Staff Highlights from Northern Spark 2019

Written by

Staff Highlights from Northern Spark 2019

Tyra Payer and Taryn Payer at Northern Spark 2019. Photo by Nedahness Greene.

 

Northern Spark is as fun for the Northern Lights.mn team as it is for the artists and audience members. Here are our highlights from the weekend:

 

Steve Dietz, Co-Director

“There is something amazing about closing down a city street no matter what, but make it nighttime and add in, say, a projection by Jonathan Thunder, a choreographed procession by Rosy Simas, the bright lights of All My Relations Gallery, a disturbingly angelic bicycle built for 6, amazing shadow dancing, performers in a black light illuminated tent, perhaps a lacrosse game, hundreds of people enjoying the sights, eating fry bread tacos and socializing with friends and strangers, and you have the magic of artists remaking the city for Northern Spark.”

Sarah Peters, Co-Director

“One moment from this year’s festival I’m unlikely to ever forget is the feeling in the Canteen at Hallie Q. Brown Community Center as singer Ashely DuBose closed down the house on Friday night. At 2 am her golden voice held the room. Everyone gathered stood close to the stage, hands in the air, singing along in a moment of exalted connection. The song’s refrain, “Life it goes on, it goes on, it goes on” is on repeat in my head this week, reminding me that as we wrap up the festival, there is a whole world out there and it is gorgeous.”

Erin Lavelle, Producer

“My highlight of Northern Spark this year was closing down Franklin Avenue. This isn’t an easy task, especially when the street is such a busy one! It was an effort of intricate, coordinated, specifically-timed teamwork — and an empowering task for an all-woman team — to physically block it off to traffic in preparation for the event. And then when the sun set and the festival began we saw the fruit of our labor in a re-imagined streetscape for artists + audiences. I loved it!”

Tyra Payer, Festival Curatorial Apprentice & Northern Lights.mn Projects Coordinator

“I loved the Night Library! The performers told a story of defeating the giant through language, culture, music, and storytelling. The Night Library gave me a chance to practice my Ojibwe while learning more about Dakota stories, and I was so engaged with the project the entire time. Walking through the library in my neighborhood brought to life by stories from my community was very special and really demonstrated the Northern Spark theme of We Are Here.”

Winston Heckt, Festival Communications Apprentice

“Putting my phone away and visiting Haŋyétu Wówapi Thípi (The Night Library) in the American Indian Cultural Corridor simply as myself and not as the Festival Communications Apprentice was my favorite moment during Northern Spark. Being fully present in that space and listening to the stories struck a chord within myself. I’m excited to see how the Franklin Library is transformed in the future in light of Haŋyétu Wówapi Thípi.”

Pamela Vázquez, Festival Production Apprentice

“My top highlight was being able to be part of the street closure in Franklin Ave., it felt empowering for an all femme production team to be in charge of that. I think claiming back space like that is necessary in our local, national and global context. Aside from artist projects and NS set up, I loved seeing people running around, kids playing on the streets, and experiencing their neighborhood in that way.”

Amy Danielson, Press Relations Coordinator

“Northern Spark always surprises me in how artists respond in unique ways to the theme, how participants help create remarkable art throughout the nights, and how unexpected conversations begin and people connect through shared experiences. This year I felt an even bigger connection to community, especially in the AICC and Rondo, as artists and participants deeply related to and explored the theme We Are Here.”

Zoe Cinel, Festival Volunteer Coordinator

“As  volunteer coordinator my highlights have been all people related: Ana Laura Juarez and Tatiana Freeman, who were in the team with me have been just amazing companions in this journey! Thanks to all the staff who made this event possible and kept a fun and supportive work environment and all the volunteers old and new who shared their memories and their affection for the festival! I hope to see them coming back next year and the year after and the year after to support Northern Spark!”

Tatiana Freeman, Neighborhood Volunteer Lead – Rondo

“I think one of the most rewarding things for me about participating in this year’s Northern Spark, was the bond I made with the volunteer and production teams both nights of the festival. Each volunteer brought their own strengths, spoke with festival goers with enthusiasm, and stepped in when needed to help the team. We laughed, shared stories, and got to meet so many wonderful people from the Rondo neighborhood.”

Ana Laura Juarez, Neighborhood Volunteer Lead — American Indian Cultural Corridor

“My highlight was all the curious kiddos that visited me at the info booth, many of them Somali youth from the neighborhood. I loved that they were exploring the festival as if it were daytime, seemingly unsupervised! That tells me that their guardians felt safe enough during Northern Spark to let them do so. And the highly sought-after toy of the night? Festival sparkers!”

