Creative Economy : Buzz
Forbes Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Minneapolis is a highly inventive city on an international level, according to a recent Forbes study.
Forbes used a metric called “patent intensity” to come up with a list of the 15 most inventive cities across the globe.
Minneapolis came in ninth place, as it produced 5.06 patent applications for every 10,000 residents, according to the magazine.
Eindhoven, in the Netherlands, topped the list, while Raleigh, North Carolina, rounded it out.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s recent list of the most giving Fortune 500 companies includes Wells Fargo & Company and the Target Corporation, according to Minnpost.
To get the results, the Chronicle examined last year’s charitable donations from many of the top Fortune 500 companies, the story states.
Wells Fargo, which calls San Francisco home, but has strong ties to Minnesota, led with $316 million. “Meanwhile, Wells Fargo may be poised to add new Minnesota jobs, or at least, move existing employees to a new location,” the story reads.
Target came in ninth place, having given away $147 million in cash and $77 million in products.
The Brooklyn Brewery, a craft brewery in New York, “is paying the Twin Cities a little visit in a big way,” a City Pages article states.
This week, the brewery is coming to the area as a part of its national MASH tour, a series of beer and food-related events plus film showings and music.
The Twin Cities is one of 11 stops in the festival that includes a “series of parties, concerts, and private diners in honor of Slow Food USA, an organization the promotes "the pleasure of food by linking it to the community and the environment."”
While in town, MASH will make its home St. Paul’s The Happy Gnome, while also visiting with a number of local restaurateurs.
The New York Times featured local artist Chris Larson’s art installation that was a part of the recent Northern Spark.
For the St. Paul dusk-to-dawn art festival, Larson created a replica of Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer’s St. Paul house. Before an audience at the festival, Larson proceeded to burn down the house. It was the festival’s main attraction.
Although Larson worked from 1961 blueprints of the house, he “made the walls and roof out of cardboard and two-by-four studs,” the story states.
Of the original, which is still standing, the story states, “Despite its heritage, the house has been neglected in books on Breuer.”
As for the burning of the replica, it may have been a statement about the architect, the design, or putting too much emphasis on one’s house--several people in the story weigh in on the significance of the pyrotechnics.
Intuit Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Recently, Intuit put together a list of the top U.S. cities for female entrepreneurs. By its calculations, Minneapolis comes in fourth place. San Francisco tops the list. It's followed by Seattle and Washington D.C., in second and third place.
In a blog post about its results, Inuit underscores that while more women are enrolled in higher education, “they still struggle to find their place in many career fields, including business and entrepreneurship.”
At the same time, a study shows that 81 percent of female entrepreneurs are “showing optimism about their business ventures,” it states.
To come up with its rankings, Intuit looked at median education levels, unemployment rates, income, population, and the percentage of women-owned businesses for 48 cities across the country.
The Huffington Post recently pulled information from a Travel + Leisure survey that shows that the Twin Cities is the 6th best metro for beer nationwide.
Craft breweries are trending across the country, with more than 2,300 counted in 2012, “the highest number since the late 19th century,” the story states.
The Twin Cities jumped nine spaces in the survey this time around. “The buzziest beers seem to channel the outdoorsy, hipster vibe that voters love about Minnesota,” according to the survey.
Local breweries range in character from Indeed Brewery, which “prides itself on its retro, back-to-basics cans, while Fulton Beer offers a Russian imperial stout.”
Fulton claims its beer can hold up against the Minnesota winter, in case it's left outside.
Portland, Oregon topped the list of beer towns.
Vincent Kartheiser, an actor on the popular AMC series “Mad Men,” will return to his hometown this summer to play in the Guthrie Theater’s production of “Pride and Prejudice,” according to the Star Tribune.
Kartheiser first graced the Guthrie stage as a seven-year-old in the theater’s staging of “A Christmas Carol.” This time around, he’ll play the role of Mr. Darcy.
“Kartheiser, 35, grew up in Apple Valley and moved to Los Angeles as a teen to pursue an acting career,” the story reads. The actor became well known beginning in 2007 as the “Mad Men” character Pete Campbell, the “slimy, conniving ad executive everyone loves to hate.”
“Pride and Prejudice” marks the theater’s 50th season.
ArtPlace America, a consortium of arts funders across the country, recently announced a couple of St. Paul winners in its latest round of grant awards, according to the Star Tribune.
Both the Blue Ox Mini Golf project and the Bedlam Theatre won $350,000 grants from the group in a category titled, “Using Art to Connect and Animate Communities.”
The Blue Ox will use the funds to develop an artistic 18-hole course at the old Schmidt Brewery grounds, which is being renovated for artist lofts, while Bedlam is planning a new home base near the Union Depot.
Jennifer Pennington, a spokesperson for Blue Ox, comments in the story about the funding group: “They’re really interested in funding a variety of creative placemaking efforts to spur economic development and increase vibrancy,” she says.
Source: Star Tribune
Minnesotan Amy Matthews has a new TV show focusing on home renovations, according to the Pioneer Press.
Matthews, who is “already a staple on the DIY Network,” is now bringing her home improvement savvy to HGTV, with the TV show, “Renovation Raiders,” the story states.
“Renovation Raiders,” which was filmed locally, is “a remodeling show with a fun twist.” It debuts on May 30.
In a matter of hours, a crew makes dramatic changes to a room in a house, which varies by episode.
Beforehand, “contractors work with another one of the homeowners, who is in on the big surprise, and strategically plan the remodel, being extra careful not to be caught by the unsuspecting party,” the story states.
Source: Pioneer Press
Minneapolis is a good place for anyone who’s into sports, according to the financial literacy website NerdWallet.
The website examined cities across the country, evaluating them on what sports are represented, attendance at games, ticket prices, and local sports culture.
By its criteria, Minneapolis came in in sixth place, after Dallas, Chicago, Detroit, New York, and San Francisco.
The article cites reasonably priced tickets and the fact that teams like the Vikings and the Wild, which recently went to the playoffs, have generated a lot of enthusiasm from fans.
When the Vikings play their “archrival,” the Green Bay Packers, “thousands brave the bitter cold to tailgate before these games in mid-winter.”
Minnesota has also been called the State of Hockey, “which locals make clear with attendance at Wild games over 100% this season,” the article states.
Soon, Minneapolis will host the 2014 MLB All-Star game, when the Midsummer Classic visits Target Field, it adds.
Earth Policy describes various bike-sharing programs around the world in a recent post.
The post mentions Nice Ride, the bike-sharing program in Minneapolis and St. Paul, which is the second largest in the U.S. Nice Ride has 1,550 bikes at 170 stations, it states. Capital Bikeshare, which serves the Washington, D.C. area, is the biggest, with more than 1,800 bikes at 200 stations,the piece notes.
Bike-sharing programs are popping up more and more, these days. “Forward-thinking cities are turning back to the humble bicycle as a way to enhance mobility, alleviate automotive congestion, reduce air pollution, boost health, support local businesses, and attract more young people,” according to the article.
Bike-sharing systems “are being embraced by a growing number of people in the urbanizing world who are starting to view car ownership as more of a hassle than a rite of passage.”
The locally produced comedy variety show “Wits” has made it to the next level.
A number of other National Public Radio stations are picking up the MPR show, which is recorded live at the Fitzgerald Theatre in St. Paul, Kare11 reports.
“Wits” includes such well-known talent as singer Rufus Wainright and “30 Rock” alum Kristen Schall, the story states.
The show’s senior producer, Larissa Anderson, describes the winning formula for “Wits,” which mixes improv, comedy, music, and theater: "It's comedy, it's music, it's surprises; and sometimes things go off the rails, and we love it when that happens,” she says.
The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reports that a Minnesota lawyer, John Levy, is teaming up with celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern on an Arizona food truck.
Levy leads the new Minnesota Food Truck Association.
The story quotes Levy as saying, “Through my friendship with Andrew and my experience as a business lawyer, I thought it would be cool on the side to have an interest in a food truck.”
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.”
Minneapolis has the sixth largest arts economy in the country, according to city information.
A report from the Creative Index, which takes into account arts jobs, consumer spending, and revenue of arts organizations, shows that in Minneapolis, the arts scene “is an integral, thriving part of the local economy that has stayed steady even during tough economic times,” the city’s website states.
Go here to see the Minneapolis Creative Index data for 2013.
The index used some indicators “that have never been measured before in Minneapolis,” drilling down to the zip-code level.
Other cities that came out ahead of Minneapolis in the Creative Index include Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston.
Minneapolis outpaced the national average creative index score by 4.8 times, according to city information.
Local artist Jennifer Davis got a shout-out in the national art magazine, Juxtapoz.
Scroll through a gallery of her work on the magazine’s website.
Davis, who has shown her work all over the U.S., Canada and the U.K., studied art at the University of Minnesota.
It was during that time that she fell in love with painting and drawing, specifically. She’s continued to work in those mediums since she graduated with a B.F.A. in 1998.
“Her portraits of people and animals, acrylic paintings on panel (and sometimes paper) have a surreal candy-land exterior full of innocent charm, which only hint at an undercurrent of darker truths," says the magazine.
Fast Horse featured Public Functionary, a new nonprofit art gallery in Northeast Minneapolis, in a Q&A on its blog.
The post’s author, Jen Kreilich, was among the 230 people who contributed to the gallery’s $30,000 Kickstarter campaign.
