CLUES and Community on Lake Street

Outcome 1: As discussed with our program officer, our board of directors paused on specific plans and fundraising for the CLUES building on Lake Street after failing to procure legislative appropriations in 2022. As of May 2023, we are thrilled to announce that CLUES has received a legislative appropriation for funding that has again made the Center a reality. In the coming months we will be working with our board to move this forward. Outcome 2: While we were only open for part of the year, we did achieve our objectives, reaching over 3,000 people through our work in St. Paul and Minneapolis. Our first project for Hispanic Heritage Month was 'La Cultura Cura' (culture heals you) showcasing the making of a temporary mural by artist Pablo Herandez, the display of a 20' pentaptych mural by Jimmy Longoria. Local artist Flor Soto taught how to make traditional alter cempas'chil paper flowers, while others made mini murals on canvases. Our Festival de Las Calaveras/Festival of Skulls, promoted the multiple voices and celebrated the diversity of the Minnesota Latinx artistic community. Local artist showcased their own take on the traditional visual arts, music, and spoken word poetry, including the intricate painted calaveras (skull) designs on performers, papel picado (elaborate paper cuts), flores de papel (paper flowers), and calaveritas de papel (paper skulls). Our Day of the Dead celebrations have become a tradition. Centered at Midtown Global Market, CLUES had multiple artists working for 2 months on-site to create alebrijes (fantastical paper mache creature), where the public could watch the completion of the project. Artist Flor Soto created a giant Frida Kahlo pinata. Visitors to the Market were taught by local Latinx artists to make traditional Mexican paper flowers, mini barriletes (kites) traditional in Guatemala, and calaveras, common across many Latino cultures. The kite making was particularly popular; in Guatemala, it was once believed that the kites could carry messages to the dead, but now they are often used to send messages of hope. In the St. Paul Gallery, artists transformed the CLUES Art Gallery into a healing and celebratory space in honor of Dia de Los Muertos. This interactive exhibit invited the community to add a photo, creative writing piece, or an ofrenda to the gallery. Artist Maria Linsday had her first solo show in November 2022, with Vida es De Colores (Life is Colorful), a retrospective of the artist's life in Colombia. Next, in the Gallery was Writing with the Body, a unique exhibition, as it invited in not only emerging artists, but also an emerging curator, presenting for the time. A group of emerging artists attended a workshop with the Latino hiking organization, Huellas Latinas, and explored Minnesota with the theme of 'Home' and their personal connection to the landscape. Outcome 3: CLUES is only half-way through the year, but we have already burst onto the scene, exploring themes of revitalization, concepts of home, and how we can take root and make the best of the opportunity to grow where we are planted. We opened with Creadoras Sanando, an exhibition created for International Women's Day for those who are marginalized as a result of their gender. A series of artist talks and workshops for Women's History Month taught community members linocuts, native plants, a talk about poetry and loving our bodies, artistry in photographs/connection to our matriarchs, self-portraits in watercolor, honoring our grandmothers through embroidery (basic techniques), and the history of muralism in the Twin Cities/artist check-in. We just concluded our Primavera Festival- a celebration of Spring on Lake Street. We held workshops for participants, a small parade, and music all day long. Gustavo Boada had been building an alebrije that was mounted on a bicycle in our St. Paul gallery for several weeks prior to the festival, where visitors could see the construction day by day. The final product was unveiled for the festival. Pablo Helm-Hernandez also made an alebrije for the parade. Artists taught visitors about mosaics, and Columbian Silleteros (traditional floral display) and visitors could make their own mosaics or paper flowers to add to a community-created sculpture. Cadex Herrera's Mayan animals soap sculptures and his demonstrations were some of the highlights of Primavera. We also had two dance groups: Mexica Yolotl, and Colombian Folklore, a truly intergenerational group, with toddlers, elders, and all ages in between, addition music provided by Ice Climber and DJ Queen Duin. Outcome 4: Our website reaches 21,000 per month and Facebook reaches 91,000 per month. MPR covered events throughout the year, helping us reach a wider audience. Outcome 5: Community members and artists surveyed report overwhelmingly positive feedback. The main 'negative' feedback we receive is that there aren't enough events!; Over the course of the two years of funding we have showcased in our St. Paul gallery and on the streets of Minneapolis. All of our work has been free and available to the public, with bilingual staff and marketing, and aimed at a multi-generational audience. We have worked with over 80 artists and have seen increasing media coverage of events in the past year. Attendance of events has risen sharply, and our audience has been increasingly engaged. There have been few changes since the interim report.

