VJAA

Location: St. Paul, Minnesota

The vacant Victoria Theater building was once an important center for the Rondo and Frogtown community along University Avenue.  Designed as a silent movie theater and then repurposed as a speakeasy featuring jazz, the building is now being redesigned to support a vibrant 21st century neighborhood arts community. The facility will serve a diverse community with a rich cultural history; the Frogtown neighborhood has always been an ethnically diverse community of immigrants and the Rondo neighborhood was formed out of the prominent African American community centered on what was once Rondo Avenue.

The new center will provide a place to inspire the arts and support community expression. Located in this important historic district, the facility will include flexible performance spaces for music, dance, spoken word, theater and film, artist display and teaching spaces, community gathering places, and support spaces. The goal is to create a community arts space that activates the street and neighborhood and is exciting, welcoming to all, sustainable, and respectful of the historic elements and character that remain.