Festival Partners

African Economic Development Solutions

African Economic Development Solutions (AEDS) builds wealth within African immigrant and Black heritage communities through our economic development activities, including business development training, homeownership education, technical assistance and transforms built environments to facilitate healthy, vibrant communities. At AEDS we also take pride in our focus on arts and culture as a tool for community development, and utilizing creative placemaking efforts in the Little Africa business and culture district to cultivate long-lasting relationships with African artists, business owners, and community members for sustainable and equitable economic development.

Water Bar & Public Studio

WATER BAR & PUBLIC STUDIO IS A BAR THAT SERVES FREE TAP WATER. WE’RE ALSO AN ART SPACE, A SOCIAL HUB, AND AN INCUBATOR OF COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS ON WATER AND THE WAYS IT CONNECTS AND SUSTAINS US.

Altered Esthetics

Altered Esthetics is a nonprofit community organization run by artists, for artists. Our mission is to sustain the role of artists as a voice in society and work towards fostering an inclusive and sustainable arts community through exhibitions, education and outreach.

Aniccha Arts

Founded in 2004 by Pramila Vasudevan, Aniccha Arts is an experimental arts group that creates immersive performance environments primarily sourcing dance and technology perspectives. This interdisciplinary arts collaborative produces site-specific performances that examine agency, voice, and group dynamics within community histories, institutions, and systems.

Asian Economic Development Association

AEDA’s mission is to increase economic opportunities for Asian Americans.

Asian Economic Development Association was created to expand opportunities for economic success for low-income Asian Americans in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Twin Cities. Our programs help lift people out of poverty and achieve economic stability. We focus on helping our communities create jobs through small business development; achieve financial capability through financial education and access to credit; champion more vibrant neighborhoods through arts and culture; and attain racial justice and economic inclusion through advocacy.

Aurora St. Anthony Neighborhood Development Corporation

(ASANDC) is based in St. Paul’s historic Rondo neighborhood, and with Neighborhood Development Corporation launched the Rondo Arts Cultural Business District in 2013. Today ASANDC hosts a variety of social, economic, housing, and commercial development programs for Aurora St. Anthony, Frogtown and Summit-University residents of all ages, with a mission to foster positive relationships within and between the neighborhoods we serve and to support our members in affecting the quality of life in their communities.

Center for Energy and Environment

CEE is uniquely positioned to help individuals, organizations, and entire communities improve their energy efficiency. In Minnesota and around the country, rigorous energy research and decades of field experience undergird our diverse professional offerings.

The Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy program of the City of Minneapolis

The City of Minneapolis Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy program’s mission is to leverage the creative sector towards social and economic growth in the city of Minneapolis.

Climate Generation

Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy empowers individuals and their communities to engage in solutions to climate change. We envision a world of resilient communities with equitable solutions to climate change, and are working towards a goal of 100% clean energy and 80% greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2050 at the latest.

Conservation Minnesota

At Conservation Minnesota, we protect the Minnesota you love by solving our state’s most important conservation problems. How do we decide what’s important? By listening to you. Your priorities are our mission! We’re focused on building a diverse and statewide network and understanding each person’s unique interests.

Deborah Elias Danza Española

CONNECTING WITH OUR SELVES, OUR COMMUNITY, AND THE WORLD THROUGH THE POWER OF FLAMENCO. We create original works honoring the traditions of flamenco and exploring its boundaries. We teach kids through school residencies that share the flamenco art form and help kids succeed. We instigate the Coro Flamenco Street Choir celebrating the communal nature of flamenco.

Forecast Public Art

Forecast activates people, networks, and proven practices to advance the transformational power of the arts in public life.

Grand Challenges Curriculum, University of Minnesota

From liberal arts to science and engineering, University of Minnesota students work with field-shaping faculty and researchers. We create classrooms, research opportunities, and community engagement experiences that prepare students to be leaders, innovators, and global citizens.

Green Minneapolis and The Commons

The Commons is a 4.2 acre, new public green space downtown bounded by Park Avenue and 4th and 5th Streets. The Commons was designed as a place for respite, everyday activities, and events for residents, workers, and visitors. The Commons is for everyone.

Green Minneapolis is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 multi-project conservancy established to advance the vitality of downtown Minneapolis through parks, greening and program activation. Green Minneapolis engages in strategic public, private and philanthropic partnerships to advance the common goal of creating a vibrant public realm.

