ARTS & CULTURAL AFFAIRS

Powering Minneapolis’ economic and social growth through support for community artists, cultural expression and creativity in our neighborhoods.

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Photo: Kory Lindstorm

Opportunities, news & events

News & Events Overview
City of Minneapolis' Arts & Cultural Affairs Launches First City-Wide Music Census on April 12th
City of Minneapolis' Arts & Cultural Affairs Launches First City-Wide Music Census on April 12th

April 10 2024 | The Minneapolis Music Census launches on Friday, April 12 as a community-led initiative to learn more about the needs of the music ecosystem in Minneapolis. It aims to gather important information about the music industry in Minneapolis to help the city and the community make more informed, data-driven decisions.
Anyone working in the music industry in any capacity, whether professional, semi-professional, student, or contributing in any way to music-related activities – paid or unpaid, part-time, volunteer, or more administrative than creative – are encouraged to participate.

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Call for Submissions: Co-Applicants for Hennepin County Youth Activities Grants – Arts and Music Programming
Call for Submissions: Co-Applicants for Hennepin County Youth Activities Grants – Arts and Music Programming

January 10 2024 | Call for Submissions: Co-Applicants for Hennepin County Youth Activities Grants - Arts and Music

The City of Minneapolis seeks Submissions from experienced artists and artist groups interested in partnering with the City of Minneapolis on a joint application to the 2024 Hennepin County Youth Activities Grants Program for Arts and Music Programming.

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Heid E. Erdrich Selected as First-Ever Poet Laureate for the City of Minneapolis
Heid E. Erdrich Selected as First-Ever Poet Laureate for the City of Minneapolis

December 19 2023 | Heid E. Erdrich Selected as First-Ever Poet Laureate for the City of Minneapolis

The City of Minneapolis’ Arts & Cultural Affairs Department and The Loft Literary Center are proud to announce the appointment of Heid E. Erdrich as the first-ever city Poet Laureate, marking a significant milestone in the city’s cultural and literary landscape.

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Upcoming featured events

 

Creative Response Fund in the media

Our programs


Creative Response Fund

Empowering local BIPOC artists to bring healing and repair to harmed communities through resident-focused creative initiatives.

Creative CityMaking

Partnering community artists with City departments, programs and projects to reimagine City practices and eliminate racial disparities.


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Photo: Uche Iroegbu

Inside Creative CityMaking

 

Economic impact of the arts

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Squashing the sports sector

Creative industry sales surpass sports sector revenues by more than 9 to 1.

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A decade of growth

Creative sector jobs grew 14.4% from 2006 to 2016.

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Concentrated creativity

4.9% of all jobs in Minneapolis are in the creative sector compared with 2.9% nationwide.

 

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A creative hub

Minneapolis is home to over a fourth of the state’s creative jobs.

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Top 10 nationwide

The Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metropolitan area ranks 8th in creative vitality.*

 

All data is from 2016.

*The Creative Vitality Index is a benchmarking tool of the Creative Vitality Suite, an online creative sector data tool created by the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF).

COVID-19 and the creative sector

We track and report on the economic toll that COVID-19 has taken on creative workers, jobs, businesses and organizations.

See the latest report

Photo: Pierre Ware

Our creative future

The 2016 Creative City Road Map is the City’s 10‑year strategic plan for arts and culture policy.


Get the road map

Photo: BFresh Production

Past artist projects

Through our programs, numerous local artists have completed projects that engaged and enhanced the community and helped develop the artist’s career.


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Photo: Courtesy of Northen Spark