The YEAR IN REVIEW 2008 issue, with lists, trends, and notable news from the year just passed, as contributed by MN artists, curators, critics, and arts advocates.
In this Issue: The Year that Was For this issue, we've invited artists, critics, curators, and arts advocates in the North Star state to reflect on the tumultuous year just passed. It's been a fraught 365 days for all of us, between the weakening economy and the political foment of election season. At the same time, all this uncertainty nurtured a resourceful streak in Minnesota artists exhilarating to behold: the past year saw the rise of scrappy DIY arts criticism, interdisciplinary cross-pollination, and egalitarian-minded experiments in broadening the reach of artistic work to invite more public participation. There's a vitality and entrepreneurial vigor emerging on the state scene in the midst of all this adversity (and perhaps because of it). When all the dust-ups settle, we may find that these hardships have left our institutions and support systems stronger and reinvigorated. * YEAR IN REVIEW: Minnesota Artists Weigh in on the Peaks and Valleys of 2008 * HOMEPAGE: MnArts Magazine highlights include profiles of font-guru Chank Diesel, a young Palabrista making a splash on the spoken word scene and Sean Smuda's rollicking day-by-day diaries from this year's Art Basel in Miami Beach * NEWS YOU CAN USE: a selection of up-to-the-minute artist opportunities in every discipline, including dates and deadlines for all of mnartists.org's competitive arts series * YOU ARE HERE: a handpicked assortment of arts events drawn from mnartists.org's DIY calendar PLUS: Get the skinny on the changes afoot for mnartists.org's arts programs (including new opportunities for filmmakers and visual artists, and a full list of submissions dates and deadlines for all the series) and check out the upcoming The Critics' Show at the Hopkins Center for the Arts, a group exhibition of emerging MN artists curated, in part, by mnartists.org staffers Susannah Schouweiler and Scott Stulen