Hennepin County Library

Hennepin County Library’s mission is to nourish minds, transform lives and build community together. We envision a Hennepin County where library services ensure every person has the opportunity and resources to read, graduate, engage, work and learn.

Hmong Museum

Hmong Museum is a new start-up 501(c)3 cultural organization in the Twin Cities established in 2013. It began as a passion project to bring Hmong history to life and preserve all things Hmong. As a museum without walls, the organization focuses on bringing rich cultural programming to community spaces.

Local Initiative Support Corporation

LISC invests capital and support collaboration to produce affordable homes and vibrant commercial and public spaces, and to promote economic development, arts & culture, and health in communities. And….greater scale.

Minneapolis College of Art and Design

The Minneapolis College of Art and Design educates individuals to be professional artists and designers, pioneering thinkers, creative leaders, and engaged, global citizens.

The MCAD Gallery showcases and interprets contemporary art and design through diverse exhibitions and events throughout the year.

Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light

Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light works to build a stable climate that supports vibrant, equitable communities for all life. MNIPL works in partnership with faith communities to build transformative power and bring the lights of people’s unique gifts to addressing the climate crisis through leadership development and action opportunities.

Minnesota Museum of American Art

The Minnesota Museum of American Art (the M) is one of the oldest visual arts organizations in Minnesota, with roots stretching back to the 19th century. Today, the M holds more than 4,500 artworks that showcase the unique voice of American artists, guided by the belief that art should reflect the constantly shifting landscape that defines the American experience.

Minnesota Sacred Harp Singers

The Minnesota State Sacred Harp Singing Convention meets regularly to sing from The Sacred Harp and other American shaped-note tunebooks. We’re a singing community, not a performance group. We have all-day singings (“conventions”) in February and September, and two-hour singings at least once a week. Our schedule is at http://mnfasola.org/.

Mizna

Mizna publishes the literary journal Mizna: Prose, Poetry and Art Exploring Arab America, produces the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, offers Arabic classes and workshops, and presents other art projects and community events involving a diverse range of local, national, and international Arab artists and thinkers.

MN350

MN350 believes this change in our climate will be achieved through a fundamental shift in our society, such that climate justice and sustainability for all living species is the lens by which all behavioral, political, economic, and social decisions are made. MN350 knits many efforts together in a powerful and unified call to action—a call that is global, scientific, and relational. We work to build a social movement by empowering individuals, groups and communities to act collectively in addressing the climate crisis.

Motionpoems

Motionpoems, America’s most poetic film company, turns contemporary poems into world-class works of film, music, and public art. More at motionpoems.org.

Northern Lights.mn

Northern Lights.mn is a roving, collaborative, interactive media-oriented arts agency from the Twin Cities for the world. It presents innovative art in the public sphere, both physical and virtual, focusing on artists creatively using technology, both old and new, to engender new relations between audience and artwork and more broadly between citizenry and their built environment.

Printland Press

Printland Press is owned and operated by Ruthann Godollei, an artist and Professor of Art at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN. Fine art printmaking in letterpress, lithography, screenprint, intaglio and digital processes. Printland also teaches printmaking in all media.

Public Art Saint Paul

Public Art Saint Paul makes St. Paul a better city by placing artists in leading roles to shape public spaces, improve city systems, and deepen civic engagement.

Saint Paul Public Library

Saint Paul Public Library connects people in Saint Paul with the imperative and the joy of learning through a lifetime. We are a cornerstone of a thriving city: welcoming people of all ages and cultures; strengthening neighborhoods and learning networks; and inspiring all with the world of ideas.

The Soap Factory

The Soap Factory is a laboratory for artistic experimentation and innovation, dedicated to supporting artists and engaging audiences through the production and presentation of contemporary art in a unique and historic environment. Based in the historic National Purity Soap Factory in Minneapolis, The Soap Factory is a 501(c )(3) non-profit.

The Somali Museum

The Somali Museum is the only museum in the world devoted to preserving traditional Somali culture and art. The Somali Museum presents an unrivaled collection of artworks and artifacts from Somalia and the diaspora, and builds bridges between Minnesotans of all backgrounds through the beauty of Somali heritage and culture.

