We Make It Here project Deadline Friday, Apply Now!

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Getting to Know the Two CEZ Knight Arts Challenge Winners

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Also in this issue:

CEZ: We Make It Here Deadline Friday! Apply Now!
Do the Dow November 13-14
Explore the Cultural Vibrancy of the Central Corridor
Marketing for Creatives Workshop (Photos)
Support Our Work! Give to the Max Day is November 12
Dow Gallery Mixer Feature Textile Artists
Pre-Holiday Event Feature Garments for Evolved Women
10th Annual Arab Film Fest
Alternate Project Space Emerges in Dow Building
TU Dance Fall Concert
Oil Company Taps CEZ Enterprise's Tech

Two Knight Arts Challenge grants were awarded to projects in the Creative Enterprise Zone in 2015, and we couldn’t be more excited about them!

One will see the water Tower outside the American Can Building at 755 Prior Ave transformed into a beacon for creativity that shines across the region. A stained-glass mural by artist Karl Unnasch will be wrapped around the top of the tower and backlit to create a stunning display that will mark the building and Creative Enterprise Zone as a hub of creativity.

The other, awarded to CEZ poet, resident and Action Committee member, Naomi Cohn, will build community and increase the well-being of older adults in the Zone by engaging a professional writer to conduct high-quality arts activities with seniors.

Click below to read more about these terrific artists and the contributions they will bring to the Creative Enterprise Zone.

We Want to Promote Your Work! CEZ: We Make It Here Application Deadline this Friday!

APPLY NOW!

Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to have your work featured as part of our CEZ: We Make It Here project. The deadline for participating enterprises to get involved is this Friday, October 28, and the application process is simple and short. Signup now!

The Creative Enterprise Zone (CEZ) is full of hardworking people relying on their creativity to do something noteworthy. Whether you’re a business, artist, nonprofit, or artisan, we want to help tell your story.

Creative Enterprise Zone: We Make It Here is a project designed to celebrate and promote economic development in the Creative Enterprise Zone (CEZ). This project will increase the visibility of diverse and innovative enterprises in the CEZ. The goals of Creative Enterprise Zone: We Make It Here are to build connections between creative enterprises and increase their visibility in ways that support their business.

Each selected enterprise will be paired with a visual display maker to design a bold on-the-street street depiction of the enterprise's work; a writer who will help tell the story to audiences across the region; and a pop-up mixer to celebrate the enterprise's place in the Creative Zone and forge new connections and lasting relationships.

Would you like your business or enterprise featured? Express your interest by filling out the “Tell My Story” form here. Interested in helping Creative Enterprises tell their stories visually? Fill out the “Visual Display maker” form on the same page.

CEZ Artists Open Studio Doors for DO the DOW, 2015

November 13-14
Dow Building Artist Studios
2242 University Ave

Once a year only, the private doors of the Dow Building Artist Studios, swing open, inviting the public to tour the private studios of the dozens of artists who work there. This year’s theme is “Creativity Meets Passion.” This year, 28 artists will welcome you into their space to share their passion for creativity.

In addition to artist studio tours, there will be music and spoken word performances in the beautiful new Dow Gallery, on the ground level Friday, November 13.

Visit our website for more information, including a full list of participating artists.

Explore the Cultural Vibrancy of the Central Corridor

Friday, November 13, 2015 from 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM (CST)
Wilder Foundation
451 N. Lexington Pkwy
Saint Paul, MN 55104

Up and down the Central Corridor, the Green Line is connecting rich cultural nodes that are bringing new life and vibrancy to area communities. On Friday, November 13, it will all be on display for you to explore and discover. Join Twin Cities LISC and the Central Corridor as Cultural Corridor (C4) partners for a day of exposure and learning through experience including tours, food, performances and arts & cultural activities. Peer into the history, present and future, of the Twin Cities through the streets of cultural business districts along the Green Line.

Key Note Speaker Carol Bebelle, Cultural Thought Leader & Executive Director for Ashe Cultural Arts Center will kick-off the day of discovery and learning at the Wilder Foundation, 451 N. Lexington Pkwy, with programming starting at 9:00 a.m. Read Bebelle’s full bio on the event page. Lunch and district tours will follow from 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. After exploring all the cultural richness and amenities the Central Corridor has to offer, there will be a Large Group Convening and Performance by Theater for Public Policy from 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Learn more and RSVP here.

Marketing for Creatives Workshop (Photos)

Thanks to all who came out and participated in the Marketing for Creative Workshop last week. We had a great group with excellent discussions about marketing tactics creative enterprises can employ to promote their work and connect with new audiences and customers. Special thanks to guest presenter Heather Soladay Olson for sharing her marketing wisdom, and to Khan Tran and the Dow Art Gallery for hosting!

Support the Creative Enterprise Zone on Give to the Max Day, November 12

The Creative Enterprise Zone was born out of recognition of an invaluable St. Paul asset: the historical center of creativity and enterprise surrounding the Raymond Station area. Too many similar neighborhoods around the country have lost their unique local identity, creative assets, and/or mixed-use environment through lack of planning and community organization.

The Creative Enterprise Zone first organized as a response to the potential displacement of artists and creative businesses and nonprofits resulting from increased investment and development spurred by the coming Green Line around the Raymond-University area.

Today we’re seeing exciting creative-oriented developments coming to the neighborhood. Rather than pushing out creative enterprises, they are helping to foster the conditions in which they thrive. From St. Paul’s Smallest Museum housed in a firebox outside the thriving new WORKHORSE Coffee Bar, to Vandalia Tower and former American Can building where the Artistic Mini Golf organization, Can Can Wonderland, will soon open, creativity and enterprise are thriving in the Zone.