We Are the Artists of AICC

Written by

We Are the Artists of AICC

Sketch of Northern Spark installation of Manifest’o, courtesy of Jonathan Thunder.

 

The following projects by Minnesota-based Indigenous and Latinx artists were curated in partnership with Native American Community Development Institute, Northern Lights.mn and the Program Council, to be presented on June 14 & 15 at Northern Spark in the American Indian Cultural Corridor.  They invite you to activate your body, immerse yourself in the soundscape, and enjoy. “As Indigenous and Artists we are the vanguards of change and those making the ideas that become solutions and answers.” — Strong Buffalo

 

 

Procession in Skin(s) by Rosy Simas.

WEave: HERE

Find your way to Franklin Ave by 11 pm to witness a procession of dancers in the latest collaboration between Rosy Simas and Heid E. Erdrich. As the dancers move along Franklin, images will be projected onto them culminating at WEave: HERE, an installation that begins at festival start in the courtyard next to All My Relations Gallery. Festival goers will receive the procession and can join in on the movement by playing with shadows while they move throughout the space and writing a statement on a flag that recognizes the Nations who have a home on Franklin. Artist Jonathan Thunder will assist with the interactive shadow elements.

“Making an installation with shadow and light appeals because there’s no waste except for electricity.” says Heid. “Activating a space with bodies is important. It’s about having freedom to move and recognize the presence of others, to have a moment to connect with others whether there’s any verbal exchange or not.”

Heid and Rosy have worked together since 2016, the same year Heid was a contributing artist to the Creative City Challenge winner Wolf and Moose by Christopher Lutter-Gardella. Now Heid and Rosy are coming back to where it all started.

“I love that courtyard and I’ve always wanted to do something in that space.” says Heid. “Jonathan and Rosy and I all met there so to contribute to the community they were raised in, and that I moved to over 20 years ago, seemed perfect. I’m glad to have a Native presence, to have found a space in Northern Spark.”

 

 

Credit: Holly Dabral.

The Biker

Inspired by the bikeability of Minneapolis, The Biker by Victor Yepez is an interactive sculpture of a bicyclist powered by a handful of stationary bikes run by the participants. As people pedal their own bikes, the sculpture will come to life and pedal along with them. A large shadow of the sculpture will be projected onto a nearby wall for all to see.

“Biking is the solution for future health and a democratic way of connecting in the cities.” says Victor. “Minneapolis is one of the most bikeable cities in the country and I want to contribute to a bike culture with more safe, secure, fun and easy to use roads for everybody.”

More than a simple ode to bikes and bikers, Victor made sure to connect every element of Northern Spark’s theme into the installation.

“We Are Here is represented by all the people who ride the bikes. Resilience is represented in the front tire that confronts the road and the idea of keeping pedaling to keep going. Renewal is seen in how bikes are finally taking their space and respect in our actual living as more people choose bikes over cars. Regeneration is in the idea of creating a new way of thinking and a new way of commuting in the cities, plus creating a healthy persona and environment when we bike. The Biker is an invitation to bike and be a part of the new bike culture.”

 

 

Sketch of Northern Spark installation of Manifest’o, courtesy of Jonathan Thunder.

Manifest’o

Starting as an exhibit at the Tweed Museum of Art in Duluth, MN, Manifest’o by Jonathan Thunder features three separate, yet interconnected animated vignettes based on Ojibwe stories about connection to the land, sky and water in a large scale projection that will illuminate the block of 14th St. and Franklin Ave. Accompanying the projections is a soundscape including a soft broadcast of ambient sound in the parking lot of Powwow Grounds.  

“I went to high school and graduated a few blocks away from the site where my project will be displayed.” says Jonathan. “I consider the neighborhood a community that has created a chance for me to learn and grow. Through my life and artwork I have become an ally to many other marginalized voices and visionaries, and together we’ve created space for our voice in schools, galleries, museums and homes to communicate and educate. Together our voices vibrate across time and space. Collectively we create a fabric that can be seen as path markers.”

The installation of Manifest’o brings themes of water protection, tribal language resiliency, and Indigenous futurism to light using state of the art tech at a scale that is hard to ignore.

“My hope is that viewers will enjoy the presentation, listen to the language, immerse in the soundscape, and discuss the themes.”

 

 

Shield painting by Randy White.

