St Paul Art Collective

The St Paul Art Collective (SPAC) is the active voice of art and artists in St Paul, Minnesota. The mission of the St. Paul Art Collective is to empower artists of all genres through expanding awareness, connections and inspirational spaces in which to create and grow. The St. Paul Art Collective values artists and art as an essential component for the economic and social health, well-being and vibrancy of St. Paul and the Lowertown neighborhood where it is based. The vision of SPAC is to provide sustained support for projects, initiatives, and events that increase the awareness of local artists, their work, and the crucial role they play in the greater cultural life of the community.In the late 1970's and early 80's the Lowertown district of St. Paul had become a neighborhood of empty parking lots and abandoned warehouses quickly falling into disrepair. The affordability of the warehouse spaces attracted artists, and Lowertown quickly became the center of the St. Paul art scene. In 1977, a contingent of Lowertown artists founded the St. Paul Art Collective with the mission of protecting spaces for artist to create and increasing the awareness of the crucial role that artist play in the greater cultural life of the Twin Cities.The founding artists of the St. Paul Art Collective had their first group exhibition at the Union Depot. In the decade and a half that followed, the artists of the collective continued to hold loosely organized group events in and around downtown St. Paul. From 1981 to 1985, the collective also ran a critically acclaimed fine art gallery in Lowertown called the Wall St Gallery.Current programs of SPAC include: Saint Paul Art Crawl, Lowertown First Fridays, Art in the Park at CHS Field (home of the Saint Paul Saints baseball team) and the Lowertown Welcome Center.