In 2008, we began the annual Taste of Phillips Art Festival, which celebrates the diversity of culture of the Phillips neighborhood. Phillips is the youngest, most diverse community in Minneapolis, with large numbers of Latinos, Somalis and Native Americans, as well as African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Caucasians.. The median income is less than 70% of the city as a whole. It is the most polluted community, and has the most murals and community gardens.

Semilla works to build community through quality arts programming that integrates arts with leadership and youth development, greening and holistic health initiatives.  We have especially tried to reach people who do not receive quality arts programming, including people with limited English language skills and with mental health issues.

One barrier to participation in the Phillips community is language, and we address that through bilingual staff, and using bilingual promotional and training materials, which also use a lot of images and photos to help those with visual or literacy issues.  Other barriers are the divisions and lack of trust that is sometimes present in the community itself.  This is especially critical for undocumented immigrants, who must daily navigate a world that is not always accepting.  We have intentionally partnered with groups who support immigrants, to demonstrate our commitment to welcoming them.

We do not charge for workshops, but do hold cultural community fundraisers to help support the program.  Our weekly art studio nights are free and open to all. We build fiesta celebrations into our programs, to which the public is invited.  The marketing materials produced in this project will show a variety of people creating art in community.  We trust that that will encourage people who may have never thought of themselves as artistic to participate.