Right now, the gallery is preparing for an event centering on building momentum for such a campaign.
Kreilich says in the post, “I can’t wait for Public Functionary to open its doors. I’m thrilled by their focus on making art more accessible, cultivating young collectors and using content to expand the experience beyond the walls of a gallery.”
A new map for navigating the skyways in downtown Minneapolis is out on a website called, Skyway My Way.
The website has a map plus a searchable database of businesses within the skyway system.
This map-app differs from others in that “Searching for a location in other popular mapping applications puts you on the street, not in the skyway,” it states. “Our team of skyway gremlins have meticulously combed every nook and cranny to obtain all of the necessary information.”
The website can help people find everything from a lunch spot to a chiropractor.
The New York Times recently featured the Minnesota Orchestra, which played a concert in early February despite a lockout that’s been ongoing since October.
“The Minnesota Orchestra and its players have been locked out since Oct. 1, after they rejected management’s proposal for a 32 percent cut in base pay and refused to make a counterproposal,” the story reads.
The special concert took place at the Minneapolis Convention Center, celebrating an orchestra ensemble’s Grammy nomination for its Bis recording of Sibelius’s Symphonies Nos. 2 and 5, the story states.
“The recording is indeed superb, easily one of the best of 2012, and the concert represented it well, despite compromised circumstances,” the story adds.
MPR Wednesday, February 13, 2013
The Twin Cities is among “America’s Most Literate Cities,” a just-out report for 2012 shows.
Once again, Minneapolis came in third place while St. Paul was sixth, according to MPR.
The annual report from Central Connecticut State University looks at the number of bookstores, educational achievement, Internet and library resources, the publishing business, and newspaper circulation to rank cities.
Dr. John Miller, who led the study, is quoted in the story, saying that the marks are “a large-scale portrait of our nation's cultural vitality. From this data we can better perceive the extent and quality of the long-term literacy essential to individual economic success, civic participation, and the quality of life in a community and a nation."”
The Princeton Review recently listed the University of Minnesota as a "Best Value College" for 2013, according to a prepared statement from the university.
This is the third year in a row that the university has been singled out by the publication for the distinction.
“The University’s commitment to academic excellence, financial aid availability and the overall value of an education at the U of M’s Twin Cities campus has again merited inclusion on this year’s Best Values list,” the statement reads.
The Princeton Review uses more than 30 data points related to academics, cost, and financial aid to single out schools.
This year, the publication recognized 150 schools out of 650 total.
The Atlantic Cities ran a story in January from Richard Florida that asks, “Does Human Capital Tend to Cluster in Center Cities or the Suburbs?”
Human capital, another way to describe educated people, represents “a key factor in the growth of cities and metro regions,” the story reads.
Florida studied the way that human capital spreads out in cities and suburbs throughout the country and its impact on local economies. He used 2000 U.S. Census data to get the percentages of college grads for those areas.
Minneapolis and St. Paul are among the top 10 large metros with the most college grads in the center city, it reads. About 35 percent of the area’s residents hold bachelor’s degrees, the study found.
“Knowledge-based high tech metros top the list,” the story states.
A blog post from Bon Appetit, the culinary magazine, describes the “Return of the Tater Tot.”
“Most people forgot the Tater Tot once they graduated from the lunchroom,” writes Foodist blogger Andrew Knowlton.
But Knowlton has long kept a bag of Ore-Ida Tots on hand for late-night snacks or treats for his daughters. “They’re great baked, even better fried,” he says, adding, “And while they'll always be second to french fries, chefs are starting to show them some respect on menus.”
Some restaurants serve them traditional style, while others take them up a notch with "Totchos," Tot casseroles, he says.
Haute Dish in Minneapolis also has an “upscale version served with short ribs,” he adds.
A handful of local cultural institutions are among 105 finalists from across the country for creative placemaking grants from ArtPlace America.
The list includes Bedlam Theatre, Minnesota Public Radio and the Blue Ox in St. Paul, along with the Hennepin Theatre Trust in Minneapolis.
“The selected applicants represent the best of the 1,225 letters of inquiry from across the country,” ArtPlace’s website reads. “Finalists were chosen for their potential to transform communities through placing art and culture at the heart of portfolios of integrated strategies that drive vibrancy and diversity.”
Grant recipients will be announced in May, according to the website.
A recent feature in The New York Times centers on the Minnesota Opera’s premiere of “Doubt,” which opens January 26 and runs through Feb. 3.
According to the article, playwright John Patrick Shanley was initially skeptical of the idea of rewriting the show, which had been a play and an award-winning movie, into an opera libretto.
But it turned out to be a rewarding experience, Shanley says. “There’s a lot of feelings that could not be expressed in the play because of its austerity,” he says, adding, “But opera, even when it is austere, is as rich as chocolate cake. So that allowed me to go back and express a lot of things that I could not before and still tell the story"--a story which centers on the nature of the relationship between a Catholic proest and a young African-American boy.
Preparing for production, the Minnesota Opera hosted a number of workshops for composer Douglas J. Cuomo, Shanley, and stage director Kevin Newbury, the story states.
Newbury says of the resulting show, “It isn’t just about doubt, it’s doubt brought to life onstage. And it’s a particularly American play with all the questions about class and race and religion rolled up into one.”
Several Minneapolis and St. Paul neighborhoods made ArtPlace America’s list for 2013 of the country’s top art destinations.
Every year, ArtPlace, a consortium of national arts groups, puts together a report that pinpoints the top “art places” in 33 of the country’s largest metro areas.
Art places are those that have a “backbone of creative culture,” the ArtPlace website reads. Small local businesses and shops define these areas, which are often walkable. These are “neighborhoods where the arts are central to creating the kinds of places where people want to be.”
ArtPlace uses indicators such as the percentage of independent and arts-related businesses and organizations, walkability, and the number of people in creative professions.
In Minneapolis, Downtown West and Loring Park are on the list, while across the Mississippi River the Lowertown neighborhood is included.
Minneapolis is one of the top five cities for advancing in one’s career in 2013, according to Monster.com.
For those moving into a new city, a post from the website states, “it might be smart to factor wage and employment potential into your city choice.”
Monster looked at the online salary database to pull that kind of information for cities across the country.
It found that Minneapolis, rated fourth, is seeing 3.2 percent wage growth. The city “enjoys an economy that thrives on manufacturing, including electronics, medical equipment, and machinery,” while popular jobs are actuary, senior business manager, project manager, and marketing and category manager, according to Monster.
Houston topped the list, with 3.9 percent in wage growth.
Minneapolis is included in a list from BillMoyers.com of a dozen cities that are “leading the way in sustainability.”
For example, the city has put a lot of effort into becoming more bike-friendly: “With over 160 miles of bikeways, 85 miles of which don’t run alongside a road, Minneapolis is among America’s greener large cities,” it reads.
But that’s not the only area where Minneapolis is getting attention for its green initiatives.
It has also worked to promote the importance of tap water as opposed to bottled water. Also, Mayor R.T. Rybak has “recently become a major advocate for his city’s tap water, arguing that it is less expensive and better for the environment than bottled water,” the article states.
Pizzeria Lola in Minneapolis recently got props from Food and Wine magazine as one of the best pizza joints in the country.
On its website, Food and Wine quotes TV star and chef Andrew Zimmern, who says,
“Yes, it’s true, Minnesota has the best pizza in America,” adding, “Better than New York City and Chicago put together.”
Although the piece acknowledges that Zimmern, a Minnesotan, could be biased, “his favorite order makes a case for thinking outside those major pizzaiola hubs: The Sunnyside is topped with guanciale and leeks that have been caramelized in the cured pork fat and finished with a hint of cream. A sprinkle of Pecorino Romano cheese and two fresh sunny-side up eggs complete the recipe,” it reads.
A recent story from the Minnesota Daily highlights a Minneapolis-specific annual variety show called, “I AM MPLS,” including its future plans.
Sarah Edwards, a marketing director at the Pixel Farm creative agency, initiated the show several years ago as way to “bring together all of the different types of talent the Twin Cities offers, from rockabilly to the sophistication of the MIA,” it reads.
“It’s hard to explain what people should expect,” Edwards is quoted saying, adding, “It’s not a fashion show, and it’s not a comedy show and it’s not a music show; it’s all of those things together telling a story.”
She hopes this collaboration will happen more frequently and become “more of a hub for innovators and artistic enthusiasts to have easier access to one another,” it reads.
Already, the ”revolution-esque intent of the collaboration has the foundation to become more than just a Minneapolis project, insofar as creatives from Denver will be flying in for the production.”
A new group called Public Interest Design has released its first “Public Interest Design 100,” an infographic list of national design leaders--trained designers and others--who deal with public policy issues. And it includes a couple of local notables in the field.
Eric Muschler, a program officer at the locally based McKnight Foundation, has made big strides in affordable housing, while Thomas Fischer, dean of the University of Minnesota College of Design, is “one of the foremost writers and thinkers in architecture and design,” it states.
On its web site Public Interest Design describes the attention the list has already garnered: “We watched our inbox explode; literally hundreds of people have alternately described it as a “milestone” for the movement or a 'resource' or 'reference' for those in the field and working to support it,” the piece states. “But we are most heartened to have had the opportunity to recognize so many amazing people (in the U.S. alone, as a global edition will follow), doing such important work in the world.”
