Education and Community Programs

Photo by Paul Schmelzer. A tag in North Minneapolis.

This past Saturday, in North Commons Park in Minneapolis I started getting that really fine feeling that I was doing something right, that the work we do at the Walker may matter in some small way in the life of this community (Minneapolis) and that our presence and participation in community-based events and initiatives is important and appreciated. Standing along side former gang members now committed to working in the neighborhood, community activists from different cultural and ethnic communities, political leaders, kids and educators, I felt the power and joy of community, and the capacities that communities have to address challenges in a creative way.

Photo by Paul Schmelzer
from L to R: Sondra Hollinger Samuels, Peace Games Exec Dir; Reggie Prim, Community Program at the Walker; & Paul Schmelzer, North Side Resident and Associate Director of Marketing at the Walker.

The scene was the start of The Peace Games, a two-week sports and arts event designed to inspire peaceful co-existence among northside youth and to address media misconceptions about the northside communities - often represented in the media only through violent events or in discussions about poverty and drugs.

In support of the Peace Games and North Minneapolis, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and the Walker will host a day of activities in the garden on August 11th. The day will culminate in a showcase in the McGuire Theater featuring dance and spoken word artists from North Minneapolis and Edupoetic Enterbrainment, a spoken word/music act that fuses hip-hop, jazz, blues, funk, rock, gospel, soul, alternative and traditional African music.

For more info about the Peace Games check out:
http://www.citypeace.org/summer/

For more info about the Walker’s Peace Games Showcase:
http://calendar.walkerart.org/event.wac?id=2022