| Twin Cities
Minneapolis and St. Paul Area
U
of M
Minnesota
Culture
The Twin Cities area is the cultural center of the Upper Midwest: it ranks second after New York in per capita attendance at theater and arts events. World-renowned theater, music, and museums—as well as hundreds of smaller organizations—are all part of the cultural richness of the area.
Theater
The world-renowned Guthrie Theater®.
Theater-goers will find Tony® award-winning professional theater companies like the Guthrie Theater and Theatre de la Jeune Lune, as well as a multitude of small and community theater groups. These groups specialize in areas such as African American, experimental, or classic plays, and include Park Square Theater, Penumbra Theatre, Southern Theater, and Theatre in the Round.
Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater is a favorite of Minnesota families.
The Children's Theater Company—also the winner of a regional Tony® award—stages classic and new plays for children of all ages. The Heart of the Beast Puppet Theater and the Stages Theater provide additional opportunities. There are also comedy troupes, suburban dinner theaters, and touring Broadway shows.
Museums
The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is part of the Walker Art Center.
Minneapolis and St. Paul are home to a number of museums. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts displays an encyclopedic collection of world art from antiquity to the present. The recently expanded Walker Art Center in Minneapolis highlights contemporary painting, sculpture, and prints, and includes the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. The Walker also offers extensive programming in dance and film.
The Minnesota History Center near downtown St. Paul
The Minnesota Museum of American Art, the Minnesota History Center, the Science Museum of Minnesota, and the Minnesota Children's Museum are located in St. Paul.
The Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum on the University campus
The Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, designed by Frank Gehry, has received worldwide acclaim for its creative and controversial design of stainless steel and brick. It houses a notable collection of early 20th-century American art, as well as holdings in ceramics and Asian decorative arts.
Concerts and dance events
The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in downtown St. Paul
The Minnesota Orchestra, located in Minneapolis, and the Grammy Award-winning St. Paul Chamber Orchestra are world-renowned ensembles. Their homes, Orchestra Hall and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, also host internationally known performers in classical, pop, and jazz music.
The Target Center, home to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx basketball teams, is also a venue for many concerts and live productions.
Popular artists also perform at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center and the Target Center in Minneapolis. Other musical programs are presented by the Minnesota Opera Company and a variety of dance troupes.
The Barbara Barker Center for Dance is located in the University's West Bank area.
Many music and dance events are also held on the Twin Cities campus, such as the University's Northrop Auditorium dance series featuring dance from around the world.
Recreation
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The Lake Harriet Bandshell and sailboats in Minneapolis
Outdoor activities
The Twin Cities area offers a wide range of recreational activities in a beautiful setting. With a multitude of lakes, parks, and rivers in the metropolitan area, summer sports include swimming, golfing, canoeing, sailing, rowing, running, soccer, baseball, and fishing. In the winter, cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, snowboarding, skating, snowshoeing, and ice fishing are popular. Intramural sports and clubs at the University provide the opportunity for students to participate in team sports.
Biking in the metropolitan area
One of the bikeways connecting the East Bank and West Bank
Many bicycle routes in the Twin Cities are directly accessible from campus. They run through or near state parks, the Mississippi River and its bluffs, historical and cultural sights, several university campuses, and two major metropolitan areas.
Athletic events
The Xcel Energy Center is home to the Minnesota Wild hockey team.
Minnesota has many exciting spectator sports teams including the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers (part of the Big Ten intercollegiate conference), the Minnesota Vikings professional football team, the Minnesota Timberwolves professional men's basketball team, the Minnesota Lynx professional women's basketball team, the Minnesota Twins professional baseball team, the Minnesota Wild professional hockey team, and the Minnesota Thunder professional soccer team.
Economic Advantages
The historic Pillsbury flour mill helped make Minneapolis world-famous for food processing and milling.
Minneapolis and St. Paul are centers of commerce and industry, particularly in the following areas:
- computers
- electronics
- food processing and milling
- forest products
- medicine and medical technology
- retailing
- transportation
Minneapolis is headquarters to a number of Fortune 500 companies.
Hundreds of national and multinational corporations make their homes in the Twin Cities, such as 3M, Best Buy Companies, Inc., Cargill, General Mills, International Dairy Queen, International Multifoods Corporation, Land O'Lakes, Medtronic, Northwest Airlines, SuperValu, Inc., Target Corporation, United Health Group, and US Bank.
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