As we reported then, our projects have included:
-La Cultura Cura(culture heals you) for Hispanic Heritage Month 2022, showcasing the works of Pablo Herandez, Jimmy Longoria, and Flor Soto.
-Our Festival de Las Calaveras/Festival of Skulls, in October 2022, promoted the multiple voices and celebrated the diversity of the Minnesota Latinx artistic community.
- Our Day of the Dead/Dia de Los Muertos events featured workshops at the Midtown Global Market and a healing space at CLUES St. Paul, and featured artists including Gustavo Boada, Javier Reyes, Marina Castillo, and Carolyna Desoto.
- Subsequent Gallery shows included Artist Maria Linsday's first solo show in November 2022, with Vida es De Colores (Life is Colorful), a retrospective of the artist's life in Colombia. Next, in the Gallery was Writing with the Body, a unique exhibition, as it invited in not only emerging artists, but also an emerging curator, presenting for the time. A group of emerging artists attended a workshop with the Latino hiking organization, Huellas Latinas, and explored Minnesota with the theme of Homeand their personal connection to the landscape.

In 2023, our large spring event Primavera, was a huge success. This was our first event on the future site of Minneapolis CLUES building (now just an open lot) and we started with a traditional blessing of the space, which was well-received. The event explored themes of revitalization, concepts of home, and how we can take root and make the best of the opportunity to grow where we are planted. We held workshops for participants, a small parade, and music all day long.

Creadoras Sanando, an exhibition created for International Women's Day for those who are marginalized as a result of their gender, featuring Lucero Paniagua Ortu'o, Constanza Carballo, gender, featuring Lucero Paniagua Ortu'o, Constanza Carballo, Maruch Santiz Gomez, Claudia Valentino, and Isolda Nu'ez Portillo. A series of artist talks and workshops for Women's History Month taught community members linocuts, native plants, a talk about poetry and loving our bodies, artistry in photographs/connection to our matriarchs, self-portraits in watercolor, honoring our grandmothers through embroidery (basic techniques), and the history of muralism in the Twin Cities/artist check-in.

Our two Gallery shows, La Belleza de Las Palabras / The Beauty of Words and Sunday Walks Through a Child's Eyes, both included a special focus on family. The first was a solo show for Afro-Latina artist and author Pamela Mercado-Michelli, introducing her book, and included a reading nook for children, available for the duration of show. The second featured art by children, who had been learning about nature for a number of months through walking and observing. This was curated by two apprentice curators.

Our only complaintfrom surveys is that we do not do enough events! Our audience has eagerly stayed with us, watching Facebook live how-tos, and virtual tours throughout COVID, and now that they can join again in person, response has been overwhelming. We are seeing a level of engagement from both artists and audiences that we have never seen before, and we are seeing new audiences from both within and outside of the Latinx community.

As discussed with our program officer, our board of directors paused on specific plans and fundraising for the CLUES building on Lake Street after failing to procure legislative appropriations in 2022. Initial funding was received in May 2023, but under the guidance of our board of directors, we have been moving slowly and strategizing for building community momentum amid the realities of a capital campaign. CLUES was a part of the first Latino Days at the Minnesota State Fair this year, talking to people about their vision for Lake Street. Many spoke of their hope for an arts space. We have received additional funding from other sources for work on Lake Street community and have been ramping up those efforts in fall-winter 2023-2024. We were also fortunate to be awarded Legislative funding for our arts and culture programing.