Arts Access

1) Stuart Pimsler Dance and Theater's Temporary Shelter: Tales from the Minneapolis Tornado engaged hundreds of individuals and more than 30 organizations from the northside neighborhoods of Minneapolis. The vast majority of this population, as the most economically-challenged area in Minneapolis, has been historically underserved by the arts. This project established significant connections between Stuart Pimsler Dance and Theater and a broad cross section of north Minneapolis. 2) Evaluation tools used were exit interviews with all individuals and organizations researched as part of the process for the final book publication, video documentation of the culminating event, and the ongoing public distribution of the book resulting from the project, Temporary Shelter. 2: 1) During a twelve month period, Stuart Pimsler Dance and Theater engaged hundreds of north Minneapolis individuals, many of whom traditionally have not found opportunities for creative expression. This engagement happened through a diverse array of activities that included story telling in participants' homes, on site interviews, lemonade stand" interviews at public venues such as coffee shops, and movement/writing workshops for children at neighborhood Ys and recreation centers. All of these events were photographed, videotaped, and vocally recorded. From this first phase of research, Stuart Pimsler Dance and Theater selected and edited twenty interviews that became the contents of an 80 page book, Temporary Shelter: Tales from the Minneapolis Tornado. 2) Evaluations occurred through exit interviews with participating individuals and organizations, video documentation of the culminating performance and book distribution event at the Capri Theater, and the ongoing public distribution of the book created through this project."