Cycling and the arts will once again demonstrate they go together like chocolate and peanut butter as Twin Cities cyclists descend upon the Minneapolis Institute of Arts on Thursday, July 15th from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. for an evening of high style bike-related events including selected shorts from the Bicycle Film Festival. (The full 2010 BFF opens Friday at the Cedar Cultural Center).

The entire event is free including bike valet service provided by Freewheel Bike Shop and Dero Bike Racks. The work of Minnesota frame builders will be on display. You can pose with your own bike for photos or create a classic bike poster. Enter to win a Surly Long Haul Trucker bike; a hand-built Traitor Cycles Luggernaut frame, Chrome, and Banjo Brothers commuter bags, Twin Six gear and Nutcase helmets. Linger and listen to the music of ‘A Night in the Box’ or just plan to people and bike watch.

More on the artsmia.org website.

There is a group ride that will leave Gold Medal Park at 5:00 p.m. Or you can ride from wherever you are. Just point your bike in this direction:
2400 Third Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55404
(888) MIA ARTS (642-2787)

Photographer Jim Brandenburg takes his home studio seriously enough that he had David Salmela design it (along with the rest of the house) and it looks like an amazing place to work. The irony of course is that Brandenburg, a renowned wildlife photographer, spends lots of time traveling to spectacular locations outside his studio. This is probably the most classic case of having one’s cake and eating it too that has ever come to my attention and while a lesser man would be jealous I can assure you that I am merely green with envy.

Even if a gorgeous, two story studio bordering the Boundary Waters is not in your budget at the moment now is a great time to listen to the architect himself talk about it. David Salmela will be speaking at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis on Wednesday, July 14th at 7:00 p.m.. Also speaking will be Tom Fisher who is Dean of the College of Design at the University of Minnesota and the author of two books about Salmela’s work. They’ll be signing copies of the first book and talking about the second which is due in spring 2011. It’s sure to be inspiring for anyone in search of quality space. See you there.

A few months back in my post about the approved Jefferson Avenue Bike Boulevard, I promised an update. I’ve been waiting to post until I see signs of implementation so I’ll save that post until I have some real life photos. Cliffhanger, I know.

In the mean time, there are other excellent bicycle-related efforts happening around the City of Saint Paul. The nascent Saint Paul Bicycle Coalition will have its fourth meeting next week, and the Saint Paul Greenway Committee is working hard to  generate interest in [thus implementation of] a greenway that would bring the Minneapolis Midtown Greenway goodness all the way to downtown Saint Paul. I am working on some renderings for the effort (see that image up there at the top). The City and the dis-banded Saint Paul Bicycle Advisory Board have been working on the Greenway for quite some time and it’s been a long, and at times bumpy, road. The Saint Paul Greenway Committee, formed back in September of 2009, is diligently continuing the effort despite the bumps. They’d like you to share your voice, vision and support for this essential urban trail at the upcoming Envisioning the Saint Paul Greenway Event. The Committee will be on hand to answer questions, as will Smart Trips (the awesome Saint Paul-based organization that is helping lead the charge along with a swell group of citizens). We ask you….do you want this:

Or this?

We’ll have more information at the event but here are the essential details:
ENVISIONING THE ST. PAUL GREENWAY
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
7:00 – 8:30 pm
Linwood Rec Center (860 St. Clair Avenue, Saint Paul 55105)

Please come and join the effort of creating a world-class greenway system in Saint Paul!

Download a pdf of the flyer Smart Trips produced and feel free to print and leave it at your local coffee shop. Really, we’d love it.

By all accounts UnSummit 5 was a success. Personally, I met some great people and enjoyed many great conversations including “Ensuring Relevance With Good Design” hosted by Circadian, “Minnesota Start-up Culture” hosted by Jeff Pesek, and “Escaping Wage Slavery” hosted by Don Ball. My favorite presentation however was by an old friend. Rohn Jay Miller hit a home run with “The 25 Minute MBA: How To Anchor Projects in Real Business Success” which he has made available on SlideShare. Sadly, his fantastic delivery and the many nuances aren’t available for download. Don’t let that stop you from checking out the presentation above. And, if you find yourself intrigued give him a shout at Take5Interactive.

