission: To bring back industrial sewing skills, which largely disappeared in America decades ago.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Christine Podas-Larson Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Elaine Labalme Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Public art has evolved into an essential element of urban placemaking and social engagement. From murals on vacant buidlings to art in laundormats to temporary art installations that invite public participation, we take a look at public art and how it's changing cities.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Jon Spayde Wednesday, October 09, 2013
Minneapolis Institute of Arts' first-ever curator of contemporary art talks about how she uses new art to illuminate old art (and vice-versa) in the MIA--and her plans for new forms of community involvement with the museum.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, October 09, 2013
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, September 25, 2013
A husband-wife team (he's a techie, she's a psychiatrist) are developing fun-to-play (but scientifically sound) game-style apps that can help diagnose ADHD and other psychiatric problems in kids.
Conrad deFiebre Wednesday, September 25, 2013
The Line Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, September 18, 2013
What do Black Hawk Down star Josh Hartnett, Tony award nominee Laura Osnes, and Comedy Central writers Charlie Sanders and Colton Dunn have in common? They all once belonged to this stellar Minneapolis youth theater company.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Jon Spayde Wednesday, September 11, 2013
With new ventures in greater Minnesota, plans for "inspansion" in the Twin Cities, and a bicycle that makes ice cream, the bikeshare program is both growing fast and becoming a (sometimes quirky) part of Minnesota culture. Nice Ride's marketing director fills us in.
Meleah Maynard Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Anna Pratt Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Three shops that are helping to redefine thrift shopping--turning it into an environmentally conscious, art-and-design focused way of celebrating and honoring the past while meeting today's economic challenges.
Lee Chilcote Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Across America, creative reuse organizations are popping up to "upcycle" and sell stuff that would otherwise end up in a landfill. Artisans and artists are, in turn, turning this would-be detritus into artworks and products.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Three about-to-open brewpubs and a new facility for a well established fourth are turning the Central Corridor area in Saint Paul and Minneapolis into the newest brewpub hot zone. And the architecture is as ambitous as the beer.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, August 14, 2013
The Minneapolis developer loves the challenging open-endedness of contemporary art. So when he develops a property, he's not just modernizing a onetime warehouse--he's starting a conversation.
Sheena Lyonnais Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Susan Klemond Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Get ready for some changes in our already-stellar park system that will expand your ideas about recreation, ecology, and economic development.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, July 31, 2013
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
Jon Spayde Wednesday, July 10, 2013
We're putting the finishing touches on our new home page, which is livelier and brighter. The Line will be back with new features and news on July 17. Watch for urban bees, local theater booster Scott Mayer, and more.
Meleah Maynard Wednesday, July 10, 2013
The rooftops of some prestigious locations are buzzing as local institutions hop aboard the global urban beekeeping bandwagon. The idea is to play a role in restoring declining bee populations, with the help of the U of M and some intrepid honey-oriented entrepreneurs.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, June 26, 2013
With Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) a possible future option for areas of Minneapolis and Saint Paul where light rail isn't feasible, I decided to take ride on Apple Valley's newly opened BRT route (the Red Line) to check it out. And why not? I'd already checked into a suburban hotel after the power went out at home.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, June 19, 2013
It's been an article of faith since Central Corridor light rail (Green Line) construction began that, despite all the disruption and traffic chaos of the building stage, the line would eventually become a magnet for local entrepreneurs. That scenario appears to be playing out; here are three entrepreneurial ventures that were lured to the line by light rail's promise.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, June 19, 2013
This week: a heads-up about a July class in the University of Minnesota's extension division that will fill you in on the local craft beer revolution--it's origins, its economics, its varied business models, and more. Requirements include the actual consumption of product.
Dan Heilman Wednesday, June 12, 2013
The young entrepreneur's Royal Bangkok Restaurant is just one of the Vong family businesses at 315 University Avenue--a building that enshrines the enterprise and hope of a clan whose patriarch fled Cambodia in the wake of the Khmer Rouge.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, June 05, 2013
This week: Mayor Coleman's office launches a blog for the City of Saint Paul that's more about the city as a scene than as a simple civic entity.
Anna Pratt Wednesday, June 05, 2013
Charging stations for electric cars are popping up here and there in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. In fact, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is working to install up to 76 electric car-charging stations throughout the metro area, adding to an already expanding network. Here's our guide (a work in progress) to our towns' car-charging infrastructure.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, May 22, 2013
...to do a little Memorial Day Weekend celebrating in the absolute certainty that there will be no more snowstorms--and that a delicious Minnesota summer is in the offing. See you when we return on June 5.
Holly Dolezalek Wednesday, May 15, 2013
We asked owners and managers of three local restaurants with locations in both Minneapolis and Saint Paul--one long-established place and two trendy newcomers--to compare the two cities from their food-business point of view. The results? Both expected and unexpected. Minneapolis rocks, but downtown Saint Paul is on a roll.
Caroline Hooper Wednesday, May 15, 2013
The achievement gap between white and black students in Minnesota is real, and a cause for concern. But a Minneapolis schoolteacher adds nuance to the debate by pointing out that black students in Minnesota public schools are doing better than black students nationally.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, May 15, 2013
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?
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, May 08, 2013
The local office of the Chicago-based Women's Business Development Center gives majority-women-owned ventures here support and connections they might not otherwise have--as long as they can pass a rigorous qualifying process. It's women helping women to shatter the glass ceiling.
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.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Architect Daniel Yudchitz decided to design and build a small, sustainable, low-cost, energy-efficient house for himself in Saint Paul's challenged Rondo neighborhood, to demonstrate how architecture could promote urban reinvestment. And then the banks weighed in.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Images from a concert of ecstatic music in three traditions: Hindu Indian, Islamic and Christian Persian, and Sephardic Jewish, played and sung by some of our most accomplished local world musicians. The setting? Minnesota's Hindu temple. The purpose? To bring hearts and minds together. The result? Joyful catharsis after a terrible week.
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.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, April 17, 2013
A proud "geek girl" from childhood, this globe-trotting scientist-businesswoman founded a local STEM-education program for elementary-school kids, moved away, then returned to find it still going strong. Now she's more committed than ever to strengthening science-and-technology training in our towns.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, April 17, 2013
This week: A new incarnation for what may be the only pan-African restaurant in the Twin Cities--and a fan of West African cuisine has a delicious lunch of Jolof rice and chicken.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, April 03, 2013
This week: Get in gear (or jump on your fixie) for what ARTCRANK, our high-powered local (and national and international) poster collective, touts as "the biggest bike-art shindig ever thrown," this Saturday.
Dan Heilman Wednesday, March 27, 2013
As the building phase of the Central Corridor line finishes up, it's becoming clear that--thankfully--the direst predictions of business disruption didn't materialize. Now enterprises up and down the corridor are getting used to the new normal.
Tom Niemisto Wednesday, March 27, 2013
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, March 27, 2013
This week's Line or Two looks at a web site that showcases a wide range of colorful, informal images of the Twin Cities--sketches done on site in Saint Paul and Minneapolis by local artists who belong to a worldwide network of urban sketchers.
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.
Lee Chilcote Wednesday, March 13, 2013
On the frontier of urban development today are some big players: major medical, educational, and other institutions with a stake in the growth and well-being of their communities. They're not just building new buildings--they're revitalizing neighborhoods in partnership with government, nonprofits, and citizens.
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.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, March 06, 2013
When Heather and Brent Fredrickson bought a modernist house in a historic Saint Paul neighborhood that was something of a midcentury architectural showcase, they had one big problem: an awkward bathroom. The remodel they did added a 21st-century environmental ethic to the whole home.
Agata Miszczyk Wednesday, March 06, 2013
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.
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.
Jay Walljasper Wednesday, February 27, 2013
From "road diets" to "advisory bike lanes" to Complete Streets programs, Twin Cities suburbs are beginning to create infrastructure and policy to turn their familiar auto-only paradigm into a new vision of walkable, bikeable streets.
