How to make it as an artist in the twin cities? (Minneapolis: rent, income)

[Bennie Flowers]

Are there fairs which allow amateur artists to show their work? It would be nice to sell some of my paintings that I am doing for some extra dough.

[audadvnc]

Mpls/St Paul is not quite big enough to support a large arts scene, and this era is not kind to artists financially. Don't quit your day job. I know plenty of experienced, top notch artists, musicians and actors that pay the rent working for somebody else. That said, there are plenty of restaurants and coffee shops willing to let you hang up work, and art fairs that are happy to take your application fee for a spot in the hot summer sun.

[uptown_urbanist]

Minneapolis actually has a really good arts scene, but it's still tough to make it as an artist (at least as your full source of income). Yes, there are lots of art fairs around here, but many of the big ones are juried and are competitive. The coffee shop idea is a good one. Galleries, too. Depends on how good you are. In the summer there are also markets like the Uptown Market.

[golfgal]

There are all kinds of art fairs, mostly in the summer, around the metro and state that would work for what you want. I know Edina has a rather large one each year, there is one in Northfield that is well attended. Lumberjack Days in Stillwater usually has something plus many of the malls have "fairs" almost every weekend where you can rent a booth and sell whatever (Burnsville mall has this often).

[AllCity RayofMinneapolis]

Oh wow. Well let me just be our arts ambassador for the moment. Minneapolis is outstanding for artists!
TONS, literally tons of Art events CONSTANTLY. We have seasonal open gallery art crawls in the Arts District. We have the Walker, Weisman, Minneapolis institute of Arts, and MANY other museums and galleries. We have public art sculptures in the parks and skyways. It's an creatively advanced city, and the community is wonderful! It's just a different way of life to get your work funded... We have a 1% program where any new development must dedicate 1% of it's budget to arts.

That said, the actual market might be something different. You might have to learn to be civically engaged and enjoy volunteering with non-profit organizations in order to network and get projects funded. But it's fun and rewarding!

I'm a visual artist whom has lived here most all my life. I'm poor beyond poverty, but I love my city. I'll have to share some photography sometime..