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Topic: What is going in your community/city?
Replies: 58 Pages: 4 Last Post: Jul 26, 2005 9:36 AM by: jaime longoria

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Replies: 58 Pages: 4 [ 1 2 3 4 \| Next ]

Colin Rusch

Posts: 1,435
Registered: Oct 16, 2002

What is going in your community/city?
Posted: Apr 27, 2004 3:49 PM

What projects are happening in your area where art, social action, and/or politics intersect?

Colin Rusch

Posts: 1,435
Registered: Oct 16, 2002

Re: What is going in your community/city?
Posted: Apr 29, 2004 2:42 PM

The dance community here just learned of a ridiculous and awful situation. Here is an excerpt from the dance community newsletter from Dana Holstad at The Southern Theater.

"6. Who said I can't dance at this revolution?

(Thanks to Margaret Hastings who is bringing this OUTRAGE to our attention...)

As part of task force that is reviewing Minneapolis ordinances that are used to unfairly target persons who are homeless, our group discovered the following:

Dancing in the Street: Mpls. ordinance 427.240 "No person shall dance or engage or participate in any dancing upon any public street or highway in the city."

On March 31st, 2004 police arrested a homeless person for dancing in the street. Here is the officer's description of the incident, quoted in its entirety:

"AP-1 was dancing in the street at the above (sic) location. AP-1 was booked HCJ"

(HCJ is Hennepin county jail.)

Getting arrested and booked for this offense is an example of the questionable use of criminal justice against people experiencing homelessness. In addition to the pain, stigma, and other consequences for the person who was dancing, this arrest also used valuable police time and resulted in the City paying a booking fee of $187 to the County."

Colin Rusch

Posts: 1,435
Registered: Oct 16, 2002

Re: What is going in your community/city?
Posted: Apr 29, 2004 3:04 PM

MoveOn's voter registration event is happening on May 8. Information for people in the Twin Cities is at http://action.moveon.org/may8/selectmtg.html?zip=55407&distance=50

If you live somewhere else, go to http://action.moveon.org/may8/ to find out more.

Colin

Colin Rusch

Posts: 1,435
Registered: Oct 16, 2002

Re: What is going in your community/city?
Posted: May 3, 2004 12:32 PM

There is an interesting discussion happening about images and politics in The Plaza.

http://www.mnartists.org/community/thread.jspa?forumID=13&threadID=301&messageID=15548#15548

Be sure to read some of the previous posts. This link is just to the latest one right now.

Colin

Ray Rolfe

Posts: 3,263
From: Northeast Minneapolis
Registered: Sep 5, 2001

Re: What is going in your community/city?
Posted: May 4, 2004 10:58 PM

The Dancing in the streets arrest pisses me off royally.
How dare they.
Interesting information about the committee. Where did you hear about this?
Thanks committee if you ever read me.

My communicity is experiencing LOVE show install.

Lauren DeSteno

Posts: 1,520
From: Minneapolis, MN
Registered: Oct 19, 2001

Re: What is going in your community/city?
Posted: May 7, 2004 1:58 PM

Hey, did anyone else read the Skyway News article on the Highway 280 artist(s)? I think it's in this week's issue; I'd post a link but I couldn't find it on their website.

Has anyone seen these pieces in person? What did you think?

