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Minneapolis Sculpture Garden to host first-ever art fair
The Sculpture Garden Art Fair announcement comes as the longtime Uptown Art Fair says it has to cancel due to road construction.
MINNEAPOLIS — For the first time ever, there will be an art fair at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. It will be held over Mother’s Day weekend and hosted by Homespun Events that also puts on the Minnehaha Falls Art Festival in July.
“We wanted to replicate that success and this was the first place we talked about just because we know an art fair makes sense here,” said Homespun Events Owner Ben Cooney about the sculpture garden.
The event will take place May 11 and 12 and will include 150 talented artists, a variety of food trucks, botanical marketplace and beer garden — an idea Cooney says has been in the works for awhile now.
“People want to be out, interacting with one another, and we certainly saw that pent up demand after COVID-19 and that demand has just continued,” said Cooney.
His announcement comes about the same time that the longtime and popular Uptown Art Fair announced it’s canceling its August event on what would be its 60th year.
“It was a lot of ups and downs and full circle moments for days and days,” said its director Jill Osiecki. “We didn’t come to it lightly.”
She says simply downsizing or moving the event isn’t an option for the fair that lines a large part of Hennepin Avenue. It will be under construction now for the next two years.
RELATED: ‘Mirroring the spirit of Uptown,’ art fair organizers pivot to new event over construction setbacks
“It’s not just something you can do anywhere and really be the unique event that it is,” said Osiecki.
The fair draws hundreds of thousands of people every year, but the construction has closed part of the street that hosts the hundreds of vendors. It also limits parking and business owners are worried about its impact.
Hennepin Avenue is one of south Minneapolis’ busiest streets and this project is one of the biggest upgrades in decades.
Osiecki says planning is already underway for next year, since crews should be done rebuilding the stretch of road the fair takes up. In the meantime, she says they will hold pop-up events all summer across the area from art installations to competitions.
“This could be an opportunity to invent something very different and unique,” said Osiecki. “We really want to come back bigger and stronger.”
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Protesters were calling on the University of Minnesota to divest from companies that support Israel.
MINNEAPOLIS — Protests continued at the University of Minnesota Tuesday after 11 people were arrested the night before after barricading themselves inside Morrill Hall, and damaging the building.
Across town, outside the Hennepin County Justice Center, those involved in last night’s protest were waiting out front for the 11 individuals arrested, to be released.
“We don’t want our money to be sent to contribute to a genocide,” said student organizer Juliet Murphy. “Especially for those of us who have family that live in Lebanon, live in Palestine.”
Murphy is a sophomore at the U, and part of Students for a Democratic Society. She says Monday’s occupation was needed for students to get their voices heard. Students have been calling for the university to divest from companies that support Israel. They also want the university to divest academically and stop study abroad programs in Israel.
“We have gone through all of the ‘right channels’ and this seemed like the logical next step since there are so many escalations happening across the world from us right now,” Murphy said.
Around 5 P.M. on Tuesday, while the protest was going on, The University of Minnesota sent out a safety alert saying that buildings surrounding the campus mall were locked until further notice.
Protesters deny that they held any staff inside Morrill Hall against their will Monday, but the University says some employees were unable to exit. University President Rebecca Cunningham said in a statement that this was a “terrifying experience for many of our employees.”
Steve Hunegs, the Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relation Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, says he’s grateful for the response of President Cunningham, and feels that Monday’s occupation was about stoking fear into University staff.
“Everybody should be against the behavior that was conducted yesterday on campus,” Hunegs said. “This is not about free speech, this is about intimidation, this is about vandalism.”
At this time, KARE 11 is not naming the 11 people arrested as they have not been charged yet. According to organizers of the occupation, all 11 arrested are either current students or recent graduates at the U.
The teen had been last seen around 5 a.m. Tuesday in the area of Forest St. and 4th Ave. E. in St. Paul’s Dayton Bluff neighborhood.
ST PAUL, Minn. — A missing teenager in St. Paul has been found safe, according to a brief news release from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Ke-Andre Oliver-Butler had been last seen around 5 a.m. Tuesday in the area of Forest St. and 4th Ave. E. in St. Paul’s Dayton Bluff neighborhood. Officials announced he was found in an update Tuesday evening.
“Thank you to all who helped search for him or shared the information,” Minnesota BCA said on social media.
Student organizations on campus began protesting certain University policies last year after the Hamas-Israel war began.
MINNEAPOLIS — The aftermath of students taking over Morrill Hall at the University of Minnesota has protesters standing firm in their push for the University to divest in financial connections to Israel. On Tuesday, a group of students from the U of M Divestment Coalition waited for 11 students and alumni to be released from jail after being arrested Monday night.
In a statement, University President Rebecca Cunningham called the occupation of the building where administrative offices are held, “a terrifying experience for many of our employees.” She went on to discuss the University’s rich history and commitment to free expression.
“We think there is an extreme lack of urgency from the university on some of our demands,” Juliet Murphy, a protester from Students for Democratic Society (SDS) said.
The SDS organized the occupation of Morrill Hall on Monday. Murphy says they do not regret their actions of barricading the doors shut and spray painting the indoor security cameras.
“The First Amendment does not give us the right to destroy property however strongly we may feel about our cause,” University of Minnesota media ethics and law professor, Jane Kirtley said.
Kirtley supports peaceful protests, as they have been a part of the University for decades, including at Morrill Hall. The administrative building was occupied peacefully for an entire day by students advocating for Black students’ rights during the Civil Rights movement in 1969.
“The challenge is to balance the First Amendment rights of the protesters and the rights of the other students to go about their business on the regular day,” Kirtley said.
Which the Jewish Communications Relations Council feels students could not do on Monday night, especially Jewish students.
“Intimidation, vandalism, occupation is not free speech, it’s about stoking fear and interfering with the life of the University,” JCRC executive director, Steve Hunegs said.
Students apart of SDS chose to protest because of the University of Minnesota’s neutral stance on investments and financial ties to Israel, particularly the Consolidated Endowment Fund. This has been a debated topic since protesters from the U of M Divestment Coalition formed with SDS, Young Democratic-Socialists of America (YDSA), and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
This coalition was behind the encampment from the end of April last year that lasted through May 2. It closed down several buildings, including the most visited library during final exams.
The protesters agreed to remove the encampment after having a formal meeting with university leaders, including the interim president, Jeff Ettinger. Here is the list of commitments the University agreed to and say they have made progress on nearly completely them all.
