Red Stag Supperclub Offers Heritage Menus in Honor of Preservation Month

To celebrate Preservation Month, Red Stag Supperclub, 509 First Avenue Northeast, will feature a special Heritage Menu each week in May highlighting an architectural era and style. 

Weekly menus are created by Executive Chef TJ Rawitzer, based on an architectural era or style:

May 5 -11: Victorian era (1890's)
May 12 – 18: Bungalow (1920's)
May 19-25: Tudor (1930's)
May 26 – June 1: Mid-Century Modern (1950's)

Established in 1973 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Preservation Month is supported and co-sponsored by local preservation groups and state historical societies across the country. Many events are scheduled with the goal of instilling community pride, promoting heritage tourism and showing the economic and social benefits of historic preservation.

Preservation Alliance of MN (PAM) was established in 1981 by a small band of citizens concerned about the loss of Minnesota’s old buildings and the lack of protection for existing ones.

Northern Spark 2014 - Update #5

Luftwerk's Anamorphic Forest Will Illuminate the Minneapolis Gateway District

Seemingly fragmented video imagery of flora and fauna will be projected onto the slender columns of Minoru Yamasaki’s 1964 ‘new formalist’ structure that many Minneapolitans know as the former ING building at the corner of Washington and Hennepin Avenues.

Anamorphic Forest is an intervention that merges light with structure, nature with industry and the singular with the whole. Each of the 85-foot concrete columns will serve as a singular svelte video canvas that, when viewed at a specific perspective, will suggest an expanse of forest, with projections in the building's portico creating a sheltering sense of an illuminated canopy of leaves and branches.

Chicago-based duo Luftwerk creates multi-media art installations that merge visual elements of light and projected video with sculptural facets of architecture and design. Their interest lies within the perception of how the built environment and natural elements integrate, constructing a visual dialogue that transforms and creates new and temporal experiences.

West River Parkway Zone Hosts Art at the Riverfront

Northern Spark is again partnering with local organizations to bring art to the Mississippi riverfront in Minneapolis, this time focused on the west side of the river.

Large scale projections, performances and participatory projects by local and national artists will be installed along West River Parkway from Hennepin Avenue to the Guthrie Theater, turning the riverfront into a preeminent walking gallery for the night.

Audiences often comment on their delight at experiencing art along (and on) the Mississippi River at night as part of Northern Spark's magic. Historic buildings from the Mill District's past and new structures that point to the city's future are transformed into canvases, stages, and monumental counterpoints for the works of the dynamic group of artists and presenting partners we're gathering along the river this year.

These include Luke Savisky's E/x MN on the Gold Medal Silos, The Soap Factory's presentation of Benjamin Entner's monumental inflatable Ego Sum under the Guthrie Theater's Endless Bridge, Kelley Bell's Garden of Earthly Delights projected onto the Mill City Ruins, Kate Casanova/Daniel Dean/Ben Moren's Hotel Hotel insect installation and projection onto the North Star Blankets tower, HOTTEA's yarn installation La Maroma under 3rd Ave Bridge, and Sam Hoolihan and John Marks' City Symphony in 16mm: A New Work for Expanded Cinema projection onto the long-empty but oh-so-alluring former Fuji-Ya building. And many, many more. Look for complete maps of this and the other Northern Spark zones on our website in May. 

"We Are Water" Exhibit Opens May 10 at The Soap Factory

Starting with an Opening Reception on May 10, The The Soap Factory presents We Are Water, a month-long curatorial collaboration between Kinship of Rivers and The Soap Factory; artists from Twin Cities and New Orleans, music, performance, interactive creativity, poetry, food and celebration. The exhibition runs May 10 - June 7, 2014.  More Info.

The exhibition is the final iteration of the Kinship of Rivers project, the culmination of a three-year poetic multi-disciplinary project linking the spiritual cultures on the Yangtze and Mississippi rivers.

New Exhibit at Central Library: "Unpacked: Suitcases, Briefcases, and Bags from Hennepin County Hospitals”

Have you ever wondered what a nurse traveled with in 1917?  “Unpacked: Suitcases, Briefcases, and Bags from Hennepin County Hospitals”, a new exhibit from Hennepin Medical History Center, will show you.

