In the Twin Cities, unlike other major metropolitan areas, a single, multimillion-dollar dance company isn’t “sucking up all the funds and all the people,” said Eve Schulte, executive director of the James Sewell Ballet, which will be shuttered in March, after 35 seasons. But it also means there is no mega-company marketing dance to a broad audience, as the Guthrie Theater does for theater.
Schulte said she hopes that Cowles’ next operator will be “brilliant and bold,” finding ways to fill the 500-seat house and turn the center “back into a center.”
Even before the Cowles announced its closure, contemporary dance company Arena Dances had been holding regular roundtable discussions about the struggles dancers face, said founder and artistic director Mathew Janczewski. He then became an organizer for the Minnesota Dance Task Force, which obtained a grant from the McKnight Foundation to hire a facilitator to come with the next steps.
“We want everyone’s voices heard throughout the state, honestly,” Janczewski said.
Minnesota recently landed among the top five arts-vibrant communities in the country, according to a new report from SMU DataArts, the National Center for Arts Research. Thanks in large part to the Legacy Amendment passed by Minnesota voters in 2008, Minnesota ranks No. 1 in the nation in per capita spending on the arts, according to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.
However, funding from corporations, foundations and ticket sales have waned. Minnesota’s dance scene is “at an inflection point,” said Kristen Brogdon, director of artistic and community programs at Northrop, a longtime home for acclaimed performances.
