Jack Steinmann: How A Community Sauna Could Build Place in Hancock

Jack Steinmann is a Twin Cities based marketing professional, with more than 25 years of production experience for commercials as well as digital and social media. He has worked with clients such as Target, IKEA, and many more. His films and photography have been featured in local galleries, news sites, and publications including the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Photo Center, the Twin Cities Daily Planet, the Saint Paul Almanac, Indian Country Today, and others. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and native of Minneapolis. He now calls St. Paul home. Steinmann also has family and roots in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. With his wife, they have shared their outdoor sauna for years. He recently presented a placemaking concept in Hancock, Michigan in February 2024 during Sauna Week to create a community owned, led, and accessible public sauna for residents and visitors alike in a city with deep Finnish-American roots from the late 1800s on. The Sauna Forum, held at the Finnish American Heritage Center and hosted by the Finnish Theme Committee, brought together some 50 area residents and visitors to discuss potential interest in bringing public sauna to Hancock, the nesting place of Finnish America. Steinmann describes placemaking a participatory process for shaping public buildings and spaces that harnesses the ideas and assets of the people and communities who use it.