Creative Leadership : Buzz

The deVine Film Fest, which runs June 23, features six-second videos made by locals with the Vine app.

The film fest is a part of Comedy Corner Underground, which hosts an open mic night.

Right now, the group is accepting submissions for the film fest.

On the fest’s website, founder Andy Erikson writes, “My friends and I have loved using the Vine app immensely, and wanted a way to showcase the six-second videos made by local Minneapolis comedians and artists.”  

At the film fest, the best submissions will be played several times. “There will be prizes and also some standup comedy planned for the evening. The best part is, you don’t have to be from Minneapolis to submit, nor do you have to be a trained filmmaker,” the website states.

Next month, Peter Kelsey of the New French Bakery will be honored by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) as the Small Business Person of the Year for Minnesota, according to the Star Tribune.

Kelsey, who started out modestly in 1997, “credits his success to hard work, luck and the SBA,” the story states.

In the past, he ran a small shop in the Warehouse District. “Kelsey believed bread could trump booze and a hard-rock joint,” but he needed the money to make it happen, the story states.

Luckily, others believed in him and the New French Bakery grew into the 400-person operation it is today, according to the story.

John Rimarcik, a Minneapolis restaurateur, is quoted in the story, saying that Kelsey "is just driven to be one of the best bread bakers in the United States."

The Star Tribune picked up two Pulitzer Prizes on Monday for local reporting and editorial cartooning, the newspaper reports.

The story goes on to say that Brad Schrade, Jeremy Olson, and Glenn Howatt won the reporting honor for their “powerful series of reports on the spike in infant deaths at poorly regulated day-care homes, resulting in legislative action to strengthen rules.,,,Since the series ran, the number of deaths at day cares has dropped dramatically.”

Steve Sack, an editorial cartoonist, won for his “diverse collection of cartoons, using an original style and clever ideas to drive home his unmistakable point of view,” the story reads.

Design review firm 10 Best Design recently released its ranking of the country's top web design companies, and Minneapolis-based Artropolis won a spot on the list.
 
Coming in at number eight, Artopolis specializes in driving visitor purchases on e-commerce websites. Featured work on the 10 Best Design site included sites for temporary staffing firm Current Temp and restaurant company Big Thrill Factory.
 
10 Best Design evaluated firms based on multiple variables within its proprietary analytics system. The top three agencies were The Creative Momentum in Atlanta, Kohactive in Chicago, and Vento Solutions in New York.
 

City Pages has compiled a list of the top local clubs "to see bands before they break big."

"We are truly fortunate to have plenty of intimate rooms here in the Twin Cities, where local and national bands alike can find their footing in a live setting while building a solid reputation within the Minnesota music community--a rep that will follow them as they return to the area to play bigger clubs to match their rising profile," the story reads.

The Triple Rock Social Club, Turf Club and 7th St. Entry are among the most-established venues for seeing artists that have gone on to play for bigger audiences.

But the list also includes some new clubs, like the Icehouse in Minneapolis and the Amsterdam Bar & Hall in St. Paul. The Amsterdam has already "seen its fair share of breakout acts, including Cloud Nothings' rousing first local performance...and the emergence of the Girls Got Rhythm Festival."  

Online restaurant reservation website Urbanspoon singled out the country's most popular restaurant bars and four Minneapolis eateries landed on the list.
 
Bar La Grassa, 112 Eatery, George and Dragon, and Tilia were included on the list of 200 popular U.S. restaurant bars.
 
Urbanspoon included selections from 101 cities across 33 states, and selected the most popular based on reviews from food critics, bloggers, and Urbanspoon users. Florida claimed the most spots on the list with 31 entries, while Ohio and Missouri rounded out the top three.
 
In addition to selecting specific restaurant bars, Urbanspoon also noted a few trends in its results. Beer proved to be a defining feature for a number of the bars chosen, and on the liquor side, restaurants that offer specialty cocktails and house-infused spirits tended to get a place on the list.

Efforts in St. Paul schools to serve nutritious lunches are getting props on a national level, according to the Pioneer Press.

On March 26, an official delegation comprising state and federal representatives dropped by Crossroads Elementary to see it in action.

The delegation wanted “to learn more about the district's all-out health-food kick and its bid to get a head start on stricter federal school lunch rules, announced earlier this year,” the story states.

New USDA guidelines require schools receiving federal funding to cut down on sodium and boost whole grains, an area where St. Paul schools are ahead of the curve, according to the story.

Business magazine Forbes released its ranking of "America's 100 Most Trustworthy Companies" and three Minnesota companies made the list: Hawkins, Apogee Enterprises, and Patterson Companies.
 
The magazine rated U.S. companies using AGR scores, a statistical method that links accounting reports with financial statements and governance to detect any fraudulent activity. Companies on the list also show positive forecasts for equity returns, and don't have any SEC enforcement actions pending. The analyst firm that provided the rankings, GMI Ratings, noted that 60 different governance and forensic accounting measures were used.
 
The companies on the list have "consistently demonstrated transparent and conservative accounting practices and solid corporate governance and management," Forbes noted. "They do not play games with revenue and expense recognition, or with asset valuation."

