Planners behind a future performing arts center with an outdoor amphitheater along the Mississippi River north of downtown Minneapolis have lined up two major groups to help lead its public programming and raise private funds.
Upper Harbor Terminal project announces new partnerships for performance center
The African American Community Development Corp. and Minnesota Orchestra are partnering with Minneapolis and First Ave. on the amphitheater north of downtown along the river.
July 22, 2023 at 12:41AM
The African American Community Development Corp. (AACDC) and the Minnesota Orchestra have signed on to help establish and operate the Community Performing Arts Center, organizers announced this week. They join the First Ave. group of music venues as development partners.
Upper Harbor Terminal is a 48-acre site on the Mississippi River in north Minneapolis. It formerly housed a barge shipping terminal that ceased operations in 2014, and is largely unused. United Properties, another partner in the development, first responded to a request for proposal for the project in 2016.
The Minnesota Orchestra will serve as the center's strategic business partner, handling private fundraising, according to the Thursday news release from First Avenue.
The orchestra will remain at its current location in downtown Minneapolis, but could perform at a new, completed amphitheater. The orchestra will receive a portion of the revenue when the project is operational, the release states.
The design work has not been completed, but the operators anticipate the center will be completed by spring 2025.
The AACDC will serve as the "community entity" for the project, overseeing public programming. It also will manage economic development opportunityfunds that would accumulate from a $3 fee on every ticket sold at performances. It's estimated that will come to about $500,000 annually.
AACDC, created in 2021, works to convert African American ideas, capital and action into lasting benefits for the community. The hope is that partnering with AACDC will help to engage with the area's African American community and get Black Minnesotans involved with the center's future.
"They are going to make sure there's meaningful programming for the community and African American community," said Ashley Ryan, First Ave.'s vice president of marketing. "There have been hundreds of community outreach meetings, and the groups behind the project are very explicitly seeking input from the neighborhood."
The funds also will go to exploring local vendor and entrepreneur opportunities and a youth jobs program, the release states. Mayor Jacob Frey called the project a "game-changer for the North Side" in the release.
"The local partnerships forming around this development project will prove to be good, not only for the Northside, but for the entire arts community in Minneapolis, leading to a final, community-minded space," he said.
More about the Upper Harbor Terminal development can be found at upperharbormpls.com.
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