Join us Sunday, Sept 9, 2012, from 3-6pm for an art-inspired community event, beginning on the Whittier side of the 24th Street Bridge and ending on the Phillips West side.
The Sunday afternoon “Bridging Festival” closes out the second run of the Whittier Artists in Storefronts project, which turns vacant or underused storefronts along the Eat Street corridor into ongoing artist exhibition spaces. “The community response to Whittier Artists in Storefronts has been tremendous,” says organizer Joan Vorderbruggen. “This festival is our way of taking that idea of community engagement and bringing it to our neighbors to the west. I love that we can do it via this bridge, using it as a metaphor for art connecting us all.”
Inspired by Dallas Johnson”'s Bridging Minneapolis Project, which hosted the first annual “Bridging Festival” last year, installed six murals near the bridge and hosts monthly “Bridge Shenanigans”, this year”'s “Bridging Festival” will feature textile panels from Interact Center”'s “Palace of Wonder,” an interactive, collaborative art “world” that garnered community and critical acclaim when it appeared outside the Minneapolis Institute of Art during the Northern Spark festival.
In addition to art, design, dance and the music of Katie Larkin, Rob Stealcheat, Siama Matuzungidi, Dallas Johnson and Chico Harris (among others), the Bridging Festival promises a special appearance by Blue Lady, a parade, face painting, a puppet show, a neighborhood skit and hands-on activities such as turning a chain-link fence into a canvas for personalized wishes in colorful fabrics. Simple refreshments will be served.
We hope you”'ll join us for this unique, free, community-led event. Fun costumes are encouraged. Bring the kids and bring the kid in you.
For more information, check out artistsinstorefronts.com or bridgingminneapolis.com
