Posts Tagged ‘Ventura Village’
Come Celebrate Re-Opening of Phillips Community Center May 12!
By Shirley Heyer, MPNIA rep to the Phillips Community Parks Initiative and PCC meetings After saving the PCC from demolition or sale to private ownership, residents of the surrounding neighborhoods can sigh with relief! Their four-year effort saved the building with its double gym and swimming pool. Their efforts also resulted in a new partnership between the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) and a half dozen neighborhood organizations which are jointly operating and programming the building. Tours of building: staff of the MPRB, Minneapolis Swims, Running Wolf Fitness Center, Waite House, A Partnership of Diabetics, Ventura Village and the Guri Nabad Center before and after lunch Recognition ceremony Free lunch at noon Four hours of free music ”“ come sit on the grass (or bring a lawn chair) on the west side of the park and watch local performers entertain you on the MPRB semi-truck stage. Participate in the Midtown Greenway Coalition”'s bike [...]
1st Annual Bridging Festival was a Blast!
By Dallas Johnson Our 12 hour event on 8/13 (two dozen activities moving through 10 sites) exceeded our wildest expectations. The active embodiment of an invitation, the majority of the day was hands-on and interactive. It was well attended and numbers grew with each stop along 24th St. From collecting the water at dawn, bringing the water together (w/ Sandy Spieler), Simone Speer”'s dance workshop at E Philips Park, singing quietly in a circle (with Louis Alemayhu at PCC), decorating parade regalia (w/ Heart of the Beast), marveling at the Somali Mall, the parade up 24th St (with three 12 foot puppets, musicians and our decorated umbrellas), a big crowd and Patrick Nolan”'s original poem at the murals unveiling (w/ artists Elissa Cedarleaf and Greta McLain), neighborhood skit honoring Muriel Simmons that ended in a spiral dance, party at Center for Changing Lives with art activities, seed balls, MPRB”'s kids”' games, live African music, The Alley-hosted [...]
Touchstone Plaza at Peavey Park “Bridges” Generations
By Robert Albee Imagine a public art project that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and is promptly neglected””no, make that abandoned””by the very community that commissioned the work in the first place!. That”'s the legacy of Touchstone Plaza, located on the southwest corner of Chicago Avenue and East Franklin Avenue in Peavey Park. I never knew there was a plaque with a fabulous poem and community challenge called “Thrones” by Louis Alemayahu. Over the years, I”'ve heard friends declare the mosaics to be hideous and a blight to the neighborhood. Some even wanting it moved or bulldozed into oblivion””all 88,000 pounds of concrete that makes up the mosaic-tiled “Thrones.” A group of Ventura Village volunteers led by residents Jim Cook, Dee Henry Williams and me showed up recently with a public address system and a hand-held microphone and offered it to anybody who”'d speak or sing. No advertising or public notice, [...]