The exhibition is now on display at the Central Library,  Cargill Hall Gallery, until June 3. The History Center will tell 20 stories of patients, nurses, doctors, and other staff members through suitcases, bags, and briefcases, filled with items that might typically be brought to the hospital.

The exhibit is free. Gallery hours are the same as the library’s: 9am-9pm Monday through Thursday; 9am-5pm Friday and Saturday; Noon-5pm Sunday.

What do the Pillsbury Doughboy and Grain Belt have in Common?

Recently seen together at the Mill City Museum - Pillsbury Doughboy and Grain Belt.  You'll just have to visit the museum and find out for yourself.  :)

Northern Spark 2014 - Update #4

Your Public Acts of Drawing Projected onto the City

Public Acts of Drawing is a real-time art-making event that merges free-form collaboration with large-scale urban spectacle.
 
Participants put pen to paper alongside local artists, dignitaries, and a few hundred friends. Drawers of all ages, skill levels, and styles are welcome. Special contributors will help steer and energize the proceedings, but the results are delightfully unpredictable.
 
A spacious drawing table with a hand crank provides participants a gradual feed of fresh paper, lit by energy-efficient LEDs. The draw-a-thon is simulcast several stories tall on the exterior of a building near the Minneapolis Convention Center, turning each small gesture into a heroic act.
 
Public Acts of Drawing is a project of MakeSh!t, a free-form collective founded in 2010 with a mission to explore the social and process-based aspects of art—in other words, collaborative making. Current members include Lucas Alm, Justin Heideman, Aaron Marx, Jake Nassif, Craig Phillips, Paul Schmelzer, and Witt Siasoco.

David Luke Animates Poems from Upstream Arts

Interdisciplinary artist David Luke is collaborating with Upstream Arts to create a quartet of unique animated movies to be shown at Northern Spark. Upstream Arts provides arts programming for youth and adults with disabilities. They employ artists to teach theatre, dance, visual arts and poetry activities designed to develop social and communication skills central to success in school, work, and life.
 
Taking poems written by UA teaching artists and program participants as base text, Luke is transforming them into videos that make visual the vibrant voices of program participants, expanding the creative process from the UA programs into a new realm of public engagement. Projected large-scale near the Minneapolis Convention Center, viewers are invited to choose, by way of assistive technology often used by UA participants, which poem/movie they would like to watch.
 
A preview showing of Upstream Animated will be held as part of Upstream Art's first Annual Meeting and Fundraiser on May 17. The event will include specially-created performances by UA participants to accompany Luke's animations of their words.

Target Field Station May 17 Grand Opening Event

You're invited to celebrate a new community connection at the Target Field Station Grand Opening Saturday, May 17.

Come at 1 p.m. and stay through a Twins win! Overview of festivities:
1-5:30 p.m.   Music and activities
   3:00 p.m.   Ribbon cutting and program
   6:10 p.m.   Twins vs. Mariners game
Food and beverages available for purchase.

Take the METRO Blue Line, the Northstar commuter rail, walk or bike to the station.

Located in the North Loop neighborhood of Minneapolis at 5th Avenue N. and 5th Street N. Click for directions.

For help planning your trip on Metro Transit, call 612-373-3333 to speak to a transit expert or use the online Trip Planner at http://www.metrotransit.org/. There will be regular Saturday METRO Blue Line service and special Twins game service on the Northstar commuter rail.

Volunteers Needed for Minneapolis Bike Week

Via an April 18 City of Minneapolis e-newsletter:

Spring is (nearly) upon us and Minneapolis Bike Week is just around the corner. May 4 - 11, Minneapolis Bike Week is a series of events and activities that promote and encourage bicycling. Bike Week is hosted by the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition in partnership with the City of Minneapolis.

Bike Week is powered by volunteers like you. We are currently looking for volunteers for two events: Mayday Parade and Festival Bike Corral and the Commuter Pit Stops. Both events are a fun, easy-going way to promote bicycling in your community and have fun while doing it. Check out the details at Bike Week's volunteer page where you can fill out the form to participate.

