2025 Artist Residencies

  • September 04, 2025

Hennepin County Library is excited to feature three unique artist residencies at select libraries this fall. Artist residencies will feature a collaboration between teaching artists and host libraries, creating opportunities for community members to explore creative expression, build artistic skills, and connect with local artists and other community members who share similar interests.

Maple Grove Library

Maple Grove Library will host a six-part puppetry residency led by ArtStart Teaching Artists Kallie Melvin and Tara Fahey. The programs will explore puppetry’s cultural history, the power of puppetry in storytelling, and creatively repurpose materials to bring puppets to life. The series will open with Julie and Gustavo Boada’s bilingual performance of Marina the Cockroach and Perez the Mouse, a beloved Cuban and Puerto Rican folktale, and conclude with Laurie Witzkowski’s The Way of the Monarch Butterfly, a visually inventive show using repurposed materials. Learn more and register online.

Maple Plain Library

Maple Plain Library will host a six-part artist residency with COMPAS Teaching Artist Teresa Cox, exploring the connection between nature and art. The first three sessions are designed for youth in grades 1-6 and their caregivers, with each session building upon the last - from painting to aluminum embossing - leading to a final project: a hanging garden sculpture. The final three sessions, designed for adults, will focus on drawing and painting to create flower collages. Learn more and register online.

Minneapolis Central

Minneapolis Central Library will host a fall residency with 2025 McKnight Composer Fellow and COMPAS Teaching Artist Kashimana Ahua. Participants of all backgrounds and skill levels are invited to explore song creation through voice, writing, and looping technology in two workshop series—attend one or all sessions. Help us kick off the music series and join the open mic event to learn more about Kashimana and hear her perform, with the option to share your own voice. Learn more online.