Posted on October 16, 2012

Walker Art Center

URL: http://www.walkerart.org/

Mission:
To be a catalyst for artistic expression and audience engagement by exercising a global, multidisciplinary, and diverse approach to the creation, presentation, interpretation, collection, and preservation of art.

Background:
The roots of the Walker Art Center date to 1879, when lumber baron Thomas Barlow Walker mounted twenty of his favorite paintings in a private room in Minneapolis and invited the public to view them. Formally established at its current location in 1927 as the first public art gallery in the Upper Midwest, the center has focused on modern and contemporary visual, performing, and media arts since the 1940s. An adjacent sculpture garden opened in 1988, while indoor and outdoor facilities were expanded in 2005 to include the William and Nadine McGuire Theater and a new park.

Outstanding Web Features:
Visitors to the 2012 Webby Award-nominated site can browse in-depth previews of exhibits and film programs, read interviews and go on studio visits with featured artists, and access slideshows of current exhibitions. "Lowercase P: Artists & Politics," which runs through Election Day 2012, features various artists talking about power, inequality, participation — and how their personal values intersect with these and other issues. The Walker Channel offers videos of lectures and talks given by architects, curators, musicians, visual artists, and writers. Visitors to the site also can read chapters from Open Field: Conversations on the Commons, a collection of essays and interviews thaat examines the center's three-year experiment with arts participation and public space. In addition, the site offers multiple blogs, commentaries, and curated arts news from other sites.

Executive Director: Olga Viso

Main Office:
1750 Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Tel: (612) 375-7600
E-mail: info@walkerart.org