Bonafide bragging rights for Minnesota’s arts and culture scene

Each fall for the past two decades in the sparsely populated reaches of the upper Minnesota River Valley, local artisans and crafters have staged an award-winning arts crawl they call “The Meander.”

The free, self-guided tour of 30 studios and shops in small towns and farmsteads celebrates local culture and heritage, offering such items for sale as abstract landscape paintings inspired by Native American imagery, Scandinavian pottery and knitwear, and fine art photography capturing rural life and nature on the western Minnesota prairie. This example of an aesthetic sensibility in such a deeply rural place is not some quirky outlier for Minnesota. Border to border and in every corner of the state – from the Grand Marais Art Colony to Luverne’s Carnegie Cultural Center, from Lanesboro’s Commonweal Theater to Peder Engelstad Pioneer Village in Thief River Falls – Minnesota is home to an exceptionally rich variety of arts and cultural attractions.

In the Twin Cities metro area these amenities are especially abundant, and more than ever they are by and for people of color and new immigrants. Scores of arts organizations and venues serve lower-income neighborhoods in the urban core as well as increasingly diverse suburban and exurban communities. Prime examples include the Penumbra and Mixed Blood theaters, CLUES Latino Art Gallery, Hmong Cultural Center, and East Side Freedom Library in St. Paul. Many larger suburbs have invested in their own multi-purpose cultural centers and attractions, such as the Ames Center in Burnsville and Franconia Sculpture Park in Chisago County.

Carol Kennicott would be pleased.

This fictional archetype of the strong and independent Minnesota woman was born in 1920 with the publication of “Main Street,” by Sinclair Lewis, which by 1921 became the No. 1 best-selling book in America. The idealistic and educated young wife of a small-town doctor, Carol tried her darndest to bring progressive thinking, literary appreciation and a more worldly and multi-cultural sensitivity to the dull and complacent confines of provincial Gopher Prairie, a town based on Lewis’ hometown of Sauk Centre. Lewis is one of two native Minnesotans to win the Nobel Prize for Literature; Bob Dylan, a small-town boy from Hibbing, followed suit in 2016. Carol’s spirit defined Minnesota then and now; earnest, communitarian, open-minded, and eager to experience new and creative artistic expression. (Also, she could be quite preachy, in a classically passive-aggressive manner, mind you.)

Lewis and Kennicott descended from Minnesota’s first wave of European invaders, New England Yankees and their sensibilities came from a place of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant advantage. An obligation to share that wealth and privilege came with the territory, but they also could be hostile to the idea of true racial and economic equality. The striving immigrants in Lewis’ novels were the still relatively new Scandinavians, for whom he expressed deep sympathy, but he routinely blistered his own privileged caste for its narrow-minded exclusion of Jews, Blacks, Native Americans and Socialists.

About 50 years later, the idea of the arts as a gift from a magnanimous white upper class was implicit in Time magazine’s 1973 cover story about “The Good Life in Minnesota.” The writers showered deserved praise on the Dayton, Pillsbury, and Cowles families for sponsorship of such world-class venues as the Guthrie Theater (“some of the most distinguished drama west of Broadway”), the avant-garde modernism of the Walker Art Center and national recognition for the Minnesota Orchestra (“one of the finest in the country”).

Piling up the superlatives

Those gems still shine. Top-grade venues and companies providing live theater, orchestral music, opera, ballet, and modern dance have sustained and enhanced the reputation of Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a premier arts mecca in Mid-America. Among the latest multi-factor rankings for the state or Twin Cities: Third best metro area for live theater; fourth best for “Arts Vibrant’’ metro areas, sixth best on a “creative vitality index.’’  All those legacy institutions have also tried in recent decades to be more accessible and responsive to social justice imperatives. The artists, their content and their audiences increasingly reflect the state’s cultural diversity.