In a recent blog post at OnEarth.org, Andrea Northrup, who has won awards for her work to improve school lunches nationwide, talks about a strategic career move: coming to the Minneapolis Public Schools.
She works for the district, “to source local food for school meals and coordinate food, nutrition, and agricultural education for the District’s 32,000 students,” the post states.
She credits Bertrand Weber, who leads the school district’s nutrition program, with making it possible for her to do this work. “He was hired at the start of 2012 to transform MPS’s school meal program, and knew that farm-to-school had to be a part of it,” she states.
The NRDC Growing Green Young Food Leader award, which she was given last May, “is one success that helped catapult me into this next exciting chapter of my career,” she says, adding, “Things are just getting started at MPS, but do look for news and updates about the exciting changes we’re making!”
Travel + Leisure magazine recently polled readers about their favorite cities across the country.
People ranked 35 cities according to food, people, nightlife, and more.
Survey results show that Minneapolis and St. Paul have the best ratings in public parks and outdoor access, summer, cleanliness, intelligence, and home décor and design stores.
However,the Cities are among the worst for winter, spring break, and New Year’s Eve, the article states.
In a Minnesota 2020 blog post titled “A tale of two bike cities,” guest blogger Amber Collett compares biking in Minneapolis to Portland, Ore., where she recently relocated.
She touches on how both cities have made a name for themselves with more and more bike infrastructure and a growing cycle culture.
Bike boulevards differ from place to place, with Minneapolis having roomier lanes, she says.
Portland has more of them, plus protective boxes at traffic signals that keep bicyclists from breathing in exhaust.
She turns to Steve Clark at Bike Walk Twin Cities to find out more about how the two cities compare bike-wise. He’s quoted saying, “Minneapolis has been trying to catch up to Portland in terms of on-street facilities where certainly Portland has led the way with some of the nation’s first and finest bike boulevards and miles upon miles of bike lanes.”
That being said, visitors from Portland “quickly become very envious of our off-street trails--particularly the Midtown Greenway which is basically a freeway for bicyclists and provides separate space for walkers and joggers too.”
A recent Star Tribune story highlights art as a successful development tool in a number of St. Paul building projects.
While in the past, artists may have been viewed as “a mysterious and crazy bunch,” today they’re sought out by the city to help make development plans, the story states.
They’re seen as “innovators who can fill hard-to-adapt historic structures like the long-vacant Schmidt Brewery and turn them into vital and lively corners of the city once again,” the story reads.
Renovation plans for the Schmidt Brewery, for example, include studio, gallery, and performance space. The place is also a part of a developing Midway arts district.
Mayor Chris Coleman says in the story, “I look at every thriving city in the country and there's a thriving arts community within it,” adding, “It helps shape investment decisions. Things are enhanced.”
A recent piece in the Harvard Business Review examines the local business community's stand this month against a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in Minnesota.
Business leaders made the case that this piece of legislation would negatively affect everything from employee retention to workforce diversity, the article states.
Fifty current and former CEOs took out a full-page ad in the Star Tribune a week before the election this month, voicing their opposition.
“Business executives know a winning brand proposition when they see one. Which is why they stepped into the political arena this year to defend the community values that have helped make Minnesota one of the most economically vital and livable states in America,” it reads.
St. Paul resident Nicholas David has been named one of the top 12 contestants on NBC's reality TV show The Voice.
It’s quite a feat because “Getting onto The Voice means you have to rely solely on (wait for it...) your voice while a team of celeb judges decides whether or not they'll turn their chair around and offer you a spot on their team,” a City Pages story reads.
His recent performance on the show of Barry White's “You're the First, the Last, My Only” is described as "raspy, passionate, and unique."
David doesn’t fit the “usual pop-star mold,” the story goes on to say. “When most of the other singers on the show merely gush about how crazy and amazing it feels to be on The Voice's stage David talks about inspiration, his 'gal' and his kids,” it states.
Livability.com, which profiles the best places across the country to live and visit, has an entry about Minneapolis.
The site characterizes Minneapolis as “a center for business, arts and professional sports,” with Fortune 500 companies, a strong theater scene, and the Twins, Timberwolves, and Vikings. Forbes has also named it as one of the safest cities nationwide, it adds.
The city’s workforce and parks are also highlighted on the website, while local landmarks are featured in the photo gallery.
“With so much to offer, Minneapolis has received numerous accolades,” the entry reads.
St. Paul is a finalist for the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge, rising above a pool of over 300 entries.
The competition is about inspiring “American cities to generate innovative ideas that solve major challenges and improve city life,” a prepared statement from the city reads.
The city's entry was an idea to make the city’s permit review and license process accessible online.
“Permit St. Paul,” as it’s called, aims to improve customer service and results and make government more transparent, while also keeping costs down, the statement reads.
The city is up against 19 others across the country for the $5 million grand prize and $1 million runner-up awards.
Outside Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Recently, Outside magazine featured Minneapolis as a top biking city.
“Cold winters can’t cramp the style of Minneapolis cyclists. Quite the opposite, in fact. This tight-knit community of bicyclists is the envy of many in the North American cycling crowd,” it states.
The article cites places like One on One Bicycle Studio as gathering places for cyclists, along with Open Streets outdoor events that shut down certain intersections, celebrating the car-free lifestyle. The piece also calls attention to other bike-themed events, including brewery tours, bike messenger races, and more.
Dedicated bike lanes and trails throughout the city, along with a bike-sharing program, contribute to making the city ideal for cycling, says Outside.
Several local breweries fared well at the recent Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colo.
The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal states that the festival is “considered one of the most prestigious worldwide competitions for brewers.”
St. Paul’s Summit Brewing Co. received a silver medal in the Bohemian-Style Pilsener category for its Summit Pilsener, the Journal reports.
Fitger’s Brewhouse in Duluth, which is planning a Minneapolis location, achieved a bronze medal in the American-Style Sour Ale category, with its Fitger’s Framboise, and the Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery got a bronze medal in the Great American Beer Festival Pro-Am Competition, according to the Journal.
Active.com includes Minneapolis and St. Paul as number eight in its list of the top 10 running places across the country.
“Aside from ample places to train and races to run, spirited running communities add color and support the local traditions that make certain cities ideal for runners,” the website reads.
The website cites events and infrastructure such as the Twin Cities Marathon, “called the most beautiful urban marathon in the U.S.,” a 50-mile city trail system, and the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway, and its home to the elite distance running-focused Team USA, coached by Dennis Barker.
New York City was named as the top running destination.
The local foodie website Heavy Table recently started a taproom directory for Minneapolis and St. Paul, which it plans to update regularly.
Ever since the Minnesota Legislature passed a bill in 2011 that “allows for brewers to operate an on-sale establishment on their brewing premises,” new brewing ventures have emerged all over the place, many of which include taprooms.
Dangerous Man Brewing, Indeed Brewing and 612Brew even make up a Northeast “Brew District,” the directory states.
It also includes listings for taprooms to come.
A short video on the TC Daily Planet website titled “Art Saves Lives,” from DJM film company with the help of Art Institutes International Minnesota and the Waite House, documents the making of a local youth-driven mural project.
The mini-documentary shows how a blank wall was transformed, going from the beginning of the project to the mural’s unveiling. The video also includes interviews with young artists and the project’s facilitators. They talk about how the mural beautifies the neighborhood, provides valuable personal and professional training for youth, and builds trust between teenagers and adults.
St. Paul parks designer Don Ganje recently joined the Council of Fellows of the American Society of Landscape Architects, according to Minnpost.
ASLA describes this induction as "among the highest honors the ASLA bestows on members and recognizes the contributions of these individuals to their profession and society at large based on their works, leadership and management, knowledge, and service."
ASLA goes on to say that with Ganje’s “eye for the smallest site detail and mastery of vast public open spaces, he has the ability to make places where people feel welcome and that comfort, excite, and encourage them to interact,” adding, “He further infuses his colleagues with a passion for the highest levels of design excellence.”
Recently, Artforum, a national art magazine, included a review of a local art show from Andy DuCett at the Soap Factory in Minneapolis.
The story’s writer, Jay Gabler, is also from the area.
Gabler compares the installation, called, “Why we do this” to a film.
“DuCett has created dozens of distinct spaces and assembled them in an eccentric progression that draws the viewer through the gallery with the promise of a surprise around every corner. His themes are memory and life history—specifically, the memories and history of the thirtysomething Minnesotan man he is,” the piece reads.
A recent story from the TC Daily Planet tells of a St. Paul resident’s home-crafted K'nex toy, dubbed Clockwork, which “has become a fast internet phenomenon since he released the video of it earlier this month.”
The toy has more than 40,000 pieces of K'nex--a creative construction material--plus eight motors, five lifts, a computer controlled crane and a couple of K'nex balls, according to the story.
It has attracted over a million hits on YouTube and landed on Reddit’s front page.
Its creator, Austin Granger, is quoted in the story, saying, “Every time I make one, I try to go bigger and more complex, and more ambitious than the one that came before it.”
Publishers Weekly recently reported on the Sept. 8 debut of a local literary journal called Revolver.
The new journal publishes a mix of prose, poetry, visual art, photography, and play excerpts, PW states.
Online content will be refreshed every couple of weeks, while a print edition will come out twice a year.
Revolver’s seven founding editors are part of a writing group that began meeting two years ago.
Esther Porter, a founding editor, explains that the journal came out of their monthly conversations: “We’d go out and close down bars fighting over stories, literature of all kinds. We wanted to have something to show for it.”
