Crossover harpist Brandee Younger brings blend of classical, funk, soul to Mill Ruins Park

In Twin Cities arts events this weekend, artists transform a humble insect into a symbol of Chicano and Mexican pride; Minneapolis caps off Pride month with a celebratory festival and parade; and an outdoor concert brings an eclectic mix of performers, including crossover harpist Brandee Younger, to Mill Ruins Park.

Pop, funk, folk, and more at Mill Ruins Park

MacPhail Center for Music is hosting its third annual “Sounds of Summer” concert, featuring performances by students, faculty, and guest musicians with a diverse range of musical styles, including pop, hip-hop, folk, gospel, jazz, and funk.

The concert’s lineup includes the Twin Cities community youth choir “Known Mpls” under the direction of Courtland Pickens and harpist Brandee Younger , known for her blend of classical, jazz, soul, and funk influences. The Dakota, First Avenue, and the Global Music Initiative ensembles will also be performing.

Date: Saturday, June 29

Time: 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Location: Water Works at Mill Ruins Park, 425 W. River Parkway, Minneapolis

Cost: Free

For more information: Visit macphail.org .

The Twin Cities celebrates the last weekend of Pride Month

The Twin Cities Pride Festival returns to Loring Park this weekend, featuring a parade, four stages of entertainment by LGBTQ+ artists and allies, and over 650 vendors, including 46 food booths.

A Youth Night kicks off the festivities on Friday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. This event includes a drag competition, art activities, face painting, and free food and drinks. Free gender-affirming rainbow clothing will also be available.

The festival features an artist alley, performances and programming exclusively for youth at the Rainbow Stage, Black, Indigenous, and artists of color on the Power to the People’ stage, and a book fair featuring LGBTQ+ authors and poets. Check out the Pride events here.

Date: Friday, June 28, through Sunday, June 30

Time: 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, with the parade starting at 11 a.m.

Location: Loring Park, 1382 Willow St., Minneapolis

Cost: Free

For more information: Visit tcpride.org

Mexican artists reimagine the cockroach as a symbol of strength

Minneapolis artist Maria Cristina Tavera’s exhibit “Cucarachalandia” at Northeast Sculpture Gallery Factory , explores the resilience and cultural identity of Chicanos and Mexican immigrants in the United States through the lens of “la cucaracha” (the cockroach).

Tavera, a visual artist deeply rooted in both Mexican heritage and American upbringing, traces her artistic journey back to a yearning for cultural connection.

“My mother is from Mexico, and my father’s from Minnesota,” she said. “I have this nostalgia and yearning to be with them, and so living so far away from them, I really wanted to make sure that my kids actually understood the culture.” She began with installation art focused on Day of the Dead altars in the Twin Cities art scene, and gradually created exhibitions exploring broader themes in the Latinx community.

Collaborating with musician Erick Biard, and poets Anaïs Deal-Márquez and Gabriela Spears-Rico, Tavera has created an exhibit that intertwines visual, musical, and literary arts to reimagine the ubiquitous cockroach as a motif of resilience, resistance, and perseverance.

At the exhibit’s opening reception on June 15, Biard performed the full version of “La Cucaracha,” a Mexican folk song that humorously recounts the tale of a cockroach missing a leg, but the song also carries a deeper narrative rooted in the struggles and frustrations of the Mexican community during the Mexican Revolution that began in 1910.

“It became popular because of its catchy tune, but it was a corrido, and corridos are storytelling songs about the working class,” Tavera said. “So the narrative is a symbol of resistance, depicting the cockroach’s ability to overcome its physical limitations and move forward.”

Deal-Márquez’s poems, which will be displayed on the walls of the exhibit, interpret the cockroach as a symbol of life and death, while Spears-Rico’s poem shares her experiences growing up as a daughter of migrant farmworkers and living in a neighborhood that the community would call “Cucarachalandia,” hence the exhibit’s title.

“I think roaches can sometimes be considered something negative, right? They can be viewed as diminutive … but I saw the cockroach as a metaphor for how hard and resilient Mexicans are and how they tend to move in numbers,” Tavera said. “They are continually reinventing themselves for survival purposes and finding different ways to make a living.”

The exhibit features an immersive installation titled “Ambulantes” (“Street vendors”), where visitors are involved in scenes reminiscent of vendors in Mexico City’s Chapultepec Park. Utilizing videos she filmed in Mexico, Tavera recreates the bustling energy and cultural richness of the nation’s street markets. One video features a man with a portable oven selling sweet potatoes and using a train whistle to attract customers.

“When people enter the exhibition, they can hear the train whistle and some of these vendors have been doing it for generations,” Tavera said. “They have used this form of call and response to get people to come and purchase their products, and it’s something that I think is such a big part of my heart when I think of Mexico.”

Another installation evokes the vastness of Mexico City and the sensation of being a single person among millions. Visitors can peer into a box revealing a compilation of footage Tavera has collected over the years. The sequence starts with an aerial view of Mexico City, highlighting the sheer number of the region’s estimated 22 million inhabitants, before transitioning to street level, capturing the density of people moving through the city.

Beyond the visual installations, the exhibit showcases inkjet prints celebrating community leaders like Susana De León , an immigration attorney and director of Kalpulli Ketzal Coatlicue , a community-based traditional Aztec dance circle. “Not only does she pull huge numbers of dancers together, but she also assures that Mexican and Indigenous traditions are practiced, not just in Minnesota, but other places as well,” Tavera said.

Other community members depicted in Tavera’s prints include queer Mexican DJ Queen Duin , St. Paul lawyer Manuel Guerrero, and Jovita Francisco Morales, an activist who advocated for Minnesota’s “Driver’s Licenses for All” bill that passed in 2023.

“I see a lot of parallels in how they are able to draw people in and really go against expectations and break barriers in order to help the community move forward,” Tavera said.

Tavera’s work was funded by a grant from the Metro Regional Arts Council’s Arts Impact for Individuals program.

Date: Thursday, June 27, to Saturday, July 6.

Time: Noon to 5 p.m., Thursday through Saturday.

Location: 1720 N.E. Madison St., Minneapolis

Cost: Free

For more information: Visit ne-sculpture.org .

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