Minneapolis in Media

How the Twin Cities fosters young artists

Trevor Dunning

“Minneapolis yearns for his approval like an abandoned child,” columnist Keith Harris wrote in his Pitchfork article, “How Prince Changed Minneapolis.” This accusation was not targeted towards Prince, but rather one-year-former Minneapolis resident Bob Dylan. Being a transplant to the Twin Cities, I have to agree. Dylan lived here for a year, and while making his mark on the music scene here, he would achieve greater success by leaving Minnesota. He didn’t come back either, at least not for a substantial amount of time. Prince upheld Minneapolis with a greater affection that Dylan didn’t have. Prince was born in Minneapolis and he stayed in Minneapolis; this was his home, the place he chose to foster his art.

Minneapolis has an expansive music scene outside of its two mythological figures. The 1970s saw an explosion of Rock N’ Roll, which gave way to an underground scene. The Replacements may be one of the most popular Twin Cities based bands of this time. The legacy of the 1970s lives on today in house shows.

Beyond music, the arts thrive; between various art museums, a decent sized theatre scene, and even the differences in architecture between St. Paul and Minneapolis, there’s a lot to see. Having lived here nearly two years, albeit in a heavily college-based experience, I have noticed that the arts thrive in our two conjoined cities. Yet, out of the cities’ two greatest artists, one chose to stay while one chose to leave.

Before I moved here, I never thought of the Twin Cities as a place that had a vital arts scene. Yes, I knew that Prince was from here, but that was pretty much it. I assumed that it had an arts scene comparable to any other mid-sized city in the US. After moving here, I still think this might be true. However, there is a different feeling of being surrounded by a creative community within a city than just thinking about the idea of it. No matter what city you go to, some sort of creative person will exist. When people talk about New York, there’s this idea that the city is their inspiration, that artists are called to it. Maybe that’s Paris that I’m thinking of.

But, Minneapolis, generally, is a city where artists stay. There is something magnetic about the creative workspace the Twin Cities has to offer. It’s a place of diverging cultures and interests. You could swap out Twin Cities for any other city and the same may be true, but there is a certain vibe that isn’t quite tangible.

Minneapolis is a city that pays tribute to the history of its big artists and does its best to foster art. They rank third in the nation for government spending on arts. Not only does the government spend money on the arts, people come out to see them.

The Twin Cities have a lot in terms of what someone can become as an artist here. However, for artists who want to make it big, they need to leave. Bob Dylan moved to Minneapolis to attend the University of Minnesota, of which he dropped out but continued living in Dinkytown. Eventually, he left Minnesota completely, hitchhiking his way to New York. He never came back. Prince first left in 1977 to record his first album. On his return to Minnesota and Minneapolis, he had to build a space to record music in his home. The only way for him to continue doing the thing he loved outside of a space like New York or LA, was to have the money to build it in his home.

The Twin Cities are an amazing place for fostering artists. Their two biggest artists both had to leave at some point to achieve the success that would come their way. But that doesn’t take away from the Twin Cities as a place where artists get their start. This place fosters young artists to go out into the world so they can achieve the success they want to have, or gives them the space to create within the community that exists now.