Five BIPOC-Owned Arts Organizations in Minneapolis
Today we’re highlighting a few of the many organizations who bring vibrancy, creativity, and resilience to Minneapolis’ art scene and beyond:
Juxtaposition Arts
Juxtaposition Arts is a teen-staffed art and design center, gallery, retail shop, and artists’ studio space in North Minneapolis. Their mission: Juxtaposition Arts develops community by engaging and employing young urban artists in hands-on education initiatives that create pathways to self-sufficiency while actualizing creative power.
Now in their 25th year, “Juxta envisions the youth of North Minneapolis entering the workforce as dynamic innovators and problem-solvers. They believe sustained participation in community-focused creative expression powerfully advances the development of individuals, communities, and places.”
NEW RULES is a collective built on the idea of developing ecosystems & solutions for Black & Brown communities where economic, health & wellness and education disparities breed. They take unproductive buildings in overlooked communities and co-create innovative spaces that are designed by the community to solve problems they have identified for themselves, both personally & professionally.
NEW RULES is much more than a physical space - it is the nexus between arts, culture, community, and technology.
Black Table Arts is a community driven arts cooperative located in Minneapolis, Minnesota gathering black communities through the arts toward better black futures. Complete with a bookstore, shared workspace and a performance space (BTA) makes bold the connection between art and grassroots organizing by providing programs that invite local artists to see themselves as change makers and organizers of their collective liberation.
Soomaal House of Art (Soomaal) is a Minnesota-based Somali art collective that provides studio space, studio critiques, artistic community, mentorships for younger Somali artists and an annual exhibition space with educational programming.
Soomaal House of Art provides a platform for Somali visual artists who want to create and use art to shape and frame critical discourse around vexing local and global issues of our time. Moving forward, they hope the collective action of this group will lead to sustained partnerships with Minnesota institutions and, together, inspire more Minnesotans, especially Somali Minnesotans, to harness the power of art as a tool for intellectual and civic engagement.
Catalyst Arts is a Small Arts Incubator interested in the intersection of Art + Activism and Artists who define themselves as Changemakers. They place a particular emphasis on increasing the visibility of and providing a platform for artists whose voices have historically been underrepresented in the arts, including (but not limited to): artists of color, LGBTQIA+ artists, immigrants, Indigenous, low-income, and artists exploring non-traditional pathways to success.
Catalyst is committed to forging new PARTNERSHIPS in rural areas; CONVENING meaningful conversations around race, gender, and politics; supporting the multi-disciplinary DEVELOPMENT of new work…while NURTURING emerging artists and career professionals through experimentation, workshops, consulting, trainings and mentorship.