Reflecting the group's energy, the journal publishes pieces “that hit the brain like a bullet,” she says.
Local arts journalist Matt Peiken’s new project, MNuet, is featured in a recent blog post from Knight Arts.
Peiken intends MNuet, which launched on Sept. 4, to be an online hub for statewide classical music coverage.
He wants to create a community around classical music. Furthermore, members of MNuet will help support that.
"No media organization around here has a staff writer dedicated to covering the classical music beat any more,: says Peiken. "The coverage is all farmed out to freelancers."
While major media outlets broadcast occasional concerts, nobody's reporting on the scene, he says, adding, "You can learn about what the major players are doing, but you don’t get context, and you certainly don’t hear much from individual artists.”
AdAge Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Minneapolis creative agency Periscope recently picked up three liquor brands, according to a recent article in AdAge, the magazine covering the creative industry.
UV Vodka, Prairie Organic Vodka, and Revel Stoke Spiced Whisky--all owned by local firm Phillips Distilling--came to Periscope after a review. Phillips corporate director of marketing Katie Alvino noted in a statement that Periscope offers "an in-depth approach to brand building from consumer insights to amazing creative and campaign development."
AdAge's article pointed out that the liquor brands join a roster of Periscope clients that include Cargill and ExxonMobile. The agency has about 410 employees, with offices in Minneapolis, Toronto, Hong Kong, and Delhi.
The Salty Tart in Minneapolis recently made a list of the top 10 bakeries around the globe from Departures magazine.
“Though it is a risky move to arrive in a new city and set up shop immediately, it paid off for pastry chef Michelle Gayer,” the story reads.
After working on Los Angeles and Chicago, the baker opened the Salty Tart in 2008 in the Midtown Global Market.
With everything from coconut macaroons to pastry cream-filled brioche to various kinds of seasonal tarts, “The bakery was an instant hit,” the article states.
The Minneapolis-based Game Informer magazine is the country’s third-highest-circulation periodical, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reports.
While so many other print publications have reported declining sales in recent years, “Game Informer's circulation grew more than any U.S. publication in the past year,” surpassing Better Homes and Gardens in growth, and trailing only two AARP publications in total circulation, according to the Business Journal, which cites Bloomberg Businessweek data.
In terms of circulation growth, he second-place national magazine is Family Circle.
Part of the magazine’s success has to do with its connection to the Texas-based GameStop company, the article states.
Recently, The Atlantic magazine recounted in print how Medtronic came to be the major company it is now, after beginning in a garage in Northeast Minneapolis, Fridley Patch reports.
The Atlantic writer, Monica Smith, visited local landmarks while gathering information on the Fridley-headquartered international company.
“Her research was part of a Smithsonian Institution exhibit called Places of Invention that's now in development. It focuses on seven areas of the United States, including Minnesota's 'medical alley,'” the Patch story reads.
The story republishes this excerpt from the magazine story, below.
One of my favorite stories is about how young Earl [Bakken, Medtronic founder] ... was inspired to become an electrical engineer after seeing Boris Karloff's 1931 "Frankenstein" at the Heights Theatre on Central Avenue near his childhood home in Minneapolis. So in the pouring rain David [Rhees, executive director of The Bakken Museum] drove me by Earl's house and then on to the now-renovated theatre to take photos. He told me about how fun it was to help Earl celebrate his 85th birthday with a special screening of the 1931 movie there. Our next stop was at Medtronic's world headquarters where Earl still maintains an office even though he is nominally retired and lives in Hawaii. I got a kick out of seeing two Frankenstein figures on his desk.
In a recent piece, Midwest Living features Minneapolis as an ideal destination town for a two-day getaway.
“No matter what your mood, Minneapolis offers something to suit: beautiful lakes nestled among hip art communities, tree-lined trails behind modern museums, vibrant nightlife blocks from high-class cultural attractions,” the story reads.
For starters, the extensive art collections housed at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts make the museum worth a trip. “The Department of Contemporary Art shows works by living artists, and the institute’s collection of paintings spans more than five centuries,” it states.
Also, Nicollet Mall’s pedestrian-level shops, restaurants, and farmers market, and scenic Lake Calhoun are just some of the city’s many attractions, the article adds.
PedalMn.com has a short video that shows off the state’s extensive bike trails.
It goes through a number of bike paths both in urban areas and in greater Minnesota. In Minneapolis, bicyclists are followed as they careen past the scenic Chain of Lakes, the St. Anthony Main historic area, and Nicollet Mall.
Bike-friendly infrastructure, such as bike racks on buses, helps flesh out some of the reasons why the state has gotten so many props lately in this area.
The video will “will remind you why you love to get out and pedal in Minnesota,” the website states.
Golden Valley-based General Mills recently took a step into the arena of "branded content," assisted by popular news site Huffington Post, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal.
The site, LiveBetterAmerica, is aimed at giving visitors information on healthy living, with a focus on eating more nutritious foods, and it's built on the Huffington Post technology platform. Although the site isn't directly linked to the news source, articles from Huffington's writers will appear on LiveBetterAmerica.
The move is part of a growing shift in online content that pairs publishers like Huffington with advertisers like General Mills, creating journalistic-style articles that tie to brand awareness and online advertising.
Minneapolis and St. Paul made Sherman's Travel’s recent list of the country’s top 10 places for bicycling.
“The Twin Cities emergence as a bike-friendly superstar coincided with a general plan to make the area more livable,” the story states.
The story points to the Nice Ride bike-sharing program, and to bike-themed events that happen frequently here.
Just last year, the city of Minneapolis added 37 miles of bikeways, installed hundreds of bike-specific street signs, and created a citywide bike map for the first time, the story states.
Bill Dossett, who heads Nice Ride, is quoted saying, “All of these things are happening at the same time that we’ve made this great investment in the last five years,” adding, “You bring all of that together and I think our future is very bright.”
The Anchor Fish & Chips restaurant in Minneapolis is featured in a Yahoo! Travel piece about the best seafood spots in the country.
“Crisp Alaskan cod and hand-cut fries steal the show at this traditional Irish chipper,” the piece reads. “Request a side of tangy curry sauce to layer on your fries and you're sure to tantalize your taste buds.”
The Anchor’s seafood isn’t the only thing drawing people to the small hole-in-the-wall pub, the piece points out. It also has a solid beer selection, well-executed Shepherd’s Pie, and a trendy ambience.
For those on the go, the restaurant’s food truck is a good option, adds Yahoo!
The Bachelor Farmer restaurant in Minneapolis was recently featured in the New York Times.
The modern, chic restaurant “playfully blends Scandinavian design and tradition with a handmade-food ethos and the friendly unpretentiousness of the Midwest,” the story reads.
With its unique offerings, such as roasted rutabagas and reinterpreted cinnamon rolls, the place “has given Scandinavian food a much-needed shot of adrenaline.”
Although the state hasn’t always garnered a lot of attention for its food ideas, “this Scandinavian surge is intersecting with the most avant-garde movement in food today: New Nordic cuisine,” it states.
Eric Dayton, who co-owns the restaurant, told the newspaper that the restaurant fell into the trend. “Our goal was something that was authentic to Minnesota, not necessarily authentic to Scandinavia.”
In a recent piece from Fox News, Minneapolis is recognized as a top “revival city.”
Fox explored a handful of cities that might seem under the radar or “once balanced on the economic precipice only to sustain as a stronghold for independent artists, forward-thinking entrepreneurs and corporate backers"--and looked at "how they're being transformed into unique vacation destinations,” the story states.
Minneapolis leads the nation in bicycling; it has award-winning restaurants and music venues and striking hotels, and plenty of art, the story states.
It mentions a laundry list of area destinations, including a 44-mile network of bike paths, the hard-to-get-into Marvel Bar, Eat Street Social, the Art Deco-style W Minneapolis, ArtCrank bike-inspired art and more.
The Hyatt Regency in downtown Minneapolis has been re-imagined as a “hotel for locavores,” according to a recent New York Times story.
Part of the hotel’s recent $25 million renovation used area manufacturers, artisans, and artists. Its new décor “pays tribute to the city’s heritage and industry,” it states.
While the hotel is internationally known, architect Mike Suomi of Stonehill & Taylor says in the story, “We also wanted to craft a narrative that is specific to the location.”
Design touches reference timber and woolen mills while an oversized map of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers is tied together with Post-Its, which the city is also known for.
Bon Appetit magazine recently pulled together a list of the top five soda fountains around the country.
“A band of bartender converts are stepping up to the seltzer tap, returning us to the era of phosphates and egg creams,” the story states. Eat Street Social in Minneapolis made the list.
“Sodas go toe-to-toe with craft cocktails at this lively bar,” it reads, adding that the Raspberry Rickey is a must-order.
A recent analysis from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality shows that Minnesota boasts the best healthcare system in the country, according to the Star Tribune.
The state’s high marks came in the areas of medical clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes.
“Overall, Minnesota ranks third for care of patients with acute conditions, seventh for chronic care and 11th for preventive care,” the Star Tribune story states.
Jennifer Lundblad, president of the nonprofit organization Stratis Health, is quoted saying, “For more than five years we've had an intense collaboration among providers, health plans, state officials and others to tackle both quality and cost issues," adding, "That's hard work ... and this report confirms where we're doing well and where we still need to improve.”