But what makes “The Meander” possible and the entire state truly special and better since 1973 has been an extraordinary and steady level of investment by state and local governments to supplement all that private patronage. Sheila Smith, on her retirement in 2021 as executive director of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts, described Minnesota as the “epicenter” of arts in the Midwest. She also noted that Minnesota’s arts economy was twice the size of Wisconsin’s, which has a slightly larger population. And the number of local arts groups with budgets larger than $100,000 has doubled in just 13 years, from about 100 to 200.

Minnesota now ranks third in per-capita public funding for the arts, and most of the 300 arts organizations listed by the State Arts Board receive some sort of public funding. These dollars have produced new or revitalized galleries, museums, local orchestras and musical groups, historical societies and heritage sites, theaters, and architectural and beautification projects. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis puts the total value of the arts sector in Minnesota at $12 billion annually and 3.6% of the economy, only slightly smaller than the construction industry. Wider ripple benefits from attracting and retaining thousands of creative and artistic people enrich Minnesota beyond calculation.

A Perpich legacy

Several crucial turning points and visionary political leaders since 1973 helped Minnesota reinforce its claim to pre-eminence. The efforts by Sheila Smith galvanized and organized broad public advocacy. The late Joan Mondale, wife of Vice President Walter Mondale, became known as a national advocate for the arts. State Sen. Dick Cohen, a St. Paul DFLer who retired in 2020, was a tireless legislative advocate who kept state money flowing and was named to the President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities by Barack Obama in 2009.

Nobody has been more important to Minnesota’s more egalitarian and equitable arts milieu than its own real-life Carol Kennicott, Lola Perpich, and her husband Rudy, a small-town Iron Range dentist, also known as Gov. Rudy Perpich. Both came from working-class eastern European immigrant families, most definitely not the economic aristocracy.

In a speech to the Minnesota Legislature on April 21, 1978, Perpich issued an extraordinary plea to elevate arts from optional to essential as a state government priority. Citing the Time article and many others that were taking notice of Minnesota’s growing reputation as an arts center, Perpich declared that “the arts are in the best way an affirmation of ourselves. The arts are as much a part of our quality of life as our lakes and our parks and our trees.”

Perpich in that speech quoted from national commentaries that cast Minnesota as “the cultural capital west of the Hudson” and even the “Athens of America.” He argued that the arts had become a competitive advantage for the state, a primary reason that corporate talent, once landed here, wanted to stay in Minnesota. And he challenged legislators to double down on this emerging asset with major increases in funding for the Minnesota State Arts Board as well as a policy requiring that 1% of the cost of public buildings be set aside for installation of original local art.

After his defeat later that year and working as a corporate trade representative in Vienna and other arts-rich European cities, and after winning an upset comeback election in 1982, Rudy and Lola Perpich reinforced arts investment throughout the next eight years. Among many achievements, they pushed through the creation of an arts high school for the state, now the Perpich Center for Arts Education in Golden Valley. Gov. Perpich fought a successful battle after he was defeated in 1990 to have his wife included with him in his official State Capitol portrait, the only Minnesota First Lady to be so honored.

But the real breakthrough for permanent arts investment was achieved in 2008, a decade after the governor’s death, at the behest of thousands of arts advocates allied with environmentalists and outdoor enthusiasts. Frustrated by the fiscal austerity of the Pawlenty administrations, this coalition persuaded voters statewide to enact the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, imposing a three-eighths-cent sales tax to flow into four funds, including Arts and Cultural Heritage, now producing about $75 million annually. Minnesota is believed to be the only state in the nation where voters directly approved a tax on themselves for both environmental and cultural investment.

This distinctive artiness has roots in our unique DNA, namely a resilient Native American culture, a New England Yankee preference for high-quality public institutions, egalitarian Scandinavians demanding universal access to the good things in life, and newcomers from Africa, Asia and Latin America, each ethnicity bursting with its own creative energy and yearning for full equity partnership in Minnesota society. Together these demographic forces have created a distinctively liberal and progressive culture that manifests itself in many ways.

