An internationally respected contemporary art center, the Walker is a catalyst for the creative expression of artists and the active engagement of audiences. We take a multi-disciplinary approach to the creation, presentation, interpretation, collection, and preservation of art. The Walker houses one of the largest museum-based performing arts departments in the country and annually supports dozens of commissions, developmental residencies, and presentations. The McGuire Theater, opened in 2005, serves not only as a stunning platform for presentations but also as a working laboratory and production center, offering innovators the support, time, and resources to finish technically mounting large-scale work. The Walker commissions and presents new work on local, national, and international levels and continues to present a wide range of global work. We support established and innovative masters, mid-career artists and a range of emerging voices in contemporary dance, dance theater, experimental theater, new music-theater, performance art, new puppetry, avant-jazz, electronic music, contemporary classical music, international/global music and experimental pop/rock. We mainly select artists with whom we have ongoing relationships or those we have researched and sought out, but we remain open to receiving proposals and inquiries from artists who fit our mission and who are forging new directions.