Arts Midwest

Ancient Traders Gallery
Minneapolis Showcase for American Indian Fine Art, Ancient Traders honors and strengthens relationships between contemporary American Indian artists and the living influence of preceding generations, between artists and audiences of all ethnic backgrounds, and between art and the soul of their neighborhood. Native artists from throughout the Midwest and Southern Canada are primarily exhibited in this nationally recognized gallery.

Bedlam Theatre
Blending professional and community art, Bedlam has been engaging the community in boundary-pushing performing arts since 1993. As a radical theatre collective, Bedlam challenges it’s audiences with cutting-edge productions, while also challenging traditional notions of organizational structure. Bedlam’s work and their space have created a “social hub” on the West Bank and the broader metropolitan region.

Bemidji Community Art Center
Since 1982 the Center has been dedicated to encouraging growth and development of and access to the visual arts in the Bemidji area. Housed in the historic Carnegie Library on the Lake Bemidji, the Center provides gallery space for exhibitions, poetry, music and social events with a variety of partners. The Center brings to this regional hub of Minnesota artists of national, regional and local prestige.

Bemidji Symphony Orchestra
This regional orchestra is dedicated to bringing classical music to new audiences and providing performance experience for auditioned regional musicians. The orchestra hired its first resident conductor in 2005, positioning the orchestra for a new regional role. Dr. Beverly Everett, conductor, has been lauded by the American Symphony Orchestra League as “clearly among the most promising talent in our field.”

Center for Hmong Arts and Talent
CHAT resides at the heart of the Hmong community of Saint Paul, with the mission to nurture and develop Hmong artists to enhance the community. CHAT gives voice to the Hmong community through programs for children, teens and elders. Programs span spoken word, theatre, radio, visual arts and an annual festival celebrating and bridging cultures. Their newest programs sums up their work: “Old Stories in a New Light.”

Edge Center for the Arts
Bigfork, Minnesota, population 469, is indeed located at the “edge of the wilderness” in northern Minnesota. It is now home to a $2.1 mil. arts and community center owned by the school district and managed by the Edge Center. Dedicated to “enhancing the edge of the wilderness by providing a welcoming and well-managed space where shared art experiences build community,” the center has become a regional hub for fine arts, community arts, community education and a myriad of community gatherings.

Forecast Public Art
Forecast strengthens and advances the field of public art locally, nationally and internationally. Public Art Review is the world’s only journal critically exploring contemporary public art. Created in 1989, the Review currently serves 10,000 readers in all fifty states and twenty foreign countries. Forecast also awards 8-10 competitive grants each year to emerging Minnesota artists, and provides consultative support to public art initiatives.

The Great River Arts Association
Established in 1992, the Great River Arts Association realized its dream in 2001 of establishing an arts center servicing Minnesota’s heartland, in collaboration with a series of public and private partnerships, and today offers the region a breadth of artistic opportunities through its galleries, retail outlet for local artist’s work, youth programming, concert series, and as a home for public access television.

Lake Agassiz Arts Council
A partnership of 59 arts organizations, arts-related businesses and individual artists since 1970, Lake Agassiz Arts Council serves and advocates for the arts throughout the region surrounding Fargo-Moorhead. The council provides a strong voice for the arts, including an arts-focused newsletter, the Arts Forum, as well as CulturePulse, an arts events Web Site. The Council has received a Fargo-Moorhead Convention and Visitors Bureau award for its work in support of community development.

Mask and Rose Women’s Theatre Collective
Mask and Rose produces plays that express the human condition in the female voice, bringing live theater to new and underserved audiences of Bemidji and the surrounding communities of northern Minnesota. The artistic purpose of the group is to provide creative vision and voice of women and youth through music, poetry, original theater and visual arts. Just as valued in all of the Collective’s product development is a process that is a nurturing and educative journey.

Mizna
Mizna is devoted to promoting Arab American culture, providing a forum for its expression through literature and art. Since its incorporation in 1998, Mizna has been publishing the only journal of Arab American literature in the United States, and presenting the only Arab American film festival in the Upper Midwest. Mizna also works with local artists to develop their work, and hosts national and international Arab artists for broader community.

Nordic Culture Clubs
The artistic vision for the organization is to present innovative and life-changing fine and cultural arts that help create identity and connection, with a mission to preserve, perpetuate and celebrate Nordic cultures. While the founding vision was to connect Scandinavian-Americans with their cultural roots through the arts, the organization also seeks to connect diverse peoples and cultures through their programming, including serving as a role model to the Celtic Arts Festival, the Pangea Intercultural Arts, and the Mujeres Unidas Latina group.

One Voice Mixed Chorus
Now in its 20th year, One Voice is the nation’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender (GLBT) and straight allies community chorus. Its mission is to “build community and create social change by raising our voices in song.” The group seeks, through creative musical entertainment, to enhance the quality and understanding of GLBT culture. One Voice is known for its musical excellence, diverse repertoire, innovative collaborations, humor and strong commitment to community outreach.

Red Eye Collaboration
Red Eye has been “celebrating the messy process of discovery” since 1983, holding true to the belief that art lies in pushing at the boundaries, that the artist’s role is to contest the barriers found internally, in the audience, and in the world around us. Red Eye supplies audiences and artists with opportunities to get up close and personal with the thrills and challenges involved in developing new work. As a place where art starts, Red Eye is strategically focused on building the next generation of artists, audiences and supporters of the arts.

Springboard for the Arts
Springboard connects artists with the skills, contacts, information and services they need to make a living and a life as the artist. The organization’s purpose is to build the reciprocal relationship between artists and community, so that artists are active, engaged, and valued for the contributions they make to a vital community. Springboard has expanded its services to reach a multi-state region with its “Work of Art” workshops.

Theatre B
Theatre B produces cutting-edge, contemporary productions that explore human issues and themes that emerge uniquely through character and story. The theater seeks to diversify the cultural offerings of the Fargo-Moorhead regional community and explore social issues that lead to a greater understanding of the human condition, for creative artists and audiences alike.

TU Dance
TU Dance is founded on the extraordinary artistry of Uri Sands and Toni Pierce-Sands, veterans of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. TU dance has built a company with a foundation of experience and technical excellence in numerous dance traditions to develop a distinctive hybrid aesthetic and forge an exciting new direction in dance. The company seeks to reach diverse audiences with their range of dance traditions, to tap the art form’s connective power and to expand audience for dance. In addition to local performance, the group has developed a strong school residency program, and launched a touring program.