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.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, February 20, 2013
The University of St. Thomas's Minneapolis campus is home to a quiet program that's incubated and helped fund some of the Twin Cities' most prominent (and promising) tech startups--including several run by women. It's a place where professors turn into business advisors and colleagues and the help just keeps on coming.
John Van Hecke Wednesday, February 20, 2013
About a third of college students today, writes John Van Hecke, are 25 or older, and they have very different issues from 18-to-22-year old "standard" college kids, including family responsibilities, time constraints, and special financial needs. Dealing with these concerns, he argues, is crucial for developing Minnesota's 21st-century workforce.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, February 13, 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 design-y, extremely Parisian patisserie on Saint Paul's Grand Avenue serves up traditonal pastries--and a Franco-Minnesotan hybrid.
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.
Amber Collett Wednesday, February 06, 2013
According to Amber Collett, a transit and bike activist (and a former Twin Cities resident), we've got reason to envy Portland's bike-friendly transit system. But Minneapolis actually wins in the comparison. Why? Read on.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, February 06, 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 celebrated, exiled Iranian artist brings her images of beauty, repression, and tragedy to Macalester's fine arts center.
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.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, January 30, 2013
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.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, January 23, 2013
For executive-search professional Lars Leafblad, recently named head of the Bush Foundation's leadership program, the top-down leadership paradigm is dying. Despite political gridlock, a new ethic of connectivity, consensus, and compromise is struggling to be born--and he has some ideas on how we can all help it happen.
Conrad DeFiebre Wednesday, January 23, 2013
The Central Corridor light rail line (aka the Green Line) won't be finished till 2014, but it's already earning its keep, writes Conrad LeFiebre of MN 2020, as development advances, once-disrupted business stabilizes, and observers add up the unique advantages of a line that connects two downtowns.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, January 23, 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: On Monday, the Capitol rotunda in Saint Paul will be surrendered to robots--or, to be more precise, to Minnesota's burgeoning robotics industry.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, January 16, 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: Thanks to the cooks-with-a-conscience at Eat for Equity, you've got a chance to share a meal, and a cause, with famed activist (and Green Party vice-presidential candidate) Winona La Duke.
Jay Walljasper Wednesday, January 16, 2013
A pair of determined nonprofits, Minneapolis' Urban Homeworks and Dayton’s Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services in Saint Paul, begin by fixing up damaged, foreclosed, and derelict houses--and then go on to help strengthen the surrounding neighborhoods in many other ways.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, January 09, 2013
As a college student, Emily Torgrimson wanted to help with Hurricane Katrina relief. She cooked dinner for friends and collected donations. Seven years later, she's got a national nonprofit on her hands, with coverage on the Today show and plans for a nationwide trailer tour.
Minnesota 2020 Wednesday, January 09, 2013
From our friends at Minnesota 2020, a video about how immigrants and their needs and preferences are helping Minnesota farmers develop new crops and new markets.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, January 09, 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 "circus" of fun-to-watch physics demonstrations at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, December 12, 2012
In this first of an occasional series of interviews with young movers and shakers in the Twin Cities, we talk with John Larsen, an architect whose personal giving, and family foundation, support deeply held personal values rooted in personal experiences. For Larsen, philanthropy needs to explore options beyond writing checks--like new partnerships with government.
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.
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.
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.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, November 28, 2012
The education innovators behind this charter school are hoping to create a 21st-century fusion of classroom and digital space, where kids' fascination with technology helps them learn--at their own pace.
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.
Jon Spayde Tuesday, November 20, 2012
The Line will be enjoying a copious Thanksgiving dinner this week, and will return, stuffed with new content, on November 28. A blessed Thanksgiving to all our readers, writers, image-makers, sponsors, and well-wishers,
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.
Conrad deFiebre Wednesday, November 14, 2012
In this blog post from Minnesota 2020, Conrad deFiebre argues that, while light rail is both successful and expanding in the Twin Cities, it's not the only answer to the 21st-century transit question in our metro. Meet the "rapid bus," a transit mode that mimics rail--on rubber tires.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, November 14, 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: You've got a chance on Monday to peek into the laboratories of advanced bio-researchers at the University of Minnesota, as guests of the U's union of GLBTQ scientists.
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.
Jay Walljasper Wednesday, November 07, 2012
It's long been known that biking is good for your health, good as a transportation option, good for reducing carbon emissions. But it's becoming clearer and clearer that cities that are bike-friendly are also attracting the kind of talent that builds the businesses of the future.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, November 07, 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 preview of what's coming up in the Walker Art Center's performance program, including Britain's hottest young choreographer and a show in which an elephant-headed Indian god takes on Hitler.
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.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, October 31, 2012
With 150,000 immigrants and refugees from Africa living within its borders, Minnesota's ties to the continent are growing. Some nonprofits here are leading the way toward a new model for helping Africa develop, replacing the top-down aid mentality with models of mutuality, transparency, and--most of all--face-to-face friendship.
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.
Bill Lindeke Wednesday, October 24, 2012
From Bill Lindeke's always-worthwhile street-level urban design blog, Twin City Sidewalks: Want to make an experiment to see if reducing the number of lanes of traffic makes street life more vital? Then go to Chicago and Franklin avenues in Minneapolis, where you can compare two street-treatments and decide for yourself.
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.
Holly Dolezalek Wednesday, October 17, 2012
The largest hospital-connected integrative-medicine clinic in the United States is in Minneapolis. The Penny George Institute, run by Courtney Baechler, MD, adds aromatherapy, acupuncture, and other once-fringe healing arts to hospital patients' treatments--and the results are earning respect in the medical mainstream.
Ben Stone Wednesday, October 17, 2012
The capital city glows like a jewel box in this time-lapse video, which takes in the Mississippi and the downtown skyline.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, October 17, 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: On Thursday, a scholar of public art talks about the new memorials that are springing up in America--and the challenge of memorializing victims rather than heroes.
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.
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.
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.
Susan Klemond Wednesday, September 19, 2012
The Twin Cities' long tradition of innovation in public green space is continuing, and even ramping up, as park planners invent ways to meet new challenges: ambitious riverfront development plans, changing environmental concerns, the Central Corridor, urban farming, and the needs of new immigrants.
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.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Far from simply decorating the light-rail route, Saint Paul's Central Corridor Public Art Plan is redefining art in the public sphere.
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.
The Line Team Wednesday, September 05, 2012
Thanks for reading our publication and showing interest in the people and companies driving change in our community. To help us better understand you and improve our coverage of the issues you care about, could you please take 60 seconds and answer a few questions? We greatly appreciate your interest and continued support.
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.
The Audacity of the Talent Dividend
Amy Kuras Wednesday, August 22, 2012
The Talent Dividend Prize is a $1 million award being offered by the Kresge Foundation, CEOs for Cities, and the Lumina Foundation for Education--to be awarded to the city that shows the greatest number of post-secondary degrees awarded per one thousand residents over a four-year period. The Twin Cities (plus Bloomington) are in the running, along with 56 other cities. What's the prize all about, and why now? Read on.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, August 22, 2012
The Line will take two weeks off to relax and renew, hit the State Fair (we'll be in the Merchandise Mart building listening to the guy sell those miracle chamois), and do something Lineish for Labor Day. We'll be back on September 12. Enjoy the last lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, August 15, 2012
The president and the research/policy director of the local think tank Growth and Justice are "business-oriented progressives." In the face of dogma to the contrary, they dare to assert that there's an unbreakable link between economic fairness and economic growth. And they're bringing that spirit to the most compelling economic issue of all: jobs.
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 15, 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: Irvine Avenue, Saint Paul's street of mystery.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, August 08, 2012
With a new school year approaching, we take a look at three unique programs that show how Minnesota has become a "thought leader" in developing--and funding--positive alternatives for youth.
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.
Jay Walljasper Wednesday, August 08, 2012
It's a different "greening" of the urban landscape: highly visible bike lanes, often protected from other traffic. Is it the next step in making America a leader in 21st-century transportation?
