Franconia Sculpture Park is turning 25 and will celebrate all year long

Turning 25 is a good thing for Franconia Sculpture Park. The anniversary of the free, 43-acre outdoor art space near Taylors Falls signals a new phase of its life.

Franconia found itself at a curious advantage last year. As other arts organizations shuttered due to the pandemic, it was able to remain open every day from sunup to sundown. Guests could easily social distance while roaming among the property's sizable sculptures. Last year in March alone, attendance at Franconia tripled. It had 180,000 visitors for the year, a new record.

That success came after a rough patch with the firing of co-founder John Hock. Executive director Ginger Porcella joined in late 2019 just months before the pandemic took hold.

This year, 40 new installations will arrive at the park, along with loads of programming aimed at combating racial injustice. There's less of an emphasis on big sculptures, with a turn toward performance pieces and video.

The strategy is to capture as many imaginations as possible from the broad base of people Franconia attracts. Porcella notes that visitors have a range of political bents and backgrounds and come from both rural and urban areas.

"We get immigrants and families of color and we get white supremacists all in one space," she says. "I feel like it's a real opportunity and obligation to be able to address what is happening in our community and our world more than ever."

For instance, the park planned a festival addressing healing and resilience as a pathway to social change, timed to the summer solstice, which landed on nearly the same day as Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. Eighty percent of the participating artists Franconia worked with are Black.

"Our theme this year is authority, visibility, and public space. Being able to highlight and amplify voices of diverse artists is a real priority," Porcella says.