Talk to anyone who ever said they wanted to be an artist, and they’ll probably tell you one of the first questions they got was, “How are you going to make a living?” The myth that you have to be prepared to starve to be an artist is a persistent one. But Juxtaposition Arts (JXTA), located at Emerson and West Broadway in North Minneapolis, has been blowing up that myth for almost 30 years. JXTA “develops community by engaging and employing young-urban artists in hands-on education initiatives that create pathways to self-sufficiency while actualizing creative power.”

The Seed

From the very beginning, JXTA has been committed to putting artists on a pathway to making a living from their art. The seed for that was planted long before JXTA even existed. Roger Cummings, one of the co-founders, drew superhero pictures and names on Trapper Keepers for his middle school classmates as a way to make a name for himself while earning money for it.

By the time he was in highschool, Roger was part of a breakdance group that performed on weekends at places like the downtown Minneapolis Dayton’s department store. He didn’t yet consider himself an artist, because he didn’t see a path forward to make a living from it. He also didn’t think he wanted to be an artist based on what he’d seen. Roger was part of an exhibit at First Avenue called Haut Noyz. He recalls looking at the older artists who were present and thinking he didn’t want to be like them because they seemed snooty and enigmatic.

The Pathway

The pathway to JXTA started when Roger’s friend, Peyton, asked him to help teach art classes after school and in the summer as part of the Professional Sports Link Program (PSL) that was operating in the Sumner-Glenwood neighborhood of Minneapolis. Roger was airbrushing shirts at the time, which he kept doing, because he wasn’t getting paid to teach art. 

Kids attending PSL learned not only how to make art, they also learned how to talk about it and sell it. Students had to first spend ten hours working on still-life painting. This helped them learn to manage their time, increase their focus and experience working on something over time. This requirement weeded out students who weren’t serious about making art. And it set the ones who were up for success once they moved into mediums of their choice like Graffiti art. But despite its success, the program was eventually cut.

But Roger and Peyton weren’t deterred, because they knew they had something, so with the help of Roger’s wife, DeAnna, who organized their work into a structure, they founded JXTA. The name Juxtaposition represented their commitment to art and economics, which was pretty radical at the time. JXTA aspired to be different, because the young-urban artists they worked with often felt marginalized by traditional arts and educational institutions. JXTA wasn’t here to fix anyone. They just wanted to help young artists grow their artistic talent, have ownership of it and make money from it.

Building a nonprofit wasn’t easy, though. JXTA was the only Black-led arts organization in Minneapolis. Being located in North Minneapolis, they were part of a tight-knit community that was also very transient and experienced significant disinvestment over the years. Also, they experienced racism. People didn’t take JXTA seriously, or worse, thought they were some nefarious operation. Roger said they responded to the racism by working twice as hard to prove JXTA was a well-run and legitimate organization, which he now realizes was a toxic response. 

As JXTA grew, young people were coming from all over the city to attend their classes. Students at JXTA often surpassed what they could learn in their school art classes. And these young artists earned money through the exhibition and sale of their work, which helped support them and their families.

So Much More

Today, Roger is the chief cultural producer at JXTA, which means he is in charge of it all. His two co-founders moved on to other opportunities. JXTA just completed a $14 million capital campaign, which allowed them to expand and make major improvements to their campus in North Minneapolis. But with a new building comes additional expenses and other challenges. Most recently, JXTA invested a lot of time and energy, along with other stakeholders, convincing the Metropolitan Council not to run the Blue Line Extension down West Broadway, which would have negatively impacted many businesses including JXTA.

JXTA is so much more than what Roger, Peyton and DeAnna ever thought it could be when they started it. Growing up, Roger says he loved Sesame Street and SchoolHouse Rock, but it was a mystery to him how to become an animator. JXTA has done a lot to demystify the process of making art as a way to make a living. They’ve also made it fun and accessible. Roger takes pride in the fact that JXTA brings together people from all over to North Minneapolis to view and purchase the art that the young artists at JXTA are creating.

Roger says if he could, he would tell his younger self to be patient because good things will come, and it will all be alright. At this point, he doesn’t feel like he has anything to prove as an artist or arts administrator.  Roger says he manages the need to be an extroverted introvert in his current role by taking care of himself by making time for things like kickboxing. Also, his co-founder and wife, DeAnna, continues to be a valued co-conspirator, cheerleader and source of support, even though she no longer works at JXTA. Roger admires how free the young artists at JXTA are to be themselves and sees them as a better version of himself.

JXTA is doing so much good that the ripples of it reached all the way down to Brazil where a group wants to replicate the model there. Roger thinks JXTA should go on as long as it is useful, nimble and embraces change. He knows there will come a time when he will hand it off to the person or people who will make it into something even better than what it is today. Until then, Roger will be at JXTA doing as much good as he can with what he has with the time he has.  It is easy to see that at the corner of Emerson and West Broadway in North Minneapolis, a lot of good is happening.

Learn More

Visit Juxtapositionarts.org to learn about all the cool, amazing and good things that are happening. You can learn about their programs, how to hire them and upcoming events. You can also take a virtual tour of their beautiful campus. 

You can also follow them on Facebook.