“This definitely wasn’t on my bingo card for the year,” says Lynn Farmer, Chief Audience and Engagement Officer at Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia). Farmer and I are meeting over Zoom to chat about her impending runway debut at Fashion Week Minnesota this October, where she will be walking as one of Fashion Week’s community luminaries.
A runway debut may not have been on Farmer’s bingo card, but perhaps it should’ve been. With an extensive background in fashion—Farmer began her career at Niemen Marcus and eventually transitioned to Target corporate—and now, a daily immersion in history and art at Mia, Farmer’s professional experiences have fostered in her a deep appreciation for culture. As what she calls “a community steward,” one of her greatest passions is sharing the Twin Cities’ cultural excellence—in all its forms—with the rest of the community.
“I love being engaged in all kinds of cultural institutions, Mia being one of them. I just want to show people that, you know, this is for everyone,” says Farmer.
On Oct. 12, Farmer will bring this community stewardship to the runway at Fashion Week’s Creative Renaissance fashion show, which, fittingly, will take place within the four walls of her second home— Mia. On the runway, Farmer will be wearing a custom piece by local designer and close friend Keiona Cook of Qe’bella Couture.
“I think there’s a perfect synergy between Fashion Week’s mission and what we’re doing at Mia. It just brings two fabulous things together,” says Farmer.
Before she walks the runway at Creative Renaissance—driven by Morrie’s Auto Group—get to know Lynn Farmer, an avid champion of art, culture, fashion, and community, who is making an impact both within Mia’s galleries and beyond.
Photo by Sheldon J. Powell, The Honeybear Collection
Can you explain what your role at Mia? What does your day-to-day look like?
My title is Chief Audience and Engagement Officer, and that encompasses a lot of different areas. Design and editorial, so the piece that, if you think of a museum and the labels that are on the walls next to the art, the team of people who write those, but also all of the campaigns that you see outside—billboards, print materials, all those things. Then there’s marketing and communication, so PR, social, email, paid advertising. And then I have all of the learning and programming, which is our free public programs on-site, tours, our guides. Basically, anything that’s about engaging the general public, especially here on-site at Mia. So, if you are seeing Mia out in the wild, that’s me. If you’re interacting with a program here at Mia, that’s me, or that’s the team that I work with, rather. It’s kind of all encompassing.
Explain your relationship with art. Has it always been a passion of yours? Is that what led you to this role?
One of the best stories I can tell is that, when I had been here [at Mia] about a month, one of my staff members found a 10-year-old picture, and she said, ‘Lynn, either this is you or its your doppelganger.’ And it was a picture of me and my son at a Mia event 10 years ago. I think that’s just representative of, you know, I have always been a fan of Mia. I brought my family to Mia events, and always felt really great about this institution. It really is, you know, that full circle moment in my career. I get to give back to the community that I love, at an institution that I love, using the skills and talents that I’ve been blessed with. I think people forget honestly that Mia is free admission. Even most of our visitors from Minnesota still don’t know that we are a free institution. It’s not common to have an institution of this caliber be free to the public, so it’s an amazing role to be able to be a brand ambassador.
Describe your experience in and around the fashion industry. Do you feel there is a synergy between the realms of fashion and art?
Interestingly, I started my career in retail, working for a department store called Neiman Marcus. So honestly, I was fashion 101, all day, every day. I worked there for about four years, but the reason I came to Minnesota was to work for Target at their corporate headquarters. I got to work with people like Gwen Stefani and Missoni and Liberty of London, these really huge brands. So, I’ve always had an interest in fashion and always seen a synergy between art and fashion. Art is where you can often get that inspiration, and then fashion is, you get to wear that inspiration every day. It’s great to bring those two things together. And I think the communities are very symbiotic too.
On the runway, you will be wearing a piece by Keiona Cook of Qe’bella Couture, who I know is a friend of yours. What do you love about Keiona’s brand and vision?
She’s bold. I love that. She is bold, unafraid, and always willing to step outside the box. I also appreciate her community focus. She has a sewing school for kids (Lovely Sewing & Arts Collective). My daughter was actually part of her sewing school about 10 years ago, and she still runs it out of her space in the North Loop today. And so, I really appreciate that it is about the fashion and the style, and feeling confident, but there’s also this other thing about bringing up the next generation and encouraging them too. She’s teaching them to run their own small businesses, essentially, and what it means to make products and sell products.
What makes you most excited about this partnership between Mia and Fashion Week?
I see such a vibrancy in the fashion community here in the Twin Cities, and I think it’s just so powerful to be able to support and assist the community in ways that make sense for both of us. They have these dynamic visual artists, if you will, designers, and they need a place to showcase the amazing work they do, and where better than the museum?
What would you say is the can’t-miss exhibit at Mia right now?
Come see the Tibetan shrine! Put it this way, the next closest one is at the Smithsonian. Minnesota has the second largest Tibetan community in the U.S., which who would have thought, right? But the donor gave it to the museum, so it’s a permanent exhibition. It’s very intimate and sensory, and you really get the feeling that you’re in a Tibetan home— the sounds and the smells. So, we’re really encouraging everyone to come see it.