Michelle Bruch Wednesday, August 01, 2012
As new export niches open up, Minnesota companies are selling some unconventional products overseas. Case in point: an inventive, environmentally aware North Minneapolis outfit that creates ADA-compliant interior signage for public buildings--and markets it in China, Brazil, and the Middle East.
Nate Eklund Wednesday, August 01, 2012
Minneapolis-based educational consultant Nate Eklund sheds some fresh light on our public-education challenges by suggesting that if we make schools great places to work, they stand a better chance of becoming great places to learn.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, August 01, 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 hearty welcome to our new publisher, Dena Alspach--a digital futurist with a vision of where publishing is headed.
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.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, July 25, 2012
It's Saint Paul's--and Minnesota's--biggest celebration of African American life, commemorating the Rondo neighborhood, which was largely bulldozed away to make room for Interstate 94 in the 1960s. This year, lensman Bill Kelley followed all the festivities.
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.
Susan Klemond Wednesday, July 11, 2012
On some long-vacant land behind their Central Corridor high school, a group of students and their supporters envision a multi-use greenspace that would be a focal point for the neighborhood--and could be unique in the nation.
Tracy Certo Wednesday, July 11, 2012
"The ingredients for a successful startup and a successful city are remarkably similar," wrote Jon Bischke, a guest blogger on TechCrunch. A group of urban leaders recently met in Cincinnati to explore the implications of that statement--and came up with a cluster of surprising ideas for urban vitality.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, June 27, 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: Online tools for zeroing in on mobile eats.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, June 20, 2012
The debut of a new market in Minneapolis' Linden Hills neighborhood underlines the exciting upsides--and a few lesser-known downsides--of the farmers' market boom.
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.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, June 13, 2012
At the Grassroots and Groundwork anti-poverty conference--held at Mystic Lake Casino, of all places--attendees heard about ingenious ways to build wealth in struggling communities by adapting old-school immigrant self-help tactics to the digital age.
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.
Jon Spayde Tuesday, June 12, 2012
We're in search of a well-connected, motivated, sales/development-skilled professional to be the new Publisher of The Line. Interested? Know someone who might be? Click here to find out more about the position.
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 Lindeke Wednesday, June 06, 2012
Geographer Bill Lindeke has an eye for the urban details that make the Twin Cities pleasurable and intriguing--and when those details have something to do with the walkable portions of our streets, they're likely to appear as images or words in his blog, Twin City Sidewalks. In this post, from last week, he highlights a Saint Paul store that embodies--and symbolizes--why, in an age of burgeoning online commerce, we will always need real places to buy things.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, May 23, 2012
The Line will take a week off next week to celebrate Memorial Day and grill a few organic, grass-fed hot dogs. See you again on June 6.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, May 16, 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: Laurie and I explore a Ramsey County regional park that's very rural--and very urban.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, May 09, 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: National Bike Month, with its galaxy of two-wheel events and promotions, has the potential to get me out from behind the computer.
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.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, April 04, 2012
Fueled by ice cream, pizza, and rivers of Red Bull, hundreds of nerds recently gathered at the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul campus to help “good nonprofits with not-so-good websites.”
Susan Klemond Wednesday, April 04, 2012
What do you do when the urban garden you've struggled to create gets sold out from under you? At the recent Community Garden Spring Resource Fair, New York gardening advocate Karen Washington told local growers that if they want their gardens to be really sustainable--i.e., permanent--they'd better get savvy about the political system.
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.
Izak Leon and Adam Jacobs Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Izak Leon and Adam Jacobs' video "Dinkytown: Food Music Books" is a a lively look at the semi-legendary neighborhood of cafes, bars, clubs, and bookstores adjacent to the University of Minnesota campus. The two Perpich Center for Arts Education students portray a neighborhood that's moving toward the mainstream while still holding on to many of the values of its countercultural past.
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.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Don't talk to the residents of the 5300 block of Emerson Avenue South in Minneapolis about urban alienation, "bowling-alone" isolation, or being too busy to build next-door friendships. Led by a few creative souls, the multi-generational microneighborhood has found more ways to connect, celebrate, and hang out together than any urbanologist would dare predict.
Michelle Vigen Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Adapted from Bush Fellow Michelle Vigen's blog, Common Spark: a simple (if not easy) process to help organizations turn the good ideas and information with which we're inundated--why we should recycle, bike, eat better, revive citizenship, you name it--into real changes of habit and life.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, March 21, 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 cabaret showcase that will bring together some of the city's A-list avant-garde performers in what promise to be gorgeously twisted takes on our politico-sexual status quo.
Dan Heilman Wednesday, March 14, 2012
When the economic downturn derailed plans for a U of M North Minneapolis campus, university and civic visionaries created a unique alternative: a Northside research and outreach center that's the hub for a whole galaxy of town-gown partnerships in economic development and social betterment.
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.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, March 07, 2012
BeNeighbors.org, is an online forum that connects people who live near each other to build community and tackle real issues. With a brand-new grant, it's adding Saint Paul neighborhoods to its ambitious goal of getting everybody talking. Can the city become a national leader in "digital inclusion?"
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."
eluko79 Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Capturing hundreds of sequential Street View images from Google Maps using ScreenHunter software, then stitching them together and time-lapsing them in Windows Movie Maker, the peripatetic highway videographer who goes by the YouTube handle eluko79 has created a real-but-virtual photographic journey into the heart of the city.
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.
Nathan Eklund Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Minneapolis educational consultant Nathan Eklund thinks we need to change how we think about change. In this post from his blog, he reminds us that desirable outcomes--a slimmer body, a more sustainable corporate culture, an economy that works for everyone--are usually the result of a lot of small changes, most of which are no fun at all.
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.
Meleah Maynard Wednesday, February 15, 2012
The founders of Grow! Twin Cities are building a place where urban farmers can come, plant, share green wisdom, start businesses, and thrive together. And they're telling success stories.
Islamic Resource Group of Minnesota Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Muslim Minnesotans range from immigrants to American-born men and women with Mideastern, African, or Asian ancestry to converts with a "Lake Wobegon" background. This film, produced by the Islamic Resource Group of Minnesota, puts very human and very recognizable faces on Minnesota's diverse and growing Muslim community.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, February 15, 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: five more 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.
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.
Dan Heilman Wednesday, February 01, 2012
An aggressive, and unconventional, marketing campaign to keep people coming to Central Corridor businesses during light rail construction in 2011 appears to have paid off in less business decline than expected--and a mood of cautious optimism about the future.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, February 01, 2012
In A Line or Two, I'll be sharing some of my discoveries as I make my way around the Twin Cities--an intriguing upcoming event, a great restaurant meal, a new art gallery, a conversation with a forward thinker, or a web site you should know about. Call it an editor's-note-as-blog-entry. (And I take the photos--Bill Kelley is guiltless.) This time: a return to the marvelous, and still undiscovered, restaurant Filfillah, where you get the lunch your mom made for you if you grew up in Ankara.
Jay Walljasper Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Thanks to Bike Walk Twin Cities' intrepid bicycle and pedestrian observers, says urbanist Jay Walljasper, we now have a good idea just how big a deal two-wheeled transit is in our towns. And would you believe Minneapolis is in the top ten of walkable cities nationwide?
Jay Walljasper Wednesday, January 25, 2012
You can keep two-wheeling all winter long if you take a few simple precautions. Jay Walljasper, a veteran winter biker (and bike advocate) shows the way.
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.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Qiuxia and Kevin Welch are professional musicians, playing the French horn in many major local ensembles. Qiuxia teaches the Chinese language and Chinese cooking. Kevin is a certified tungsten inert gas welder. So why not become microbrewers too, bringing authentic Belgian-style beer to thirsty locals?
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, December 21, 2011
In our pre-holiday-hiatus issue, all three editors take a look back over the passing year and make some hopeful predictions about 2012. We'll be taking a break over the holidays and return on January 11 with a look at a musician/microbrewer from China, a conversation with CoCo's Jeff Heegaard, and a new Face of Leadership. See you then.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, December 14, 2011
For hopeful food entrepreneurs, it can be a long, hard road from cooking a tasty treat to creating a viable business around it. That's where the North Side's innovative food-business incubator comes in.