The Pioneer Press reports that a local fashion designer will appear on the next season of Lifetime’s popular reality TV show, “Project Runway.”
The 27-year-old Raul Osorio describes himself as self-taught, according to the story. He’s “known for his attention to tailoring and striking a balance between feminine and masculine designs,” the story states, adding that his combination of hats, rolled-up pants and ankle boots make him a striking sight at fashion events all over town.
Four other Minnesotans have made it onto the TV show. The show’s 10th season starts on July 19.
A story in The Atlantic titled, “The Right to Experience Art,” discusses the “community supported art” program from St. Paul’s Springboard for the Arts.
Through the program, people can buy “shares” in local art, the same way they would buy food from local farmers through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).
The story highlights comments from Laura Zabel, who leads Springboard.
Zabel is quoted as saying, "The art is wonderful and it's always beautiful, but the purpose of the program is to build tight relationships between artists and the community," adding, "We found this incredible audience for this project of people who care about their local economy and community but aren't necessarily from the art community."
In a recent story, Slate.com profiled a Texas library that occupies a building that had once been a Wal-Mart.
The Minneapolis-based architecture firm Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, Ltd., “breathed fresh life into the warehouse, about as big as two-and-a-half football fields, late last year, when they repurposed it as the country’s largest single-story public library,” it reads.
Interesting signage, reading nooks, and special spaces, such as a quiet room, several computer labs, and a bookstore and café, have redefined the place.
So much so that the McAllen Public Library won The International Interior Design Association’s 2012 Library Interior Design Awards, the story states.
A Reuters article titled, “Cities' efforts to make exercise easier pays off,” calls attention to Twin Cities’ efforts to help residents get in shape.
Fitness results in part from lifestyle and environmental supports, it states, adding that the American College of Sports Medicine's 2012 American Fitness Index (AFI), which ranks the country’s 50 healthiest cities, supports that theory.
Minneapolis/St. Paul has jumped to the top of the list for the second year in a row thanks to higher rates of physical activity.
The story quotes Walter Thompson, who chairs the AFI board: "When I say Minneapolis ranked No. 1, people give me an 'are you kidding me' kind of look,” who adds, "Between November 1 and April 1 they have cold and snow, but they've addressed that."
It has to do with having plenty of gyms and government investment in parks, he says in the story.
The Washington Post recently featured the Minneapolis restaurant the Bachelor Farmer, in its lifestyle section.
Writer Tom Sietsema describes the Nordic-themed restaurant as “homespun and stylish.”
“Cheery blue-and-white awnings welcome diners to the sprawling corner property,” along with an underground cocktail lounge that’s known as the Marvel Bar, the story states.
“Asked to define Minnesota cooking, Eric Dayton says it revolves around the simple use of a few ingredients, preferably local. “There’s a humility to the cooking” in his state, he says. The description sums up my meal in his restaurant, where nothing shouted “Look at me!” but everything reveled in good taste, right through dessert.”
KSTP Wednesday, June 20, 2012
The internationally touring 48 Hour Film Project, which gives filmmakers a deadline of two full days to put together a movie, included Minneapolis in its 125-city tour this year, KSTP reports.
As a part of the project, filmmakers had to complete everything from the writing to the editing of a movie within 48 hours, the story states.
Teams also had to work with certain genres and props and some scripted dialogue.
Standout work will be screened at the 48 Hour Film Project Filmapalooza in 2013.
Recently, Kevin VanDeraa, who owns Cupcake, a Minneapolis bakery, won the Food Network’s TV show competition, “Cupcake Champions," according to a Twin Cities Business Magazine story.
As such, he took home the $50,000 grand prize.
It was his desserts inspired by the "Yo Gabba Gabba!" children’s TV show that earned the top spot.
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 Wednesday, May 23, 2012
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.
Minnpost has a brief piece about photographer Bruce Hemmelgarn’s 23-hour time-lapse of Target Field.
The result, which is posted on its website and Hemmelgarn’s blog, brings together day and night games from April 11 and 12.
It uses thousands of images to show the transition from one game to the next. At one point in the evening, the moon is visible in the scene, Hemmelgarn notes on his blog.
The time-lapse has been posted in many places, including the CBS Sports Daily Blog and the Major League Baseball website.
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.”
Yahoo! Wednesday, April 18, 2012
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 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.”
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.”
An episode of the Food Network TV show “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” this week spotlights Pizzeria Lola, a popular pizza joint in Southwest Minneapolis.
Pizzeria Lola, which features wood-fired artisan pizzas, is known for a creative menu that includes everything from a Korean barbecue-style pizza to the “Sunnyside” pizza, which is topped with an egg.
The neighborhood eatery is a favorite of chef and TV/radio personality Andrew Zimmern, according to a summary on the show’s website.
Another part of the episode takes viewers to a destination diner in Georgetown, Texas, with actor Matthew McConaughey.
The Huffington Post includes the Twin Cities in its recent list of top 10 places for bicycling.
It recognized cities of over 100,000 residents that “feature an abundance of great rental shops, municipal bike racks, exciting trails, and dedicated bike lanes,” the story states.
“The Twin Cities' emergence as a bike-friendly superstar coincided with a general plan to make the area more livable,” according to the story.
In Minneapolis, the Nice Ride bike-sharing program has seen plenty of use, while bike-friendly events are abundant.
Last year the city “added 37 miles of bikeways, installed hundreds of bike-specific street signs, and created a citywide bike map," says HuffPo.
Forbes Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Minneapolis is among the top 10 U.S. cities to make a comeback in population terms after the recession, according to Forbes.
The magazine used IRS data to draw its conclusions.
It looked for “counties that were losing population in 2005 but that were either gaining in 2010 or losing far fewer people,” the story states. “Every city on this list saw more people move in 2010 than in 2005, so we aren’t merely recognizing cities that have already lost all of their mobile population.”
Demographer William Frey says in the story that places such as Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Washington, D.C., have a strong group of people he calls “windfall stayers” or those “who otherwise would have moved out either to their own suburbs, or to more economically vibrant places,” plus others making a return move to the city.
In Minneapolis, “inbound migration has grown, attracted to a region whose diverse economy has kept unemployment low throughout the recession, and to a vibrant city center.”
In a review of the film's release on DVD, Pop Matters points out that Minneapolis is one of the stars in “Stuck Between Stations,” which stars Josh Hartnett.
The couple upon whom the film centers “may or may not love each other, but they clearly love their city,” it says.
Minneapolis becomes a character in the movie, and its “signature characteristics are on display: its art, its architecture, even its bicycling culture,” while local bands are also featured.
The author also praises the film’s cinematography, which shows “visually stunning” views of the area.
Director of photography Bo Hakala, who lives in Minneapolis, demonstrates his “love for his home city and its visual appeal manifests itself gloriously on screen.”
A recent USA Today story highlights the makeover of the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Minneapolis.
As a part of a $25 million project that started in December 2011, the hotel charged its designers with creating a “sleek, new look with an eye towards all things “local”--including Red Wing Pottery,” the story states.
Michael Suomi, design chief for Stonehill & Taylor, which came up with the architectural and design plans, is quoted saying "We had a specific goal of bringing as much of the manufacturing and sourcing back to America to promote job growth, increase speed to market and celebrate American craft"--adding that this way, “we saved money!"
The Walker Art Center blog features artist Aaron Draplin’s graphic map, called, “100 Things I Love About Minneapolis.”
The image shows a map of the state, which is filled in with words and illustrations that touch on everything from the iconic Grain Belt Brewery sign to the common phrase, “You betcha.”
It includes landmarks along with bits and pieces of pop culture. Among the destinations it pictures are the Ideal Diner in Northeast Minneapolis, Ax-Man Surplus store in St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis skyways.
The American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis recently announced its June 30 grand reopening with the addition of the Nelson Cultural Center.
The expansion and other campus enhancements will get a visit from Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia in October. During their Minnesota trip, the king and queen will also go to the Swedish-founded Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, which will be celebrating its 150th anniversary.
“The Nelson Cultural Center’s innovative design and handcrafted, Swedish-inspired detailing embrace Nordic values--including respect for nature and quality materials, as well as for the environment, through energy conservation and sustainable building practices,” the statement from the American Swedish Institute reads.
The Knight Blog features a couple of its local grantees who were recently profiled by Minnesota Monthly.
Dana Nelson of GiveMN and Laura Zabel of Springboard for the Arts are Minnesotans who are “changing the way we think about the world--and its future," according to the magazine story.
Nelson is giving philanthropy a new twist while Zabel is empowering artists, it states.
A recent posting from The Atlantic highlights an interesting crime-fighting strategy at work in Minneapolis.
Classical music is being played at various light rail stations to “dissuade criminal behavior,” it states.
The strategy, which the city began using last summer, is based on the idea that “potential criminals find classical music so detestable that they won’t hang around the station long enough to realize their criminal potential: 'If it encourages some people to wander away because it's not their favorite type of music, I guess that's okay,'" said Acting Transit Police Chief A.J. Olson.”
Minneapolis took inspiration from Portland. “Oregon lawmakers liked the tactic so much." says the Atlantic, "that they proposed a bill that would require light rail stations in high-crime areas to play classical music as long as they remain open.”
Minneapolis is full of opportunity for job seekers looking to work in social media, according to a study on the Mediabistro/All Twitter web site, City Pages reports.
The city comes in number 13 nationally, “second in the Midwest only to Chicago,” City Pages states.
