By Laura Zabel, Community Supported Art Saint Paul

Last week we held the first pick-up event of our third season of CSA: Community Supported Art. It’s hard to believe all that has happened since we started this program a little over a year ago. In just one year we’ve paired 200 shareholders with 36 artists and packed 1,800 pieces of art in crates, boxes and flat packs! And beyond our program here in St. Paul, the program is being replicated across the country and this summer, in partnership with the Knight Foundation, we will be helping to launch CSA in all 8 Knight communities. So it seemed a celebration was in order. For the first pick-up event of the season we invited all the shareholders, artists, and other friends from the previous seasons to join us for delicious food from the Black Dog Café, great music from the Roe Family Singers, and, of course, to watch the lucky 50 shareholders open their first crate of the season. It was a wonderful (if chilly) evening and a perfect way to start our season of fresh, local art. Enjoy the photos – all images are by Scott Streble.

The Knight Foundation and Springboard for the Arts are excited to announce that Community Supported Art will soon be in all 8 of Knight’s resident communities. Watch for CSA programs in Detroit, Miami, and Philadelphia in 2011 and Akron, Charlotte, San Jose and Macon in 2012.