Why, thank you! The Walker’s Performing Arts department — which programs everything from contemporary dance and theater to concerts like Rock the Garden and Summer Music & Movies — makes METRO Magazine’s 2011 METRO 100, a list of “the people, places and things that appear on this list enrich our community in a unique way.”
Here’s the listing, which appears at number two in the magazine’s October issue:
2. Walker Art Center’s dance programming
Lucy Guerin’s Structure and Sadness, Morgan Thorson and Alan Sparhawk’s Making Music Series collaboration and Despair Be Damned, a showcase of music and dance from the Democratic Republic of Congo, are just three recent reasons we like the Walker Art Center’s dance programming—which now rivals the breadth of its already-diverse visual-arts collection. The recent (and gigantic) Merce Cunningham Dance Company visual-arts acquisition coupled with the company’s farewell performance … sees the Walker pushing the envelope even further. walkerart.org
Minnesota’s Dark Dark Dark has high praise for the Walker as well. The chamber-folk sextet, which was commissioned to create a live score for Fritz Lang’s Spies at Summer Music & Movies last summer, included the center in its list of “All-Time Top Five Favorite Museums To Visit While Touring The World” in the Dallas Observer. At number five, the group says the Walker “was on the forefront of ‘contemporary art center re-designs.’ It looks great, and has amazing performance programming. A great collection, too, as well as an exciting layout that’s fun to navigate.” Dark Dark Dark’s favorite museum: MASSMoCA.