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Public Address is a platform for wide-ranging discussion of innovative projects, and practices. Read here for news, announcements, and postings and sign up for our e-newsletter here.

Contemporary art is increasingly “untethered” and moves from the white cube of the gallery to any site – including the virtual – to engage the public in its own realm. Public art is an ever-expanding field of inquiry, with artists of all stripes exploring the public realm. Beyond murals, monuments, memorials (and the occasional mime) public art has become a vibrant and engaging practice. From the spectacular to the quotidian, permanent to ephemeral, sited to virtual, material to performative, conceptual to cinematic, we believe there are unprecedented opportunities for new art practices in our shared environment. This is the critical focus of Public Address.

Northern Spark 2021: Alchemy

Author
Sarah Peters
Post
01.7.2021

Northern Spark 2021: Alchemy June 12 – 27, 2021 This summer the Northern Spark festival returns and takes new forms: in the mail, online, and in person, focused on two neighborhoods in St. Paul for a two week span of time.  In past years during Northern Spark, tens of thousands of people have gathered throughout […]

Northern Spark 2021 Open Call for Mail Art Projects

Author
Sarah Peters
Post
01.6.2021

Northern Spark 2021 Open Call for Mail Art Projects Application Deadline: Monday, January 25, 2021, at 11:59 pm, Central Time. This call is now closed.  View or download a plain text PDF of this call here. WHAT IS NORTHERN SPARK? Northern Spark is a late-night participatory public arts festival that lights up the Twin Cities […]

The longest nights of the longest year

Author
Sarah Peters
Post
12.22.2020

  The long nights at this time of year mark a half-way point before the longest days of the year – a time when we are usually out in public with thousands of our friends enjoying art installations at Northern Spark. 2020 was going to be strange for Northern Lights.mn no matter what, with our […]

Wear your support for Northern Spark!

Author
Sarah Peters
Post
11.11.2020

On sale now: glow-in-the-dark Northern Spark gear! T-shirts come in kid and adult sizes; hoodies in adult sizes only.  Design is by veteran Northern Spark art director Matthew Rezac.  Shirts and hoodies will be printed at Elpis Enterprises, a non-profit that provides job training, work experience and job placement for homeless or precariously-housed young people ages […]

Relationships & Reciprocity: A Guide To Making Northern Spark

Author
Sarah Peters
Post
10.28.2020

We are excited and proud to announce the release of the collectively authored document Relationships & Reciprocity: A Guide to Making Northern Spark. Over the past year, the members of the 2019-2020 Artist Council (formerly known as the Program Council) met with Northern Lights.mn staff to dream, define and then draft a set of values […]

NL End of Summer 2020 Newsletter

Author
Sarah Peters
Post
09.3.2020

From Left: Katie Nyberg of Mississippi Park Connection, Dan Dressler of National Park Service, artist Moira Villiard and mentor artist Jonathan Thunder.  Photo description: Four people stand distanced from one another wearing masks and smiling at the camera. A brick building is behind them, along with the curves of the Hennepin Ave bridge over the […]

Job opening: Artist Council Manager – deadline extended

Author
Sarah Peters
Post
08.31.2020

Job Description: Northern Lights.mn Artist Council Manager  Deadline: September 11, 2020.  Deadline extended: September 20, 2020 To apply, send letter of interest with details of relevant experience to jobs@northern.lights.mn. Northern Lights.mn (NL) supports artists in the creation and presentation of art in the public sphere. Our largest and most visible program is the Northern Spark […]

Announcing the 2020 Upper St Anthony Falls Lock projection artists

Author
Sarah Peters
Post
07.23.2020

  We are excited to announce a lead and mentor artist for a winter illumination at the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock.  Moira Villiard, lead artist, is a self-taught, dynamic visual artist, Fond du Lac Band of Ojibwe direct descendent, and current Minnesota-based community organizer.  Though early in her career, her proficiency is in a […]

Announcing Indigenous Projection Art Project coming this Winter

Author
Tyra Payer
Post
06.22.2020

Announcing Indigenous Projection Art Project coming this Winter Northern Lights.mn announces a new projection project to take place in Winter 2020 at the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam. Owamni-yomni/Gakaabika is where the Lock and Dam currently sits and is in the homelands of the Dakota. In partnership with the Mississippi Park Connection, The […]

Early summer reflection from the Director

Author
Sarah Peters
Post
06.19.2020

Last weekend would have been the 10th Northern Spark festival had we not decided, back in October, to take a hiatus this year. The weather was near perfect, I couldn’t help but notice. After 9 years of obsessively checking weather apps in June, minding the radar screen of Dark Sky has become an early summer […]

Public art in the (virtual) neighborhood 

Author
Tyra Payer
Post
05.13.2020

We’ve been on #StayAtHomeMN orders here in Minnesota for 6.5 weeks as of today. Here at NL we’re fortunate to be able to shift our work to the virtual sphere, and in doing so we’ve found our way into new modes of communication and connection with artists and collaborators.  By some luck of the universe, […]

Join us for a generosity spree! #GiveAtHomeMN, May 1-8

Author
Sarah Peters
Post
05.4.2020

  Northern Lights.mn is taking part in #GiveAtHomeMN, a week-long generosity spree! This state-wide campaign aims to support the arts, schools and non-profits who provide essential services to Minnesotans and beyond – especially now, through online programming.   We believe that art and culture is always essential, even in times of crisis.  As arts organizations we […]

A Message From Our Founder, Steve Dietz

Author
Tyra Payer
Post
03.25.2020

  It’s hard to believe that 12 years ago this fall, Northern Lights.mn presented its first proto-Northern Spark festival, The UnConvention, a collaboration of local and national cultural organizations and citizens exploring the creative intersection of participatory media and participatory democracy. Ever since we have endeavored to build Northern Lights as a platform for artists […]

Spring Howl 2020: A Virtual Art Experience

Author
Tyra Payer
Post
01.15.2020

Join us (online) for a Spring Howl! Spring Howl: a virtual art experience Available online April 4 – 30  Online Art Experience Ticket: $25 Click here for tickets.    Featuring:  a coming together: a performance for our time  By Hawona Sullivan Janzen and Kathy McTavish   Due to the changes around is in light of […]

Northern Spark 2019 Report

Author
Tyra Payer
Post
12.11.2019

The Northern Spark 2019 Report reflects on the past nine year of the festival, while highlighting what made 2019’s festival special. Check out theNorthern Spark for 2019 report here.