YO MAMA’S Water(ing) (W)hole WATER BARS hold spaces for serving water to inform Mothers about the connections between water, care, community, and wellness in Minnesota. Through the activities of Gyrating & Hydrating: dancing and making fruit and plant based waters and Resilience Preparedness Workshops, Black (and IPOC) Mothers, living in North Minneapolis, gain awareness that climate change, extreme weather conditions and manmade disasters have profound impact on their physical, mental and emotional health and wellbeing. We are learning that water is life.

With Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha, East Side Freedom Library, UMN Labor Education Services, PoliGraphix, Inquilinxs Unidxs Por Justicia, New Brookwood Labor College

In collaboration with community and labor organizations, I will paint a series of portraits of low‐wage worker leaders ‐‐ mostly people of color and immigrants ‐‐ with the aim of (1) encouraging workers to see themselves as leaders, individually and also in solidarity with each other, (2) bridging the “formal” and “informal” labor movements (unions vs. other working class organizing efforts), (3) expanding the base of these organizations as well as…

Hmong American Film Director Bao understands too well from personal experience that depression feels isolating, but it doesn’t have to feel hopeless. Part of the isolation feeling comes from the lack of stories that represent Asian communities, like her own, that the media shares about depression. Therefore, she wants to use the power of video storytelling to create a short narrative film about how three members of the Asian community in the Northwest suburbs of Minneapolis experience depression and share the ways they’ve learned to cope with it. Exploring the stories of this population and location is important not only because it represents their lived experience, but also that…

The Rondo Family Reunion will bring together the “Rondo Diaspora”, people of African descent who have lived and/or currently live in the Historic Rondo Neighborhood, to capture photographs and stories that will be shared with the community via a lawn sign photo and poetry project, a book, and a final performance at Penumbra Theater.

About the artists:

Chris Scott’s work as a photographer is conceptually driven currently by themes that relate to human condition, social issues, and the architecture of “community.” She was born, raised and currently live in the Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul. Clarence…

Renters Rights are Human Rights is a collaboration between the Minneapolis Renters Coalition, Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association, and Artist Cori Lin. This series of murals and portraits will deepen community understanding around what it means to live as a cost-burdened renter by highlighting the narratives and experiences of those spending more than 30% of their income on rent. The project will include four portraits of cost-burdened renters across Greater Powderhorn and four infographics that reflect this reality, which will be temporarily be installed in businesses and community sites across Greater Powderhorn, before becoming part of a large-…

New Futures focuses on rebuilding community and culture in South Minneapolis. Traditional Ojibwe Style lacrosse has been played in the Great Lakes regions long before Europeans set foot on this continent. The game itself is more than just a sport: it is a ceremony that has artistic value as well, and the game is thought to contain a connection to one’s spiritual nature. New Futures will teach 12 Native youth a variety of woodworking skills to help create traditional Ojibwe lacrosse sticks. Youth will be paid a stipend for working towards mastering the skills required to produce steam bent, tournament-ready Lacrosse sticks. Youth will be able to teach others how to make…

Working in collaboration with CANDO, the Central Area Neighborhood Development Organization, Makers of History utilizes grassroots community engagement and documentary storytelling to produce a community driven film about health, housing and history of South Minneapolis. Both the process of making the film and screenings of the film will act as a tool for community driven development in the Central Neighborhood, sparking dialogue with community members, policymakers, developers and non-profit organizations to improve community health and housing initiatives.

About the artists: 

Ryan Stopera is a photographer, filmmaker,…

Throughout the year, a collaboration of artists, youth, organizers, educators, elders, Oromo traditionalists, and musicians will be reclaiming the power of art forms that are intertwined with traditional Oromo forms of governance. Our sacred stories tell the linkages between poetry, coffee ceremony, basket weaving and the work of creating worlds where many worlds fit. Based in Little Oromia in Minneapolis’s Cedar Riverside community, the artists will host gatherings that center intergenerational dialogue with elders, to inform the works of young poets, local musicians as well as a policy toolkit. By…

This project focuses on creating high quality sculptures and paintings that reflect the input and diversity of residents, artists, community members, and business owners in and around Little Africa in St. Paul’s Hamline-Midway neighborhood. By using multi-disciplinary techniques, fabrics, patterns and colors, artists will lead an interactive community-based process leading up to and during the fifth annual Little Africa Festival in August 2018. The artists’ goal is to find different ways to look at the world and reflect on African cultures’ rural and urban life through artistic expression. The project will be held in Hamline Park, which is located…

with Pathways Learning Center, Tim Hellendrung (HUGE Improv Theater), Heather Meyer (Brave New Workshop Comedy Theater) and Black Dog Coffee Shop and Annex

The Clapback Cabaret is a series of monthly comedy cabarets and skill-building workshops on St. Paul’s East Side, designed to empower Asian Pacific Islander American (APIA)/Diasporic women and trans women-identified voices to combat microaggressions. The series is hosted by FAWK, who use comedy to talk about controversial issues and who identify a bind that Asian women live in: being quiet comes with the stereotype of being submissive, while being strong comes with the label “dragon lady”. Clapback…