News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Wednesday March 11th 2026
Building”'s Foreclosure Threatens The Stevens Square Center for the Arts!
Matt Wells and Eric Mattheis create a mural for The Stevens Square Center for the Arts at 1905 3rd Ave. So.
By Trish M. Brock
Two artists worked on unusually cold October days to create a mural on the outside of the Stevens Square Center for the Arts without realizing that the building had been foreclosed by the bank.
2009 has been the most successful year to date for the Stevens Square Center for the Arts. The beautiful gallery space, transformed 6 years earlier from an essentially derelict building by a group of dedicated artists, presented the artworks of emerging artists from the city and the country in nine exhibits. Included was the “Neighborhood Show”, a non-juried exhibit that showcased the talents of artists from the Stevens Square Neighborhood and ran in conjunction with the annual neighborhood “Red Hot Art” event in the Stevens Square Park. 2010 promises to be another stellar year. Nine more shows have been chosen from twenty-three proposals including an open call show to high school students.
Located at 1901 3rd Avenue South on “Arts Avenue”, SSCA provides Gallery exhibition opportunities and affordable studio space for emerging artists. With sixteen artists-in-residence, the studios are rented at 100+ percent capacity.… Read the rest “Building”'s Foreclosure Threatens The Stevens Square Center for the Arts!”
First Year Anniversary Celebration January 30
by Janice Barbee
All residents of the four Phillips neighborhoods, Corcoran, Central, and Powderhorn Park are invited to a celebration of the first anniversary of the Backyard Initiative at the Cultural Wellness Center on Saturday, January 30, 2010. You will hear about the accomplishments of the past year, particularly about the assessment of the health of the people within these communities, as well as plans for 2010.
At the December dinner and dialogue meeting, we celebrated the commitment of residents throughout the past year. Participants gave feedback on whether they thought the meetings have been open, empowering, motivating, informational, and useful, and whether they felt that trust was building. The consensus was that the meetings were all of the above, and that trust was building. Several people reported that they had been to 20 – 30 meetings during 2009, including the large dinner and dialogue gatherings and/or the meetings of the Citizen Health Action Teams (CHATs), the Assessment Team, and the Listening Circles Analysis Team.
Focus for December: Healthy Food
Molly Herrmann of Tastebud, a catering business at the Midtown Global Market, spoke to the group about the value of locally-produced food. Local foods are usually fresher, have more nutritional value, and are often less expensive because they have less distance to travel to get to your table.… Read the rest “First Year Anniversary Celebration January 30”
Latino Reflections on Lake Street
Interview by Alexandra Renken, university of Minnesota Student of Joyce Wisdom, Executive Director of Lake Street Council
What broad transformations have you seen occur with Latino businesses on Lake Street (as a result of Lake Street resurfacing, city ordinances, etc.)?
Just to be clear, it was not a resurfacing road project, but a once-every-50-years project that included replacing water, gas and electrical lines beneath the street. The street was dug out to the bottom, removing old cobblestones and rail track that had been buried for decades. While Lake Street was always open one-lane in each direction, there was no parking and huge holes to traverse from one side of the road to the other.
Ethnic businesses of all kinds fared better than most others during our recent road construction because of their customer loyalty. That held true for Ingebretsen”'s Scandinavian customers as well as Saigon Garage”'s Southeast Asian customers, but perhaps not so strongly for the Mercado and other Lake Street Latino businesses.
Since road construction, business has improved despite the recession. Unfortunately, now the cost of doing business has risen and all businesses, but especially many of our Latino businesses, are finding it harder to increase their revenue to match the increased expenses.… Read the rest “Latino Reflections on Lake Street”
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