Like giving away free, fun stuff? Enjoy encouraging and celebrating bicycling? Need an excuse to knock off work early on a beautiful spring day? Consider volunteering for Bike Week!

Thanks so much to all of our volunteers. Contact Nick Ray with any questions at nickray@mplsbike.org or 612.968.0722.

West River Parkway Temporarily Closed April 19

West River Parkway will be closed 8:00am – 11:00am April 19 for the Hot Chocolate Run 15K & 5K.  Please note that the duration of the closure is subject to change based on the event's start and finish times. 

A complete list of current and upcoming parkway closures is available online.

April 12 at the Mill City Farmers Market

Check out these radishes from the April 12 Mill City Farmers Market.  As Jackie Chiles would say, "They're real - and they're spectacular!"  ;)

Mark your calendar for the first outdoor Market of the year - May 10th, 8am! :)

Northern Spark 2014 - Update #3

The Northern Spark 2014 Kickstarter is live.  Check out a handful of the rewards available when you back the Kickstarter:

• Tickets to the Northern Spark Pancake Feed, a sunrise breakfast by The Bachelor Farmer, Al's Breakfast, and hosted by Aria.
• Jump-the-line passes for instant gratification at Northern Spark projects.
• Artist studio tours with Northern Spark artists.
• Glam rock haircuts by Johnny Zygomatic at HiFi Hair and Records during the festival.

Big Watershed Game Update

Last month, while snow was falling and the ground was covered in ice, we were dreaming of liquid water -- lakes, creeks, watersheds. We spent some time workshoping our Big Watershed Game ideas with Ken Eklund and the  Minnehaha Creek Watershed District. In order to further develop our ideas for the game, we invited local watershed experts, game designers, and experiential educators to a couple feedback sessions to give us their thoughts on what an epic, fun, landscape-based watershed game should look like. We had excellent discussions and came away with some new ideas for what the game will look like.
 
Stay tuned for more information on the Big Watershed Game, coming to a watershed near you this September. If you are between the ages of 18 and 35 and are interested in gaming, we'd like your feedback. Email ady@northern.lights.mn to receive information about the next feedback session.

Saturday, April 12: Mill City Farmers Market at the Mill City Museum

Time: 10:00am - 1:00pm, inside the Mill City Museum, 704 South 2nd Street.

Join us for our final Indoor Mill City Farmers Market!

Help us bring Spring in as we prepare for our regular Outdoor Season, which kicks off Mother’s Day weekend on May 10th.
 
Enjoy a dynamic marketplace of over 40 local vendors where you can expect to find everything from beets and cabbage to artisan chocolates, local honey, maple syrup, hand-milled flour, locally harvested wild rice, specialty cheeses, baked goods, kimchi, preserves, and hand-made artisan ceramics, kitchen utensils, and jewelry.
 
Produce Planner: spinach, salad greens, turnip greens, pac choi, carrots, potatoes, onions, beets, garlic, parsnips, dried mushrooms, dried hot peppers, frozen raspberries, and MORE!
 
Live Music, 11 am – 1 pm: MCFM welcomes local harpist Reuben Correa today! Reuben’s harp music is a surround sound experience of beautiful original music, arrangements of popular melodies, classics, show tunes, light jazz, and Celtic stylings.
 
Featured Local Artists: The Ink Orchard, Chris Chookiatsirichai, Old World Cabinet, Aprilierre, and Christy Wetzig.
 
Community Booth: The Minneapolis/St. Paul Film Society. Come find out what’s going on at this year’s International Film Festival, April 3  – 19!

Temporary Parkway Closures April 12 for Goldy’s Run

East River Parkway and West River Parkway will be closed April 12 for Goldy’s Run from 8:00a.m. – 11:00a.m.  Please note that the duration of the closures is subject to change based on the event's start and finish times.

A complete list of current and upcoming parkway closures is available online.

