Mohannad Ghawanmeh is an experienced arts leader with a strong commitment to art that lifts up communities and share stories and histories. He is published scholar, with a dozen recognitions and distinctions, who has developed public art in multiple cities. He is returning to the Twin Cities and Minnesota, where he attended college and worked…

Wakpa Triennial was voted among the Best New Festivals! NOTE: This post is from the 2023 Wakpa Triennial Festival. To see information about the 2026 Wakpa Triennial Festival, visit: https://publicartstpaul.org/103672-2/   Nominated by a panel of experts at USA Today, the Wakpa Triennial was among 19 new festivals nominated to be in the Top Ten Best…

NOTE: This post is from the 2023 Wakpa Triennial Festival. To see information about the 2026 Wakpa Triennial Festival, visit: https://publicartstpaul.org/103672-2/   Where to listen? “Listening to the Mississippi” is an iterative project, a grouping of underwater sounds recorded in and around the river, a series of artworks and actions that have unfolded over 10 years….

PRESENTED BY OYATE HOTANIN WITH PUBLIC ART SAINT PAUL Saturday, June 24 11 AM – 12:30 PM FREE Raspberry Island, Saint Paul Schubert Club Bandshell   On this first day that Triennial art projects and installations will be open to the public, we launch the Wakpa Triennial with an event in the heart of Wakpa…

NOTE: This post is from the 2023 Wakpa Triennial Festival. To see information about the 2026 Wakpa Triennial Festival, visit: https://publicartstpaul.org/103672-2/ Tickets Here! From all of us at Public Art Saint Paul, we hope you will join us for a fabulous evening to gather and welcome the first installation of the Wakpa Triennial Art Festival of the Twin Cities!…

Learn more about The Seven Council Fires from the Minnesota Historical Society here. The Seven Council Fires (Oceti Ŝakowiŋ) is an overview of Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota cultural objects — totaling approximately 1,000 items — that can be found in the Minnesota Historical Society’s artifact collection.

Read how the Dakota have shaped the state here: The Land, Water, and Language of the Dakota, Minnesota’s First People  

Makxoche Washte, The Beautiful Country: A Lakota Landscape Map View the map here Rivers and streams are pinned at confluences. The only exception is the Mnishoshe (The Water-Astir; Missouri River), which is pinned at the mouth of that stream, which is the Gulf of Mexico; according to Blue Thunder, it is the Mississippi River which…

Enjoy this beginning resource for understanding more about the Dakota people’s relationship to Minnesota from the Minnesota Humanities Center. Try traveling the directions in a traditional way – East (We Are Home), South (Dakota Greeting), West Mnisota: A Dakota Place) and then North for the core of the site – the Memory Map.