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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.

Announcing our 2019-2020 Program Council!
Author
Tyra Payer
Post
12.4.2019

Our Program Council members are hard at work! These seven artists are working to review, plan, and envision strategies for the future of the Northern Spark festival.  This strategic focus will culminate in a Strategic Framework for Community Engagement at Northern Spark that will inform planning processes for the festival in 2021 and beyond. Each member of 2019-2020 Council […]

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Co-Director’s Column
Author
Sarah Peters
Post
11.21.2019

Co-Director’s Column November 21, 2019 The unseen work of taking a pause. A little over a month ago we made the announcement that we’re taking a strategic hiatus from producing Northern Spark this summer, 2020.  A lot of preparation when into that communique; with what feels like a degree of instability in certain sectors of […]

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Frequently Asked Questions – Northern Spark Hiatus
Author
Tyra Payer
Post
10.22.2019

FAQs  Northern Lights.mn has announced a one year hiatus from our flagship program, Northern Spark, while the organization undergoes a leadership transition in 2020.  (Read the full announcement here: http://northern.lights.mn/2019/10/important-news/ ) We are doing so in order to reflect on the previous nine years of dynamic and ever-changing Northern Spark festivals and plan for the […]

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Important News about Northern Spark
Author
Tyra Payer
Post
10.22.2019

Northern Lights.mn to Take a Year Off from the Northern Spark Festival in 2020 to Plan for the Future The free public art festival will return to the Twin Cities in June 2021 after a year of strategic planning and leadership transition. (Minneapolis, MN) October 22, 2019 — Northern Lights.mn is announcing a one year hiatus […]

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Art(ists) on the Verge 11: Artists announced!
Author
Tyra Payer
Post
09.18.2019

Northern Lights.mn announces the recipients of the 11th round of Art(ists) on the Verge commissions (AOV11).  AOV11 is an intensive, mentor-based fellowship program for 4 Minnesota-based, emerging artists or artist groups working experimentally at the intersection of art, technology, and digital culture with a focus on network-based practices that are interactive and/or participatory. New this year, the AOV11 cohort […]

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Be an Art(ist) on the Verge!
Author
Tyra Payer
Post
07.10.2019

Got an idea for site-specific art installation in the public realm? Want to work on interactivity or participation in your art work? Do you crave a community of artists for conversation and critique? Are you an emerging artist with an experimental practice? You may be an Art(ist) on the Verge! Art(ists) on the Verge is an intensive, mentor-based […]

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Northern Spark by the numbers
Author
Tyra Payer
Post
06.20.2019

45,398 visits to the Northern Spark 2019 website 11,808 steps walked by a NS volunteer in the Commons 4,500 printed maps 3,442 free Metro Transit rides 600 Americans for the Arts conference attendees 297 Poetry People / People Poetry photos taken 240 sandbags deployed 60 walkie talkies used 55 Production team members 46 volunteers 31 artist projects […]

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Staff Highlights from Northern Spark 2019
Author
Winston Heckt
Post
06.20.2019

Staff Highlights from Northern Spark 2019   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 […]

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We Are the Artists of AICC
Author
Winston Heckt
Post
05.9.2019

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 […]

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Relationships and Reciprocity
Author
Winston Heckt
Post
05.9.2019

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: […]

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The next ten years
Author
Sarah Peters
Post
04.29.2019

The next ten years Life at Northern Lights.mn is never static. We like to try new things – sometimes seemingly impossible things – and to learn from them, iterate, converse, revise, try it again, adjust, repeat. Change has always been part of our DNA. In this spirit, we are excited and humbled to announce a […]

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Northern Spark 2019 Rondo Projects Spotlight
Author
Winston Heckt
Post
04.17.2019
Tags

Northern Spark 2019 Rondo Projects Spotlight   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 […]

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Partnerships in Rondo for Northern Spark 2019
Author
Sarah Peters
Post
04.16.2019

Partnerships in Rondo for Northern Spark 2019 The Library inside the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center is an inspiring place to spend an afternoon. Books on African American history line the shelves below portraits of the Center’s previous executive directors and founding board members. Exhibits and old maps sketch the image of a thriving African […]

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