New York, San Jose, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston top the list.
In Minneapolis, the highest-paying job in this niche is social media marketing manager, which has a salary range of $54,000 to $85,000. “Minneapolis may not be the home of new-media giants like Twitter and Google, but we're aren't the social media backwoods, either,” says City Pages.
The recent premiere of the Travel Channel’s new show, “Bizarre Foods America,” hosted by local chef Andrew Zimmern, featured a number of outstanding local delicacies.
In his column in Mpls. St. Paul Magazine, Zimmern lists some of the distinctive places to which the new show goes, including area farms, streams, and lakes and a Hmong market.
The Minneapolis restaurant Piccolo offers a “lesson in meat glue 101” from Doug Flicker; a local VFW hall has a hot-dish cook-off, and at Haute Dish in Minneapolis, Zimmern pitches in with offal hot dish. St. Paul's The Blue Door Pub also makes it into the show.
Zimmern adds, “I couldn’t be prouder of the show, our local crew, the fans who came out to watch, and the local stars [who] opened up their farms and restaurants to us. “
A January posting from Publishers Weekly praises Minneapolis' Coffee House Press for its recent accomplishments amid a change in leadership.
Two of its fall 2011 releases, Leaving the Atocha Station, a first novel by Ben Lerner and Song I Sing, a debut poetry collection from Bao Phi, “have been published to critical acclaim in major media publications," it states.
“Leaving the Atocha Station,” PW writes, “landed with the sort of bang that most book publishers can only dream of,” with a lengthy and positive review in the New Yorker.
It’s also been talked about in the New York Review of Books, National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air” show, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Foreign Policy.
In a regular column in USA Today called, The Pop Traveler, local writer Amanda Fretheim Gates makes a list of top 10 reasons to visit the Twin Cities.
The iconic First Avenue, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Chain of Lakes, skyways, Hennepin Theatre District, local brews, public art, and Jucy Lucy hamburgers are just some of the things that she enjoys about the area.
From her home, “I'm never more than 15 minutes from a play, museum, park, lake, farm-fresh dining, and tax-free shopping,” she says.
In general, “The people are friendly, the cultural offerings stellar, the sports exciting (if not depressing at times) and the outdoors flourishing all year round,” she writes.
The Atlantic magazine features Kopplin’s Coffee in St. Paul in a compilation of 35 top-notch neighborhood coffeehouses around the country.
The article starts out with a point about coffee trends in the U.S.: “Despite, or perhaps because of, the rapid expansion of Starbucks and other standardized chains, small coffeehouses are flourishing,” and Americans are getting more sophisticated in their coffee tastes.
Kopplin’s Coffee in St. Paul stands out in part because it’s “truly about supporting the local community,” with milk from locally raised grass-fed cows and Fair Trade and organic coffee.
The magazine also suggests stopping by Rustica Bakery in Minneapolis for a pastry.
Recently the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released a list of the top 10 states for green building through the internationally recognized LEED standards.
The results are based on U.S. Census data from last year.
Minnesota rounds out the list that’s topped by the District of Columbia.
The LEED Platinum Marquette Plaza in Minneapolis is named in a prepared statement about the list.
For National Geographic Traveler, the St. Paul Winter Carnival takes fourth-place in the world when it comes to wintry festivals.
Anchorage's Fur Rendezvous topped the list.
The Traveler's writeup of the event explains how Winter Carnival began when a reporter wrote that St. Paul was "another Siberia, unfit for human habitation in the winter." Beginning in 1886, St. Paulites asserted their local pride with the winter festivities.
Downtown St. Paul’s Wells Fargo WinterSkate rink will serve as the backdrop for NBC's live coverage of “Hockey Day in America,” the Pioneer Press reports.
The broadcast features four National Hockey League games on Feb. 19, including the Minnesota Wild vs. the Boston Bruins at the Xcel Energy Center.
“With ice at many lakes too soft to skate on, and temperatures unseasonably pleasant, more than 20,000 skaters have headed to downtown St. Paul for free ice time,” the story states.
The choice of the rink as a broadcast backdrop means that it will be open an extra two weeks this year.
The Huffington Post recently featured a story by local writer Jay Walljasper titled, “How to Boost Biking and Walking in Your Town: Lessons From Minneapolis.”
Walljasper cites numerous reports that show Minneapolis has become a top biking city.
He attributes it in part to various street improvements “including more bike lanes and special bicycle-and-pedestrian boulevards -- installed around town in the past year as part of the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Project.”
Joan Pasiuk, who heads Bike Walk Twin Cities, is quoted, saying, "The goal of this project from Congress was to shift some trips, and this data shows it is happening," adding, "The implications for overall health and transportation access are outcomes the community will realize from the numbers we're reporting."
Getting accurate bike and pedestrian counts is critical in terms of influencing transportation policies, according to Pasiuk.
Bleacher Report, which covers all kinds of sports news, has a list of “10 Reasons Minnesota Is a Very Underrated Baseball State,” accompanied with a slideshow.
“When you think of Minnesota you think snow, cold, Bob Dylan and Prince, but you really should be thinking about baseball,” it states.
Besides the team’s achievements, its home, Target Field, “is the best stadium in the league.”
The article also notes Minnesota's support of the minor-league St. Paul Saints.
The story and slideshow highlight local baseball greats who are known throughout the major leagues, historic events in Minnesota baseball, and the state's supportive fan base.
As a part of a Huffington Post series called “Libraries in Crisis,” the Minneapolis Central Library is featured as a cultural center.
Despite budget cuts, “more people than ever are visiting their local library,” the story states.
That point holds true at the Minneapolis Central Library, where the busy computer area, teen center, and New Americans Center show how library use is changing.
“Librarians across the country are looking to institutions such as this to show the way forward. For their part, the librarians here say their hope is that this library can be more of a cultural center than a book repository,” the story reads.
Next season, the popular Bravo reality show “Tabatha Takes Over” will visit a couple of local salons, according to the Pioneer Press.
Jungle Red Salon in Minneapolis’s Loring Park area and H Design Salon in Uptown will be featured in separate episodes of the show, which starts on Jan. 10.
“If this year is anything like past seasons, the new episodes likely will be full of shears and jeers as outspoken salon owner Tabatha Coffey swoops in and tells salon owners and their employees how to improve their game,” the story states.
The web-based Education News, which covers various national and international education topics, recently highlighted the comic degree that’s available through the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
It’s one of only three such programs around the country, the story states, citing information from MPR and the Star Tribune.
Local author Britt Aamodt, who profiled over 20 area artists in a book called, “Superheroes, Strip Artists & Talking Animals: Minnesota’s Contemporary Cartoonists,” is quoted saying that a “recent crop of artists is taking Minnesota’s scene to new heights.”
Aamodt goes on to say that the local comic artists have "really spread their wings,” and, “They can tell any kind of story. And they just don’t have to be about men in tights.”
Zagat Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Restaurant guide Zagat released its annual list of the Twin Cities' best eateries, and many of last year's top restaurants earned high marks again.
La Belle Vie topped the list, with 112 Eatery coming in second. Also notable were Vincent, Restaurant Alma, Bar La Grassa, and Meritage, which all made last year's list as well.
Newcomers in the rankings were Heidi's, In Season, Masu Sushi, and Victory 44.
The annual, national Zagat guide blends the opinions and habits of more than 153,000 diners from around the country, and integrates those with over 1,500 reviews.
A recent article in the national magazine GOOD features Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.
The story by local writer Jeff Severns Guntzel, is titled, “The Partisans Will Never Find Us Here: Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and the Art of Getting Shit Done.”
It talks about the city’s recent accolades for everything from biking to literacy.
“For a city that lives in the imaginations of Americans as a culturally isolated outpost of extreme and permanent cold, they are small but significant triumphs—and evidence that something is going right in Minneapolis,” Guntzel writes.
Civic achievements are reflected in “a buzzing park, a painter turning a street corner utility box into art, block after block of thriving independent businesses, a festival for every obsession and persuasion, [and] its growing, engaged immigrant communities. Minneapolis is all of these things. It is not a utopia, not by any stretch. It’s just a city that works,” he says.
In many ways, the success can be credited to the efforts of the Mayor, who’s been in office for a decade, Guntzel says.
Auditions for a Hollywood movie with Tom Hanks as its star will be held in Minneapolis on Nov. 5, according to Minnesota Public Radio.
Hanks will portray Capt. Richard Phillips, “who was taken hostage by Somali pirates who hijacked his ship in 2009,” the MPR story states.
Sony Pictures, which is doing the casting, is looking for black actors, "preferably born in Africa ... Especially seeking SOMALIS," the story reads.
It’s what brings the company to the diverse Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, which has the highest population of Somali-Americans in the country, according to the story.
The auditions will happen at the Brian Coyle Center, a community gathering place.
The story quotes casting consultant Debbie DeLisi: “We just looked at where there's huge Somali populations," who adds, "It may be our only stop, depending on the turnout."
OpenTable, which takes online reservations to various eateries all over the country, gives props to four Twin Cities restaurants in its recent list of the "Top 50 Restaurants Most Fit for Foodies," the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reports.
The list came together following OpenTable's “foodie” survey, which garnered more than 10 million reviews, the article states.
The standout restaurants in Minneapolis and St. Paul include Haute Dish, Heartland Restaurant & Farm Direct Market, Piccolo and Saffron Restaurant & Lounge.
