by staff
Lately, I’ve had the terrific problem of attending more than my fair share of fundraisers. In the space of the last three months I’ve been to anything from backyard political barbeque to starving artist capital campaign to insert-name-of-ailment awareness dinner. While all have been admirable causes, their attempts to throw a party in support are too often sleepy affairs. The Walker Art Center does not have this problem. The people who legitimately care about the financial health of everyone’s favorite museum, executives with recognizable names, guys who seem to be on the board of everything even though they don’t have a discernible career, gubernatorial offspring, foul mouthed sports announcers, guys who look remarkably similar to Bravo television producer/hosts, hipster mayors, continental radio personalities, communist DJs, general layabouts, tax accountants, clothing designers, painters, writers, dancers, musicians and party girls in attendance aren’t necessarily there because they want to ensure the Walker has enough money to keep its lights on, but because the Walker has painted itself as the kind of place where that cast of Minnesota Socialites touch both shoulders and interests. Supplied with no less than three kinds of caviar and bartenders who seemed to have every donor’s drink already memorized, baseball executives and sort-of-broke-twentysomething-pretend-writer-guys fought over whose made-up Prairie Vodka flavor was better and which of those flavors was worth the $275 starting auction bid. (Sure enough, the one in favor of leftover burrito-flavored vodka didn’t win, which is probably for the best.) The magic that Avant Garden, held in the outdoor Sculpture Garden, illustrates is that while other fundraisers seek to generate revenue in the here and now, the Walker grows with us from the times when, starved for cash, we devour online cat videos as a form of Friday night entertainment all the way until we’re established enough to afford a $70,000 bid on Cindy Sherman photograph. The mini-golf and sweaty grinding on a trippy makeshift danceclub floor make this broad Patron Of The Arts spectrum all the more accessible. Avant Garden is an event for the Walker, but it is also for that progressive breed of Minnesotan that has come to love it.
DJ Soviet Panda