Reusable Graffiti

For the visitors here on Dakota land, artists Al Gross and Strong Buffalo ask you to be with them not only in the present, but in the past and future as well with Reusable Graffiti, a soundscape of music, spoken word, humor and storytelling from a band of Native artists and friends.

“It’s the ultimate example of resilience, renewal and regeneration,” says Strong Buffalo. “As Indigenous and Artists we are the vanguards of change and those making the ideas that become solutions and answers. Reusable Graffiti are the words used over and over to undo and advocate for something new, like New Green Deal, Sustainable Development, Renewable Energy, Save Mother Earth, No Dapl, Stop Line 3 and so on.”

Strong Buffalo is a member of the American Indian Movement and was the Director of the Minneapolis Chapter from 1972-73 and helped write the proposal for the American Indian Cultural Corridor.

“The cultural corridor is the urban reservation leading art and innovative American Indian programs and creativity.” says Strong Buffalo. “I hope visitors enjoy the soundscape and enjoy the humor, intelligence and talent of our installation.”

Stay tuned for more installation features about Northern Spark where you can witness these installations and more. Northern Spark is a late-night art festival illuminating public spaces in the Twin Cities Friday Friday, June 14 and Saturday, June 15 — starting at dusk (9 pm) and ending at 2 am.

Relationships and Reciprocity

Written by

Relationships and Reciprocity

When we sat down with the staff at Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI) in spring of 2018 to talk about working together on a node of Northern Spark along Franklin Avenue for 2019, NACDI’s COO Ed Minnema spoke about living by the value of reciprocity. He asked us an important question:  if we help create this festival in our community, what do we receive?

This is an important question for any relationship, be it interpersonal or between non-profit organizations entering a project together, but it is a particularly poignant query for Native-run organizations who are frequently solicited for partnerships that are one-sided; efforts pitched as collaborative but ones that ultimately serve to provide a non-Native organization access its community without giving anything of equal value in return.

Addressing this question head on forced us to acknowledge aloud the dangers of this dynamic, and to be very intentional to avoid it.

The answer to the question of reciprocity came in the form of shared time and expertise. Last summer, Northern Spark staff sat in on meetings with the planning team for Indigenous People’s Day festival (IPDF) –a celebratory gathering that NACDI is seeking to become an annual event. As the team prepared for the October event, we shared our experience and expertise on festival components such as permits, artist contracts, volunteer scheduling and liability insurance. In return we got to witness another way of making a festival, an approach that honored elders, and put the community into high regard, including making sure that residents of the nearby Hiawatha Encampment were invited to participate in the event.

After IPDF, we returned to working on Northern Spark together, meeting regularly to co-curate artists to present on the Ave and support their process.  NL has also hired several of the IPDF organizers work on production, volunteer coordination and security for Northern Spark, as a way to continue capacity building for future events in the American Indian Cultural Corridor.

The transformed Franklin Avenue that you’ll experience on June 14 and 15 is a result of years of partnership, that actually began in 2011 for the very first Northern Spark. Since then, different iterations of NACDI staff worked with NL to host an artist talk with Wendy Red Star (2015), a poetry reading with local writers and Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner (with Climate Generation, 2017), and most recently, the shared support for Keith BraveHeart’s A Buffalo Nation: Building Community project at Northern Spark 2018 in The Commons.

We’re thankful to the staff at NACDI, and the fantastic artists presenting along “the Ave” for teaching us these lessons and showing up to the collaboration through the invitation to be in reciprocal relationship.  

Read more about NACDI’s work to help Native people to create the future they envision here.

 

 

Photo Caption: Keith Braveheart, A Buffalo Nation: Creating Community, Northern Spark 2018. Co-presented by Native American Community Development Institute and Northern Lights.mn. Photo: Sean Smuda.

Northern Spark 2019 Rondo Projects Spotlight

Written by

Northern Spark 2019 Rondo Projects Spotlight

Visual Jazz Odyssey by Miko Simmons.

 

Each year we put out an Open Call to invite artists to propose interactive installations for Northern Spark inspired by the festival theme. The following four projects selected by the Program Council, Neighborhood Partners and festival staff to be presented at Hallie Q. Brown Community Center on June 14 & 15, invite you to celebrate the neighborhood’s history of resilience, spread peace in the community through story and song, and imagine our collective future. “In Rondo, the celebration of artists, family and community have always been intertwined to bring us through hardships, change and trauma.” — Jesse Buckner

 

 

Baba Jesse Buckner.

