Juxtaposition Brings Skate-Friendly Art Plaza To North Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A skate-friendly art plaza is set to add a new narrative to a corner of North Minneapolis.
It sits at the corner of West Broadway and Emerson Avenue North, replacing old buildings that used to be part of the Juxtaposition Arts campus.
It's not officially open until Saturday morning, but this new skate/art plaza in North Minneapolis is already seeing lots of action.
"Dozens of people every day skateboarding, roller skating, biking – just hanging out," Kristen Murray said.
Structural issues forced two older buildings to be torn down to make way for the new space. Eventually, there will be a state-of-the-art studio. Until then, it will serve as a much-needed public space.
"We just didn't want to leave it as this empty lot because that's not what West Broadway needs. West Broadway needs great public spaces and spaces for young people to gather, for performance, for community building," Murray said.
"There are probably a lot of skaters over here, but they really didn't have access to a place like this," Qadiym Washington said.
Washington and Bird Coulter helped design the skateable art plaza. Both are youth apprentices from JXTA's environmental design lab, both proud of their creation.
"This is just something that is getting people involved. The youth are coming over here, they are staying out of trouble, they have something to do," Washington said.
"We also wanted it to be a space where people can come and do other things beside skate like there could be performances there, people can hang out and have lunch – more of just a chill space," Coulter added.
City of Skate and the West Broadway Business and Area Coalition helped make this space possible, along with gifts from 170 people from the community.
"Kids are getting together. A young man just created a goal, he just learned how to do a new move today – that's the new narrative," Shvonne L. Johnson said.
Johnson grew up on the Northside and is glad to see this space and young people enjoying it.
"To have a space where it is a safe and to have a space where it changes the narrative, it's a different news story and we need more stories that highlight what's really happening over here," Johnson said.
Northsiders hope people from all over take time to visit the city's new amenity.
"Come to the community and just get a feel of the space whether you're skating or not," Washington said.
The park will stand for four years, then Juxtaposition Arts will build a studio in the space. They hope the skateable art park will take root on another part of campus or elsewhere on West Broadway.
The grand opening ceremony begins at 10 a.m. Saturday.
