The new project rendering of the Anpetu Wa’ste Cultural Arts Marketplace

With construction suspended for the winter, our activities have transitioned to relationship building. We’re continuing to network with potential partners for the programming and operations of the marketplace. There are many different elements of the project where new partners can connect; our challenge is finding new partners. We met with representatives of the Midtown Farmers Market (located just one station farther on the Blue Line) to talk about connections between their existing market and our project. It is a great beginning to a conversation to learn from one other how to deal with the opportunities and challenges of operating markets in Minneapolis. We think there is great potential to keep attention on the existing Blue Line Light Rail Line, even as the region’s attention is shifting to the new Green Line that opens this summer.

Now that we are over a year into the project, people are increasingly familiar with our work. I was at an open house for a completely unrelated transportation project and even transit agency staff working on very different projects is aware of the Anpetu Wa’ste Cultural Arts Marketplace Project. We think the message is getting out about the project, and this should really help the launch of the market in the summer.

NACDI was able to secure a new grant from the Corridors of Opportunity Program to add more public art to the project area. We are working with partners to determine a specific site and medium for the project. We will be engaging with neighbors and youth to design and implement the project. This will build on our previous engagement, and allow community members to make a lasting impact in their community. The project will be designed and implemented over the next year.

Even as we have made progress in building awareness of the project, we are trying to be conscious about how we keep enough attention in the project to have a successful launch. Projects that take substantial amounts of time to implement often have a flash of attention when they are announced, but that attention can wane. We hope to continue to connect the project to the community and keep building momentum for a successful launch in the summer of 2014. We are currently wondering what are the strongest ways to sustain the energy of the project as we slog through construction and a long winter where change is less obvious.