April 2013
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WatchWe are excited to announce “Everyday Ways” - a we made with artist/organizer Mankwe Ndosi.
“For the first time, the full scope of Mankwe Ndosi’s artistic life is captured in a single video—her activism, her art, her unique and beautiful outlook on life.” - Andrea Swensson
Four months in the making so that you can spend eight minutes with her today. Please share!
February 2013
3 posts
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January 2013
2 posts
December 2012
5 posts
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WatchA short video about playwright, director & actor Aditi Brennan Kapil that we made for the McKnight Foundation’s State of the Artist project.
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“If you think your future rides solely on the information superhighway, try...”
– Some words of wisdom from the Saint Paul Port Authority. You never know where project research is going to lead.
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“To speed the rate of municipal innovation and to increase its scope, the Mayor,...”
– The Office of New Urban Mechanics in Boston #CityCrush
November 2012
3 posts
“The real opportunity, I think, is in trying to build longer arcs. Now that the...”
– Seth Godin, The decline of fascination and the rise in ennui
Which leads us to ask: what works? What is really important? What longer arcs are we building?
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“For better and worse, public-making in the early 21st-century has been consigned...”
– Josh Wallaert asks what it would look like if our online tools for sharing content were much more public. More here: State of the Commons (Design Observer)
September 2012
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July 2012
2 posts
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WatchOur latest State of the Artist documentary is about poet Dobby Gibson.
“Maybe poetry isn’t relevant. People can live perfectly good lives only ever trotting out poetry for weddings and funerals. But there’s also something sad about that. It’s like spending your whole life just eating TV Dinners, never really experiencing the full possibilities of language.”
Dobby asks: How can poets...
June 2012
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May 2012
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April 2012
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WatchThis video, this concept, is amazing. Minneapolis, step up! (This is your warning, if you don’t, we will.) Video via our friend Amelia via our friend Noah.
March 2012
5 posts
WatchSalon Saloon, that loveable little scamp of a live show, has been jump-jiving along smoothly for three years now. We’ve hosted over 80 guests from across the creative spectrum and over 1200 people have attended our monthly shows at the Bryant-Lake Bowl Theater. It’s been great (!), but it also hasn’t been cheap, and as we prepare for next season we’re asking for your...
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February 2012
5 posts
The State of Poverty - Conversation on MPR's... →
We’ll be tuning in this morning to MPR to hear this conversation on the state of poverty, featuring Angela Glover Blackwell of PolicyLink, Olivia Golden, a fellow at Urban Institute and professor Peter Edelman, co-director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy.
We saw Angela Glover Blackwell speak in Detroit at the Equity Summit and have become big fans of...
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January 2012
9 posts
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February Newsletter →
Thanks to our new Project Assistant Regan Smith for helping us get the first Works Progress newsletter in 8 months out to nearly 1,400 subscribers! Sign up here if you’d like to get our new and improved monthly newsletter!
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WatchLast November, Shanai & I found ourselves on a plane to Detroit as part of the Minnesota delegation to PolicyLink’s Equity Summit 2011. Our delegation of 150+ Minnesotan equity workers and advocates was the largest in attendance at the summit and we were there, in part, to learn how Works Progress can be of service to their work.
We were also there to help tell their story. How do you...
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Works Progress Happy Hour
UPDATE: WE’VE MOVED! WPHH DISCONTINUED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
To celebrate our new home in the Robert’s Shoes building at Lake & Chicago, we’re hosting a weekly happy hour on Fridays from 4 to 6pm. Stop by anytime for a cup of coffee, tea, wine or beer. Learn what we’ve been up to, relax, brainstorm or share your ideas, meet and chat with other creative people, or just browse...
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Law of Two Feet
Hey everyone,
I’m Regan Smith, the new Project Assistant for Works Progress. I’ll be working here part-time helping out with communications and program-based work. In my non-Works Progress life I’m a freelance writer and the Co-Founder and Editorial Director of Paper Darts, a Minneapolis-based literary and arts magazine. If you have a pressing need to know more about me, please feel free to check...
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“Two seemingly opposite pedagogical poles appear to be collapsing. On one side is...”
– After OWS: Social Practice Art, Abstraction, and the Limits of the Social by Gregory Sholette
A lot to think about in this great essay.
December 2011
3 posts
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WatchOur friend Jaimie is story editor at Once Magazine, and as much as we wish she would move back to the Twin Cities, we love what she & her colleagues are doing with photography & storytelling for digital platforms like iPad. It’s been fantastic to see them get some much-deserved recognition for their work!
Also worth noting: they actually pay their contributors with revenue from...
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Recess Press →
“As a collective, we are joining our funds and experience to provide access to a democratic print shop as well as education for Minneapolis’ growing printmaking community.”
Impressed by all of the collectively run, educationally-minded studios & projects cropping up around the Twin Cities, many of them run by recent college graduates. Jobs might be scarce, but that doesn’t...
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“When I entered our field, I believed that sharing space and story in a darkened...”
– Michael Rohd, co-founder of Sojourn Theatre, in an excellent article that distinguishes what he sees as three allied movements in theater that work for similar goals, but have markedly different philosophies and processes. He defines these as Community-based, Participatory, and Civic, all words that...
November 2011
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October 2011
15 posts
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ART OF THIS →
These guys are doing some great projects - including one of their ‘one nighter’ events tonight! Details for that below. Minneapolis is lucky to have spaces/projects like AOT.
“In the Pale” organized by Jonathon Thomas
October 30th, 7PM-12AM
ART OF THIS, 4 East Franklin Ave
Featuring the work of artists Aaron Anderson, Justin Schlepp, Martha Colburn, Cameron Gainer, Alex...
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