Last week, the James Beard Foundation released the names of the nominees in its various chef and restaurant award categories, in Charleston, S.C., Vita.MN reports.
 
Jack Riebel, the chef and co-owner of Butcher and the Boar in downtown Minneapolis, is up for best chef at these “Oscars of the food world,” according to Vita.MN.

Riebel used to work at the Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant in Minneapolis and La Belle Vie in Stillwater, the story states.
 
Michelle Gayer, the chef and owner of the Salty Tart, who’s been nominated for outstanding pastry chef before, is a candidate for regional best chef.
 


 

The Current blog has a recent post about Minnesotans in the running for a couple of Independent Music Awards, in which individual songs are judged by a group of well-known artists.

Sleep Study, a pop quartet, is up for an award in the Indie/Alt. Rock category for “Flower Song,” which the post describes as “a lo-fi, driving ’70s pop cut off their debut full-length, 2012′s Nothing Can Destroy.”

Secondly, Minnesota Remembers Vic Chesnutt, a compilation, is a nominee in the Tribute Album category. Luke Redfield, a Duluth songwriter, led the project, which nonprofit Rock the Cause released. It features covers of Chesnutt songs by local performers, including Dan Wilson, Haley Bonar, Dave Simonett, and Charlie Parr.

The results of the contest will be tallied up later this summer.

Business magazine Forbes recently released its annual list of the world's billionaires, and five Minnesotans landed on the roster again, with no real surprises since they've been on the list in the past and are all prominent in the state's business scene.
 
Tying at number 316 (out of nearly 1,500 billionaires) are Barbara Carlson Gage and her sister, Marilyn Carlson Nelson, each with a net worth of $4.1 billion. The two own Carlson jointly, and saw their fortunes rise significantly over last year, when they each had a net worth of $2.5 billion.
 
Coming in at 395th on the list is Whitney MacMillan, one of the owners of Cargill, considered the largest private company in the United States. He has a slight increase in net worth over last year, from $3.3 billion in 2012 to $3.4 billion today.
 
Stanley Hubbard, chairman and CEO of Hubbard Broadcasting, is 704 on the list with $2.1 billion in net worth, while the fifth Minnesotan is Glen Taylor, majority owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves and founder of Taylor Corporation. Number 719 on the list, Taylor has a net worth of $1.7 billion.
 
Best Buy founder Richard Schulze also appeared on the list as he did last year, but he isn't identified as a Minnesotan this year, since a city of residence isn't listed for him. Twin Cities Business spoke with Schulze's daughter, who told the magazine that her father's primary residence is in Florida.

DC.Streetsblog.org gives a shout-out to the Twin Cities’ Nice Ride bike-sharing program in a post, “Midwest Cities Race to Adopt, and Grow, Bike-Share.”

Recently, Pittsburgh announced it was adding a similar program, while several other cities plan to follow suit.

The post goes on to say, “And of course there’s the grandaddy of them all: Minneapolis’ Nice Ride. Launched in 2010, this system currently boasts more than 1,200 bikes. Late last year, the system surpassed half a million trips.”

The post also includes a photo of a local bicyclist taking advantage of the pioneering bike-sharing program.

The Walker Art Center’s Internet Cat Video Festival was “an unparalleled and unexpected success,” according to a museum magazine piece.

The film festival turned out to be a viral success, “sparking news headlines worldwide, the festival itself saw the convergence of 10,000 people—some in costumes, others cradling kitty companions, all feline fanatics—on the Walker’s hillside one warm August evening last year,” it reads.

The festival has since led to a national tour, lots of media attention and an expanded event for next year. And a "legitimate" film festival in Austria has made a bid to host it.

Scott Stulen of the Walker is quoted, saying, “It was something unique. Also, we were very aware that we were tapping into a powerful meme, and we knew there was some interest with it.”

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Minnesota is becoming a top state for telecommuting, as more employees work from home.
 
The StarTribune reports that the Twin Cities posted the fifth-biggest increase among metro areas in workers who are based at home at least part time. According to the agency's estimates, about 82,500 people in the state telecommute part-time or full-time.
 
Among the states containing the top 10 metro areas in the country, Minnesota is the only state with two additional large telecommuting job areas, Mankato and St. Cloud. According to the StarTribune, the exceptionally high work-at-home numbers in those two cities may be an extension of the same phenomenon as in the Twin Cities--tech-savvy employers and, in the words of a Mankato city official, "a culture in this state where people have a good work ethic and can be trusted to work at home.”

City Parks Alliance, a national urban parks advocacy group, has set its sights on the Twin Cities for its 2017 International Urban Parks Conference.

In a prepared statement, Catherine Nagel, who heads the alliance, says the park systems demonstrate “some of the most innovative work happening today around urban park planning, design and programming and each clearly demonstrates the power of partnerships in creating and sustaining urban parks.”

The Twin Cities have two of the most established park systems in the country, the prepared statement reads. That has contributed to the Twin Cities’ reputation as “green cities.”  

“Anchored by the iconic Mississippi River, the Twin Cities offer more than 350 parks and open spaces for experiential learning,” the statement adds.