Susan Klemond Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Downtown Minneapolis' Holidazzle parade runs for its final four nights starting this Thursday, and as a reminder not to miss what is now a twenty-year-old holiday tradition, we're re-running Susan Klemond's behind-the-scenes look at the parade from last year--with updated schedule information.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Changing regulations and evolving tastes are sparking a craft-beer and microbrewing revolution across the country, and nowhere is the quirky, über-entrepreneurial, nouveau-beer buzz louder than in the Twin Cities. Are you ready for Angry Planet Pale Ale and Masala Mama IPA?
Bill Kelley Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Managing Photographer Bill Kelley--a knowledgeable home-brewer himself--explored some of our local microbrew establishments to see just how these alchemists turn grain into drinkable gold. Here's his visual record of the process.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The local-and-sustainable ethic that's everywhere in the Twin Cities food world is spreading to the holiday gift-shopping scene here--and two unique Minneapolis shops are leading the way.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, November 16, 2011
We're taking next week off--to celebrate Thanksgiving and line up in the wee hours for Black Friday. The Line returns with new stuff on November 30.
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.
Dan Heilman Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Tough times and public deficits are forcing nonprofits to step up to the plate in new ways. At Social Venture Partners' national convention in Minneapolis, two keynoters let our reporter in on some of the things that smart do-gooders are learning from the pinstripe crowd.
Jay Walljasper Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Most of us in the Twin Cities are aware that we've become a great town for bicycling in recent years, but urbanist and author Jay Walljasper--an avid biker for decades--has been digging into the trend to find out the what and the why behind it. In this adaptation of an article he wrote for Bikes Belong, he fills in the story and gives us some impressive facts about the sheer scale and promise of our new two-wheel era.
Streetfilms Wednesday, October 19, 2011
To accompany Jay Walljasper's take on bike policy and bike culture in the Twin Cities, here's a video by Streetfilms that shows just how valuable one of the crown jewels in our bikeway system is--the Midtown Greenway, running more or less parallel to Lake Street from Chowen Avenue to the Mississippi River.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, October 12, 2011
If you've got a lengthy layover at Minneapolis/Saint Paul International Airport, you don't have to be bored any more. How about taking what may be the world's first out-of-the-airport, self-guided audio tour? With an audio unit and a map from the brand-new MSP Tours, you ride the light rail and discover Minneapolis at your own pace. The Line's Spayde and Kelley put on earphones to give it a try.
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.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Frustrated by the problems their fledgling baby-food firm was having, Jessica Welsch and Stephanie Williams changed course: they created a company that sells kits and recipes for hyper-healthy Popsicle-style frozen treats made from things like kale, cabbage, and beets. First developed to give easily-nauseated chemotherapy patients nourishing but odorless meals, they've caught on with all kinds of people who want treats that are really, really good for them.
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.
The Line Team Monday, September 26, 2011
We'd like to thank you for reading The Line and showing interest in the people and companies driving change in our cities. To help us better understand our readers and improve our coverage of the issues you care about, we're asking if you'll take 30 seconds and answer some questions you'll see if you click through. We appreciate your interest and continued support.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Vickie Abrahamson and Mary Meehan founded one of America's premier trend-spotting and marketing consultancies, Iconoculture. Last year, they became startup entrepreneurs again with Panoramix Global--a virtual network of consumer-trend analysts with their eyes on the entire world. In this conversation, they discuss why they love their new business model, why marketers need to reach Muslims, and why 3M product engineers are studying tree frogs.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, September 21, 2011
There's a wealth of public art in the Twin Cities, from the overexposed (that Spoon, those Snoopys) to the underappreciated. This week, we celebrate nine works in Saint Paul that impress us with their sheer beauty, offbeat appeal, or some combination of the two. (Look for our Minneapolis picks on October 5.)
Michelle Bruch Wednesday, September 14, 2011
The second in our series about good urban ideas around the country focuses on the placemaking concept--the increasingly popular proposition that the best city spaces are built from the ground up rather than planned from the top down--by asking users and stakeholders what they really want.
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.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, August 31, 2011
In town to work on a show for the Walker Art Center, the California slam poet, theater artist, and activist met local artists, explored our unique "ecosystem" of arts and community organizations, and shared with contributor Camille LeFevre his broad view of how the arts can further a people-centered sustainability.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, August 31, 2011
The Line will take a post-Labor Day break next week--we'll see you again on September 14. In the interim, by all means check out a couple of very different, unhyped, bound-to-be-great cultural events between now and then: A Bloomington Art Center exhibition of artworks by local painters trained in the classical manner and a beloved jazz festival on Selby Avenue in Saint Paul.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Competition may be the fuel of capitalism, but in the Twin Cities, cooperation is nourishing entrepreneurship as current or potential competitors, especially in tech fields, share expertise and encouragement via several innovative organizations. Is it the Midwestern mutual-aid mindset or just good business?
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.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, August 24, 2011
With winter nipping at our heels, we thought it would be appropriate to take a lingering second look at the beautiful Twin Cities community gardens that Managing Photographer Bill Kelley shot back in August--eight little paradises in Saint Paul and Minneapolis where community spirit is cultivated along with the flowers and vegetables.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, August 17, 2011
A conversation with Julia Freeman and Hillary Rodgers of the Organizing Apprenticeship Program. Through its Education Equity Organizing Collaborative, the OAP has entered into a pathbreaking partnership with the State of Minnesota. Its goal: close the widely publicized "achievement gap" by making sure equal treatment of all students is state policy.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Clear skies and a little under eighty degrees: Minnesota's San Diego-like weather has prompted another half-issue so your editors can enjoy some sunny hours of the waning summer. Back with a full complement of new stories next week.
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 10, 2011
It's been two years since the green roof on downtown Minneapolis' massive auditorium and sports venue was installed. The Line took a tour to see how things are going and growing.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, August 03, 2011
This week's slimmed-down issue of The Line allows the editors to enjoy a semi-vacation and get out into the unseasonable Minnesota heat. We'll offer a regular-length issue next week, and another half-issue on August 17.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Inspired by his kids' toy building set, he designed a colorful modular carport that incorporates solar panels--and may soon become nothing but solar panels. Is this how we'll recharge the electric vehicles of the future?
John Davidson Wednesday, July 27, 2011
What's Working in Cities is a new series in which we take a close look at people and organizations around the country that are driving urban change. This month: the inventive Chattanooga nonprofit CreateHere, which has spurred art-oriented growth in the core city--and will "go supernova" (that is, go out of existence with a bang) at the end of the year.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, July 20, 2011
For urban designer Peter Musty, who's collaborating on plans for the Loring neighborhood in Minneapolis and the Ford site in St, Paul, walkable, transit-focused neighborhoods are non-negotiable. We need them for our health and prosperity--and to help our culture calm down.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Midway Stadium doesn't have enough showers for two teams, it's not fully handicap-accessible, and the outfield is actually sinking a little bit each year. Little wonder that the Saint Paul Saints want to build a brand-new stadium in Lowertown. But the old park is still a fine performance venue for a club that pioneered oddball baseball.
Tristan Pollock Wednesday, July 13, 2011
The budget debate and state government shutdown have underlined Minnesota's needs and the difficulties of meeting them. Tristan Pollock, a young social entrepreneur and writer, visits the Engaged Philanthropy Conference and suggests what the philanthropic community needs to do in these tough days.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Prairie grasses swaying ten stories above the street? Zucchini harvested on a warehouse roof? It's happening in the Twin Cities, as more urban gardens sprout on top of buildings, giving city dwellers a garden experience and restaurants a down-the-block source of fresh produce.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, July 13, 2011
The Line welcomes another versatile, widely experienced Twin Cities journalist to its news staff with this issue: Elizabeth Millard.
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.
