Red Wing - Art and War: A Conversation
2025-11-06 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Anderson Center at Tower View, 163 Tower View Drive, Red Wing, MN, 55066, United States
Join the Minnesota Humanities Center and Anderson Center for a moderated conversation with artists who either focus on the representation of war and armed conflict in their art, or who have created art that addressed these subjects. Artists will discuss their creative output, what it means to interpret experiences of warfare, what happens in the act of interpretation and artistic creation, and what the viewing public can learn from interaction with and communal discussion of these works.
About the Artists
Mary Horgan is an artist and retired Staff Sergeant (U.S. Army). Among multiple activations, she served in the Iraq War in 2006. Horgan’s art confronts the harsh realities of war and the honorable pursuit of peace for all. Since retiring, art has become her tool for healing, peace, and resistance. Horgan’s work includes the memorial to women Veterans, “You Will Not Erase Us,” commissioned by the City of Ramsey in Minnesota. She also creates a range of two and three-dimensional art pieces that explore themes of conflict, survival, resistance, nature, beauty, and truth-telling.
Besides her artistic work, Horgan is a mother and grandmother, and caretaker of animals and gardens. She is passionate about our nation’s democracy and creates work rooted in justice, resilience, and deep personal truth and recovery.
Justin Newhall is an American artist currently based in Minneapolis. His work has been exhibited at Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Royal Academy of Arts (London), Galerie Lichtblick (Cologne), Museum of Art at Rhode Island School of Design (Providence), Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, and Jen Bekman Gallery (New York), among others.
Newhall is the recipient of artist fellowships from the McKnight Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board, and Jerome Foundation. His work is represented in public and private collections, including the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Walker Art Center, and George Eastman House (New York).
Megan Rye is a visual artist and teacher. She was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1975, and currently lives in Minneapolis. Through paintings, drawings, photography, and artists books, Rye uses visual storytelling to explore themes of migration, citizenship, remembrance, war, and democracy. Rye’s first significant body of work, “I Will Follow You Into the Dark,” was a series of paintings based on photographs Rye’s brother took while serving in Iraq. This project debuted at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (2007), and was Rye’s first solo exhibit in New York City at Forum Gallery (2011). The aftermath of the Iraq War continues to reverberate, and the paintings have been studied and exhibited widely, including a recent exhibition at the Kunsthalle Emden (Germany).
Rye’s work has been sustained by significant support from the Bush Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Jerome Foundation, and the Minnesota State Arts Board.
About the Moderator
Monica Moses Haller is an artist whose work spans photography, writing, sound, and focuses on personal details that explore violence and possibilities within social and environmental systems. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Jerome Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others. Moses Haller has exhibited and lectured at locations including Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei, Leipzig; and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Her artist books are collected by intuitions ranging from the Tate Modern, London, to MOMA, New York. Moses Haller works internationally and is based in her hometown of Minneapolis, where she is an associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Department of Art.
This program is presented in partnership with Anderson Center at Tower View, a Red Wing-based arts and humanities organization that celebrates the imagination and support the development of new arts and ideas through residencies, studios, and public engagement.
Registration
This event is free to attend. Registration is encouraged. Light refreshments will be served at the event.
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org
Register Now

St. Cloud - Reconstruction Destructed Film & Community Conversation
2025-11-08 13:00 - 14:30 | Atwood Memorial Center, St. Cloud University, 720 4th Ave. South, St. Cloud, MN, 56301, United States
To understand the challenges African Americans still face in being seen as full citizens in America today, it is important for us to understand the origin story of the path of formerly enslaved people becoming citizens. The past is not dead; it is not even really the past.
This film, created with our movie production partner OMG Studios, features Federal Minnesota District Court Judge Jerry Blackwell, author of Just Mercy and prominent civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, Macalester University Professor Duchess Harris, and a cameo by Minnesota’s First Lady of Civil Rights, Dr. Josie Johnson.
K-12 educators will receive 2 clock hours.
Registration
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org
Register Now

St. Paul - Reconstruction Destructed Film & Community Conversation
2025-11-09 13:00 - 14:30 | Wilder Foundation, 451 Lexington Pkwy N., St. Paul, 55104, United States

