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On a beautiful summer afternoon at Ascension Catholic School in North Minneapolis, middle school students gathered in a classroom around a U-shaped table with paintbrushes in hand, building their own night skies one star at a time. Black canvases. Acrylic paint in shades of blue, white, and black. And in the middle of it all, COMPAS Teaching Artist Moira Villiard, moving from student to student,…
By the time the Minnesota Yacht Club Festival opened, the mural was ready. Festival goers stopped to admire it, snapping photos and pointing out favorite details: a loon gliding across blue water, a kayaker winding through the landscape, a beaver wearing headphones, giant mushrooms rising from the forest floor, wildflowers, and stars dotting the night sky. The post Six young artists. One mural.…
Summer is the season of wonder. It's when kids have the freedom to ask, What if? What if I could build a robot that moves? What if my voice could become an instrument? What if I said "yes" and stepped onto a stage? What if I could tell my story through art? The post You Make Summer Wonderful appeared first on COMPAS .
I know who should be running things. I'm greeted by this sentiment everywhere lately. The post A Love Letter to Educators appeared first on COMPAS .
“Do we sit and watch our world burn? Do we dig deeper as it struggles to turn? Do we slowly lose our human will? Do we all just stay there, standing still? Is this the price of paradise?” “Please, please bring my father back.” “My Asian heritage makes me feel like an outsider, always looking […] The post Youth Got Something to Say. We Should Listen. Reflections on My Voice. My Time! Spoken Word…
It was the first sign of what the evening would become. And it was thrilling. Parents. Grandparents. Siblings. Friends. Teachers. And the young artists themselves, proud of work that had earned its place on the walls of one of Saint Paul's most beloved landmarks. Three hundred and twenty people filled Landmark Center until there wasn't a seat left, and staff quickly brought in more chairs, and…
I think I can speak for most of us in the community when I say that the Gregorian calendar year 2026 has started off with a bang. As I write to you, COMPAS blog readers, this Tuesday, February 17th, one morning after witnessing the appropriately themed "This is Culturally Inappropriate" Dave Chappelle comedy concert, I can't help but think of his words from his latest Netflix special, The…
A woman walked into the Seward Community Support Program (CSP) & Drop-In Center, unhoused, visibly struggling, and tearful about her circumstances. While chatting with staff, she noticed people decorating ceramic dishes with colorful markers. "Wait, what's going on here?" she asked. Soon, she was creating her own beautifully decorated plate. This is what happens when art creates space for…
What does it mean to walk into a concert carrying the weight of the world and leave lighter, stronger, and ready for what comes next? Joe Davis knows. And with Diaspora: On the Rise (Sat, Feb 21, 7:00 pm at Northrop Memorial Auditorium), he's designed an experience to do exactly that. "I want people to walk out of the auditorium feeling a lot better than they did when they came in," he explains.…
On Friday nights, neuroscientist Susan Magsamen pushes the coffee table aside and dances in her living room with her husband. They are, by her own admission, not great dancers. They do it anyway because it makes them feel more alive. Her research helps explain why. As co‑author of Your Brain on Art and director of the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins, she has spent years studying…
