Collide-A-Scope festival highlights North Minneapolis arts

"More then just having people come out to see shows, we want to build relationships," says Corey Mills, one of the co-producers of Collide-A-Scope. Mills says the festival is a chance for neighbors across the metro area to get in touch with what's going on in North Minneapolis. "There is a lot of good stuff happening here."

Collide-A-Scope runs September 15th-28th at the Capri Theater, 2027 West Broadway, Minneapolis

Collide-A-Scope, a two-week-long performance art festival, brings an outstanding lineup of local artists to the Capri Theater in North Minneapolis. The festival kicked off on September 15th with a free preview night featuring excerpts of all the shows and a live DJ.

"It's very rare that you get all different types of arts combined." said Tryenyse Jones of LuvJonZ, who will be playing with Singer-Songwriter Chastity Brown on September 17th. "It's great to have a collective group of different types of arts for people to feast on."

Collide-A-Scope lives up to its name by providing a colorful and diverse array of performances—from a family show entitled The Supercilious Ways of Walter Wading to a collection of spoken word stories by Rodney Dixon about the struggle of growing up in North Minneapolis. Dixon will premiere Struggling Art Speaks, Listen. at the Collide-A-Scope event.

"His poetry is beautiful, it is human, it's rhythmic and it's real," says Mills of Dixon's spoken word talent. "It puts life struggles in a form that all at once makes you engaged with them, care about them and want to do something about it."

The festival also features Dance and Film, a West African dance production interwoven with elements of film, Speak Your Mind, a film project by students at Juxtaposition Arts and Asian Media Access, and The Cubicle, a two-person comedy about the monotony of corporate life.

"I personally believe that art and music and just the Arts in general are a healing factor," said Jones, "and that's just something that's really needed in this Northside community."

Ariah Fine lives in North Minneapolis with his beautiful wife and daughter. He is a blogger, community organizer, and author of Giving Up.