Roseville - Minnesota Writers Off the Page: Carson Faust
2026-01-28 18:00 - 19:30 | Makwa Coffee, 2805 Hamline Ave N, Roseville, MN, 55113, United States
Minnesota Writers Off the Page and Makwa Coffee’s Native Author Book Club are joining forces for a special evening with Carson Faust, author of “If the Dead Belong Here,” an intergenerational thriller, permeated with Indigenous folklore and the supernatural. Faust will be in discussion with author Dennis E. Staples, and along with readings from the book, they will discuss ghosts, hauntings, the craft of horror/thriller, and how their Indigenous backgrounds inform their writing. Following the discussion, audience members are invited to participate in a Q&A session, and have further informal conversation with the featured speakers. Light refreshments will be available for purchase through the cafe. Copies of “If the Dead Belong Here” will be available for purchase, and the evening will finish with a book signing.
About the Speakers
Carson Faust is two-spirit and an enrolled member of the Edisto Natchez-Kusso Tribe of South Carolina. He is the recipient of artist fellowships from the McKnight Foundation and the Jerome Foundation. His fiction has appeared in TriQuarterly, ANMLY, and Waxwing, among other journals, and has been anthologized in “Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology.” He lives in Minnesota, where he works in philanthropy.
Dennis E. Staples is an Ojibwe writer from Bemidji, Minnesota, and the author of “This Town Sleeps” and “Passing Through a Prairie Country.” He holds an MFA in fiction from the Institute of American Indian Arts and is a graduate of the 2018 Clarion West Writers Workshop and a recipient of the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship. His work has appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction and Nightmare magazine. He is a member of the Red Lake Nation.
This event is presented in partnership with Makwa Coffee, a community centered craft coffee shop in Roseville, MN. This event is part of the Minnesota Writers Off the Page series, bringing the inspirational voices of Minnesota’s authors directly to readers.
Registration
This event is free, however registration is required.
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org
Register Now

The Great Northern Festival: Poets Building Community
2026-01-29 17:00 - 19:00 | The Loft at Open Book, 1011 Washington Ave S, Minneapolis, MN, 55415, United States
Join us at The Great Northern Festival for an evening of poetry, conversation, and civic imagination as The Loft hosts Poets Building Community, a special gathering of Poets Laureate from across Minnesota. This event is the culminating public program of Minneapolis Poet Laureate Junauda Petrus’s 2025–2026 laureate year.
Guided by Petrus’s central question—“What does community look like for you?”—Poets Laureate will share original poems and reflect on the civic and cultural work they carry into their communities. The evening will weave together art, storytelling, and public purpose, offering a rare glimpse into how poets help shape the places we call home.
Featured poets will include:

Junauda Petrus, Minneapolis Poet Laureate
Gwen Nell Westerman, Minnesota State Poet Laureate
Jean Prokott, Rochester Poet Laureate
Donte Collins, former St. Paul Youth Poet Laureate
Heid E. Erdrich, inaugural Minneapolis Poet Laureate
Joyce Sutphen, former Minnesota State Poet Laureate

The conversation will be moderated by Cristeta Boarini, Partnerships Manager at the Loft.
We will also take a moment to recognize Andrea Jenkins for her contributions as a poet and her pivotal role in establishing the Minneapolis Poet Laureate position – (City Council Member 2017-2025).
Come celebrate the power of poetry to build connection, spark change, and imagine new futures together.
Registration
This event is free and open to all, however registration through The Loft is required.
Registration Questions: loft@loft.org
Register Now

Shoreview - Minnesota Writers Off the Page: Debra J. Stone
2026-02-18 17:30 - 19:15 | Emmet D. Williams Elementary School, 955 W County Rd D, Shoreview, 55126, United States
To celebrate Black History Month, Off the Page is pleased to feature author Debra J. Stone and her new book, “The House on Rondo.” Debra will be in conversation with Terresa Hardaway, discussing the history of the Rondo neighborhood, what it means to be a writer, and their hopes for the future of Rondo. Following the discussion, audience members are invited to participate in a Q&A session, and have further informal conversation with the featured speakers. Copies of “The House on Rondo” will be available for purchase, and the evening will finish with a book signing.
Debra J. Stone is a 2023-2025 Jerome Hill Arts Fellow in Literature, essay, poet and novel author. More of her work has been published by Blue Earth Review, Indiana Review, Green Mountains Review, Under the Gum Tree, and other literary journals. In 2021 her poem, “year-of- staying–in place,” was nominated Best of Net and Pushcart nominated. She is a board member of the Hennepin History Museum. Debra is married and resides in Minneapolis.
Terresa Hardaway, Ph.D., is an abolitionist, design researcher, author, anti-racist facilitator, creative director, organizer, and educator based in Minneapolis. She is Creative Director of Blackbird Revolt— a social justice-based design studio; an Associate Professor of Graphic Design; McKnight Presidential Fellow; the Director of Design Justice at the University of Minnesota’s College of Design; and the owner of Black Garnet Books.
This event is presented in partnership with Black Garnet Books, an independent bookstore in Saint Paul, MN, that offers a curated selection of books and art by authors and illustrators of color in an environment that encourages learning, joyful interaction, and communal care for everyone who visits. This event is part of the Minnesota Writers Off the Page series, bringing the inspirational voices of Minnesota’s authors directly to readers. This edition of Minnesota Writers Off the Page will be held at Emmet D. Williams Elementary School in Shoreview.
Registration
A light community meal will be provided at 5:30 p.m., and the event will begin at 6:00 p.m. This event is free to attend; registration is required.
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org
Register Now