lauren

Michael Fallon

Posts: 201
Registered: Jul 3, 2003

Re: What is going in your community/city?
Posted: May 10, 2004 10:31 AM

edit

Michael Fallon

Posts: 201
Registered: Jul 3, 2003

Re: What is going in your community/city?
Posted: May 10, 2004 10:40 AM

edit

Michael Fallon

Posts: 201
Registered: Jul 3, 2003

Re: What is going in your community/city?
Posted: May 10, 2004 10:47 AM

edit

Colin Rusch

Posts: 1,435
Registered: Oct 16, 2002

Re: What is going in your community/city?
Posted: May 10, 2004 11:29 AM

Hey Michael,

Thanks for the links and the heads up about the MIA show. I hope city officials don't hurt their arms patting themselves on the back. The Twin Cities is facing a number dilemmas to maintain, let alone develop, the cultural and creative vibrancy of the cities. The least of which is space. I have heard from a few different sources that the Twin Cities population is going to increase by 50%, about a million people, in the next 15-25 years. Yes, we should all get our real estate licenses. Space in NYC has been out of control for years. More and more I am seeing and hearing about artists and their work succumbing to realities of their day to day lives. Minneapolis is in danger of the same thing. I believe that artists need to be able to own property, living and working space, to have a chance at long term viability in a market driven economy, especially one like what we have in the US.

What do people think about Art Space? I have mixed feelings. They do an admirable job of developing projects and making space available at relatively inexpensive rates. But, essentially artists are still dealing with a landlord when then they rent from Art Space. They are not in control.

Colin

Michael Fallon

Posts: 201
Registered: Jul 3, 2003

Re: What is going in your community/city?
Posted: May 10, 2004 12:48 PM

edit

Colin Rusch

Posts: 1,435
Registered: Oct 16, 2002

Re: What is going in your community/city?
Posted: May 10, 2004 3:25 PM

Michael,

That's interesting the hear. Running a property management company for a low budget clientele is tricky business, especially when the business is expanding. My impression is that they give artists decent value. Artists need their space costs to be subsidized in one way or another. ArtSpace is able to do that by being a central location for grants and public money. But in creating that institution there are infrastructure costs. What I don't know much about is how much of the subsidy actually gets through to the artists.

There are all kinds of models for how this works. Some people own rental property or live in coop housing. I am curious how people are handling this question these days, in the present moment and in planning for the future. I am also interested to hear more thoughts about ArtSpace.

Colin

Lauren DeSteno

Posts: 1,520
From: Minneapolis, MN
Registered: Oct 19, 2001

Re: What is going in your community/city?
Posted: May 10, 2004 9:18 PM

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the article link, actually, IMHO, one of your better ones. Great job.

> What was the gist of the story, Lauren? Who, or what,
> are the Hwy 280 artists?

Drat! I already recycled the issue, and since I haven't actually seen the pieces, my description might be a little off, but here's the gist: According to Skyway news, some person (or persons) have been putting up collaged, 3-dimensional pieces of art, often involving handwritten text, pictures, and I think news articles. The text that I remember most vividly seemed to allude to the French occupation of Algeria (which isn't surprising since The Battle of Algiers has been in the media recently with respect to the Pentagon screening and the war in Iraq. The pieces are unsigned, and no one (so far) is claiming authorship. Some of the pieces have been vandalized.

That's all I got.

BTW, I have been interested in more information on Art Space for quite some time now... if you do find out more information and write an article, will you give us a link?

lauren

Lauren DeSteno

Posts: 1,520
From: Minneapolis, MN
Registered: Oct 19, 2001

Re: What is going in your community/city?
Posted: May 10, 2004 9:21 PM

> Dancing in the Street: Mpls. ordinance
> dinance 427.240 "No person shall dance or engage or
> participate in any dancing upon any public street or
> highway in the city."

Whoa! Somehow I missed your post, Colin. Do you have any idea when this law was enacted, or the history/purpose behind it (besides arresting homeless people)?

lauren

Colin Rusch

Posts: 1,435
Registered: Oct 16, 2002

Re: What is going in your community/city?
Posted: May 11, 2004 11:56 AM

Hi Everyone,

Did anyone participate in the voter registration event that Move On initiated this weekend? There are a bunch of registration events these days. National Voice is a good resource to learn more. http://www.nationalvoice.org/states/MN/home.htm

As a dance maker who works with improvisation, I am curious about the relationship between spectacle, art, and events. Throwing an event has always struck me as an interesting choreographic endeavor. In both realms you are initiating a specific type of action/interaction with a desired result. An essential characteristic of a dance for me is poetic body-based movement in an interactive situation. Protests and basketball games fit that description as well as any of my performances. What do other people think about the question?

Colin

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