Slammed by economy, Minneapolis's Intermedia Arts to close gallery, lay off full-time staff

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Coffee Festival

By Paul Schmelzer, Minnesota Independent

December 15, 2008

For 35 years, Intermedia Arts has focused on working to “build understanding among people through art,” cosponsoring everything from the B-Girl Be festival of women in hip-hop and exhibitions by artists in its Lyndale Avenue neighborhood to the annual Art Car Parade and last year’s series of creative responses to the Republican National Convention called The UnConvention. Its building, covered by an ever-changing mural that mixed realistic, abstract and graffiti-style paintings, telegraphed its dextrous, community-oriented mission. But according to its Web site, Intermedia Arts has been hit especially hard by the economic downturn: next month, it’s laying off all full-time staff and closing its gallery.

“It’s huge. It’s fast. It’s dramatic,” reads a message on the group’s web site. “But we—our staff, our board, our artists, partners, and funders—all of us, are absolutely committed to ensuring the future of Intermedia Arts.”

While the organization has survived largely on philanthropic giving from individuals and foundations, it’s now turning to its community to seek help in securing its future. It’s seeking input and moral support at the Intermedia Arts Community Town Hall: Rally the People! at 5:30 pm on Friday, December 19th, and it’s looking for donations.

The news highlights how the troubled economy has proven disastrous for arts organizations, which rely both on philanthropy and the entertainment dollars of supporters who are likewise doing belt-tightening of their own. Last month, the Minnesota Museum of American Art in St. Paul, long struggling with budget deficits, announced it’d be closing temporarily. And last summer, Theater de la Jeune Lune, sinking more than a million dollars in debt, closed its space in Minneapolis’s warehouse district.

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This is about Intermedia Arts, yes, but is about so much more—it’s about the state of the arts in our community, and about the action we all need to take—right now—in order for small arts to survive. This is a call to action. It is up to us—Intermedia Arts’ staff, board and you, our community—to look beyond the current crisis and ask ourselves what kinds of resources, artists, galleries, performance spaces and community programs we want available to us, our families, our friends and our children when this crisis is over. In addition to our upcoming community townhall, We are currently working with other local arts groups and organizations to discuss ideas for sharing resources and sustaining programming, as well as to determine the ways in which our building could be most valuable to the arts community as Intermedia Arts re-structures our operations and rebuilds our capacity. Intermedia Arts is organizing a meeting of small and mid-sized arts groups—SOTA: State of the Arts. None of us can do this alone.

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My friend Ken writes "I know that food shelves are really hurting this year," and then passes along a painless way to send donations:MORE »

KARE 11 & Land O'Lakes are donating $1 for every person who clicks on their web site. Go to the website listed below and on the right side of the screen (at the top) there is the green area where it says: You Click, We Donate. It's that easy. Please pass to all of your friends.

Thanks, Ken!

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