Artistry (formerly Bloomington Theatre and Art Center) was founded through the merger of the Bloomington Civic Theatre and Bloomington Art Center in 2009. Drawing on a combined legacy of more than 90 years of artistic excellence, Artistry aims to expand and further strengthen the offerings of its founding organizations in the performing arts, visual arts, and arts education.
Recently, the south metro experienced a new kind of “mobile hot spot” courtesy of Artistry and artists Molly Reichert and Andrea Johnson. Little Box Sauna provided a small-scale space for socializing within the large expanse of the South Loop in Bloomington, Minnesota. The sauna traveled through the neighborhood during the last week of February and first week of March, with one-week stops at each host’s front door to create a hub for socializing in the community.
Drawing on a combined legacy of more than 90 years of artistic excellence, Artistry aims to expand and further strengthen the offerings of its founding organizations in the performing arts, visual arts, and arts education.
Little Box Sauna supports links between businesses, visitors, and residents to generate meaningful communication, and is an activator for changing perceptions of the South Loop’s physical space. By inhabiting open spaces between large structures, Little Box Sauna gives us a destination we can see and walk to, a stopping place between buildings and cars. Bringing in new people while celebrating those there every day, it acts to build density and excitement for the neighborhood and the city as a whole.
The Little Box Sauna is the first of the demonstration projects of the Creative Placemaking in the South Loop initiative that Artistry launched with the City of Bloomington in 2014. Artistry is facilitating public art and creative placemaking projects by advocating for artists and facilitating public art projects as key to a vibrant, thriving community. Learn more about Artistry’s placemaking projects on their website.