The 2010 UnSummit is an alternative, “unconference” for those in the interactive profession. It is being held on June 26th with the stated goals of “full participation, full dissemination and free admission — all the things that traditional conferences are not.” You can register here. The event will be held at the CoCo – Coworking and Collaborative Space in Saint Paul’s Lowertown district. This is perfect because CoCo is sort of an UnOffice.

I’m still a little unsure about what is going to happen at the UnSummit but things should get interesting as the group gathers to apply some brain pressure against the community’s collective hemorrhaging. The official theme is “Solve for X. Where X = your problem.” So, unless your problem is fear of open-ended conference themes you should come and participate in the unintended consequences. Hope to see you there.

I’m a big baby so I don’t ride much in the Winter. This makes it all the more paramount that I celebrate cycling while the weather is glorious. Whether you’re a die-hard, year-round cyclist or still looking for an excuse to dust off your trusty two-wheeler next week is your opportunity to make a statement and enjoy some camaraderie. Bike To Work Week starts Saturday, June 5 and runs… uh rides, through Sunday, June 13. You can learn more about how bicycle commuting this week is different than other weeks by visiting bikewalkweek.org but I’m not giving away any secrets by telling you that events, discounts and good company on the trails are all involved. Don’t have a bike? Among other scheduled events Nice Ride will be launching their Minnesota bike share program on Tuesday, June 10th (the original Bike To Work Day). However you roll, after a week of cycle commuting you’ll be happier and healthier and wonder why you ever drove that dinosaur juice burner to work.

Thank you to everyone who attended the ASLA-MN seminar “The Competitive Landscape – Insights to Help Landscape Architects Use Marketing to Define the Terrain”. It was a pleasure to meet you. I hope you learned a few things and came away enthused about the opportunities to market yourself or your company in exciting new ways that benefit both you and your audience. Please feel free to download the presentation so you can continue the conversation.

Download Presentation (19mb  pdf)

Bicycling magazine recently released its rating of America’s Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities and Minneapolis came out on top – displacing a number of other epic bike cultures for which I have nothing but respect. So rather than take this opportunity to gloat I’ve got two questions. First, how did this happen? Second, where is the other Twin City? After all many of us regularly cycle from one city to the other. For that matter many of us cycle further afield to Eagan, Minnetonka and other cities. It would be cool if both of the Twin Cities registered on the bike-ability scale. As a transplant to Minnesota I don’t get too bent out of shape that Saint Paul and the surrounding cities gets lumped under the title “Minneapolis” but in this case Saint Paul isn’t actually included because it is woefully behind.

It turns out that the answer to both questions is bike advocacy. And the moral of the story is that if you enjoy the bike scene in Minneapolis you owe a pretty huge debt to all the advocates who gave so generously of their time to help make that scene possible. Pay that forward by getting involved. By helping Saint Paul catch up. The movement is already happening and you can help. There are a few upcoming meetings to push forward efforts for bike-ways in Saint Paul. For instance, Jefferson Ave. from downtown to the river. There is a public hearing coming up on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 5:30 p.m. at 15 Kellogg blvd (in the City Council chambers) Email me if you are interested in more info. Or just show up so the powers that be can see that the human powered set is passionate about the ride-ability of both cities.

More on other projects coming soon but you can also download the Central Corridor Bike Walk plan and see if you want to get involved with this effort. Coincidentally, the latest issue of Momentum magazine (free at One On One) has an article on bicycle advocacy.

Local advertising maven Pat Fallon will be featured on MPR’s Midmorning today at 10:00 a.m. (91.1 fm in the Twin Cities or listen online by clicking the blue button in the narrow center column)  He’ll be speaking about the future of advertising. If you miss it the podcast should wind up here.

The University of Minnesota provides quite a few great resources that are both excellent and free. Promotion however is often not excellent so events are easy to miss and are not as well attended as they should be. The Upcoming Disruptive Effects symposium is breaking that mold. The bad news is that it isn’t free – though it is still a bargain relative to the cost of many creative industry events. The good news is that Larsen is a sponsor so there are posters and a website and I know about it far enough in advance to blog about it. This symposium is worth considering since it looks like it will break another mold as well. Namely those stale presentations of the presenter’s past work in favor of a multi-disciplinary dialogue about what could be. Take a look, take a chance and take the opportunity to challenge the participants. This may be one time they’ll appreciate the disruption.