Minneapolis Dance Town Hall

Women’s Club

2nd Floor Ballroom �Monday, March 4th 6:30pm

Agenda Overview

• 6:30pm – Welcome and Introductions & Agenda
• 6:40pm – Level Setting – Brief History
• 6:50pm – Dance Survey Response – Review of data
• 7:05pm – Testimonials
• 7:15pm – Community Forum
• 8:15pm – Respondents 
• 8:30pm – Next Steps
• 9pm – Adjourn

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Cowles Center for Dance Performing Arts

• The Schubert Theater was built in 1910. 
• Moved in 1999 and relocated – Guinness book of world records for largest building every moved on rubber wheels – it took 12 days to roll down the street.
• Cowles Center gained its 501c3 status in 2009.
• Grand Opening- September 2011 – Took 10 years to raise the necessary funding.
• Major Benefactors: John and Sage Cowles; Bob and Kathy Goodale; Fred and Gloria Sewell; Blythe Brendon (Ted Mann Lobby); US Bank; Target.
• McKnight Dancers and Choreographers have been based at the Cowles since 2015.

Cowles Center for Dance Performing Arts

• This year marks the 25 anniversary of the moving of the theater, and 11 years since it opened. 
• Since opening it has served: �-Over 1 million audience members, students, and artists.�-Presented over 50 Minneapolis-based dance companies with one time and/or annual runs, and special events.�-Offered dance residencies to schools throughout Minnesota to over 60 communities and 92,000+ students.�-Primary provider of dance education to all the Park and Rec Facilities, which will now end one of their most popular programs.
• Both Cowles and Hennepin Center for the Arts have been stewarded by Artspace since late 1990s.
• Artspace has been subsidizing the venue up to 500k per year for operations and programming. 

City of Minneapolis – History with the Cowles Center

• The City of Minneapolis has played a key role in the creation of the Cowles Center and the restoration of the historic Shubert Theater building. 
• In 1999 (25 years ago) , the City moved the Shubert Theater from Block E (now Mayo Clinic Square) across the street to 516 Hennepin Ave to prevent the Theater’s demolition. 
• Artspace Projects stepped in to develop a plan, own the property, manage construction, and raise funds to renovate the Theater. 
• To help fund the construction of the Cowles Center, in 2009 the City accepted a $12 million bonding grant from the State of Minnesota.
• That grant required the City to take an ownership interest in the facility via a ground lease, and the City in turn leased its interest to the Cowles Center to operate its dance and educational programming. 
• Artspace has owned and will continue to own the land underlying the facility and ground leases the property to the City. 

City of Minneapolis – Relationship with the Cowles Center

• As required by the State funding, the City is responsible for ensuring the implementation of the “Governmental Program” at the facility, which the City passed on to the Cowles Center through a use lease:
• Definition of Governmental Program in this case: “…establish and maintain a performing arts and education center for the purposes of public arts education and dance, music, and other performances and other related and ancillary functions.”
• This requirement is in place as long as the City has a ground lease for the property. The current ground lease lasts until 2059. 
• Artspace completed the renovation of the facility and opened in September 2011. The Cowles Center has operated the facility since then.
• What’s happening now is that the Cowles Center is terminating is use lease with the City as of April 1, 2024. The City remains in its ground lease for the property and thus becomes responsible for it. 

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City of Minneapolis – Next Steps

• The City is working with Artspace to transition management of the property to the City.
• The City expects to keep the facility closed, secured, and monitored while it is responsible for it. We do not have the capacity to operate it.
• The City is formulating a public process to try to identify a new operator of the facility that can fulfill the Governmental Program and be financially feasible. Community input will be an important part of that process.

Potential Timeline for Reopening

• From March 2024, several months for community engagement and drafting the solicitation document, plus two months for responses.
• Following a period of review which could involve some more community engagement depending on the number and nature of viable choices (estimated at 1-3 months) plus tours of the venue.
• A City Council action is likely to designate one of the respondents as the pick (estimated at 1 month).
• A question is whether for that Council action we’ll have the terms of use/lease agreement agreed to or whether they would require more negotiation. Depending on how that goes, it could take more months to sign the Use/Lease Agreement.
• Depending on what steps the designated operator needs to take before talking over the facility, such as if they need to hire staff, raise funds, and schedule a line-up of events, it could be more months before they are ready to assume control of the facilities.

Potential Timeline (cont'd.)

• In rough terms in all the process could take 6-12 months or more. It should be assumed this process will take longer than we would expect or want.
• Potentially 2 years offline.
• It requires approval by the Mayor and City Council.

Findings: Survey Results

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• Dance Community generated survey
• Despite our dance scene being highly revered, a high level of community support and dance being a vital piece of the puzzle in making Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Minnesota in general a desirable place to live, it can be very challenging to be an artist here. 

Findings

Findings

Findings

Findings

• A big challenge is having access to right-sized, affordable performance space. 

Findings

• The Cowles has been a vital piece of that venue puzzle. 

Findings

Pathway Forward

Cowles Impact

• Testimonials for the Cowles

Dance Forum

• Community Responses, Values, Solutions, Concerns, Needs

Next Steps

• What are the immediate next steps.

Adjourn

• THANK YOU!!!