About
For archival purposes, we have retained the following information below to commemorate the origins and accomplishments of The Cowles Center.
The Cowles Center is a dance and performing arts hub that promotes movement and growth for artists through supportive programs and spaces; engages audiences through dynamic performances; and educates learners of all ages through robust and inclusive education initiatives.
Who we are
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We program an exciting season annually, representing more than 20 local artists and companies that showcase the depth and breadth of the Twin Cities’ professional dance scene.
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We partner with artists and companies in our season by providing subsidized marketing and production support, letting the artists focus on their performances.
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We educate through high-quality arts learning programs, serving students of all ages statewide, via residencies, workshops, and student matinees.
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We support the growth and life cycle of dancers and companies through our below-market-rate offices, studios, and stages; and through community engagement programs, McKnight Fellowships, and our MERGE program.
The Cowles Center is committed to providing a comfortable home for dancers and dance lovers of all backgrounds, especially our neighbors in the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota, and we are actively pursuing anti-racist practices to ensure that commitment is seen through. To date, we have formed the Programs & Education Advisory committee to center feedback from representatives of communities who are traditionally unrepresented in dance including BIPOC, LGBTQIA2+, and people with disabilities.
Our Commitment
EVERY. BODY. DANCES
The Cowles Center will continue to refine our equity and inclusion efforts for greater clarity across all aspects of our work in tandem with Artspace. Have ideas on how we can improve our programming to better serve our diverse community? We’d be honored if you’d shared them with us, please email info@thecowlescenter.org.
HISTORY
OF THE COWLES CENTER
The Cowles Center for Dance & the Performing Arts opened its doors as a hub for dance in 2011. This opening celebrated a 120-year-old story that began with the building of the eight-story Masonic Temple on Hennepin Avenue in Downtown Minneapolis in 1888. Nearly two decades later, the historic Shubert Theatre opened a quarter-mile away. Both the Masonic Temple and the Shubert Theatre lived many lives, but they were fated to come together through Artspace (a nonprofit developer for the arts, and the current owner/operator of The Cowles Center) in the late 1990s.
The Masonic Temple was converted into the Hennepin Center for the Arts (HCA) in 1977. Due to the challenges of operating such a large and historic building, HCA’s Board of Directors decided to hand the building over to Artspace. Around the same time, the Minneapolis City Council stalled in its efforts to raze a group of buildings nearby – that group included the Shubert Theatre which had recently joined the National Register of Historic Spaces. With a proposal from Artspace, the City agreed to move the building next to HCA. Over 12 memorable days in 1999, the Shubert Theatre traveled slowly yet surely to its current position on Hennepin Avenue
The Cowles Center gained its 501(c)3 status in 2009 and has since welcomed more than 1,000,000 audience members, students, and artists through its doors. The historic campus has become a dynamic hub of creativity, innovation, education, and diversity—resulting in a vibrant arts community for us to live, work, and play.