Turning 27 in 1980, Patrick Scully left the dance collective he called home to work independently and “explore what being gay meant to me as an artist.” A decade that began with optimism yielded surprises as political conservatism, the destruction of his downtown block, and AIDS rocked his world. For our continuing series reflecting on the Twin Cities in the 1980s, Scully shares his memories.

At Portland’s Time-Based Art Festival, “artists are often in the room and the audience is invited to be in concert with them.” Opening Sept. 6, this year’s edition features Miguel Gutierrez, a Buckminster Fuller film project featuring Yo La Tengo, and more.

President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that he’ll be nominating Ranee Ramaswamy as a member of the National Council on the Arts. Ramaswamy’s Minneapolis-based Ragamala Dance has performed at the Walker many times, including the 2004 Walker commission, Sethu.

France’s unique unemployment benefits for workers in the arts has been deemed financially unsustainable. The system could come to an end in 2013—which, if it does, is expected to spark industry strikes similar to when the bill came under review in 2003.

From 1912 to 1948, the Olympics had an art competition and awarded medals for architecture, painting, sculpture, literature, and music. Among several interesting rules, officials required submissions “to bear a definite relationship to the Olympic concept.”

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Walker welcomed performing artists like Bill T. Jones, Karen Finley, and Ron Athey, whose work reflected concerns of the day. In conjunction with the exhibition This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s, John Killacky, performing arts curator from 1988 to 1996, shares his memories of Walker performances—and politics—of the era.

Elizabeth Streb’s “extreme dancers” performed aerial choreography on London’s Millennium Bridge and City Hall Sunday. The “surprise” works were commissioned by the London 2012 Festival, which is hosting cultural events leading up to the Olympics.

Elizabeth Streb, whose company was commissioned by the Walker in 1997 to do aerial choreography in the Metrodome and the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, has a few surprises in store for London—Olympic-sized aerial spectacles at the city’s best-known landmarks.