Don Lee Wednesday, June 29, 2011
The classical-music audience is graying, and the executives of the League of American Orchestras, who met here in early June, are nervously sharing ways to reverse the trend. Can Facebook, DJ dance nights, and Ben Folds save Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms?
Jon Spayde Wednesday, June 29, 2011
The Line will take a break next week to relax and watch fireworks in both Minneapolis and Saint Paul. It, and we, will be back with fresh stories and even fresher photos on July 13.
Tristan Pollock Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Hobbled by a broken ankle but determined to see as much glow-in-the-dark art as he could, our reporter plunged into the dusk-to-dawn art extravaganza called Northern Spark on the night of June 4. He saw luminescent plankton, 1,600 light-bulb pixels, and a wall of perfectly legal virtual graffiti.
Susan Klemond Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Smith Avenue between the High Bridge and Dodd Road is very Saint Paul: comfortable houses alternate with an eclectic mix of independent businesses with loads of local character. A plan's afoot to turn this under-the-radar neighborhood into a full-fledged retail destination--without letting it lose its soul.
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.
greenforall.org Wednesday, June 15, 2011
"Environmental justice is the new civil rights movement," says a young woman in this video, created by the organization Green for All. The video, posted last month, highlights a number of green jobs efforts in the Twin Cities that marry sustainability and social justice.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, May 25, 2011
We'll take a week off next week to celebrate Memorial Day. Back on June 8 with a report from Jeremy Stratton on the Minnesota-created Results Only Work Environment movement--and Bill Kelley's photos of a tornado-threatened but vibrant Art-a-Whirl art crawl in Northeast Minneapolis.
Michelle Bruch Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Nobody expected Central Corridor light-rail construction to be easy on the small businesses along the route. But now that the challenges of access and parking are hitting, business owners, the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce and other local organizations are working to keep the Corridor as customer-friendly as possible.
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.
Michelle Bruch Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Poet, musician, diversity consultant, and reality-show star Mohammed Bilal rapped about the "real world" of race when he keynoted an awards ceremony in Saint Paul last week. The talk was about justice, and the awards went to five Minnesotans who have worked hard--and hopefully--for it in our community.
Kevin Obsatz Wednesday, May 11, 2011
A re-run of one of our most popular videos--a trip through Saint Paul's colorful Hmongtown Marketplace with Ying Xiong, its general manager.
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.
Meleah Maynard Wednesday, May 04, 2011
Mike Day, senior vice president of the Science Museum of Minnesota, has explored volcanoes and chased tornadoes. But he finds plenty of excitement just helping people discover the mysteries of the world around them--like whether King Tut was murdered and why he had a cleft palate.
Lori Storm Wednesday, May 04, 2011
Al Boyce and Eric Olson's fleet of human-powered saloons are wheeling their way through the Twin Cities again as the weather warms up. And their business is hot too, with booming local bookings and a Chicago branch launched.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, April 27, 2011
The Saint Paul Art Crawl, spring edition, kicks off this Friday evening with the work of artists in some 325 studios and galleries in 27 different buildings around the capital city--and there's some pretty amazing music on tap too.
Dan Haugen Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Most medical spaces and procedures aren't designed with the patient in mind. But that's beginning to change as health-care designers pay more attention to making the patient's experience pleasant and even fun. Here are four local examples of "human-centric" med-design.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, April 20, 2011
The stretch of Minneapolis' Central Avenue Northeast that runs from around 18th Avenue to a little past Lowry is a colorful collage of immigrant businesses: Hispanic, Arab, Afghan, Indian, Southeast Asian. Bill Kelley's images capture a neighborhood that feels both faraway and very close to home.
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.
Don Lee Wednesday, April 13, 2011
While many classical music ensembles struggle to survive and thrive, there's one early-music group in Saint Paul whose bottom line is as secure as its artistry--in large part thanks to the fresh ideas and entrepreneurial savvy of its artistic director, Jordan Sramek. Sramek has led Saint Paul's Rose Ensemble vocal group to artistic freshness and solid growth not by crowd-pleasing gimmicks but by knowing his audience, stretching the boundaries of the repertoire, and turning concerts into rich and multifaceted experiences of the past.
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
When disaster strikes and people want to help, there are always some big questions: will all of my donated money get where it's needed, or be eaten up by administrative costs? And will it really do any good? For the Twin Cities-based volunteers of Headwaters Relief, these questions are easy to answer: Headwaters has no employees and its administrative services are donated. And Headwaters volunteers travel to the disaster zones to deliver relief supplies personally and give hands-on help. Which means hard work, some danger, and a great deal of hope.
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.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, March 30, 2011
In the past year or so, the Twin Cities have solidified their reputation as one of the bike-friendliest metropolitan areas in America. And we're not resting on our laurels. An expanded bike-share program, a brand-new online bike-rental business, new trails and connections, a new bike/coffee shop combo in the works, and more--they all point to a great spring for the human-powered-transport set.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Going to the theater can be soul-satisfying and exciting, but it also prompts questions. How did they get that lighting effect? Why did they decide to put the lead actress in such a strange costume? Why did they choose this play? This Saturday, fans of Minneapolis' internationally renowned Guthrie Theater get a chance to ask anything they want about a major current production, George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man, and get answers from senior Guthrie staff and starring actors.
Anna Pratt Wednesday, March 23, 2011
When the Great Recession swept in, it took a toll on development--including the building of new housing for the homeless. But now, along with other signs of life in the economy, local developers in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors are back on the job in a highly visible way, rehabbing major buildings and creating "support housing" within them--places to live that also offer services that help keep people off the streets.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, March 23, 2011
When it comes to dining-and-drinking venues, there's atmosphere--and then there's atmosphere. Some go the extra mile beyond a good color sense and a lively vibe to actually spirit you away to another place or time, real or imaginary. Herewith, a slide show of four of our favorite local places to escape the here-and-now.
Jeremy Stratton Wednesday, March 16, 2011
"We need to grow, meaning more people have to live here to support all the good things we all want," says David Frank, Minneapolis' first-ever Director of Transit Development, in a conversation with The Line's Jeremy Stratton. For Frank, who came here from Minneapolis' friendly rival Portland, that means giving people more choices, and that means making wise plans around the places where we've already committed resources, like our light-rail lines. The biggest challenge? Finding the money.
Meleah Maynard Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Another local David--who is also connected to the Pacific Northwest--is an advocate for the role of good design in sustainability. David O'Brien Wagner of Minneapolis' SALA Architects speaks up for the subtle, even spiritual side of green building. Systems and certificates are important, he tells Meleah Maynard, but a building isn't green if it isn't carefully designed to connect the human and the natural worlds.
Meleah Maynard Wednesday, March 09, 2011
We love our pets, and we're coming to realize that over-processed foods are no better for them than they are for us. Hence the natural-pet-food movement, and new businesses like Enrique and Michelle Palma's Woody's Pet Food Deli, where "human-grade" pet food is for sale. For the Palmas and their customers, feeding pets better isn't sentiment or anthropomorphism--it's good science and good sense.
Susan Klemond Wednesday, March 09, 2011
In colloquial Italian, the word spunto means a creative idea. Italy has given the world more than its share of spunti in art, architecture, music, design, and more--and five years ago some adoptive Twin Citians got a spunto of their own: to create a place that celebrates all things Italian. Today the Italian Cultural Center teaches language, sponsors film showings, collaborates with art and opera venues--and it's just getting started.
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.
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Lars Leafblad, a principal in the Minneapolis executive search firm KeyStone Search, was dubbed "the most networked man in the Twin Cities" by Minnesota Business magazine last year. In the second of our Big Picture conversations about the future of our city and state, Leafblad acknowledges that we're good at cooperation and connection--but adds that we need a compelling new image of what we want to be and where we want to go.
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...
