This year, the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District has been developing a project to document the history of the Arts District and its threads in the larger Minneapolis arts community. In the spring, volunteers Remo Campopiano and Katherine Boyce worked to gather people integral to that history, building a community of those who wished to partner financially and strategically in the project. Among other things, this helped uncover the huge appetite for capturing the stories of this community—stories that could otherwise disappear as generations age.
This fall, it became clear that this project was too large to be managed by volunteers alone. Last month, the Arts District Board hired Melanie Bethke as project manager to build structure around this big vision. Bethke had been working on a project with similar ambitions, which made her a seamless fit. In her own words, “I am proud to be involved in this project that shares my concern for the urgent need to preserve the stories and legacies of Minnesota artists.”
The original concept of the project remains unchanged. Much of the focus had been on utilizing the Arts District Welcome Center space to host topical Roundtable Discussions about the history of the Minneapolis arts ecosystem. The first of these discussions, including “the Rise & Fall of the 80s Downtown Gallery Scene” and “The Arts Commission, CETA, and the Department of Arts and Cultural Affairs,” are slated for early to mid-2025.
Through ongoing conversations, we’ve identified many organizations—both large and small—united by similar missions. Among the larger institutions dedicated to preserving this heritage are the Minnesota Historical Society, the Elmer L. Andersen Library, the Minnesota Digital Library, and Twin Cities Archives Round Table. As we continue to evolve Welcome Center programming, we will bring together these larger organizations along with smaller groups focused on visual and media arts, gathering them around the table to share content, technologies, and methodologies.
But in addition to the Roundtable Discussions, the project will now include multiple themed Timeline exhibits in the Arts District Welcome Center. Each unique Timeline will bring the history of a particular aspect of the Arts District to life, with information and images spanning the wall of the space. The Timeline content will also be presented online, so that overtime, a robust archive of the history of our arts community is available for generations to come.
The inaugural exhibit will tell the story of the California Building, the first building in the Arts District to be purchased solely to provide studio space for artists. Jennifer Young, Arts District Board President and owner of the California Building, expressed her enthusiasm for this direction: “John Kremer and I created the California Building as a permanent, safe place where artists can work, thrive, and stay. I’m deeply honored and humbled by the Arts District Welcome Center’s decision to focus on the California Building as the inaugural exhibition.”
Stay tuned for an announcement about the exhibition planned for 2025.