Frogtown Arts Festival celebrates opening of new arts center with Hmong pop, hip-hop

In the Twin Cities art scene this weekend, celebrate the grand opening of 825 Arts, a new cultural center in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood. Experience Sir Curtis Kirby III’s solo performance exploring his Black, Mexican American, and Ojibwe identities at Pangea World Theater and immerse yourself in the Afrofuturistic world of a theater production blending live hip-hop music and poetry at The Southern Theater.

Frogtown Arts festival celebrates new arts center

825 Arts , a new cultural center serving St. Paul’s Frogtown and Rondo neighborhoods, will celebrate its grand opening on Sunday at the Frogtown Arts Festival , featuring musical performances , double Dutch workshops , and a lineup of more than 20 arts and food vendors .

In 2012, the Frogtown Neighborhood Association launched a grassroots effort to transform the building, formerly known as Victoria Theater, into a hub for creativity and connection, raising $300,000 for the initial project .

The building originally opened as a silent movie theater in 1915 before becoming a speakeasy during Prohibition. Over the years, it has also functioned as a nightclub, restaurant, café, and lamp store. But for nearly two decades, the building stood vacant, on the verge of being demolished to make way for a parking lot.

“Word got around that they were maybe looking at demolishing this old building because really, nothing was happening with it,” said Tyler Olsen-Highness, the executive director of 825 Arts. “That’s when the community stepped in and made the move to get it historically designated and save it.”

The renovated center, now including rooms for performance rehearsals, content production studio, and wellness, is the result of more than $7.25 million raised from various arts organizations and nonprofits .

“It’s been a wild ride,” Olsen-Highness said. “The community has worked tirelessly to save this building, to figure out what it wanted to do with it, and to raise money to make it happen. And now, here we are — the building is fully renovated and ready to host a big community festival.”

This year’s event will feature performances by 13 local artists, including rapper 5immia , Hmong American indie pop band Ever After , Zamya Theater Collective , and DJ Mickey Breeze . Local arts and food vendors, including West Indies Soul Food , Eggroll Queen , and Vegan Witt will also participate.

“The Frogtown Arts Festival has always been about celebrating the richness of our community,” Olsen-Highness said. “Even during the pandemic, we found a way to keep it going — pushing a shopping cart down University Avenue, playing music and interviewing shop owners — because the arts are such a critical piece of our community and our ability to connect with each other.”

Date: Sunday, August 25

Time: 1 to 8 p.m.

Location: 825 University Ave., St. Paul

Cost: Free

For more information: Visit victoriatheater.org .

Solo performance navigates Black, Latine and Ojibwe identities

The Pangea World Theater will host “My hair is my superpower,” a solo performance written and performed by Sir Curtis Kirby III, as part of the theater’s “Alternate Visions” mentorship program, led by Artistic Director Dipankar Mukherjee. The program supports artists of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants, and Indigenous writers.

Kirby’s journey with Pangea began over a decade ago when he first collaborated with the theater on a community-based project. Now, under Mukherjee’s mentorship, Kirby has found a space to explore his identity as a person of African American, Mexican American and Ojibwe descent.

“I never felt like I fit in, being tri-racial,” Kirby said, noting how his hair became a symbol of his identity that differed from those around him.

The performance explores the complex emotions tied to hair, from the desire to conform to societal standards in childhood to the realization of its power as a representation of cultural pride in adulthood.

“For Indigenous people, when you lose somebody, you cut your hair, but growing your hair is also a sign of power because we believe our hair has a spirit,” Kirby said. “In Indigenous culture, everything has a spirit.”

Through his chronological storytelling, Kirby invites the audience to reflect on their own lives.

“When I direct, I do it for my people, for the people who look like me, for the people whose stories are still untold,” he said. “I feel like I’m so different from everybody that’s a typical director. Most directors are white, older males, and so this is the perfect time to use my platform to speak to my people.”

Date: Friday, August 23, and Saturday, August 24

Time: 7:30 to 9 p.m.

Location: 711 W. Lake St., Minneapolis

Cost: Pay-as-you-can tickets start at no cost.

For more information: Visit pangeaworldtheater.org

Afrofuturistic play explores communal healing

The Southern Theater will host “Ancestors Rising: Ascension,” an Afrofuturistic theater production by Minneapolis poet Joe Davis . The show blends hip-hop, spoken word, choreography, fashion, and live music, transporting audiences from a Jamaican Maroon village to the streets of Minneapolis, where artists and activists sought healing after George Floyd’s murder.

The cast features a lineup of Twin Cities artists such as R&B singer Ashley DuBose , rapper Nakara Forjé , hip-hop artist BdotCroc , and mindfulness instructor Chance York , each contributing to the communal storytelling.

Live music will be provided by The Poetic Diaspora , featuring Twin Cities musicians including bassist Nii Mensah, drummer Traiveon Dunlap, vocalist Imani Waters, and more.

Date: Thursday, August 22, through Sunday, August 25

Time: 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Location: 1420 S. Washington Ave., Minneapolis

Cost: Pay-as-you-can tickets start at $10. For more information: Visit southerntheater.org .

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