Seven and Sixty Productions Wednesday, February 23, 2011
A few weeks ago, The Line ran an article by Holly Dolezalek on a Knight Foundation-backed survey that asked Twin Cities residents what they love about their city. At about the same time, Susan Bernstein and Mary McGreevy of Seven And Sixty Productions released this video on very much the same topic, and the answers the filmmakers heard confirm the survey results--but in color and sound.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Lunalux, Jenni Undis' hip printing shop and paper-goods boutique on Minneapolis' Loring Park, pioneered in the crafting of "indie" greeting cards--cleverly conceived fine-press alternatives to Hallmark. Some of the most design-savvy people and organizations in town have gone to Undis for their printing needs--and her retail shop is full of offbeat paper goods you won't find anywhere else.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, February 09, 2011
At first glance, The Saint Paul Almanac is a handy week-planner full of local information. Dig a little deeper and you discover founder/publisher Kimberly Nightingale's vision: a place where stories from every corner of the city, and every ethnic community, come together. But there's more: Nightingale sees the Almanac as a tool for transforming the way Americans learn about each other. And people around the country think she's on to something.
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.
Anna Pratt Wednesday, February 02, 2011
John Hoff, aka Johnny Northside, blogs about North Minneapolis with passion and personality. He believes the neighborhood is headed "someplace amazing," and he's helping it get there with stories about its pleasures and problems. And he's inspired others to join the cyber-conversation, co-creating one of the most vibrant civic blogospheres in town.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, February 02, 2011
On Sunday, January 30, the slopes of Powderhorn Park in South Minneapolis came alive with some very strange sleds indeed as the fourth annual Art Sled Rally slid, wobbled, and tumbled into history. Our own Bill Kelley was there to capture high points of this very out-of-the-ordinary winter afternoon.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Jeremy Stratton is a veteran Twin Cities journalist who's written about business, development, sustainable design, local history, education, travel, civic and economic issues, and many other topics for a wide range of Twin Cities publications. We're lucky to have him as our new Innovation and Jobs editor, beginning with this issue.
Eizabeth Millard Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Working in a garden center, Audrey Matson noticed something: customers were bypassing the ornamental trees and shrubs and going for vegetable-garden, canning, and composting supplies. A combination of recession, environmental awareness, fears about food safety, and desire to learn hallowed hands-on homemaking skills was creating a generation of neo-agriculturalists--most of whom were savvy young urbanites. So despite the economic downturn, the time was right for a farm store in the city--one that specializes in out-of-the-way and hard-to-find supplies.
Kevin Obsatz Wednesday, January 26, 2011
When you're waiting for the Hiawatha light-rail train, chances are that somewhere in the station are one or two of the little kiosks created by Brooklyn-based artist Janet Zweig. Turn a wheel, pull a lever, and you'll hear a story about old days in Saint Paul, see a Twin Cities comic perform, discover a singer. More than 100 local performing artists contributed to Zweig's project, dubbed Small Kindnesses, Weather Permitting. The Line managing editor Jon Spayde pulls a few levers to show you how they work.
Dale Connelly Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Our Resident Tourist takes a tour of a boxcar-shaped building on the Minneapolis riverfront where, even in winter, scientists use inflowing water from the Mississippi to model all kinds of interactions between land and water. Scientific esoterica? Not really. The scientists at the Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory want to help Louisiana rebuild its delta. They want to understand the algae blooms that create fish-killing "dead zones" in the Gulf of Mexico. And with new federal support, they're turning their expertise toward the study of wind power, biofuels, and "hydrokinetics"--nothing less than the discovery of "new ways to power our civilization."
Dan Heilman Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Franklin Avenue east of Hiawatha in Minneapolis used to be best known for bars and blight. Today, though, the area is blooming with Native enterprise as an American Indian Cultural Corridor takes shape. Culture and art are major drivers of the neighborhood's renaissance--an art gallery is one of the anchors, and there are new tribal and company offices and apartments too--and plans call for a brand-new mixed-use building and a Native-owned hotel. The biggest change, though, is a new sense of cohesion and pride at street level.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, January 12, 2011
The commons is a concept that you may be hearing a lot more about in the coming months and years. According to urbanist and journalist Jay Walljasper, who's just published a new book on the subject, the commons is everything we share--from public parks to ideas, urban gathering spaces to the internet, jokes and games to the oceans. And "commons-based solutions" to our political and social problems look past the I-me-mine of the privatized perspective toward the common good, in everything from small neighborhood improvements to social policy. Walljasper sees commons-based thinking as a way past many of our current left-right dilemmas--and he thinks the Twin Cities have a head start in that direction.
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.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, January 05, 2011
While many of us do our best to retrofit our houses to be more sustainable--adding insulation, putting in low-flow toilets, installing a solar panel on the roof--some Twin Cities architects and designers are going all-the-way green with rehabs and new house designs that are radically--and even experimentally--devoted to environmental responsibility. Two of the most prominent locally are the EcoDEEP Haus in Saint Paul, an environmentally concerned architect's refitting of his own house, and the University of Minnesota's ICON Solar House, the result of the input of some 150 design students. And these sensible, responsible houses also happen to be way cool to look at and live in.
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
We've learned to count on the Walker Art Center to bring some of the freshest, edgiest performance troupes in the world to the Twin Cities, from venerable modern masters like choreographer Merce Cunningham and Japanese dance legend Kazuo Ohno to young companies that fuse theater, dance, video, and installation art in unpredictable ways. Tomorrow night (January 6), the WAC inaugurates its 2011 Out There series, an annual showcase for eclectic, genre-bending and -blending stage performance, with Show Your Face!, a decidedly grown-up puppet drama.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, January 05, 2011
The large images that lead off each issue of The Line are one of the ways we express our feelings about the Twin Cities. Managing Photographer Bill Kelley strives to shoot pictures that convey what we love about our towns right now and what we hope for them in the future--a fusion of beauty, energy, fun, and promise. Here are thirteen mastheads that Bill has picked from the more than two dozen he's shot since The Line debuted back in May. We hope they help you see Minneapolis/Saint Paul as both a deeply familiar and a brand-new place.
Susan Klemond Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Captain Hook is all lit up and the Joe Maurer snowman is spinning. The Holidazzle parade is nearly two decades old--a holiday tradition born of the urge to get people to experience downtown Minneapolis during the holiday season. It's impossible to miss the bright lights and music--but the people who make the parade happen aren't always as visible. From the folks who fit the fanciful costumes to the people who keep the floats on pace to the light-bedecked performers themselves, a bevy of workers and volunteers labor to make the magic seem effortless.
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, December 15, 2010
The Line is taking a break for two weeks so our editorial/photographic team can switch into holiday mode. We won't publish on December 22 or 29. But we will be back and raring to go on January 5.
Dan Haugen Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Plenty of companies in the Twin Cities and around the country want to do good as well as make a buck. In order to make that easier in a time of shrinking resources, new forms of corporate structure are evolving, including the L3C--the low-profit limited liability company. At least one Twin Cities company has opted for that new status, and others are looking into it and other ways to combine the best of the for-profit and nonprofit worlds. But there are those who wonder of these highly experimental new structures are anything more than good PR.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, December 08, 2010
There's a whole lot of clucking going on in the urban neighborhoods of Minneapolis and Saint Paul as heartland city-dwellers recover their rural roots by welcoming chickens into their lives. It's part of a growing national trend that's part nostalgia, part fascination with the birds themselves--they turn out to be oddly charming--and part hardy self-sufficiency. And you should taste the eggs.
Molly Priesmeyer Wednesday, December 01, 2010
In North Minneapolis, there's an arts center that's been tapping into, and amplifying, the energy of African-American youth culture for fifteen years. Juxtaposition Arts is a place where neighborhood kids fired up by hip-hop turn street savvy into beauty and visual excitement through art and design. "Juxta" has collaborated with the likes of the Walker Art Center and the Guthrie Theater, but its heart has always been in its neighborhood; and now, with a planned $8.2- million expansion, it's primed to be a major player in the cities' art scene as it amps up its impact on the North Side.