Tomorrow, April 11: Watershed Event: Exploring a New Water Ethic for Minnesota at Mill City Museum

Time: 3:00pm - 9:30pm

Location: Mill City Museum, 704 South 2nd Street

No registration necessary for April 11th events featuring Keynotes, Panel Discussions, Film Screening, and Audience Engagement. The event is free and open to the public.

The University of Minnesota Students for Design Activism are hosting the first ever Watershed Event, a free, public symposium on future scenarios and solutions to clean, abundant water in Minnesota. Set to take place at Mill City Museum on Friday, April 11th, 3pm (session 1), 5:30 pm reception, and 7pm (session 2). The event will bring together water-­focused leaders within agriculture, design, science, activism, and policy, to share knowledge, ideas, and strategies to build a future for how we use and value water. Partners include the Floodplain Collective and the University of Minnesota Department of Landscape Architecture.

In addition to thought-leaders such as William Wenk, Denver-based designer of the Saint Paul Great River Passage, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Commissioner, John Linc Stine, Dorene Day of the Indigenous Peoples’ Task Force , and Minnesota Public Radio’s Dave Peters of Ground Level, among others, the inaugural Watershed Event will include:

• Building a future for water: Transforming practice, policy, and implementation (3:00-5:30)

Keynote speaker William Wenk of Wenk Landscape Architecture & Planning will discuss past and future realities of living and working in an arid climate, highlight lessons learned, and the bridge between small-scale strategies and the large problems facing the future of Minnesota’s waters.

• Film Screening: Watershed (7:00-8:00)

Minnesota’s premier film screening of Watershed will examine the questions raised by the use and value of water transported from the Colorado River, activating a parallel conversation about how we can approach and impact the future of our water-rich state.

• Steps towards change: Sources for a new water ethic in Minnesota. (8:00-9:30)

Moderator Matt Kucharski, Executive Vice President of PadillaCRT, branding and marketing, will pose questions that examine how we value water and the role of cultural beliefs, scientific data, and design innovation as sources for a new water ethic that supports clean, abundant water. Panelists such as Deborah Swackhamer, Co-Director of the Water Resources Center, will bring their expertise to discuss action-oriented possibilities affecting water in Minnesota.

The Watershed Event was made possible by the UMN College of Liberal Arts Imagine Fund Grant and UMN Institute on the Environment.

For more, please visit the Watershed Event website at http://watershed.design.umn.edu/. Follow the event on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/studentsfordesignactivismwatershedevent and tell us what you think of the event on Twitter: @SDAumn #watershedevent.

Hennepin County Approves Target Field Station Development Agreements

Via an April 8 Hennepin County e-newsletter:

The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners, Regional Rail Authority, and Housing and Redevelopment Authority gave approval Tuesday to final agreements with United Properties, the Minnesota Twins and Metro Transit for development around Target Field Station, a multimodal transportation station located just to the west of the ballpark.
 
The station is set to open May 17. This set of agreements clears the way for a second platform for light rail transit, a public plaza connecting to the ballpark promenade, a “Great Lawn” amphitheater, a 289-stall parking ramp, retail space and a landscaped area suitable for additional development.

“Target Field Station is a visionary project that unites transit and entertainment in the core of the region. Seeing these agreements through required hard work and a lot of trust between the negotiating parties,” said Hennepin County Board Chairman Mike Opat. “The result will be a breathtaking piece of architecture that provides essential improvements for transit riders and downtown visitors from all over.”

Eventually, Target Field Station will connect approximately 500 trains arriving and departing daily via the METRO Blue Line (Hiawatha), the METRO Green Line (Central Corridor) and the Northstar Commuter Rail. The METRO Green Line (Southwest) and Blue Line (Bottineau) extensions will bring additional rail service and connections to the region.

“The various lines and transit modes that converge on Target Field Station, coupled with 81 game days each year, makes this a dynamic and exciting space,” said Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin. “ The enormous investment interest in the area has dramatically changed the surrounding tax base. If you put it all together, Hennepin County’s partnership with the Minnesota Twins, Metro Transit, and United Properties will yield an estimated value of approximately $20 million to the County.”

Tens of thousands of rail and bus commuters passing through the area each day will have access to existing amenities such as the ballpark, the Minneapolis Farmer’s Market, abundant entertainment, and other amenities that will be realized as the area is redeveloped.

