2026 Twin Cities Pride Blacksmithing Events 🔥🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
This Pride, We Hand You the Hammer
IAMA Pride Blacksmithing 2026
Heat. Pressure. Transformation. It's the most honest metaphor we know for queer life — and at IAMA we don't just say it, we hand you the hammer.
Industrial Arts Mentorship for All (IAMA) is a North Minneapolis nonprofit that teaches blacksmithing, copper forming, and metal fabrication to queer and underrepresented youth and adults — and every June we run a dedicated Pride program. This year our studio fills with fire, sparks, and the particular joy of making something true with your own hands. Whether you've never touched an anvil or you've been forging for years, there's a place for you here.
Register for the Queer Adult Blacksmithing Workshop → · June 12 · $100 · only a handful of spots left
What's Happening this Pride
4 ways to be part of IAMA Pride Blacksmithing 2026:
[click these for more 👇🏼]
Queer Adult Blacksmithing Workshop — one night, one project, all skill levels (no experience needed)
Queer Youth Blacksmithing Program — our in-session summer cohort for experienced young smiths
Pride Celebration & Gallery — Sunday, June 28th
Artist in Residence: Dominique Carrion — new sculptural metalwork on view
Location: 4430 Lyndale Ave N MPLS
Why Blacksmithing, Why Us
Most Pride programming asks you to show up and watch. Ours asks you to make.
There's a long, mostly untold history of queer people in the metal trades — people who, like our founder Carla Hall, spent decades as the only one in the shop. Carla has worked metal for over thirty years, grew up queer in the rural South in the '80s and '90s, and built a career in a field that rarely made room for her. IAMA is the room she decided to build instead: a forge where you don't have to leave any part of yourself at the door.
The name says it. IAMA comes from a writing exercise we do together — "I am a…" — a way of naming who we are out loud, in a space safe enough to mean it. Then we go make the thing.
That's the difference. This isn't rainbow decoration on a craft class. It's craft as identity work — vulnerable, a little uncomfortable, and genuinely freeing. As we like to say around here: community builds joy. Creativity builds joy.
Join us for some Pride fun and creative adventure in blacksmithing.
Queer Adult Blacksmithing Workshop — no experience required
Friday, June 12 · 6–9 PM · $100 · North Minneapolis · ages 18+
You will leave with a forged steel J-hook you made yourself, a few new skills, and — if our classes are any indication — a few new friends.
This is a beginner-friendly, project-based class built specifically for queer adults. Over three hours at the forge you'll learn the foundational moves of blacksmithing — heating, drawing out, shaping, finishing — guided safely the whole way by Dani Sanchez, a working smith from our shop. No background needed. Just curiosity and closed-toe shoes.
It's hands-on, it's a little loud, and it's the kind of evening that reminds you what your hands can do. Spots are limited and the room is small on purpose.
Reserve your spot — $100 → 100% of your registration supports IAMA's free youth programming.
Location: 4430 Lyndale Ave N MPLS
Queer Youth Blacksmithing Program
Thursdays 5–8 PM & Sundays 2–5 PM · summer cohort in session
Our Pride youth program is open to queer young people who already have blacksmithing and metalworking experience — a chance to deepen their craft, build sculptural work, and create alongside other queer youth in an affirming, mentor-led shop.
This summer's cohort is already at the anvil. If your young person is interested in joining a future session — at any experience level — reach out and we'll point you to the right program. Other IAMA youth start with no experience at all.
This year's Pride program is made possible by PFund Foundation and the Fiola Charitable Trust.
Location: 4430 Lyndale Ave N MPLS
Pride Celebration & Gallery Exhibition
Sunday, June 28 · 2–4 PM · IAMA Studio, North Minneapolis · free & open to all
Come celebrate. Our Pride afternoon brings together:
A gallery exhibition of queer metal artists, including new work by our Artist in Residence
Live blacksmithing demonstrations — watch steel move
Hands-on activities for youth — bring the kids
A celebration of our Artist in Residence, Dominique Carrion
Whether you're forge-curious, a metal lover, a proud parent, or just looking for a meaningful way to mark Pride in the Twin Cities, you're welcome at our fire.
Location: 4430 Lyndale Ave N MPLS
Artist in Residence: Dominique Carrion
Thursdays 5–8 PM & Sundays 2–5 PM · summer cohort in session
We're proud to welcome Dominique Carrion as our Pride Artist in Residence. During her residency, Dominique is exploring metalwork and texture, developing sculptural pieces created especially for the IAMA Pride Gallery.
Dominique is a visual artist from Quito-Ecuador. Rooted in a strong pictorial language, her work centers on the expressive potential of the human figure rendered through dramatic gestures, layered textures, and evocative color relationships. Her practice engages with themes of memory, the body, and representation, combining dramatic and emotional scenes.
During her artist in residency at IAMA she will be using heat to explore textures and layering in sheet steel, incorporating these into the framework of her paintings.
Her new work will be on view at the Pride Celebration and Open Studio Event on June 28.
Who's behind IAMA
IAMA — Industrial Arts Mentorship for All — was founded by metal artist and educator Carla Hall in North Minneapolis. Carla has worked metal for more than thirty years. She trained at Penland School of Craft, spent seventeen years building and running youth industrial-arts programs at The Crucible in the Bay Area, and was awarded the Jefferson Award for Outstanding Community Service for that work. Her own commissioned sculpture — architectural pieces, garden structures, and large-scale public art that draw on Japanese joinery and the forms of the natural world — is found throughout the country.
IAMA grew out of a 2024 project mentoring queer youth in blacksmithing for Twin Cities Pride. In our first year, we served 170 young people in blacksmithing, copper forming, and metal fabrication, and built partnerships with Queer Space Collective, Avenues for Youth ConneQT, and Minneapolis Public Schools' Career & Technical Education program.
We believe art shouldn't be a luxury, and that everyone deserves a mentor who reflects who they are. So we keep the shop doors open. Industrial Arts Mentorship for All is a registered 501(c)(3), EIN 93-4631398.
FAQs: Twin Cities Pride Blacksmithing Events 2026
Do I need any experience for the adult blacksmithing workshop?
No. The June 12 Queer Adult Blacksmithing Workshop is a beginner, project-based class. You'll make a forged J-hook from scratch with step-by-step guidance from a working blacksmith.
How much is the adult workshop and what's included?
It's $100 and includes all materials, tools, instruction, and the J-hook you forge and take home. 100% of proceeds support IAMA's free youth programming.
Is IAMA only for queer people?
IAMA's mission centers queer and underrepresented communities, and several programs — including the Pride workshops — are created specifically for queer participants. The June 28 Pride Celebration is free and open to everyone.
What should I wear to a blacksmithing class?
Closed-toe shoes and natural-fiber clothing you don't mind getting dirty (cotton, wool, or leather — avoid synthetics like polyester). Long hair tied back. We provide safety gear.
Where is IAMA located?
At 4430 Lyndale Ave N, Minneapolis, MN 55412, in North Minneapolis.
Can my company or group book a blacksmithing experience?
Yes. IAMA offers group and team-building forge sessions year-round. Contact us through iamayouth.org to plan one.
Want to come as a group? A forging night makes a genuinely unforgettable team-building or birthday outing — reach out and we'll set one up.
COMPLETE STEPS 1 & 2 TO REGISTER
STEP 1: Fill Out This Form
STEP 2: Click Button To Pay
anvil photo image by fxquadro on Freepik
two friends youth photo by ___ on Freepik
youth with rainbow flag photo by ___ on Freepik
woman welder photo by ___ on Freepik