Free September Events Include Inaugural Neighborhood Night Celebrating Whittier
This September, the Walker Art Center launches its inaugural Neighborhood Night, celebrating Minneapolis’ Whittier neighborhood with an evening of art-making, community resource sharing, and a presentation of Whittier: A Play in Portraits, a multimedia docudrama by playwright TyLie Shider. Created in partnership with the Whittier Alliance and featuring activities designed and led by members of the Whittier community, Neighborhood Night: Whittier takes place September 24 and is a highlight of the Walker’s September free programming, which also includes Art Club, Free First Saturday, Sensory Friendly Sunday, and an ASL-interpreted public tour.
Thursday, September 10, 5 pm
Walker Art Center
Food and art combine in this delicious workshop. Learn a range of traditional icing methods and more experimental decorating trends from a skilled local pastry chef and see how far you can push the limits of edible creations.
A limited supply of vegan, gluten-free cakes will be available upon request.
Sunday, September 13, 8-11 am
Walker Art Center
Experience a selection of current exhibitions, make art, or watch a short film. From 8–11 am, the galleries will be closed to the general public, allowing people of all ages with sensory processing differences, autism, or developmental disabilities to enjoy the museum in a calm environment with quiet spaces, fidgets, sunglasses, and other accommodations available. All friends and family members are welcome.
Art Club: Polaroid Photo Albums
Thursday, September 17, 5 pm
Art Lab
Make your memories even sweeter by collecting them in a one-of-a-kind photo album, customizable with a variety of papers, tapes, stickers, and other found objects. Bring your own photos or take new Polaroids with the cameras provided.
Public Tour with ASL Interpretation
Thursday, September 17, 6 pm
Walker Art Center
Public tours are facilitated by museum educators and explore artwork in current exhibitions and the Walker’s collection. Tours are designed to be interactive, providing groups the opportunity to experience and interpret art through close examination and discussion.
Thursday, September 24, 5 pm
Walker Art Center
The Walker’s inaugural Neighborhood Night features events and activities designed and led by members of the Whittier community. In partnership with the Whittier Alliance, a neighborhood association, join us for a night of hands-on art-making, community activities, and resource sharing.
Walker Cinema, 7 pm
Whittier: A Play in Portraits, by playwright TyLie Shider, is a multimedia docudrama that chronicles 24 hours in Minneapolis’ Whittier neighborhood during the summer of 2020. The narrative unfolds in a series of portraits and vignettes, featuring a chorus of neighbors who communicate through a “Neighborhood Watch” group chat. The interdisciplinary work organically blends theater and film to reflect the resilience of community.
Coproduced with Dark Muse.
About Dark Muse
Dark Muse Healing Arts curates radical care experiences centering Black, Brown, Queer & Trans Healing through creative expression. In spring 2027, Dark Muse will bring to life a full-scale production of Whittier: A Play in Portraits as an experimental, site-specific work in South Minneapolis.
About TyLie Shider
TyLie Shider is an American writer; a 2026 HEART grantee for History, Education, and Arts Reaching Thousands; a Pedantic Arts’ Writer in Residence; a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellow; and the inaugural playwright in residence at ArtYard. A core writer and a McKnight Fellow in Playwriting at the Playwrights’ Center (PWC), he is a recipient of Premiere Stages’ Liberty Live commission, two consecutive Jerome Fellowships (PWC), and an I Am Soul playwright in residence at the National Black Theatre. Recent projects include: Don’t Miss Doris Hines; LABOR; Certain Aspects of Conflict in the Negro Family at Premiere Stages; The Gospel Woman, Whittier; and his filmmaking debut Sign O’ the Times. Shider is a staff writer for Minnesota Playlist, where he writes a regular column.
About the Walker Art Center
Known for presenting today’s most compelling artists from close to home and around the world, the Walker Art Center features a broad array of contemporary visual arts, music, dance, theater, and moving image works. Ranging from concerts and films to exhibitions and workshops, Walker programs bring us together to examine the questions that shape and inspire us as individuals, cultures, and communities. The adjacent Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, one of the first urban sculpture parks of its kind in the United States, holds at its center the beloved Twin Cities landmark Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen as well as some 60 sculptures. Visit walkerart.org for more information on upcoming events and programs.