Resounding Strength – Resilient Song

Folks who come to this installation will get a hands-on experience with knowledgeable instructor guidance from Baba Jesse & Resounding Rhythms, allowing visitors to create their own beat pattern while others provide accent rhythms to create one sound/song in community space. Others are invited to an interactive-dance improvisation, led by African-dance teachers, set to the community song.

“It’s about reconnecting our collective humanity with universal language — music and dance — and exploring ways to renew ourselves in these changing and somewhat turbulent times through our own creative expressions,” says Baba Jesse.

Born and raised in Rondo, he considers resilience, renewal, and regeneration as key terms to remind himself and other individuals of the Rondo Spirit.

“In Rondo, the celebration of artists, family and community have always been intertwined to bring us through hardships, change and trauma. Drum and dance are therapies for the mind, body and soul and creating your own rhythm on a drum or dancing your own moves is the same thing as telling yourself, ‘Yes I Can.’ Our particular sound is ancestral Africa, thereby taking the community back to its African/African-American roots while still celebrating today’s diversity in our community.”

 

 

Anura Si-Asar.

Illuminate and Regenerate Rondo: Spreading Peace in our Streets

Based off the initial designs of Melvin Giles, community leader and educator, Anura Si-Asar and the youth of the Imhotep Science Academy will flood Rondo with foot tall solar peace poles — powered by regenerative solar energy to illuminate the night with messages of peace — made out of repurposed wood, cardboard, and garden lights. At this installation during Northern Spark, folks are invited to come talk about community issues, hear from metro area poets and assemble personal solar peace poles to take with them to their homes and communities.

“The project addresses how to keep the community together and invites folks to reconsider what community means for Rondo,” says Anura Si-Asar. “The Rondo community is resilient but it’s changing. People are being displaced because they can’t afford to stay in their homes, so the hope with Illuminate and Regenerate Rondo is for people to revisit Rondo’s sense of community and how economic exploitation continues today while spreading peace.”

 

 

Miko Simmons.

Re-Knew-All: A Visual Jazz Odyssey

Visit Clubroom C inside Hallie Q. Brown Community Center for a mashup of familia history photos, montages, and stories. These intermixed visuals will be generated in real-time by the sounds produced in a co-creative improvisational immersive environment led by Miko Simmons. Re-Knew-All: A Visual Jazz Odyssey will remix the culture of the past with fragments of the present all while envisioning a positive foundation for our collective future. Miko, a fourth generation Rondo community resident, recently moved back to the neighborhood.

“I was struck by both the positive and negative impacts of gentrification,” says Miko. “It reminded me of how important it is for us all to reconnect to the members of our communities and our ancestral legacy and move us all towards healing.”

While visiting the site of his installation Miko spotted several pictures of the women of Rondo hung on the walls and demanded they remain during the festival.

“When I saw those pictures I was immediately brought back to the memory of the beautiful and powerful women of the Rondo community that helped to raise me, many of which were also raised with my mother and grandmother. I was brought up in a time when the community helped raise each other’s children and realized how much that world has changed. In these times where Truths are under attack and the value of artists’ roles are disparaged, it is important for me to reflect upon the legacy of my ancestors to create a connection to the past as we ask questions of the future we desire. This is what the nature of these times demands of us.”

 

 

Kashimana.

A Soundscape of Stories

Intrigued by narratives from a young age, Kashimana has been drawn to the intersection of stories and song since her grandparents, aunties and uncles first shared them with her while she grew up Nigeria. A Soundscape of Stories will record the telling of several African American tales, add sound and music and display an artistic photograph of each storyteller with the completed work. Kashimana will also recite a narrative every hour.

“I am excited to stretch my performance muscle this way,” says Kashimana. “I’ve played with the idea in my mind for the last 3 years but it’s more urgent to me now with the birth of my daughter. I wanted to collect stories to tell her and also to connect with artists that I have admired and wanted to collaborate with for a long time.”

Adding to the urgency of the project are the policies coming out of the White House.

“In a time when this administration wishes to erase our diversity, our voice and our contributions, storytelling is our direct defense against that and reminds me that we are here, look at what we have been through, look at the stories we carry on, the stories we pass on, the resolve we have to regenerate no matter what.”

Stay tuned for our May feature about the line-up at the performance at Hallie Q. Brown Community Center during Northern Spark where you can witness these installations and more. Northern Spark is a late-night art festival illuminating public spaces in the Twin Cities Friday Friday, June 14 and Saturday, June 15 — starting at dusk (9 pm) and ending at 2 am.