Creative Leadership : Buzz

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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







 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Recently, Brad Conley, a student at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, was recognized as a member of the All-USA Community College Academic Team and a New Century Scholar, representing the state.  
 
He’s one of 20 students selected from a pool of 1,700 nominations that came from around the country to be part of the team, according to school information.
 
On April 23, Conley was recognized for the achievement at a convention in Orlando, Florida, and he got a shout-out in USA Today.
 
The honors come with $4,500 in scholarship money.
 
“The New Century Scholars program and the All-USA Community College Academic Team honor outstanding community college students for their grades, leadership, extracurricular involvement, and volunteerism,” MCTC materials read.

Source: MCTC
 

 

Fox News included Summit Maibock, a type of beer from the locally based Summit Brewing Company, in its list of the top-ten spring beers from U.S. and German breweries.

The piece provides some background on this seasonal style of beer, which usually comes out in April or May.  

Considering Summit’s Bavarian roots, “it's only natural that they honor that heritage by brewing their own Maibock,” the article states.

Summit’s Maibock “is fermented at slightly warmer temperatures than other lagers to coax more spicy aromas from the hops. As for its flavor, Moravian 37 and Munich malts and Saaz and Mt. Hood hops combine for a toasted sweetness with a subtle spice and peppery character.”

A story from Yahoo! about “America’s Most Creative Food Trucks,” features the Twin Cities-based Chef Shack.

Yahoo surveyed the country’s “quirkiest cuisine” delivered on wheels.  

It found that while the popular Chef Shack may seem to offer a random menu at first, with everything from bacon beer brats to beef tongue tacos, everything is sourced from local family farms and coops.  

“Chef Shack operators Carrie Summer and Lisa Carlson switch up the menu on a regular basis, tailoring it to the season's prime ingredients. This means that your taste buds are guaranteed a flavorful punch no matter which dish you order,” it states.

Venture Beat mentions the local CoCo coworking space and Project Skyway business accelerator in a story about the coworking trend.

Skyway is an example of the kind of collaborations that can come out of coworking, it expains.

For the vast majority of startups, coworking may be a better alternative than the traditional business incubator, it argues.

“Co-working shifts the startup mentality away from the tunnel-vision focus on getting funding, and onto the 'first-things-first' task of growing a company culture, developing ideas, and most importantly, nurturing support networks,” it states.

In a recent article on the benefits of mentoring programs, Minneapolis-based public relations professional Tameka Davis shared her insights on how a mentor helped her to succeed.
 
As reported in the Wall Street Journal, Davis chose a mentor in the interactive and social media field, and found numerous benefits with the arrangement. She developed a five-year career plan, improved her networking skills, and learned to work better with clients, the article noted.
 
The story went on to include tips on maintaining an effective mentor-protégé relationship.
 
Davis says, "It's just good to be able to talk to someone who has been there and can help you navigate your career."

In a Bicycle Times story titled “The surprising rise of Minneapolis as a top bike town,” local writer Jay Walljasper describes the city’s affinity for bicycling.

Minneapolis' goal is to make biking an even bigger part of the transportation system, he states.

Mayor R.T. Rybak is quoted in the story, saying to a group of out-of-towners, “Biking has become a huge part of what we are,” adding, “It’s an economical way to get around town, and many times it’s the fastest. I frequently take a bike from city hall across downtown to meetings.”

Jeff Stephens, the executive director of the Columbus advocacy organization Consider Biking, also visited the city. “It was exciting to see what they’ve accomplished in Minneapolis, which is a city that seems a lot like Columbus.”

Livability.com recently put together a list of the top ten music cities in the country, excluding Nashville, New York City and Los Angeles. Minneapolis wound up in second place.

Athens, Georgia, topped the list.

First Avenue in Minneapolis’s Warehouse District is an important music venue, according to Livability.com.

“Most remember it from the Prince movie Purple Rain,” and the building’s decorative stars make up a who’s-who of artists who have played there, it states. The wall includes such big names as U2, B.B. King, Death Cab for Cutie, Wilco and many more, notes the article.

Also, the nearby Fine Line has drawn artists such as John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, The Black Keys, Lady Gaga, Ben Harper, and Buddy Guy over the past two decades.

The New York Times recently featured Minnesota's statewide “museum month,” which is coming up in May.

It’s the first celebration of the sort to spring up nationally, according to the newspaper.

Several local museum administrators came up with the idea, the story states.

“The rich history of Minnesota’s museums invites such a focus,” says the Times, citing the 1849 founding of the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul.

The Walker Art Center’s chief of operations, Phillip Bahar, is quoted saying, “There are stories that we each try to tell individually, whenever a special exhibition is happening,” but “What we want to do is tell the stories that we don’t have the opportunity to tell very often, about the broader community of museums across the state.”