Minneapolis Historical Mobile Tour Smartphone App Now Available

Via a recent e-newsletter from Preserve Minneapolis:

One of our biggest recent projects has been the Minneapolis Historical Mobile Tour app, and we're pleased to announce that it is now available--for free!--for iPhones and Androids. There are two tours so far: The Old Highland tour (created in partnership with the Old Highland Neighborhood Association) and the Marcy-Holmes tour (created with the Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association).

The app offers users an on-the-go look into Minneapolis's past, from the well-known headlines to the forgotten tales and people. Learn more and download it now at http://cts.vresp.com/c/?PreserveMinneapolis/a00b9228f7/719e9f393a/8d82433f21.

Special thanks to our project partners, and to all the Preserve Minneapolis donors whose generous contributions helped bring this app to life.

The Bohemian Flats: A Novel

University of Minnesota Press has announced the May 2014 release of The Bohemian Flats: A Novel, a sweeping historical novel set in part in the Bohemian Flats neighborhood of Minneapolis during the pre-WWI era. The story carries us from the bourgeois world of turn-of-the-century Germany to a vibrant immigrant enclave in the heart of the Midwest and to the killing fields of World War I.

Author Mary Relindes Ellis will discuss The Bohemian Flats: A Novel at several upcoming area events:

11:30 AM, Saturday, April 26, at Scout & Morgan Books (114 Buchanan St. N., Cambridge; (763) 689-2474)
 2:00 PM, Saturday, May 3, at Chapter 2 Books (226 Locust St., Hudson; (715) 220-8818)
 7:00 PM, Tuesday, May 6, at Common Good Books (38 S. Snelling Ave., St. Paul; (651) 225-8989)

THE BOHEMIAN FLATS: A Novel
By Mary Relindes Ellis
University of Minnesota Press | 336 pages | May 2014
ISBN 978-0-8166-9220-0 | paperback | $16.95

Northern Spark 2014 - Update #2

Northern Spark Launch Party Pre-Sale Tickets Available April 8

This year plan to kick off your all-night art adventure at the official Northern Spark Launch Party, 7pm-9pm at the newly-renovated Orchestra Hall.

A $50 ticket gets you noshes by Travail, Mill Valley Kitchen, Marin, Sparks, Black Sheep Pizza, Phillip and Desiree Dorwart from Create Catering, Whole Foods, and more—with brews from Indeed Brewery, Morning Star Coffee, and others, plus ambient music by local favorite Dosh.  

At the party there will also be drawing for a unique prize created by artist HOTTEA. All proceeds go to support Northern Spark!

Pre-sale tickets to the Launch Party are available when you support Northern Spark 2014 on Kickstarter—starting April 8.

Three-Session Bioethics Series Offered in the Mill District

Registration is open for Mini Bioethics Academy, sponsored by the Center for Bioethics and open to anyone interested in learning about and discussing bioethical issues.

Topics include: The Affordable Care Act as Health Care Reform: Fact, Fiction, Spin; Health Care Directives: Beyond the Document to the Conversation; and Shades of Gray: Ethics and Controversies about Brain Death.

Attendees may join one or more of the upcoming sessions: 6:30-8:30 pm, April 22, 29, and May 6, Mill City Innovation & Collaboration Center, 901 S. Second St., Mpls. Learn more.

Today: MSP International Film Festival Begins (runs thru April 19)

The largest film event in the region, and one of the largest and longest running film festivals in the country, the MSP International Film Festival annually presents some 200 feature length and short form narrative and documentary films from 60+ countries.

Ticket Info
Regular Screenings: $12 General Admission | $10 Film Society Members | $6 Students w/ Student ID. Certain films have different ticket prices. That information will be noted on the films’ pages.

Ordering online is easy. Browse the films, find one you want to see, and click the showtime of the screening you wish to attend. You don’t have to worry about printing out and forgetting your tickets at home – just bring the credit card with which you made the purchase to the box office.

Film Society Members, make sure to select the member ticket price and be able to present your membership card at the box office!