FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NORTHEAST MINNEAPOLIS ARTS DISTRICT NAMED “BEST ART DISTRICT”

MINNEAPOLIS, MN, March 5, 2015—Northeast Minneapolis Arts District was named “Best Art District” via USA Today’s “10 Best Readers’ Choice” on March 2, 2015. Minneapolis beat out nine other noted art districts by garnering the most votes over a four-week period.

Featuring an iconic photo of the Northrup King Building from Meet Minneapolis, the winning description read,

“Centered around the Northrup King Building, the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District serves as a home or workplace to more than 400 independent artists. Studios, galleries and performance spaces occupy re-purposed industrial buildings, and the art scene is characterized by its many annual events, like the Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association’s (NEMAA) spring Art-A-Whirl and fall Fine Arts Show, Art Attack at the Northrup King Building in November and Casket Arts Quad’s Cache open studio events, also in November.”

Minneapolis was chosen as a contender by Lindsay Pollock, Editor in Chief at Art in America, and Joe Lewis, nationally known artist, educator and professor of Art at the University of CA-Irvine. The poll was announced via the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District’s web site, NEMAA, a variety of art-centric Facebook pages and subsequent shares by artists, residents and businesses. City Pages and The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal picked up on the buzz and also featured the poll.

ArtForce, a Northeast Minneapolis Arts District resident, noted on a March 3, 2015 tumblr. that “. . . a nod from USA Today is actually a nod toward a culmination of careful planning and collaboration between artists and businesses—that’s what makes [the District] so special, so vibrant.” Josh Blanc, President of the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District Board of Directors, and owner/artist of Clay Squared to Infinity, notes that “unique events including Art-A-Whirl, monthly scheduled open studios, seasonal, juried art shows, and the concentration of over 600 artists, including many notable mid-career artists are just a few of the reasons why the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District stands out.”

Information about Board meetings and Northeast Minneapolis Arts District initiatives is available online:

ABOUT THE NORTHEAST MINNEAPOLIS ARTS DISTRICT The geographic boundaries of the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District are the Mississippi River on the West, 26th Avenue on the North, Central Avenue on the East and Broadway on the South in the city of Minneapolis, MN. The district contains a diverse mix of businesses, restaurants, parks, art galleries and studios as well as industrial and residential property. Warehouses and rail yards are interspersed with homes, churches and family-run businesses. Artists populate many of the historic and formerly industrial buildings, which have been re-purposed and renovated into studios, galleries and performance spaces. Independent galleries have sprung up throughout Northeast, with a concentration along the District’s 13th Avenue.

For more information contact Betsy Gabler at [email protected]