Minneapolis’s Open Book, a vibrant literary arts center; the kind which every city should have
Dropped in unannounced at Open Book on Washington Avenue in Minneapolis between Christmas and New Year’s after interviewing Rosemary Furtak, Director, Library and Archives, at the Walker Arts Center. Open Book bills itself as a ‘literary’ arts center, one in which ‘all who are interested in the literary and book arts can feel at home.’ The building includes places for ‘contemplation, conversation, and literary and artistic creation, including a book club room with an outdoor deck, individual studios for writers and artists,a resource library, comfortable classrooms and meeting rooms, an exhibition gallery,a performance hall, and a congenial literary commons with conversation nooks.’
Open Book’s mission is to ‘inspire and celebrate’ a vibrant, growing book community. It serves as a gathering place that welcomes all to participate in the ‘power and pleasure’ of literary and book arts experiences, and as a ‘catalyst for artistic collaboration, bringing together the many partners who create books, from idea to finished work.’
And I must say, I did find the space inspirational: a gorgeous, rough hewn,
renovated warehouse; spaceous and accommodating.
I had hoped to interview one of its board members, but unfortunately none were around. Did get a chance to chat with Curt Lund, Audience Development Manager at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, one of the tenants in the building…. who spoke about how the Open Book welcomes young students into its space, and engages them in practical book making tasks: paper making,
printing,
book binding and the like.
The building also houses an active, and acclaimed, small publishing house, Milkweed Press. Marketing Manager Jessica Deutsch showed me some of their more recent publications…and told me the moving story of how the work of David Rhodes has been revived and reprinted.
Open Book is a marvelous concept, brought to life by intelligent, dedicated book lovers. Oh that more cities were as culturally attuned and vibrant as Minneapolis. Although my visit was short, and regrettably I wasn’t able to interview anyone at Graywolf, Coffee House or Milkweed, I did manage to talk to some key players in the city’s book community, including, in addition to Rosemary, rare book dealer Robert Ruhan Miller, Eric Lorberer editor of Rain Taxi, and the proprietor of Midway Used and Rare Books. Please stay tuned.
During my Minneapolis stay I also, needless to say, took a few additional photos:
Related posts:
- Arts Funding (1): City of Ottawa cuts will cost Life
- Washington D.C., The Folger, The Center for the Book, BookExpo 2006 and Nothing from Carly.
- Federal Election: Who Hates the Arts in Canada?
- Marketplace as determinant of merit, and the perils of Funding the Arts
- Neil Jenman: My kind of Book Collector
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:13 AM
Sounds like a great place. I love places like this that foster creativity and support for the arts (literary, visual, musical, etc.). I’ve always wanted to visit Minneapolis, and this certainly makes it sound like an intriguing and interesting destination.