Other states and metro areas since 1973 also have discovered the value of arts investment, but rankings on arts vitality correlate roughly to the degree to which states are liberal, literate, educated, and urbanized. Despite the turn toward cultural conservatism in the Republican Party, support for public financing for the arts in Minnesota has remained remarkably bipartisan and non-ideological. No pitched battles against arts funding have occurred in recent decades and many rural and otherwise conservative legislators now recognize the economic and social benefits of cultural amenities on their main streets.

The result of this healthy consensus is a list of endless superlatives and distinctions for arts and entertainment in Minnesota today.

The illustrated book “Amazing Minnesota,” by Lee Lynch, founder of a Minneapolis advertising agency and a prominent theater arts patron, contains a mind-boggling array of bragging rights in five chapters devoted to theater, museums, music, entertainment and “venues.”

A small sampling: Penumbra Theater, the nation’s longest running African-American theater; Artspace, the nation’s largest developer of low-cost living space for artists; the iconic Spoonbridge and Cherry at  the Walker’s Minneapolis Sculpture Garden; the Science Museum of Minnesota and Minnesota Children’s Museum, each ranked among top 10 in the nation in their categories; the Hjemkomst Center in Moorhead, home to a 76-foot replica of a Viking funeral ship; more than 50 musical stars, individuals and groups, topped by Prince and Bob Dylan; First Avenue, ranked among the top 10 greatest rock venues of all time; Dakota Jazz Club, ranked by Wynton Marsalis one of the top five jazz clubs in the nation; a metro area listed as one of only six in the world with two internationally ranked orchestras (St. Paul Chamber and Minnesota); Cedar Cultural Center, ranked best venue for world music; more community choral groups per capita than any nation; Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts, the only entity of its kind in the nation; Minnesota Opera, home of more new operas than any other over the past 50 years; a thriving festival scene, ranked fourth in the nation for quantity and attendance;  nation’s  largest state fair, based on average daily attendance, also best overall by many rankers; Mall of America, one of the premier retail centers and tourist attractions in the nation, 35 to 40 million visitors a year; WE Fest, a country music extravaganza that often draws 90,000 to Detroit Lakes; Renaissance Festival in Shakopee, largest in the nation; and first-place for sports in general based on number of professional  teams, amateur sports infrastructure, sports bars, sporting facilities, and sales of sporting goods.

Commercial successes

Although universal access and an “arts for all” mentality has been Minnesota’s most important and unique advantage, the state has been no slouch in producing and attracting artists and groups that have achieved international fame and commercial success. Many of these stars have come from marginalized communities that were personae non gratae in the finer homes of fictional Gopher Prairie in 1920.

Cases in point are Minnesota’s two true international megastars: the late Prince, the son of Louisiana musicians who came to Minnesota in the 1950s from the Jim Crow South; and Bob Dylan, whose Jewish grandparents settled in Duluth and the Iron Range after fleeing persecution in Europe. Each of these geniuses composed and wrote a prodigious body of music and lyrics, with Dylan becoming the first and only musician to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. He followed in Sinclair Lewis’ footsteps. Only 15 Americans have won this prize, and Minnesota claims two of them. Other literary notables from earlier in the century were F. Scott Fitzgerald, Brenda Ueland, Robert Bly, and Sigurd Olson. Each imparted critiques of American society that informed the cause of progressive reform.

Minnesota continues to produce literary talent disproportionate to its population, and writers of color are now among the most celebrated. Two prime examples are the late August Wilson, a nationally acclaimed Black playwright who produced some of his most important work while associated with theater groups in St. Paul, and Louise Erdrich, widely recognized as one of the most significant writers of the Native American Renaissance. Erdrich has written 28 books in all, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and children’s books and has her own bookstore in Minneapolis. Other Minnesota writers on a growing list of national best-sellers in recent decades include Vince Flynn, Marlon James, John Sandford, William Kent Krueger and Kate DiCamillo. Meanwhile, the Twin Cities has become a hub for highly regarded smaller publishing houses, including Graywolf Press, Milkweed Editions, Coffee House Press, as well as the Minnesota Historical Society and the University of Minnesota presses.

