Founded by artists in 2001, Midway is a nonprofit visual arts organization in Minneapolis dedicated to supporting emerging and underrepresented artists through exhibitions, public programs, publishing, and a grant program.

Our mission is to support the creation of and reflection upon visual art and to facilitate significant new developments in the field—presenting audiences with intimate access to visual culture.

All of our programs are free and open to the public.

Midway commissions and develops new work by artists, providing the support necessary to realize ambitious projects. We regulary work with artists over an extended period of time, creating space for ideas to develop through conversation, experimentation, and collaboration.

Our exhibitions primarily focus on developing new projects with artists who have typically never shown in the Midwest or, often, in the United States. As an artist-run space, our program is shaped by an understanding of artistic practice and a deep commitment to artists supporting artists.

Launched in 2020, our Offsite series presents projects in public spaces throughout the Twin Cities, connecting with new audiences. By partnering with local businesses and community organizations, we host temporary installations, screenings, and performances. Our Offsite series continues on an ongoing basis, operating in tandem with our exhibitions at 1509 NE Marshall Street. Pao Houa Her's ongoing Offsite, Untitled, is currently on view at the HmongTown Marketplace in St. Paul.

Midway offers the community opportunities to engage further through public programs, including talks, book launches, film screenings, performances, and lectures by leading artists, writers, thinkers, curators, architects, and designers. These programs are often artist-generated, complementing our exhibitions or engaging our library collection.

Since 2003, Midway’s publishing program has produced more than twenty publications developed in collaboration with artists. Often accompanying an exhibition, these catalogs extend the ideas, research, and conversations that emerge through the development of new work. All are available for purchase on the Midway Publications page.

Midway's library opened in 2007 and is dedicated to documenting, presenting, and preserving the recent history of contemporary visual art in a public context. Its mission is to identify, collect, and catalog published materials to provide a comprehensive and accessible resource for research on/in contemporary art.

The library holds thousands of titles from publishers worldwide, with a core collection of exhibition catalogs and monographs. It also includes reference materials, artist books, DVDs, and a wide selection of periodicals and journals, including current monthly and quarterly subscriptions.

In 2020, Midway launched a lending program to ensure the collection remained accessible while our physical library was closed. With ongoing interest from the community, we continue to offer the lending program today.

Midway’s library is open during our regular hours; no appointments or membership are required to access the collection. The entire Midway library catalog can be accessed online at anytime.

The Visual Arts Fund is a grant program established in 2016 by Midway Contemporary Art with generous support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Minneapolis–Saint Paul is one of forty-two cities and regions included in Warhol’s Regional Regranting Program, which is aimed at promoting vibrant artistic activity in cities across the United States and Puerto Rico.

The Visual Arts Fund awards $60,000 (six $10,000 grants) annually to artist organized projects in the Twin Cities metro region. Proposals must name a lead organizer and can include any number of artists as collaborators; individuals or groups may apply. The VAF supports the development of projects and initiatives that engage the public with visual art and seeks to support a wide array of innovative and diverse projects that otherwise might not occur.

2026 VAF Application

Information about the 2026 grant cycle is available in the Grants section of our website. You can follow the Visual Arts Fund on Instagram for updates on the upcoming application cycle as well as current funded projects: @visualartsfund

Our online VAF archive includes past grantees and information about our 2020 VAF Emergency Relief Grant and Community Relief Grant programs.

Midway Contemporary Art is not accepting artist submissions at this time.