Art-A-Whirl 2025!

Let's talk about Minnesota get-togethers. Obviously, the Minnesota State Fair is the biggest and most anticipated get-together of all which begins around Labor Day. It’s a massive celebration and learning experience full of agriculture, different foods, animals and lots of music. To hold people over, there’s smaller events put on like the Anoka County Fair, there’s also “Kickoff to Summer” hosted also by the state fair, which is just a snippet of the fair being open during the beginning of May. But another great Minnesota event would be Art-A-Whirl. 

Art-A-Whirl is a smaller get-together compared to the others I described that is super vibrant and full of creativity that takes place in Northeast Minneapolis, also known as the city’s art district. 2025 is the 30th year anniversary of Art-A-Whirl. That’s three decades of bringing different artists and the community together for this unbelievable event. The event is organized by NEMAA – which stands for the Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association. It’s a non-profit organization that supports local small artists and promotes art engagement. Did I mention it’s a free event? The only thing you need to pay for is art, food, or transportation! It’s the largest annual artist open studio tour in the United States.

There are a lot of artists that work all year round to make different kinds of art, jewelry, home decor, and so much more, to sell. You get to walk into these studios where artists spend a lot of time making incredible artwork and you get to really see their spaces and it’s almost like you step into their brains and mindsets to really take their art in, it’s an incredible and personal experience. There are also food trucks and breweries in the area that participate as well. Sadly, Art-A-Whirl is just a weekend long event, but it really helps artists get their name and their original work out there. Each year it creates a lasting impact for those who eagerly anticipate the event each and every year. It’s almost always in the middle of May; this year the dates are May 16-18:

Friday, May 16 5-10pm

Saturday, May 17 12-8pm

Sunday, May 18 12-5pm

Getting around Art-A-Whirl can be a little overwhelming because there’s a lot of studio buildings involved in Art-A-Whirl, some I didn’t even know of until a couple years ago, and I’ve been attending Art-A-Whirl for a long time. There are 21 studio buildings involved in Art-A-Whirl and 23 standalone sites and businesses participating with guest artists, so there’s a lot to see in this three-day span. Some of the most popular studio buildings to go see would be Casket Arts building and Casket Arts Carriage House, Northrup King Building, Thorp Building and others. The beautiful thing about Art-A-Whirl as well, is that in each building or place you go into, it’s never the same experience or art. All the buildings hold very different emotions, and each artist puts their own personalized look into their artwork. 

Art-A-Whirl is truly more of an underground gem. If you’re attending Art-A-Whirl for the first time or this is your tenth year in a row going, there’s always something new to see at this event. It’s a great event to check out – especially because it showcases the work of local Minneapolis artists. You get to see how talented and creative that community is. You can walk around freely at your own pace and see a great range of different types of art. It’s a great event to check out especially because it’s full of local Minneapolis artists, you get to see how talented and creative their work is. You get to walk around freely, get inspired by others, there aren’t a lot of events like Art-A-Whirl and if you’ve never heard of this event, now’s the time to experience it!