St. Paul - Objects of War: A Storytelling Circle
2026-02-26 18:00 - 20:00 | Minnesota Humanities Event Center, 987 Ivy Avenue East, Saint Paul, MN, 55106, United States
The Minnesota Humanities Center invites you to join us for an engaging evening focused on stories of community, consolation, and courage. For Objects of War, participants are asked to bring an item connected to an experience of war and conflict — which could be dog tags, a service member’s good luck charm, or a family heirloom — and share the story of this item during the evening. Moderated by trained facilitators, the conversation will help participants understand why we hold on to certain objects, and how these objects help us better understand the human impacts of war.
About the Facilitators
Jovita Hernandez is a recently retired educator with 32 years of experience. Throughout her career, she approached teaching through a lens of equity, nurturing curiosity, and emphasizing the connections built through the power of story. She introduced Story Circle practice not only in her own classroom but also across the district, leaving a lasting impact on students and colleagues alike. Today, she continues to champion this practice, sharing it in both educational and community spaces as a dedicated story circle practitioner.
Pang Foua Xiong is a creative social entrepreneur, cultural conservator, and mother. She is a first-generation Hmong woman, born to refugee parents who arrived in Minnesota in 1980, and raised in the Rondo/Frogtown neighborhood on the homelands of the Dakhóta people in Mni Sóta Makoce (Saint Paul, Minnesota). Her work spans more than 25 years in grassroots advocacy and co-designing accessibility and equity opportunities in healthcare, education, and economic systems. Her identity and journey as a Hmong woman and efforts in cultural and language revitalization of her endangered native language and heritage continue to shape her sense of place and purpose. She is the founder of Community & Co Lifestyle, LLC, a cultural and creative social enterprise that facilitates and nurtures collaborative connections, leadership, community engagement, and facilitating systems of care. As a social entrepreneur, bilingual Hmong interpreter, creative and social impact consultant, and humanities facilitator, Pang Foua co-designs and leads thoughtful community-centered initiatives, creative solutions, and engagement through the lens of whole wellbeing, place-knowing, and place-based learning practices.
This event is presented in partnership with the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum, an institution which seeks to strengthen public understanding of how armed conflicts and military institutions have shaped our state and national experience.
Registration
This event is free to attend, however registration is required. Dinner will be served at the event.
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org
Register Now

West St. Paul - Celebrate National Poetry Month
2026-04-06 13:00 - 14:00 | Thompson Park Activity Center, 1200 Stassen Lane, West St. Paul, 55118, United States
Celebrate National Poetry Month with Minnesota’s Poet Laureate, Gwen Westerman, at the Dakota Lodge in Thompson County Park! Join us for an inspiring afternoon as Gwen shares her personal story, reads from her powerful and heartfelt poems, and reflects on the creative journey behind her acclaimed book, “Songs, Blood Deep.” Gwen beautifully captures the landscape, history, and spirit of Minnesota life. Don’t miss this special opportunity to meet our state’s leading voice for poetry and be inspired by the ways language and storytelling connect us all.
About Gwen Nell Westerman
Gwen Nell Westerman is a poet, visual artist, and scholar. Her roots are deep in the landscape of the tallgrass prairie and reveal themselves in her art and writing. She is an enrolled citizen of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, and her father’s family is from the Heipa District. Her mother’s family is from the Flint District of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Neither of her parents spoke English when they were sent as small children to boarding schools in Oklahoma and South Dakota. Singing and writing for as long as she can remember, Gwen understands from experience the important ways language and the land shape who we are. She was appointed as the Poet Laureate of Minnesota by Governor Tim Walz in 2021.
This event is in partnership with Thompson Park Activity Center, serving West Saint Paul.
Registration
Registration for this event through TriDistrict Community Education.
Registration Questions: help@isd199.org
Register Now
