Arts advocate: Kat Eldred’s interests are like a mosaic, and each piece helps the Twin Ports arts scene

If one’s life story is a piece of art, Kat Eldred’s life is a mosaic. Eldred is a business owner, artist, volunteer, manager and community leader. Each role is its own tale, but together the pieces tell a much larger story about a woman who is making a difference in the Twin Ports.

Eldred moved to the Northland in 2004 and quickly established herself as an entrepreneur and business owner with the Red Mug, her coffee shop on Hammond Avenue in Superior.

Relocating with her family to Two Harbors to be closer to her parents, Eldred’s plans included taking a summer off after an intensive five years of heading up communications at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Until she met Karin Kraemer, that is. Kraemer, who owns Duluth Pottery

in the Trade and Commerce Marketplace building in Superior, and Jeff Heller, the building’s owner, thought a coffee shop would draw more customers to the building.

Eldred read about the opportunity in a newspaper ad and checked out the space. “It was always my dream to open a European-style coffee shop,” says Eldred. “I had spent years running businesses and departments with other

people’s money and really wanted to see if I could do it for myself.” Working on a shoestring budget and a lot of faith, Eldred and her family plunged 150 percent into building the Red Mug from the ground up.

“The Red Mug brought to Superior a central place for people to go, hang-out, talk and network,” says Kraemer. The shop serves up music and artwork as well. “It also exposed art to people who might not take the initiative to visit a gallery,” Kraemer says. The Red Mug has increased

foot traffic for business owners in the area, too.

For most, owning a successful business would be enough. Not Eldred. “I need to be engaged, to constantly be evolving,” she says. Within a year of opening the Red Mug, she began working at Minnesota Public Radio as Arrowhead district manager. Passionate about community development and the arts, she also became one of 32 community catalysts through the Knight Creative Communities Initiative (KCCI).

While scoping out new space for MPR, Eldred became acquainted with Keir Johnson of the A.H. Zeppa Family Foundation. He also was a KCCI catalyst. The two became part of the team spearheading Art Works! along with Como Oil President John Heino, yet another KCCI catalyst. Eldred and Heino led the planning and implementation of a two-day event focused on boosting

the region’s creative economy. From it came the Twin Ports Arts Alliance, an organization focused on marketing Duluth and Superior as an arts destination, and other initiatives.

An artist and businessperson himself, Heino remembers working with Eldred: “She is a high-energy leader who is ideally suited to span the boundaries of the arts, business and public sectors. Creative, for sure, and a fine artist in her own right, but also a practical businessperson who understands how to get things done.”

Eldred’s conversations and interactions with Johnson lead to meeting Duluth philanthropist Alan Zeppa. Soon afterward, Zeppa hired her as director of communications and operations of the Zeppa Foundation. Zeppa has wide interests and one of them is helping arts organizations.

“I was really excited for the opportunity to help him create something,” Eldred says. “I like being given a vision and then the freedom to create and Alan let me do that.”

They created Zeitgeist Arts, one of the most talked about venues in town today. It consists of a black box theater called Teatro Zuccone, the Zinema2 movie theater specializing in independent films and Zeitgeist Arts Café. Since the grand opening last fall, that trio of businesses under one roof has drawn people of all ages and interests. Eldred is now president of Zeitgeist Arts in addition to maintaining her role with the Zeppa Foundation.

“Zeitgeist Arts is a philanthropic social venture owned by the foundation,” Eldred explains. Any profits will be poured back into the community through grants from the Zeppa Foundation.

Crystal Pelkey, manager of Teatro Zuccone, is impressed with the business model and Eldred’s ability to execute it. “Kat is an artist, a business owner, a community leader and an overall inspiration to those who know and work with her,” Pelkey says.

Eldred says these thoughts guide her: “Invest in yourself because you’re your own best asset. I’m a believer in Karma. What you put out will come back, so I’ve always worked hard and tried to do the right thing.

“I also have a great husband and two wonderful daughters who ground me.”