On national and international stages and the cinematic scene, Minnesota over the past century has produced cinematic stars, producers and directors who have been either popular or critically acclaimed or both. These include actors Jessica Lange, Josh Hartnett, Garrett Hedlund and Vince Vaughn. Producer Bill Pohlad has been a principal creative force and producer of more than a dozen award-winning films, including “Brokeback Mountain,” “12 Years a Slave” and “Chicago.” The leading Minnesota Oscar winners in recent years are the Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan. The film-making duo grew up in a Jewish enclave in St. Louis Park that also produced nationally prominent journalists, authors and performers, including syndicated columnist Thomas Friedman and comedian Al Franken. The latter was an early influence on the development of “Saturday Night Live” and later became a U.S. senator.

Minnesota’s comedy world is also remarkable, producing national stars such as Louie Anderson, Mitch Hedberg and Lizz Winstead, the latter a co-creator of the “Daily Show.” For several decades, Minnesota’s Garrison Keillor was perhaps the nation’s dominant humorist and writer, presiding over a “Prairie Home Companion” show that was also considered a premier venue for folk music.  Patrick Strait’s book, “Funny Thing about Minnesota,” documents the rise of comedic art in the state from Dudley Riggs Brave New Workshop in the late 1950s to present.

Arts, entertainment and sports are often lumped together by news and social media. Minnesota has excelled in creating infrastructure for professional and amateur sports, although our men’s pro teams have become profiles for futility in winning championships. The Twin Cities did not become a major league sports center until the early 1960s but is now one of only a dozen metro areas with all four major men’s pro teams (Timberwolves, Twins, Vikings, Wild) as well as a pro women’s basketball franchise (Lynx) and major league soccer (Loons).

The owners of these profitable sports teams have been just as successful in Minnesota as their counterparts all over the country in shaking down the public and their elected officials for billions of dollars to build first-rate stadiums and arenas. High-profile battles over whether and how much to subsidize has had an impact on politics, creating bipartisan opposition and bipartisan support for mega-projects such as Target Field and U.S. Bank Stadium. Whether those subsidies provided commensurate value to the community is hotly debated and will continue to dominate the headlines as teams continue to push for upgrades or new facilities.

Minnesota is even more exceptional than other states in providing accessibility and affordability for amateur athletics, available to all – young people in particular. The Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission, another brainchild of Rudy Perpich, and the 600-acre Minnesota Sports Center in Blaine are among the finest and most comprehensive facilities in the nation. Minnesota has continued to produce many medalists in Olympic sports, from Herb Brooks and the other Minnesotans on the “Miracle on Ice” hockey team in 1980 to skiers Lindsey Vonn and Jessie Diggins and a gold-medal winning curling team. In the 2020 Olympics, St. Paul’s Sunisa Lee became the first Hmong American to win a gold medal and the first Asian American to win the all-around gymnastics title. She also was named Female Athlete of the Year by Sports Illustrated.

By most accounts, the arts did well share in historically large budget surpluses that flowed to all forms of public investment in the 2023 legislative session. But both public and private cultural institutions also were hurt severely by the pandemic and social distancing that cut deeply into attendance and participation.

Priorities going forward are increased funding to repair that damage, preserving tax incentives for charitable giving and restoring arts education in public schools. Local nonprofit arts organizations lack the funding for heavy promotion and advertising, so Minnesotans need to explore their local scene and patronize and donate to their local theaters, galleries and concert halls. And we all must keep in mind the exhortation by Lola Perpich’s husband in his 1978 arts speech:

“There must be no town so small, no person so poor that art can be denied. Song and beauty and drama, words and music and design, must be as much a part of our daily environment and our natural right as trees and sky and clean water. … Through our efforts, Minnesota will continue to be known as one of the great artistic centers of America.”