With your support, the Creative Enterprise Zone Action Committee will continue to focus on advancing the conditions that support the economic success of the people who work, create and live here. We will continue to work to attract investment and build the Creative Enterprise Zone as a destination for creative work.

As a grassroots organization, we depend on the generosity of our supporters. Minnesota’s statewide giving extravaganza, Give to the Max Day, is November 12 this year. Learn more about our work and schedule your donation now at our GiveMN page.

Dow Gallery Mixer Features Work by 6 Textile & Fiber Artists

Thursday, October 29
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Dow Gallery
2242 University Ave W

Come join Six Artists from the Textile Center, for a special reception at the Dow Art Gallery, Thursday, October 29, from 6-8pm. The six textile members include: Carolyn Golberg, Joan Kloiber, Doroth Mayer, Karen Searle, Linda Snouffer, and Peggy Wright. Come by to meet the artists, admire and purchase their work, and get to know more about the Textile Center just a short jaunt down University Ave. Light refreshments will be served. Work will also be available to see beyond the opening date.

Pre-Holiday Event Features Garments for Evolved Women

A Studio View of Textile Artist Judy Hornbacher
Friday November 13, 2015
5-8 PM
Collective Spaces
2500 University Ave W Suite C-2

Judy Hornbacher designs beautiful coats, jackets and tops for Evolved Women at her shared textile space, Collective Spaces, at 2500 University Ave W, Suite C-2, in the Creative Enterprise Zone. With numerous designs to choose from and samples of all of them to try on, this pre-holiday event is a fun way to update your wardrobe in a relaxed, enjoyable environment. Come learn the various ways fabrics can be mixed and matched to create your own unique version of any given garment. Stop by to enjoy a beverage and small bites, chat and play dress up!

Contact Judy Hornbacher for more information
612 669-4083

Mizna Presents 10th Annual Twin Cities Arab Film Festival

November 5-8
St. Anthony Main Theater
115 SE Main Street, Minneapolis

With its tenth manifestation, Mizna’s Arab Film Festival will bring more than 20 films from across the Arab world and beyond, to the Twin Cities November 5-8. The festival aims to exhibit primarily films made by and about Arabs, but also about non-Arabs who live in the Arab world. With few exceptions, the festival screens these films for the first time in Minnesota. Filmmakers and artists will also join the festival for insightful discussions and presentations.

For a full listing of showings and more information visit the event page here.

Space 369, an Alternate Project Space Emerges in the Dow Building

Throughout the past year, Space 369, on the third floor of the Dow Building, has emerged as an alternate project space to support new and ongoing work, sporadic exhibitions, public art and artist residencies. Organized by Dow Building Artists, Julie Buffalohead and Nathaneal Flink, Space 369 seeks to be a platform for artistic and cultural endeavors.

As part of the Do the Dow open studio event November 13-14, there will be an exhibition of the work of Minneapolis artist Rollin Marquette in Space 369, which will include a series of 50 drawings Marquette completed over the last year. Space 369 will also welcome Diane Mullin from the Weisman Art Museum as visiting critic for this special exhibit.

To learn more about Space 369, send emails to questions@popup369.com

TU Dance Fall Concert Features Work of 2015 McKnight International Choreographer

November 20-22
The O’Shaughnessy
2004 Randolph Ave, St. Paul

Join TU Dance for their fall concert featuring world premiere work by the 2015 McKnight International Choreographer Gioconda Barbuto, at the O’Shaughnessy in St. Paul, November 20-22. Also featured in the program is “January,” choreographed by TU Dances own Uri Sands.

Get tickets now

Photo by Ingrid Werthmann

Shell Oil Company Taps Midwest Floating Island Tech to Win National Environmental Stewardship Award

Oftentimes, work done here in the Creative Enterprise Zone reaches across the globe, impacting environments, communities, and people in positive ways. One recent example is Midwest Floating Island, located at 800 Hampden Ave in the Zone. Their floating island technology bio-mimics natural wetlands to provide multiple benefits like cleaning water sources, providing wetland habitat and increasing bio-diversity, and reducing shoreline erosion.

In 2015, this innovative technology was utilized by Shell Oil Company to address coastal erosion in Louisiana, and restore the coastal wetlands on Isle de Jean Charles. This collaborative effort garnered Shell a 2015 Corporate Citizenship Award for Best Environmental Stewardship from the United States Chamber of Commerce Foundation. While the floating islands used in the project were constructed in Louisiana by Midwest Floating Island’s South licensee, Martin Eco-System, the technology was developed right here in the Creative Enterprise Zone.

Curious About the Creative Enterprise Zone?

Watch this video and take a walk through the Zone to learn more.

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Have News to Share With the Zone?

Do you have news to share about your work in the Creative Enterprise Zone? Please send updates, press releases and other musings to kyle@creativeenterprisezone.org

What is the Creative Enterprise Zone?

The Creative Enterprise Zone, located mid-city between St. Paul and Minneapolis, has the goal to be recognized as a center of creativity and enterprise, a place where many people make a living by their creative capacities.

Showcasing a mixture of urban-industrial and innovative enterprises, the Creative Enterprise Zone promises to be a fertile laboratory of entrepreneurship, business incubation, artistic endeavor and eclectic urban design. Located along the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit line at the hub of the Raymond Station area, this dynamic nucleus of artisans and industry provides a unique sense of place that captures the imagination.

Regionally significant due to the central location and ease of access, the community offers a symbiotic mix of live and work opportunities. Cultivation of diverse, affordable spaces for entrepreneurial businesses, artisans and residents, and support systems for a tightly interconnected creative community, are high priorities.