The North Minneapolis hub of creativity, Juxtaposition Arts, or JXTA, is hosting its first Open House since its expansion in anticipation of its grand reopening in May.
Founder and Chief Cultural Producer, Roger Cummings says it isn’t just the building that has grown, but the new space’s offerings have also expanded to further support the development of young artists.
So people can expect to see new workspaces for the micro businesses that we have. So graphic design, environmental design, tactical urbanism, contemporary art, public art, and they'll also be able to see, rentable space, space that community members can rent for parties, for conferences for book openings, in a very intentional way. And so not that our past buildings were super raggedy, but they weren't up to the excellence that we deserve in North Minneapolis.
Cummings says JXTA has grown significantly since it took over a condemned dry cleaner.
Getting that space, renovating that space, and opening that space–we had a gallery, we had teaching space, we had office space, and space for people to exhibit their work in the community, young artists and designers. But it was really small, and we outgrew it, like immediately. And so we just started to move over into the next properties that we also owned, but that were being underutilized and not really functioning. And so just over time, we went from 2007 Emerson to 1100, 1102, and then 1108. And now we're bringing them all together. And it just took, yeah, 15 years to really make that movement happen.
Cummings says JXTA celebrates young people and their creativity. That’s why the new campus features an expanded Skate Plaza.
I think it's very few and far between that you're able to see young people celebrated. When you look at the news, it's kind of bleak, but we have always known that kind of the wellspring of talent and flavor and dopeness and excellence lies within that realm of young people. So we want to be able to highlight that.
Juxtaposition Arts’ open house takes place on January 30th from 5 to 7pm; the grand reopening is scheduled for May 5th.