Shares go on sale for $350 a piece, beginning at 10 a.m. on May 28, 2014

Today, shares will go on sale for the St. Paul-based Community Supported Art (CSA) program, the first and founding version of what has become a nationwide initiative connecting artists with collectors. It began as a riff on the economic model made popular by community supported agriculture, a new way of thinking about arts patronage, co-presented by mnartists.org (where, full disclosure, I serve as co-director) and Springboard for the Arts (a Knight Arts grantee).

The Twin Cities CSA is celebrating its fifth season of “shares” with a mix of brand new work made by a selection of some of the previous CSA seasons’ favorite contributors. The Summer 2014 CSA artists:

• Painter Jennifer Davis (Season 1)
• Painter Alex Kuno (Season 2)
• Fabric artist Nou Ka Yang (Season 3)
• Sculptor Aaron Dysart (Season 2)
• Writer John Jodzio and painter Laura Andrews (Season 2)
• Printmaker Amy Rice (Season 1)
• Multimedia artist Kao Lee Thao (Season 2)
• Ceramicist Ginny Sims (Season 5)
• Sculptor and public artist Karl Unnasch (Season 1)

Since its founding in 2010, the Twin Cities’ iteration of CSA has featured the work of 59 artists and sold shares to over 200 buyers. With the support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Springboard for the Arts and mnartists.org have created a toolkit to help replicate the program, thus far helping to seed new versions of this successful art-share program in more than 45 communities across the US and in the UK. In 2013, the New York Times highlighted CSA for “helping emerging artists and attracting people who are interested in art but feel they have neither the means nor the connections to collect it.”

Here’s how it works: Selected artists each receive a commission to create 50 pieces of artwork especially for the CSA program. An individual “share” costs $350 and may include an assortment of work in any number of media – from an original drawing to a limited-edition print to a functional ceramic work. Shareholders can claim their boxes of locally-produced artwork at the CSA pickup party on Thursday, August 28 at the Bedlam Theatre-Lowertown – a convivial event with musical performances, food and drink where CSA artists and patrons can mingle. Earlier in the summer, there will also be opportunities for shareholders to attend studio visits hosted by the artists to see the works-in-progress, including a special day trip down to Pilot Mound, Minn. to visit Karl Unnasch’s “unabashed utopian vision” of a studio and artist haven.

Summer 2014 CSA shares go on sale at Wednesday, May 28, at 10 a.m. for $350. If you’d like to purchase a share in the fifth anniversary season of the Twin Cities CSA, act sooner rather than later – these tend to sell out quickly. For more information and share reservations, visit Springboard for the Arts’ Community Supported Art web page.