Art-a-Whirl returns to northeast Minneapolis for the 30th year

NINA MOINI: Well, this weekend marks the 30th year of Art-a-Whirl, a free arts festival in Northeast Minneapolis. The neighborhood has long been a hub for artists and creatives, and throughout the weekend, it transforms. Artists open up their studio doors, and northeast businesses host local music and food trucks. Organizers of the event say it's the largest open artist studio tour in the country.

Joining me today to talk about the event is Anna Becker. She's the executive director of the Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association, which organizes Art-a-Whirl. Thanks for being here, Anna.

ANNA BECKER: Well, thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

NINA MOINI: Me too. I love Art-a-Whirl. Also on the line, we've got Kari Maxwell, a painter and one of this year's 30 featured artists. Thank you so much for being here, Kari.

KARI MAXWELL: I appreciate being here so much. Thank you.

NINA MOINI: Anna, like I said, a lot of us who perhaps live around the Twin Cities will have been to an Art-a-Whirl at some time or another. It's fun. People look forward to it. But how did it start 30 years ago? Was it a right-away hit, or do you know?

ANNA BECKER: Well, I've had the privilege of talking with some of the artists that were part of the original cohort, so Dean Trisko, Lisa Elias, Howard Christofferson. There were artists moving into Northeast in the '90s that were being pushed out of the North Loop because of development there. And there were a lot of buildings in Northeast of Minneapolis that were pretty ideal for artist studios. They were old factories and really blighted spaces that weren't in use anymore that were getting a new life as artist studios. And this group of artists were talking about how to let the public know that they were here, that they existed.

So they decided to host an open studio tour. And one of them, I don't know who it was, came up with the idea to call it Art-a-Whirl based on a billboard that they saw from the bathroom of the Thorpe building called Whirl Airflow.

NINA MOINI: I wouldn't have guessed.

ANNA BECKER: Yeah, yeah. So I believe that's an air conditioning unit.

NINA MOINI: I love that. I love that behind-the-scenes because so many people and love Art-a-Whirl. How has it grown over the years? Because it's kind of huge now.

ANNA BECKER: Right. I mean, the first Art-a-Whirl was considered a success when we had maybe about 300 people show up. And over the years, of course, it's steadily grown. And before the pandemic, we were guessing maybe about 50,000 people were coming into Northeast. And then, after the pandemic, I think around 2022 was when things really started to pick up pretty exponentially. We were thinking that, that year, we probably had about 100,000 people in Northeast. Last year, we estimated about 120,000 people came to Art-a-Whirl.

NINA MOINI: Wow. So a lot of growth after the peak pandemic years. That's interesting. Why do you think that was?

ANNA BECKER: I think that people realized how important local community events are and being with other people. We do a survey after Art-a-Whirl every year of visitors, and we ask them, why do you come to Art-a-Whirl? What do you appreciate about it? And of course, the top thing is art. We want to see art. We want to meet artists and buy art. But around line two or line three is I get to spend time with my loved ones, my friends, and family, and it's quality time together with other people.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. Kari, what do you love, from an artist, a painter's perspective, about Art-a-Whirl?

KARI MAXWELL: Oh, where do I start? I love the informal, enjoyable opportunity for anyone to experience the rich culture of art we have in Minneapolis. A lot of people are intimidated or overwhelmed by formal art experiences or gallery experiences. And this is a very-- I look at Art-a-Whirl as more of like a kickoff to summer.

It really is a festival of the start of the Twin Cities and the culture that we have here. And there's so many people expressing themselves. It's not only visual artists. It's performing artists. It's musicians. There are constant demonstrations. You can just walk down the street and be exposed to something that you aren't going to see any other weekend.

NINA MOINI: Totally. And from an artists' perspective, how does an event like Art-a-Whirl support people in their careers and just the exposure?

KARI MAXWELL: Oh, it's so important. It's so important. I think this is generally common that we as artists are working so diligently in solitary environments. We may be next door to each other or we obviously meet up here and there, but this is the time when we get to celebrate and be out in the world and show people what we've been working on. Oh, gosh, I think that answers the--

NINA MOINI: It's great. And I bet it's nice to see people experience your work because you might not always see people's immediate reaction, so that sounds cool. Anna, some people might say, I don't know about 120,000 people. I don't know if I'm going to be able to go. Do you have any advice for, say, a first-time attendee of Art-a-Whirl getting around, keeping it organized? What's your game plan that you would tell people?

ANNA BECKER: So NMAA-- that's the Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association. We put on Art-a-Whirl-- we work really hard to make the event accessible in many ways. One of them is a trolley service that runs in the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District that we're expanding this year. So you can park in the streets or come to the district from using Metro Transit, which free passes are available. You can bike. You can walk in. And you can catch the trolley or take Metro Transit.

I would say that if you've never been to Art-a-Whirl before, probably, so you don't get overwhelmed, you might want to start at some of the buildings that are a little further out. So the Arts District is quite large. It has about 13 dedicated artists studio buildings, but then other locations, and Art-a-Whirl has about 100 participating locations across 8 square miles of Northeast and beyond.

So I would say go to some of the studio buildings that are a little further out from the core, which is like the Quincy Street closure. I would say California building, the Holland Arts buildings-- there are two of them-- Greenbelt, 2010 art block. Those have a little bit more breathing room around them and, still, many artists that you can connect with, and they're just a little easier to drive into or to take the bus.

NINA MOINI: Oh, that's good.

ANNA BECKER: And then, of course, if you really love the crush, then come to the Quincy Street closure, where we've got the Northrup King building, the Solar Arts building, the Karma building, Quincy Hall, and so that is a great place to see a lot with a lot of people. But also, this event is three days. So it starts at 5:00 PM on Friday and ends at 5:00 PM on Sunday. So if you are looking for something that's just a little bit more breathable and easy, come Friday night, come Sunday afternoon.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, that's good advice. Kari and Anna, I just appreciate both of you so much and your time and stopping by and sharing with us. Wishing you a lot of fun and a lot of success this weekend. Thank you.

KARI MAXWELL: Thank you.

ANNA BECKER: Thank you so much.

NINA MOINI: That was Anna Becker, the Executive Director of the Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association, and artist Kari Maxwell. You can find Kari's work at the Greenbelt Bottling House at Art-a-Whirl. Festivities kick off in Northeast again in Minneapolis this Friday.