The piece quotes Caroline Potter, OpenTable’s Chief Dining Officer, saying, "These restaurants have been singled out for being able to satisfy the folks for whom dining is practically sport--those avid, passionate eaters, often armed with cameras, who take careful notes and relish every bite.”
In a recent review of Insiders’ Guide to Twin Cities by local author Jay Gabler, the librarian/blogger known as ricklibrarian talks about spending hours with the book before coming to the Twin Cities.
In previous visits to the area, “I only had a limited amount of time to see the sites and saw just enough to know I wanted to see more. So I enjoyed the well-organized and frequently updated Insiders’ Guide,” he states in the post.
The book helped him to compile a list of must-see sites, including Minnehaha Falls, Open Book, the state capitol, Como Zoo, local art museums, and more.
He sums up by saying, “There is enough in the Twin Cities for several trips. Perhaps I should read Gabler's chapter on relocating to the great Midwestern metropolitan area. I'd love to go to Twins games regularly no matter where they are in the standings and have my picture taken on Kirby Puckett Lane. I hope the weather is fair.”
The Small Business Administration (SBA) recently released a list of 100 businesses that have created at least 100 jobs since receiving SBA assistance, and three Minnesota companies were highlighted.
Great Clips, Shield Services, and Tastefully Simple--all based in Minnesota--made the list, showing growth since their SBA aid.
Great Clips received a $9 million SBA loan in 1997 and used the money to grow from 800 salons to over 3,000 franchised locations, creating 15,000 jobs along the way.
Security firm Shield Services benefited from the agency's business development program and an SBA-assisted contract, and now employs 130 people.
Tastefully Simple, a food-mix and gift purveyor launched in 1995, used a $20,000 SBA loan to grow into a $100 million company with 340 employees.
Talk about a cage match: the Jolly Green Giant is up against Smokey Bear, the Energizer Bunny, and even Subway's Jared.
The Giant, a longtime brand rep for Golden Valley-based General Mills, is part of an online popularity contest held by New York's advertising agencies in anticipation of the event-packed Advertising Week 2011.
As noted by USA Today, the winner will be celebrated with a permanent banner on Madison Avenue, the ad industry's answer to Hollywood Boulevard.
People can vote via Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and the 20 ad icons range from Progressive's Flo to Mr. Clean to Sparky the Fire Dog.
Even the U.S. Department of Transportation's crash test dummies (named Vince and Larry, for you ad trivia buffs) are up for consideration.
A local food writer gets a shout-out in a Boston.com piece as a possible successor to the outgoing restaurant critic at the New York Times.
The Times’ food critic, Sam Shifton, is shifting into a new role at the newspaper, it explains.
“Still in the outsider vein,” Devra First writes, "Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, who writes for the Minnesota Monthly," is “a wicked writer, a New York native, well respected.”
In a position that’s long been male-dominated, it may be time for a new perspective. “Grumdahl's sensibility appeals to the younger readers the Times is looking to attract,” says First.
In a recent USA Today story about ways to make the most of produce before it goes bad, Minneapolis is named along with Los Angeles and Austin, Texas, for having thriving food swaps.
Food swaps, which are listed here, help avoid wasting food, the author explains. “Imagine a place where regular people get together to unload what they have too much of (summer squash? raspberry jam?) and, in exchange, find something they need or hadn't thought of (asparagus beans? pickled okra?)."
Other creative food-saving measures mentioned include donating items to a food pantry or preserving, cooking, or juicing fruits and vegetables.
The novel “Crossbones,” from Somali author Nuruddin Farah, who lives part of the year in Minneapolis, is featured in a recent issue of the New York Times Sunday Book Review.
“Some in the media may paint Somali pirates as womanizers with lavish tastes and an eye for Nairobi real estate, but Nuruddin Farah exposes the shallowness of such depictions in his 11th novel,” the review states.
One of the book’s central characters is a New York-based war correspondent who is part Somali and part Malaysian. With the help of his father-in-law, he embarks on an international journey to track down his teenage nephew who has left Minnesota to join the militant Islamic group al-Shabab.
Warfare and poverty in Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu are also part of the story, which reviewer Hirsh Sawhney describes as “politically courageous and often gripping.”
Sawhney writes that the Farah “takes great pains to illuminate the roots of Somalia’s turmoil in a nuanced manner.”
All in all, the book is a “sophisticated introduction to present-day Somalia, and to the circle of poverty and violence that continues to blight the country,” Sawhney concludes.
Target's new ad campaign for Missoni, a fashion line of more than 400 products, is distinctive for its nod toward Italian films of the 1960s, notes a recent story in the New York Times.
In its advertising column, the paper reports that representatives from Target traveled to Milan to collaborate with the Missoni family, in order to strengthen the brand and give the campaign an authentically Italian feel.
In the campaign, which includes TV ads and Web spots, swinging 1960s music accompanies images of a dining room decked out in Missoni products, and models wearing the brightly hued clothing line.
The ads were done in collaboration with Minneapolis-based Olson, a creative firm known for high-profile work for clients like General Mills, Amtrak, and Converse.
The Fox is Black, a national art and design blog, recently featured the Minneapolis-based Studio on Fire.
In the writeup, blogger Bobby Solomon says that the local studio is producing some of the strongest letterpress work that he's found in a long time.
He's such a fan that he'd like to get some business cards done in a style like that of Studio on Fire. "I've toyed with the idea of getting some letterpress business cards, a simple white card with a big black fox embossed into it; it would be great, and this makes me want to do it even more," he says.
He adds that the studio's portfolio "is filled with a wide variety of projects--[their] Godspeed bike print is pretty rad, especially the fact they used the pattern of the bike seat itself."
Star Tribune sports columnist Sid Hartman is featured in a piece on The Morning Delivery titled "Journalists in which the word 'retirement' just isn't in their vocabulary." [sic]
Hartman, who is 92 years old, is still meeting deadlines and speaking on the radio weekdays, it states.
Hartman, who was a high school dropout, never received any formal journalism training, but after beginning as a delivery boy for the Star Tribune at the age of 12, he was able to work his way up to full-time columnist.
"Instead of wondering who Sid interviewed, a better question might be who hasn't this celebrated veteran interviewed," the piece reads.
Hartman once followed New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath into the shower for an interview, introduced Bobby Knight to Ted Williams, and drove to the airport with Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford after the funeral of Roger Maris, the article recounts.
Dennis Bracken, Assistant Sports Editor at the Star-Tribune, is quoted as saying: "Name a major moment in Minnesota sports, and Sid was there and probably had his hand in making the news."
Cool Hunting, which showcases interesting new developments every week in the areas of design, tech, style, travel, culture, and more, recently featured an invention that comes out of Minneapolis.
Bike Fixtation, the bicycle-repair kiosk from the Minneapolis company of the same name, topped a recent list of picks on the Cool Hunting website.
"If you've ever ended up stranded in the city with a flat tire, you'll find the new Bike Fixtation kiosks helpful. The self-service stations are open extended hours for bicyclists in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan areas," the notice reads.
An international team of editors and contributors at Cool Hunting sort through all kinds of innovations to provide the weekly digest.
Star Tribune Wednesday, June 29, 2011
A stomach-churning homegrown commercial has garnered a national award from the Association of Independent Commercial Producers.
David Phelps' Star Tribune article reveals everything you'd want to know (and then some) about ad agency Preston Kelly's local, low-budget commercial for the YMCA of Greater St. Paul and Metropolitan Minneapolis, in which a woman eats a stick of butter while watching television.
The commercial shared the spotlight with more larger-company spots for Old Spice, Volkswagen, and Allstate.
A June 7 Gather.com story marks the 53rd birthday of Prince, the iconic Minneapolis rocker.
"It's a safe bet he can look down from his royal throne and enjoy the fact that he's as popular today as he was two decades ago," the story states.
Gather.com cites the artist's recent run of 21 sold-out shows in Los Angeles, "sending fans and critics into a frenzy with his stellar performances of songs from his ever-growing catalog," it states.
Describing Prince as an icon and "ultimate showman," the post makes the case that he rivals younger performers, especially with his impressive guitar skills.
The work of Minneapolis-based Artspace is featured in a recent Nola.com story about the rise of artist live/work spaces in New Orleans and elsewhere.
Artspace is a nonprofit organization that develops affordable space for artists and arts organizations all over the country.
The group plans to convert the Andrew J. Bell Junior High School Property in New Orleans into a $40 million home for artists--one of a number of similar developments taking place across the city, the story states.
These kinds of developments are appealing to many artists because they're often affordable and offer gallery space, built-in community, and other professional opportunities, it explains.
Wendy Holmes, senior vice president of consulting for Artspace, is quoted in the article, saying that it makes sense because "Artists bring a lot to the table."
A strong artist community can improve a city's tax base and turn around struggling neighborhoods. "Artist communities re-energize neighborhoods. And even though we're all businesspeople it's not always about the bottom line. It's about community engagement," she says.
How does a creative executive manage more than a dozen external creative partners and a $35 billion brand?
Tim Murray, creative director of the Creative Vision Group at Target, gave a five-point lesson at an AIGA/NY event held at the New School in New York, reports Fast Company's Helen Walters in an April 18 article.
How does Target produce "deceptive simplicity from unfathomable complexity" and "successfully [manage] collaboration and complexity," as Walters writes?
