People
The People's Museum for Prince: curator, hosts, collaborators and partners
The People's Museum for Prince is built by people: artists, poets, curators, musicians, historians, worldwide Prince community members and volunteers who believe Prince's legacy belongs to all of us.
With our hearts in Minneapolis, we work together as an international community from all around the world, to honor Prince Rogers Nelson and pay tribute to the way art changes lives.
Founding Curator
At Roberts Gallery, Minneapolis 2026 · Photo: Kirk Thoren
Emma Balázs
Founding Curator
Emma Balázs is an Australian curator and filmmaker who founded The People's Museum for Prince after witnessing the profound community response to Prince's death in 2016. With a PhD in Curatorial and Museum Studies from the University of Melbourne and a Masters from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she brings two decades of experience across leading international art institutions in Australia, the US and Singapore.
Her "counter museum" approach puts community voices ahead of institutional narratives, creating collective portraits through personal stories, artwork and objects. The first People's Museum, in 2018, welcomed over 3,000 visitors during Minneapolis's Art-A-Whirl weekend. The 2026 edition, marking ten years since the passing of Prince Rogers Nelson, brought 75 participants from 9 countries to three exhibitions in Minneapolis, and lives on in the Living Archive.
Emma has presented her work at University of Minnesota Prince symposiums and MoPop Seattle, and contributed a chapter to Blackstar Rising and the Purple Reign: The Sonic Afterlives of David Bowie and Prince (Duke University Press, 2026), edited by Daphne Brooks. Originally trained as a filmmaker at the Victorian College of the Arts, she makes films as E.C.Balázs.
Her film Dearly Beloved → · My Prince Story → · ecbalazs.com →
In Minneapolis
The people who trusted the vision, opened their doors and welcomed the museum into the community.
Photos: courtesy of Peyton Scott Russell and Hawona Sullivan Janzen; courtesy of E.C.Balázs (the Capri); Jill Boogren (Tammy Ortegon)
Peyton Scott Russell
Roberts Gallery, North Minneapolis · 2026
Minneapolis graffiti artist and educator Peyton Scott Russell founded Juxtaposition Arts and, after Prince's death, transformed his star at First Avenue in gold leaf. In 2025 he took over Homewood Studios from his mentor George Roberts and renamed it Roberts Gallery. In June 2026 he opened it to the museum, bringing Way Back Home: Prince and North Minneapolis to Prince's own neighborhood.
Hawona Sullivan Janzen
Artist, writer and curator · Twin Cities
A deeply established Twin Cities artist, writer and curator of Prince exhibitions including Where Purple Reigns: Minnesota Artists on Prince. Hawona was part of the first museum in 2018 and returned in 2026, reading her poem at the Capri. Her trust in the museum's vision, and her introduction to Peyton Scott Russell, brought the museum to Roberts Gallery.
Maija García
Director, the Capri Theater · 2026
Artistic leader, director, producer and curator Maija García leads the Capri, home in 2026 to Let's Work! A Labor of Love and the film night Forever in My Life.
Tammy Ortegon
ColorWheel Gallery, South Minneapolis · 2026
Tammy Ortegon's community gallery hosted the museum's South Minneapolis satellite, No One in the Universe, and three free Prince coloring events.
Collaborators
Photos: Jill Boogren
Kristen Zschomler
Historian · Houses of Prince
A historian, archaeologist and preservationist who researches, writes and leads tours about places associated with Prince and the Minneapolis Sound. Kristen and Emma have worked together since 2018 on Houses of Prince, the museum's ongoing curatorial research project.
Houses of Prince → · In the Living Archive → · SoundAround Tours →
Jennifer Umolac
Minneapolis Legacy Ambassador
Jen brings deep community engagement, festival coordination and Prince community experience to the museum: installation and events in 2018, and project coordination magic in 2026, from shipping to flowers to the van that moves all things.
Hanna Ögren
European Ambassador · 2026
Swedish singer, songwriter and lifelong Prince fan from Umeå, who reached out to the museum and helped share it on social media in 2026.
Lori Kay Blake-Leighton and Samu Carvajal
The museum's eye
Lori's artwork Purple Passion, shown in 2018, is the original inspiration for the museum's purple eye, designed by Samu Carvajal.
Jeff Boogren
With thanks · 2026
When the museum was surprise-gifted Purple Rain, Bethany Tobias's heavy penny portrait, Jeff answered a last-minute call and helped move it to the Capri.
Jennifer Umolac, Nathan Moen (Director, Finance & Operations, the Capri) and Jeff Boogren, delivering Purple Rain by Bethany Tobias to the Capri · June 29, 2026 · Photo: E.C.Balázs
Photographers
Gifted to the museum
Daniel R. Pratt (installation, 2018 and 2026), Kirk Thoren (installation and events, 2026) and Jill Boogren (events, 2026).
Venues and Support
- Roberts Gallery, North Minneapolis2026 · Way Back Home: Prince and North Minneapolis · robertsgallerympls.com
- The Capri Theater2026 · Let's Work! A Labor of Love · thecapri.org
- ColorWheel Gallery, South Minneapolis2026 · No One in the Universe
- Solar Arts Building, Minneapolis2018 · the first People's Museum, during Art-A-Whirl
- University of Minnesota2018 · Prince from Minneapolis Symposium and the College of Liberal Arts, LATIS
- University of MelbourneFounding research, 2016–2019
Editions
Each edition keeps its own credits: Minneapolis 2026 credits →