Early fall 2017, Highpoint participated in the Spark-Y Urban Adventure Race. The event was organized with the help of CitySolve, and was a team building scavenger hunt that took place in Uptown, Minneapolis. At Highpoint, participants screen printed images of plants in our rain gardens. Once their printmaking task was complete, they scrambled off to other participating organizations in the Uptown area.

Little Earth is a housing development located in South Minneapolis. It was developed as an affordable housing complex with Native preference and is the first of its kind. Little Earth hosts an after-school teen program that connects teens in their community to learning opportunities both within and outside of the Little Earth community. Teens from this program came to Highpoint three times over the summer for art activities including, learning drypoint and screenprinting techniques.

In fall 2016, Highpoint was excited to participate in Venture Academy’s Shadowing program. This program pairs students with organizations in the community who have a mission that aligns with the students’ career goals. This program is especially exciting because it puts the students in charge of defining their career goals early on, researching local organizations to see what is already happening in their neighborhoods, and helping them make connections to these organizations to gain real-world experience and find out more about themselves and their futures.

Highpoint had the pleasure of working with Centro Tyrone Guzman through their Raîces program in the summer of 2017. Centro Tyrone Guzman’s mission is to build a vibrant, diverse and inclusive Latino community that belongs and contributes to the social and economic vitality of Minnesota. A small group of students ages 12-16 came to learn how to make relief prints. They were full of enthusiasm and learned quickly. Highpoint’s teaching artists challenged students to make two-colored prints, use blend rolls, and print enough to use as gifts or even sell. It was a pleasure to work with this organization and its students and we hope we can continue this partnership next summer! Click here to learn more about Centro Tyrone Guzman: www.centromn.org