Northeast Minneapolis Arts District
John Kremer and Jennifer Young have spent three decades turning old Nordeast buildings into permanent homes for working artists.
Est. 1991 · Minneapolis, Minnesota
The story
John Kremer and Jennifer Young met at a poetry reading at Mayslack’s bar in 1990, and quickly discovered a mutual love of nature. A year later they purchased the California Building, a six-story factory at the corner of California Street and 22nd Avenue NE, and began renting studios to artists. They have never stopped.
What began as one building became a quiet campaign. Recognizing how easily art scenes flash in and out of fashion, Kremer and Young dedicated themselves to what they call arts sustainability: buildings for artists that are built to last, priced so working artists can stay, and cared for like they are meant to outlive everyone involved. Today more than 230 artists work in their buildings, anchoring the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District.
They stick to old buildings, and to Northeast. For John, saving historic structures is akin to “keeping all the teeth in a smile.” When the historic Ritz Theater on 13th Avenue NE needed a future, they helped restore it as a home for Ballet of the Dolls.
“John tends the trees, I tend the flowers. He loves to plant white pines, well knowing that he will never see the results. But the next generation will.”
Jennifer Young
The buildings
Every building in the portfolio is an old one given a long future. Two have public directories where you can meet the artists inside.
2205 California St NE · since 1991
One of the first artist studio buildings in Northeast Minneapolis. Six floors of studios above Mojo Coffee Gallery, home to more than 80 working artists.
681 17th Ave NE · since 2006
The 1890s Northwestern Casket Company factory, now the heart of a three-building campus with over 150 working artists.
Casket Arts campus · map by Linnea
The smaller brick carriage house and the industrial annex behind the main building: intimate studios, event space, and fabrication-scale floors.
Northeast Minneapolis
Two more old Nordeast buildings in the family, carrying the same commitment: keep the structure standing, keep the rent honest, keep the artists in.
The long view
John and Jennifer meet at a poetry reading at Mayslack’s bar in Northeast Minneapolis.
They purchase the California Building and begin renting studios to artists.
The building fills. Hundreds of Twin Cities visual artists pass through its studios; many never leave.
The Casket Arts campus joins the family: the 1890s casket factory, its carriage house, and the factory annex on 17th Avenue NE.
Five buildings, more than 230 working artists, and an arts district that grew up around them.
“Just imagine what this could be in a hundred years.”
Jennifer Young
Why old buildings
These floors held casket makers in 1886 and hold painters today. That continuity is the point. A building that has already worked for a century has proven it can work for another one, and the people inside it inherit something no new construction can offer: the company of everyone who worked there first.