Southern Theater

The Southern Theater provides a home for artists, giving them the freedom to focus on what matters most, their art. We add new value by fostering a community that serves the artist’s need for stability, for a sense of place, for the opportunity to experiment and as a resource to learn and grow. We offer audiences a unique experience that ignites their imaginations and expands their perspectives in an extraordinary historical theater.

St. Cloud State University Art Department

St. Cloud State University’s Art Department prepares students for long-term success in the visual arts. Students are able to take a dynamic range of classes in studio art, graphic design, art history and art education within a close-knit community. It is a place for critical thinkers, tastemakers, and rule breakers.

St. Paul Saints

The St. Paul Saints play in the award-winning CHS Field in Lowertown St. Paul. They enter their 25th season in 2017 and have gained national recognition for their quirky promotions, a pig that delivers baseballs to umpires and a nun that gives massages.

Take Action MN

Take Action MN’s mission is to unite the power of diverse individuals, communities and organizations in active grassroots democracy that builds racial, social and economic justice.

Textile Center

Textile Center, a national center for fiber art, has a mission to honor textile tradition, promote excellence and innovation, and inspire widespread participation in fiber art. Now in it’s 76th year.

MN Original and Twin Cities PBS

MN Original is Twin Cities PBS’ award-winning weekly arts series celebrating Minnesota’s creative community across all disciplines and all cultures. MN Original increases awareness of Minnesota artists, arts organizations and arts venues, and cultivates new audiences for the arts by promo I ting a deeper understanding of the creative process, curating contemporary arts in Minnesota for generations to come. As one of the nation’s leading public media organizations, Twin Cities PBS (TPT)’s mission is to “enrich lives and strengthen our community through the power of media.”

University of Wisconsin-Stout School of Art & Design

The School of Art & Design at the University of Wisconsin-Stout is an artistic and intellectual community that fosters creative thinking and project-based learning. Now in it’s sixth decade, and serving six majors, the school cultivates both theoretical and practical foundations in art, design, and the humanities.

Weavers Guild of Minnesota

The Weavers Guild of Minnesota’s mission is to preserve and advance the arts of weaving, spinning, and dyeing.

Weisman Art Museum

Housed in a striking stainless steel and brick building designed by architect Frank Gehry, the Weisman Art Museum offers an educational and friendly museum experience. A teaching museum for the University of Minnesota and the community, the Weisman provides a fresh, engaging arts experience through an array of programs and a changing schedule of exhibitions.

West Bank Business Association

WBBA exists to engage the business community in the responsible economic development of the West Bank district while preserving the unique character and heritage of the Cedar-Riverside area.
Our vision: We aim to support local, independent businesses & retailers. We will nurture green space in our community. We show our value of the creative entertainment district by promoting & supporting the arts. We cultivate the West Bank district as fun, vibrant, & easily navigable/ We support holistic, community-led development reflective & aligned with our neighborhood’s wants & needs. We collaborate with our community partners to achieve neighborhood-wide initiatives.

Zeitgeist

Zeitgeist, a new music chamber ensemble, presents a wide variety of new music for audiences in the Twin Cities. Always eager to explore new artistic frontiers, Zeitgeist collaborates with poets, choreographers, directors, visual artists and sound artists to create imaginative new work that challenges the boundaries of traditional chamber music.

Center for Energy and Environment

CEE is uniquely positioned to help individuals, organizations, and entire communities improve their energy efficiency. In Minnesota and around the country, rigorous energy research and decades of field experience undergird our diverse professional offerings.

Climate Generation

Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy empowers individuals and their communities to engage in solutions to climate change. We envision a world of resilient communities with equitable solutions to climate change, and are working towards a goal of 100% clean energy and 80% greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2050 at the latest.

Conservation Minnesota

At Conservation Minnesota, we protect the Minnesota you love by solving our state’s most important conservation problems. How do we decide what’s important? By listening to you. Your priorities are our mission! We’re focused on building a diverse and statewide network and understanding each person’s unique interests.

MN350

MN350 believes this change in our climate will be achieved through a fundamental shift in our society, such that climate justice and sustainability for all living species is the lens by which all behavioral, political, economic, and social decisions are made. MN350 knits many efforts together in a powerful and unified call to action—a call that is global, scientific, and relational. We work to build a social movement by empowering individuals, groups and communities to act collectively in addressing the climate crisis.

Take Action MN

Take Action MN’s mission is to unite the power of diverse individuals, communities and organizations in active grassroots democracy that builds racial, social and economic justice.