Rankings

#2 State Literacy Rate, 2023, National Center for Education Statistics  U.S. Literacy Rates by State 2023 (worldpopulationreview.com)

#3 Best Places for Live Theater (Twin Cities), Actors Equity 2018 Regional Theater Report, Ranking Based on Average Hours Worked by Equity Actors ActorsEquity_RegionalTheatreReport_Web.pdf

#3 State Per Capita Public Funding for the Arts, Axios, what year Public funding for the arts is up (axios.com)

#4 Top 20 “Arts Vibrant Large Communities” (Twin Cities, behind only New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles) Arts Vibrancy Index Report V – DataArts (culturaldata.org)

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#4 Best Sports Business Cities (Twin Cities, 2023), Sports Business Journal Minneapolis/St. Paul named a top 5 market for sports business – Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

#6 Creative Vitality Index, Minneapolis-St. Paul, among 35 largest metro areas, 2014, behind DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, NYC, and Boston) MPLS_CI_2015.pdf (metrisarts.com)

#7 Artsiest Cities in America (Minneapolis, 2022) 2022’s Most Artsy Cities in America (lawnlove.com)

#10 Most Authors with Prestigious Literary Awards (over the last century, outranking many states with larger populations) A State-By-State Survey of Literary Masterpieces ‹ Literary Hub (lithub.com)

#13 Best States for Pro Sports, Business Insider, RANKED: the 26 Best States for Pro Sports (businessinsider.com)

Sources and Links

Rudy Perpich 1977 speech on the State of the Arts | MPR Archive Portal

List of Arts Organizations, Minnesota State Arts Board

4 facts about arts and culture in Minnesota | MN Compass

State-Level Estimates of the Arts’ Economic Value and Employment (2001-2021) | National Endowment for the Arts

Minnesota FebFactsheet 2020_0.pdf (artsactionfund.org)

Minnesota | National Endowment for the Arts

Sheila Smith talks about her legacy — and 25 years of change — with Minnesota Citizens for the Arts – Twin Cities

MinnesotaRegionalArtsCouncils

MinnesotaIndependentVenueAlliance

Arts & Culture | Explore Minnesota

Culture of Minnesota – Wikipedia

Conservative groups seek repeal of Minnesota Legacy funding – Grand Forks Herald | Grand Forks, East Grand Forks news, weather & sports

Arts and Culture Groups Ask Lawmakers to Invest In the Arts (artsmn.org)

List of States With Percent for Art Programs – NASAA (nasaa-arts.org)

Minnesota Percent for Art in Public Spaces-State Arts Board

Arts groups led by people of color get major funding boost (sahanjournal.com)

Study highlights underfunding in southern states for arts, social justice sector | Philanthropy news | PND (philanthropynewsdigest.org)

Why do conservatives want the government to defund the arts? (theconversation.com)

How Minnesota Arts Nonprofits Have Adapted During the Pandemic (minnesotamonthly.com)

‘Cold Omaha’ isn’t a worthy slur anymore (startribune.com)

After $563 million in funding for the arts, Sheila Smith steps down | MinnPost

Details of 2023 Legacyy Budget Bill DFL House Caucus

Golfweek’s Best top states for public, private, modern, classic golf (usatoday.com)

National Sports Center | Blaine, Minnesota (nscsports.org)

Every medal won by a Minnesotan in the long history of the Winter Olympics (startribune.com)

The Minneapolis Sound, TPT-2 Documentary

JonBreamWebsite, Pre-eminent Minnesota music critic

How Minnesota Arts Nonprofits Have Adapted During the Pandemic (minnesotamonthly.com)

Minnesota’s History Of Oscar Winners – CBS Minnesota (cbsnews.com)

Midwest’s best-kept secret: Minnesota’s legacy as the brave new frontier of comedy (startribune.com)