Dan Heilman Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Time was when the northwest corner of Snelling and Selby was a meat-and-potatoes kind of locale: A sporting-goods store was there, and a shoe shop and a day-labor place. Then along came developer Ed Conley, who remade two buildings on the corner. The result: one of the city's plus chic shopping destinations, home to a designer handbag shop, hip vintage wear, lingerie, couture, and more. It's a peaceful, colorful touch of European-style savoir-vivre at one of the capital city's busiest intersections.
Karen Olson Wednesday, November 17, 2010
If you live in one of the cities and towns Eureka Recycling serves, chances are you've seen its big green trucks lumbering along, picking up waste. But if you think Eureka is just another green-bottles here, brown-bottles there outfit, you're in for a surprise. It's one of only a handful of nonprofit recyclers in the country, and its vision goes way beyond recycling to a world that doesn't produce waste in the first place. To that end, it collaborates with artists and restaurateurs, encourages manufacturers to think zero-waste, and in many other ways acts as if the green future has already arrived.
Dale Connelly Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Dale Connelly--disc jockey, wit, culture maven, and for many years the co-host of Minnesota Public Radio's Morning Show, is back, and we've got him. As the Resident Tourist, he'll drop into The Line from time to time to share some of his favorite Twin Cities phenomena. This week: the tiny, elegant Trylon Microcinema, a cineaste's labor of love that lets fifty people at a time watch classic films in plush red seats. Does it have a chance against the multiplexes? Or is it playing an entirely different game?
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
There won't by a Line next week--Thanksgiving week....
Molly Priesmeyer Wednesday, November 10, 2010
The Twin Cities' newest bike cafe, Angry Catfish Bicycles and Coffee, joins two predecessors, One on One Bicycle Studio and Cars R Coffins Coffee Bar/Cykel Garage in catering to the caffeination needs, and gear lust, of serious bike riders. These coffee house/bike shop/art gallery hybrids are celebrations of two-wheel culture in a town that's getting prouder and prouder of it.
Chris Steller Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Sure, bikes are big in the Twin Cities--but the people who ride one-wheelers here may be even more intense, if that's possible. In fact, our towns are a world center of unicycling; all twelve of the unicyclists rated highest for riding skills--the black belts of the sport--have belonged at one time or another to the Twin Cities Unicycling Club. And just in case you think it's all about trick riding in parades or at the circus, meet the folks who ride fat-wheeled 36-inch unicycles to work--in winter.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
We're delighted to welcome Anna Pratt as our new Development Editor, and to wish her predecessor, Chris Steller, all the best in a new venture.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, November 03, 2010
In the first of a series of talks with urbanists about the future of our Cities, writer, blogger, and real estate consultant Sam Newberg, whose nom de blog is Joe Urban, lets us in on the street-level reasons why reasonably dense, pedestrian-friendly, walkable cities with good public transit make bottom-line sense. And he makes some recommendations for our Central Corridor light-rail right-of-way too--like keep the on-street parking and slow down the cars.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, November 03, 2010
Our photographer, Bill Kelley, took a leisurely trip from Maryland Avenue to Selby Avenue on Dale Street, making images of the many faces of this great old Saint Paul street: the well-loved neighborhood institution called Conny's Creamy Cone, a place to get Cambodian DVDs, the ambitious new Frogtown Square development, Big Daddy's Barbecue--and a gigantic sunflower too. Join him on one of the city's most diverse and soulful thoroughfares.
Dan Heilman Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Can you really ditch your ride and live carless in the Cities? A youth worker and a cartoonist who have been without everyday internal combustion for years say yes--as long as you're willing to do a little planning and take advantage of all the transit options in town. Pluses include: closeness to nature, awareness of others, improved relationships--and a body that tells people you don't spend half your life in a driver's seat.
Alyssa Ford Wednesday, October 20, 2010
El Nuevo Rodeo is a a large, cheerful Mexican restaurant on Lake Street. It's also a gigantic, pretty sensational dance club upstairs, drawing huge crowds to hear the biggest names in Latin music, from Mexican banda and norteño groups to pop and salsa superstars. For co-founder and owner Maya Santamaria, a music promoter who used to be an anthropologist, it's also a cultural and community center for the whole local Latino population--straight and gay--and a symbol of Latino entrepreneurship and enterprise in the Cities.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
The Line will take next week off starting Wednesday October 27--it's not a Halloween hiatus but the beginning of some changes to our web site's Content Management System (CMS) that will allow us to organize and display our content more effectively.
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.
Lori Storm Wednesday, October 06, 2010
Want to be healthy? The celebrated Moroccan-born chef David Fhima says: eat butter, cream, and other supposedly "bad" foods if you love them. But eat them in moderation, and in all your eating, opt for "real food"--fresh foods that come right from mother nature. The stuff Fhima is phobic about is lo-cal fake food that may not be fattening, but isn't healthy either. The chef, who's had his share of glitzy successes and failures in the Twin Cities restaurant scene, has brought this "real food" philosophy to his Saint Paul restaurant, FACES, to Lifetime Fitness' health clubs, and even to high school.
Dan Heilman Wednesday, September 29, 2010
The palmy days of Prince, Hüsker Dü, the Replacements, and other iconic Twin Cities bands may have passed, but our music scene is just as vital, and a lot more diverse, today. Just as in the golden age, seeing and hearing the bands live is crucial to really getting to know the scene, so here is our list of definitive venues--from the legendary and cavernous former home base of the Purple One, First Avenue, to the beer-fragrant holes-in-the-wall where tomorrow's stars are plugging in their amps.
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.
Holly Dolezalek Wednesday, September 22, 2010
There's a lot of excitement about "green jobs" and their potential to put America back to work. But defining what a green job actually is can be difficult, say some clued-in researchers in the state Department of Employment and Economic Development whose efforts have helped put Minnesota is in the forefront of the infant science of green-labor-market studies. A few real-world trends: there are many shades of green in the job market, the total number of certifiably green jobs in the state isn't large yet, and yet the potential for green-job growth is real.
Ellen Shaffer Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Meet the quirky, inviting business district at 28th and Johnson in Northeast Minneapolis--an urban village that, at least for now, seems to have found an elusive middle ground: it's got enough enticing amenities to attract strollers, shoppers, and eaters, but it's not well enough known for there to be parking problems and half-hour waits for a table.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Six friends who live near the struggling intersection of 38th and Chicago in Minneapolis wanted to see what they could do to revitalize their neighborhood. So, in the middle of an economic downturn and against most of the odds, they formed a nonprofit to create, of all things, an art center centered on fire. They worked hard and got lucky, and the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center is set to open in October with classes in welding, forge building, jewelry making, and blacksmithing. If their luck holds, the CAFAC will be also be a crucible for change in the 'hood.
Susan Klemond Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Guitarist Daíthí Sproule, a globe-trotting member of the Celtic supergroup Altan and one of the true giants of traditional Irish music, lives not in Dublin or New York but on Saint Paul's West Side--along with a growing community of musicians who play Irish music locally and nationally, and who love the fact that their close-knit neighborhood gives them plenty of chances to get together and jam.
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.
Meleah Maynard Wednesday, September 01, 2010
On his web site Olive & Myrtle, Saint Paul designer/merchant Aaron Porvaznik sells beautiful, high-design things, from housewares to toys to bedspreads, that aren't exactly necessities. So why is he thriving at a time when most folks don't have many spare dollars to spend? It might have something to do with the passionate care he takes to make sure that everything on Olive & Myrtle is sustainably sourced--and his conviction that good design and sustainability are practically the same thing.
Dan Haugen Wednesday, August 25, 2010
The eleven people who formed the "innovation advocacy force" called MOJO Minnesota have been working hard to make it easier for smart money to reach bold entrepreneurs. They pushed hard for the recently passed Angel Investor Tax Credit, and, as Innovation and Jobs editor Dan Haugen found out when he talked to two of them, they're still on the front lines of the effort to fire up our state's startups.
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.
