Early Arts District advocates were determined not to let gentrifying factors that scuttled the downtown Minneapolis arts scene get the better of the evolving Northeast scene. They bought property, where most in downtown only had the option to rent. They encouraged building owners who saw arts as the niche, not just a means to make the area cool and desirable. And they intentionally built community or communities on sustainable scales.
The timeline history display that will launch amid the hubbub of Art-A-Whirl at the Arts District Welcome Center, 904 14 th Ave. NE (Timber & Tie Building, east entrance) lays out the framework of stories from the 1970s to 2015, the year Northeast Minneapolis Arts District brought home the #1 Arts District award from the USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice competition.
Similar to the Arts District Welcome Center’s first exhibit, “We are Here to Stay,” the exhibit team is producing visuals with QR codes that deliberately leave space for an evolving online companion timeline to be populated with written and audio stories and photographs.
Guest interactions during Art-A-Whirl hours will help shape future writing and curation. So stop on by during Art-A-Whirl 5-8 p.m. Friday May 15; Noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 16; or Noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, May 17.
Written by: Margo Ashmore