July 17, 2008

The arts in turmoil

It's about time the arts were making headlines. Unfortunately, it's not for the best reasons. Artists are in an uproar--most recently about the controversial exits of two long-time arts administrators, well-liked by artists, at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Southern Theater, the area's de-facto home for dance among other performing arts.

The alleged force-out of Jeff Bartlett, the Southern Theater's artistic  director who'd been at the theater since interning there in 1975, is still a mystery to most: He apparently was told not to report to work for the indefinite future and wasn't offered any explanation. At the same time, the Southern gleefully announced the hiring of its first president and CEO, Patricia Speelman, characterizing it as a significant step up... Read more »

Posted on Thursday, July 17, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 10, 2008

Are you ready to rock, Republicans?

This is why Minneapolis has the coolest mayor: This morning, at the press conference in the Crystal Court of the IDS building announcing the Spark24 arts festival, there was R.T. Rybak, tieless and bopping his head to an electrified ukelele played by one of the festival's participants, Lucy Michell. This isn't news to me--I've seen him join the kickline of the Rockettes at the Orpheum Theater and once, at the opening of the Hard Rock Cafe, he smashed a guitar then asked the media if anyone wanted to join him for a beer ("I've got a half hour til a Council meeting," he said).

But actually, it's the partnership between Rybak and arts booster Scott Mayer that's truly beneficial.... Read more »

Posted on Thursday, July 10, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 8, 2008

Sundance comes to Minnesota

You can go to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City and pay top dollar to see the latest progressive films, ski, party, and maybe even spot Robert Redford in the midst of what he has turned into an enormously influential artistic enterprise. Or--you can go to the Walker Art Center this Thursday and see two examples of why Sundance is more than just snow bunnies and film nerds in black-framed glasses. Read more »

Posted on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 22, 2008

Au revoir, Theatre de la Jeune Lune

Approximately 20 minutes ago, on a breezy, beautiful Sunday morning not unlike those we imagine the south of France to be blessed with almost daily, the Theatre de la Jeune Lune issued a press release disclosing that the Minneapolis company's board of directors had voted this week "to list the theatre's headquarters for sale and to shut down the arts group as currently organized."

For the troupe that more than any other had defined the inventiveness of the Twin Cities theater scene in its 30 years of
highly original, physical performances, an accumulation of financial and artistic shortcomings had thrown the troupe off its equilibrium. That the theatre had always been a little off-balance had been part of the excitement--they... Read more »

June 18, 2008

Yuri's last show plus movie and jazz festivals

It's true--everyone loves a parade. Except me. Same with most outdoor music festivals. A lot of hustle, planning, and putting up with Joe Public, just to sit on my butt and sunburn. Too passive, on a nice day. And yet, while I wish our town landed some festivals like this, I'll also say the Twin Cities Jazz Festival, formerly the Hot Summer Jazz Festival, also gets me off my feet and on my butt simply because of its agreeable venues, top-notch lineup, and pretty-good price: free.

Held June 19 to 29, the 10th annual festival features Ravi Coltrane, Charmaine Neville, and Salsa Del Soul, among others, for free at Peavey Plaza in Minneapolis and Mears Park in St. Paul.
Read more »

Posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 11, 2008

The future of Twin Cities arts, today

This Thursday, June 12, at 5:30 pm in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the future of arts in the Twin Cities will be determined.

Or not. But in this fairly unprecedented convocation of Minneapolis institutions convened by the City of Minneapolis Arts Commission, the discussion will happen. With the attention given the Minneapolis arts scene having arguably peaked in 2005, with additions to the Walker Art Center, the Children's Theatre Company, the MIA, etc., where do we go from here? How do we sustain our reputation as a national arts center? How do we get more people through the doors while maintaining artistic integrity? Those are the topics of this panel discussion involving curantor Philippe Vergne of the Walker Art Center, curator Jennifer Komar Olivarez of the MIA,... Read more »

Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 6, 2008

Alec Soth, MOSAIC, and a new gallery

The Minneapolis photographer Alec Soth is remarkable for many reasons: because his original insights into what makes an interesting photograph are right up there with Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, and other greats; because he remains wonderfully humble in the face of fawning success; because we can still call him a Minneapolis photographer.
 
And the book that overburdened his bandwagon, "Sleeping by the Mississippi," in 2005, is now being revisited by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, which has recently acquired the entire series of prints. Starting last week and running through August 10, the museum will showcase 26 prints following Soth's seminal journey through the melancholic but inspiring river cities from here to New Orleans.

These prints, of dreamers... Read more »

Posted on Friday, June 6, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 30, 2008

Start the summer music season

Shirtless sweaty dudes, plastic beer cups, wristbands--it must be summer, even though it doesn't feel like it out there. But the tunes will be blasting soon enough, starting June 1 with Grand Old Day. I've always had mixed feelings about this mother of all street festivals on St. Paul's Grand Avenue, block upon block of (usually) heatstroked masses along with an unusual number of cops--unusual until you see, as I have, fights breaking out toward the end of the afternoon. But the music has typically been worth it. And this year I'm still of two minds: just a couple years ago, you'd have to toggle between stages to catch nationally known acts like the Hold Steady, the Hopefuls, and Soul Asylum. Now, some of the bands seem more youthful, edgier perhaps, but also less distinctive:... Read more »

Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 23, 2008

Artsy summer: Golf at the Walker and more

For those of you who wouldn't be caught dead in plaid pants and white shoes strolling the green of a golf course, the Walker Art Center has brought back its popular artist-designed mini-golf (open to 8 pm most days now through September) in the Sculpture Garden. The lines were long the last time I tried, a few years back, but it's worth it: a 12-foot-tall Paul Bunyan, a heap of debris in the Pacific, and a Japanese Pachinko-style pinball deal with a human-powered elevator for the ball. It's the backyard you wish you had.

And who else can't wait for the Design for the Other 90 % exhibition opening at the Walker on May 31? Not that the Walker originated this show (that'd be the Cooper-Hewitt in New York and the Smithsonian) but this is why I love the Walker--for every obscure... Read more »

Posted on Friday, May 23, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 16, 2008

Get Art-A-Whirled

Full disclosure time: I don't just play an arts writer in a magazine, I'm foolish enough to practice what I preach. I share a studio in the Northrup King Building in northeast Minneapolis, showing photography, and this weekend Art-A-Whirl--the neighborhood's multi-building open studio tour--will sweep through, bringing thousands of browsers, buyers (one hopes), and dudes who just want to drink our beer (sorry, that'll be a buck). But even if I wasn't on the tour, I couldn't imagine why any local arts fan would want to be anywhere else this weekend, at least for a few hours, soaking up 500 artists' work in what's arguably the largest artist enclave in a four-state area (no, I'm not... Read more »

Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)