FEATURED ESSAY
Fall 2021 Artist-in-Residence: Xochi de la Luna
Artist-in-residence Xochi de la Luna will continue the event programming work they did with Lake Street Truth Collective, on their own with support from Weisman Art Museum, by programming events of joy, community unity, and cross-pollination throughout fall 2021. To engage the Lake Street community, they will activate the old Robert Shoes lot on Lake Street and Chicago Ave. to program and facilitate concerts, makers’ markets, and multidisciplinary shows.
In partnership with BareBones Puppet Theater & Festival de las Calaveras, they’re serving as co-director for this year’s Extravaganza. This collaboration culminates in an event for October 31 to foster community unity and healing. The afternoon of Oct. 31 will begin with a processional, from Powderhorn Park, down Chicago Ave to the intersection of Lake St. and Chicago. This processional will set the stage for a day-long series of workshops and a cultural exchange of rituals to celebrate Dias de los Muertos and other rituals that mark the cycles of life. Festival de las Calaveras director Deborah Ramos has programmed banda music, poetry, and Mexica dance to happen during workshops and in the downtime between rituals. The festival will end with a concert, where gathered participants will call to the ancestors, each in our own language. After the ancestor concert, cabaret-style performances will close out the night and include pieces of poetry, music, puppetry, and dance.
** Read an article about the project on Racket magazine — “What’s Going on at the Former Roberts Shoes Lot?” >>
FOLLOW ALONG @LAKESTREETTRUTH ON INSTAGRAM >>
Calendar of Events
740 E Lake St., Minneapolis (former Roberts Shoes lot at Lake St. & Chicago)
6 p.m. – 9 p.m. | Free and open to the public
Clothing giveaway and dance party for folks 13-19 years old
8 p.m. – 12 a.m. | Free and open to the public
7 p.m. – 10 p.m. | Free and open to the public
About the Lake Street Truth Collective
The summer a newly-formed group of artists and cultural organizers, the Lake Street Truth Collective, took residence in the Target Studio for Creative Collaboration. After a year of injustice, burning and protests, economic instability and pandemic, the Lake Street Truth Collective, in collaboration with community members, aims to foster opportunities to feel seen and heard in light of the traumatic events of the past year and a half.
Throughout July, the Collective organized a series of facilitated community dinners as part of a grassroots “Truth and Repair” process for those who call Lake Street home. The community dinners, located on the Roberts Shoe Store Lot at Chicago and Lake Street, focused on topics including homelessness, immigration, community violence, and environmental threats. This work continues into the fall with community programming by Collective member and Target Studio artist-in-residence Xochi de la Luna.