Be transparent, play nice, be open, stretch the work, and talk talk talk.
(There's a bit more explanation in the article.)
It's a little-known fact that Minneapolis-based Game Informer is the country's fifth-largest consumer magazine, according to a story from Minnpost's David Brauer.
With 5 million subscribers, including many male readers in the 18-to-34-year-old age demographic, in some ways its reach surpasses People and Maxim, the story states.
Game Informer, which is available at checkout counters at GameStop retail stores nationwide, grew by 33 percent in a period when so many other magazines declined.
The magazine's writers often preview games well before they're out, which associate publisher Rob Borem says is a huge advantage. "Our primary asset is still pulling down world exclusives," he states in the story.
"Sitting on a coffee table, desk, or kitchen counter, print is an evergreen," he says, adding, "We want to reflect that it's more of an art, celebrating the joy of the game."
Minneapolis-based brand agency mono has more than doubled in size to in less than three years, writes David Phelps in a profile in the StarTribune. Billings at the 56-employee company rose 50 percent to $48.5 million in 2010.
Founders Michael Hart, Jim Scott, and Chris Lange left larger local firms to launch the agency in 2004 with one client: Sesame Street.
Now, mono counts MSNBC among a list of high-profile clients, writes Phelps. Mono's innovative "Lean Forward" campaign for MSNBC debuted last fall with spots directed by Spike Lee.
Mono is located at 3036 Hennepin Ave.
A decade-old Minneapolis design firm is behind the new look of a New York Times financial blog.
The Minneapolis Egotist reports that Wink, Inc.'s portfolio now includes the design of Andrew Ross Sorkin's DealBook blog, which tracks stocks, mergers and acquisitions.
Images at the Egotist.
Advertising Age reports that Best Buy is rolling out its own media network. Best Buy On is being billed as an "online magazine," whose content will be streamed to in-store screens in the TV, mobile and portable entertainment departments. The retailer started experimenting with the publishing project in 2009 and is now "ready for prime time," Ad Age reports. To prove it, the network will be on the ground to cover this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Read the rest at AdAge.com.
A couple of products from Twin Cities companies showed up on Advertising Age's lost of 2010's top 10 "Best Marketing Apps."
Alvenda, a social e-commerce company that we wrote about in August, earned an inclusion for its Delta Air Lines ticket window app for Facebook. It allows users to search and book flights without ever leaving Facebook.
Best Buy is mentioned for a mobile app meant to be used in theaters during the movie "Despicable Me." The app dims and silences the phone during the movie, until the credits at the end, when it translates the cartoon characters' language.
See the rest of the list over at AdAge.com.
In a recent Portfolio.com study that analyzed 200 of the country's largest metro areas for "strongest collective brainpower," the Twin Cities comes in 18th.
Number one is Boulder, Colorado while 200th is Merced, California, according to the magazine, which crunched numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Looking at data for post-secondary education and high-school dropout rates in various cities, Portfolio scored cities by "comparing the 2007 median income for all workers ($33,452) with the median income for those workers at a specified educational level," the article states.
The results show that it does indeed pay to have a college degree or two.
Advertising Age reports on Olson acquiring its first significant footprint outside of Minneapolis.
Olson is acquiring Chicago-based public relations agency Dig Communications. The combined company will now total more than 360 employees.Olson isn't going to make them all move to Minneapolis, though. Dig will be rebranded as Olson PR, with its employees remaining in their current office locations in Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, and San Francisco.
"We've decided at this point in time our ambition is to continue to build the agency of the future as we see it and that isn't through a holding-company model," Olson President-CEO Kevin DiLorenzo explains to Ad Age. "Our next move will be similar. Mobile is an area where we have great interest and our clients have great interest, so that would be a smart next piece to put into the puzzle."
Advertising Age reports that U.K.-based brand strategy firm Naked Communications is opening a Minneapolis office.
The new shop is the company's first U.S. expansion since it opened a New York office in 2006. The local shop will be run by new partners Lisa Seward Perry and Amy Sheil.
"Naked sits outside [the traditional advertising agency], and we've always been sort of jealous of that," Seward Perry tells Advertising Age.
Naked's U.S. clients include NBC, Google, Planned Parenthood, and Johnson & Johnson.
The Star Tribune's Neal St. Anthony reflects on the legacy of the Sierra Bravo Corp.'s late CEO, Luke Bucklin.
Bucklin, 40, along with three of his children, were killed in a plane accident last month in the mountains of Wyoming.
Sierra Bravo Corp. and its Nerdery web-design business have been among the Twin Cities' fastest-growing companies in recent years. (We spoke with Bucklin
in September after the opening of The Nerdery's Chicago office, and he joked then that the company's plans for global domination were well under way.)
"He always said if you do the right thing, trust people and spread the leadership, that the right things would happen," new CEO Mike Derheim tells St. Anthony. "We would succeed."
Also: "Remembering Luke" from The Nerdery blog.
If it seems like you can't swing a bicycle messenger bag in this town without hitting another artist or creative, it's because we're creatively dense.
Creative-class guru Richard Florida has been crunching geographic numbers over at The Atlantic lately. Last week, Florida took a look at the density of artistic and cultural creatives.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area ranks fifth overall, behind Los Angeles, New York, DC and San Francisco, when measured by the number of artistic and cultural creative workers per square kilometer.
The Twin Cities rank in the same place on Florida's list of creative "overperformers"--cities with the highest density of artistic and cultural creatives compared to what would be expect based on their population density.
Charts and graphs over at The Atlantic.
"Spiritual leader of 25,000 geeks." "Marketing genius." Now add CTO to those titles.
Tech blogger/consultant Graeme Thickens met up with Geek Squad founder Robert Stephens to talk about his new role as Best Buy's chief technology officer.
There wasn't any press release about the promotion. Stephens said he's rather have recognition when he has some results to talk about.
Find the 21-minute audio recording over at Thickens' blog.
The Twin Cities Thursday Happy Hours blog is soliciting nominations for the 25 Most Connected Twin Cities Business Professionals. Here's what founder Jeff Nolan has to say:
"I have been thinking a lot lately about the collaborative business environment we have here in Minneapolis/St. Paul and wanted to reach out to my network and beyond to find the 25 Most Connected Twin Cities Business Professionals."
Nolan asks readers to populate the comment section with the names of Twin Cities professionals who are constantly open to connecting, helping and developing relationships.
Read the TCTHH post and nominate here.
An "über-creative collaborative space," a daily blog, and creative awards for jobs well done are a few of the quirks that set Fast Horse apart from other marketing agencies, Minnesota Business magazine writes:
"'It's little programs like that that we're constantly using to keep our talent happy, and to push each other to try new things,' says [founder Jörg] Pierach, 'because that type of innovation ultimately moves the whole vision forward.'"
Read the Minnesota Business article here.
AgencySpy takes a look at the Twin Cities advertising scene and finds plenty of reasons for optimism: growth, the ascendancy of a new star, and the resurrection of a giant.
"Minneapolis is just now starting to see some movement after the layoffs and lock down that was 2009," writes Kiran Aditham. "Linkedin profiles are updating. Job boards are posting. Recruiters are calling."
Aditham notes the meteoric rise of Mono, whose fortunes
we have looked at, as well as the return of a once-moribund Fallon to the top of its game.
"We all feared the mighty Fallon had fallen. Then they cleaned up at the local awards show, won Chrysler, traded it in for Cadillac and scooped up H&R Block with no pitch. It's safe to say Fallon is back."
Read the entire AgencySpy article here.
Advertising Age magazine has named Minneapolis-based Mono its "Agency of the Year" in the 11-to-75 employee category.
We wrote about Mono's
recent growth last month. The firm produces in-store displays and other graphics for Apple. It's clients also include Macy's, Rolaids, Herman Miller, General Mills, Sesame Street, and Mrs. Meyers Clean Day.
AdAge said it's recognizing Mono "for believing that simpler is better":
"Its belief in no department heads, no hierarchy or separation between strategy and creative, design and advertising, or between traditional and digital media has led to great work for clients such as Mrs. Meyers Clean Day, EMD Serono and Blu Dot."
Read the entire AdAge article here.
Are revived art galleries a sign of emerging from the recession? The Soo Visual Arts Center, hit hard by the economic downturn, is back, reports the Southwest Journal:
"The smell of fresh paint was in the air in June as Greenberg, standing in the new SooVAC space, ticked off all the changes since the gallery closed temporarily in March: an expanded, more deeply involved board of directors; a new gallery manager to ease Greenberg's workload; a new resolve to build gallery membership and community ties; and the spinning-off of SooVAC's shop into a new, independent entity.
"Manufactory is planned to open soon in the former space of design boutique ROBOTlove that relocated in the spring to Northeast. Greenberg said her collaboration with collectible toy-maker Erin Currie and her husband, Dave, will operate like an 'old-school cobbler,' with goods for sale in front and the artists who make them at work in the back of the store.
"Marketing agency Zeus Jones will occupy the third and final space in Greenberg's building, setting up a confluence of creative energy near the Lyndale Avenue and West 26th Street intersection. Rob White, co-founder of the growing firm currently headquartered in the Uptown Row building, said 'artistic karma' drew them to the site."
Read the full article here.
The New York Times updates America on what's happening on one of the hippest streets in Minneapolis, 13th Avenue in Northeast: galleries, restaurants, a record store, and that indefinable urban vibe. Read the story here.
Source: New York Times