Creative Ideas, People, and Projects in the Midwest and Beyond
Stories from the Creativity News Desk-
July 16, 2025
More Than a Sign: Midwest Artists Hand-Paint Local Identity
By Amy “Frankie” Felegy
In Chicago and Minneapolis, these sign painters continue the precise, customized, and fun (their words!) tradition.
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Artists Bring Life to Death at Midwest’s First Cemetery Art Residency
July 9, 2025
On these Minneapolis, Minnesota, grounds, four artists in residence host events and create work throughout the year-long program.
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Meet the Minnesotan Org Centering Ancestors, Art, and Activism
July 9, 2025
The Paper Lantern Project creates accessible spaces and resources to break down stigmas against gender and reproductive justice in Minnesota’s Asian American community.
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Award-Winning Albums and Rare Sounds Simmer at This Midwest Kitchen-Studio
July 2, 2025
Archeophone Records is an archive of an almost-lost era of American music history—carefully restored and shared with the world from one couple’s home in Illinois.
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Transforming Invasive Plants into Paper That Grows Wildflowers
July 1, 2025
In their mobile studio, Anna Haglin and James Kleiner travel across Minnesota teaching folks the art of sustainable papermaking.
Popular
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Six Midwest Cities Among the ‘Most Arts-Vibrant’ in the US
By Angela Zonunpari
The numbers are in: six Midwestern cities just made the list of the country’s most culturally dynamic communities.
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Wash & Mosh: An Unlikely Home for All-Ages DIY Music
By Taylor Dorrell
The last-standing storefront of a once-expansive laundromat-bar chain in central Ohio has welcomed hardcore music lovers for the last decade.
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The ‘Prosthetic Guy’ Who Crafts Artful Appendages to Empower Patients
By Jonathan Feakins
Nicholas Harrier, a childhood cancer survivor and above-knee amputee, creates custom, free-of-charge “jackets” to be slipped over patients’ artificial limbs. Study shows that this type of engaged process leads to positive outcomes.
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