Arts In Lanesboro

Lanesboro is an economic and community development initiative based on the belief that the arts can transform spaces and define communities.

How fun to step into a City well known at the State of Minnesota's only art campus, yes, an Arts Campus. 

The Lanesboro Arts Campus is a layered and memorable arts experience integrated into the fabric of Lanesboro that builds on and is designed to enhance and connect existing assets—the river, scenery, recreation, history, and downtown—while extending art into the community. By utilizing art, design, and history to maintain, strengthen, and link what’s unique and authentic about Lanesboro, the area’s active and engaged community, has made visible progress in stimulating economic growth and improving quality of life.

Lanesboro Arts

Lanesboro Arts is a multidisciplinary arts organization activating the people and places of Lanesboro through community programming, professional art galleries, performing arts at the historic St. Mane Theatre, educational activities, public art, and more. 

The organization is a nationally recognized leader in utilizing the arts for small-town revitalization and community development. Their work has been recognized by ArtPlace America, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Bush Prize for Community Innovation.

Lanesboro Arts Center has year-round programming that includes galleries featuring artwork by 90+ regional and nationally acclaimed artists in our Juried Sales and Exhibition Galleries featuring paintings, photography, ceramic, wood, glass, metal, fiber arts, and jewelry. 

They have organized an Art in the Park Annual Father’s Day Celebration and an Artist Residency Program. 

Lanesboro Arts are active in the elementary schools creating innovative programs for the children such as the Picture Parade art curriculum, gallery tours, artist demonstrations, and workshops. Some of the kid’s projects are Kids Create!, Family Art Projects, Discover Sculpture, and Explore Lanesboro medallion walking tours. Events are always free. 

St. Mane Theatre

Today, Lanesboro Arts hosts and presents programming at the St. Mane Theatre that celebrates culture and nurtures community. Through documentary film screenings and professional music, theatre, and dance performances to grassroots events by The Rhubarb Sisters and Lanesboro Community Theater, the St. Mane Theatre is a venue where artists and community members can exchange, express or experience a story that, in the process, helps bring people together.

Performing arts at the St. Mane, along with the education, artist residency and outreach programs that also take place in the building, are an essential component of Lanesboro Arts mission to serve as a regional catalyst for artistic excellence and educational development in providing diverse art experiences for people of all ages.

Commonweal Theatre

The heart of the Commonweal’s programming is the mainstage season. This balanced yet challenging repertory is traditionally comprised of five plays with more than 180 performances, chosen from among the world’s finest classic, contemporary, and emerging playwrights. Because Lanesboro is located amidst a high concentration of Norwegian-American families, the Commonweal produced the works of Henrik Ibsen for 20 consecutive years, culminating in 2017 with a production of Ibsen’s final play, When We Dead Awaken. The company boasts a distinctive organizational model with resident ensemble members (who have come from all over the country to make their home in the Lanesboro area) fulfilling the day-to-day artistic and operational needs of the company as artist/administrators.

Since 1989, the professional artists of the Commonweal have brought to life soulful stories told with honesty and creativity. Located in the heart of southeast Minnesota’s bluff country, Lanesboro is home to the company’s theatre in its historic downtown.