Ellen Shaffer Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Nothing helps a new restaurant get off the ground faster than a fresh idea--a brand-new way to dine as well as great food and a hot location. Three new Twin Cities restaurants--the Uptown Cafeteria and Support Group, Barrio Tequila Bar, and Ringo--offer this special kind of conceptual freshness. But they give it an egalitarian Twin Cities stamp too, by fusing the drop-dead hip and the decidedly democratic.
Meleah Maynard Wednesday, August 18, 2010
It's hard for 25-year-old Zuhur Ahmed to find some time for herself. Wherever she goes in the Twin Cities Somali community, from malls to workplaces to coffee shops, people have something to say to her. Her issue-oriented call-in show on community radio station KFAI is an open forum for what concerns Somalis here--immigration, family issues, crime, gangs, drugs. And what she's learned has convinced her to continue helping people displaced by global unrest and chronicling their lives.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The trendy new TractorWorks office building in Minneapolis' North Loop looks a lot like an art gallery inside-- ex-SoHoite Ron Ridgeway has made it that way. The artist and design professional curates the building's art collection, but what he's actually creating is an art center where employees of the firms in the building can explore their creative selves and get their art on. In the world of "tenant amenities," this just might be 2010's answer to the workout room.
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.
Lori Storm Wednesday, August 04, 2010
When South Africans Roy Goslin and Diane Ferrandi were hired by an American firm and offered their pick of US locations, the couple chose Minneapolis/St. Paul because it's about the size of Cape Town. Within a few years they were working for themselves, importing wine from their homeland. But thanks to the bad rep that cheap South African wines had garnered, and their unfamiliarity with the Twin Cities food scene, they had an uphill climb. Today, after the World Cup, South Africa is trendy, Goslin and Ferrandi are old hands, and metro Minnesotans are getting a taste for fine vintages from the land of the springbok.
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?
Alyssa Ford Wednesday, July 28, 2010
The Twin Cities teem with cool crafters whose edgy and beautiful creations go miles beyond hand-painted "Bless This Mess" signs and laser-cut rocks that bid us "Imagine." For a long time these artists' main outlets were occasional crafts fairs and web sites. Then along came Sarah Sweet and Angela Lessman, who crafted the big, colorful, funky consignment store in Northeast Minneapolis with the disarming name. All it took for the shop to succeed was a dream, a near-failure, and a work ethic that borders on insanity.
Jon Spayde,Bill Kelley Wednesday, July 21, 2010
In one magical zone in the Twin Cities, there's a loon made of junk, a chimney covered in shattered glass and ceramic shards, a place to buy tarantulas, and a hotel straight out of the Coen brothers. It's called the Central Corridor. The Line's ace managing photographer, Bill Kelley, and its managing editor, Jon Spayde, traveled University Avenue and Washington Avenue, where much of the light rail line will run when it's completed in 2014, seeking out their favorite offbeat, oddball, one-of-a-kind, things, things they hope and trust will be preserved through the construction of the line and the development of the Corridor neighborhoods. Herewith, their top ten.
Chris Steller Wednesday, July 21, 2010
It's four years before a single train is slated to set out on the tracks, but the Central Corridor light rail line between Minneapolis and Saint Paul has already created a powerful network of connections across the Twin Cities. In particular, ad-hoc collaboratives, instead of a single light-rail "czar" or bureaucracy, and Saint Paul's traditionally strong neighborhood political structure, have pushed planning for how the line will impact the city now and in years to come.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, July 14, 2010
People love locally-sourced food and close connections with the people who grow it, right? That's what inspired the Community Supported Agriculture movement. Well, a few forward thinkers in local arts organizations wondered if they could harness that same passion for connection to help support area artists and make art-buying fun, and Community Supported Art was born: cratefuls of art instead of kale, kohlrabi, and spinach. Meanwhile, Brooklyn-born FEAST was established here too, offering artists a festive, food-themed new form of competitive patronage.
Lori Storm Wednesday, July 14, 2010
They started with not much more than a sewing machine and an idea and, far from global fashion centers, they set out to turn their dreams into beautiful things to use and wear. And lo and behold, these Minnesotans made it happen. Laura Nelli's chic handbags, Rapport's leather bags and whimsical accessories, and Gillian Gabriel's beautiful, flattering-to-any-form swimsuits are made-in-Minnesota fashion phenomena that are making their mark in the wider world.
Laine Bergeson Wednesday, June 30, 2010
North Minneapolis--NoMi--has had its share of hard times, crime, and social dislocation over the years. But neighborhood advocate Joel Breeggemann is sick of one-sided portrayals of the neighborhood. He and other Northsiders know it as a friendly, green, increasingly trendy "small town in the city" where neighbors are joining together to make things better--and word has been getting out. Scores of first-time homeowners have been drawn into the neighborhood by Breeggemann's Get to NoMi Home Buyers Tours, which celebrate the North Side while showcasing some amazingly affordable houses.
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, June 23, 2010
It's not a statue plopped in a park any more. Public art is a complex, dynamic new way of looking at the relationship between creativity and community. And Jack Becker, director of Saint Paul's Forecast Public Art, knows as much about that relationship as anybody in America. He led the effort to build up Forecast from a failing art gallery into a multitasking go-to organization for public artists around the Twin Cities and around the country, helping public art become a major public resource as well as a public delight.
Dan Haugen Wednesday, June 23, 2010
David Byrne has seen a lot of the world as a touring mega-rocker--much of it from from the seat of a bicycle. Last Thursday he joined three notable Twin Cities bike advocates--Mayor R. T. Rybak, author and journalist Jay Walljasper, and walkability/bikeability expert Steve Clark--at the Uptown Theater for a celebration/exploration that looked at the future of urban pedal culture in the Twin Cities and the world. Hint: it's about a lot more than bike lanes.
Meleah Maynard Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Our techno-skeptical writer (and master gardener) Meleah Maynard showed up at a gathering of Twitter- and Facebook-friendly farmers and garden folk--last month's Social Media Breakfast at the State Fairgrounds. The scene was a little strange (half the audience was tweeting or texting during the presentations) but Meleah found herself warming up to the new ways Minnesotans are using the social web to get the word out about healthy food.
Andi McDaniel Wednesday, June 16, 2010
There's a mythical yellow house in a made-up Minneapolis neighborhood where a pair of writers and a musician join together with a rotating company of guest actors and singers to poke gentle fun at the foibles of the city's young, hip, and hopeful. Welcome to Powderkeg Live!, the cool little radio-style live variety show that's miles from Lake Wobegon--but very, very Minnesota.
Karen Olson Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Dan Noyes was a veteran teacher of architecture and design who wanted to create something new: a small, hyper-hands-on school of "ecological architecture" where the goal wouldn't be simply to turn out well-trained designers, but to nurture visionary poets of space-making whose work would foster a connection with the earth. When Noyes discovered that a century-old telephone exchange building in Northeast Minneapolis needed a basement tenant, one of the nation's smallest--and most innovative--graduate schools was born.
Holly Dolezalek Wednesday, June 02, 2010
What can we do to do leverage the abundant high-tech talent in Minnesota into more startups? At the MinneBar 2010 conference, geeks and investors gathered to grapple with that question--among others--and to assess the state of the tech biz in the Gopher State. The verdict: More risk-taking, more mentoring, more connectivity are needed here--but everybody can keep their cabins.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, June 02, 2010
There's art happening in Saint Paul's oldest neighborhood, the solidly blue-collar West Seventh, and it's revitalizing the area without gentrifying it. Creative types love the big houses and exhibition spaces that are available, and they're determined to remain good neighbors to the immigrants and old-line St. Paulites among whom they live.
Alyssa Ford Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Design maven Alyssa Ford scoured the Cities for places where great design is for sale, from legendary pottery to elegant, magazine-spread-worthy home decor to art toys straight out of Japanese cartoon culture--and our photographer, Bill Kelley, came along. Check out her picks and his pix.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Welcome to The Line. Today we launch the first issue of our weekly magazine, which will chronicle creativity and innovation at the Twin Cities' urban edge, from tech to transit, art to entrepreneurship, design to dining. We'll cover what's new and what's next for the Cities.
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.