NEW YORK MILLS ARTS RETREAT

Middle school kids making and flying kites for the first time on a blustery April day. Community members gathering for the longest night music festival on December 21st. Kids and parents wearing bigger-than-life puppet costumes in our annual puppet pageant in August. Regular folks debating the great philosophical questions in our Great American Think-Off on the second Saturday of June each year. Amazing acoustic music from folk to jazz to classical to bluegrass every month. Poetry readings from Minnesota poets such as the late Bill Holm. Dance and music instruction for kids. And a beautiful gallery in our 1885 two-story brick building featuring art by artists from our region. Add in a wonderful gift store featuring fine Finnish glassware and the work of regional artists.

These are the kinds of things we do at the Cultural Center. They are the beautiful means to a larger community purpose: to bring people of all ages, economic means, and cultures together to enjoy the best of who we are and dream about who we might become.