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Arts and Culture

MPR News has you covered with news and stories about local art and culture happenings across Minnesota.

Art Hounds: Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what's exciting in local art. You can explore arts events here, or become an Art Hound today.

Art Reviews: Our arts team offers insight on the latest in theater, music, visual arts and more. We explore the breadth of creativity and innovation found throughout Minnesota, offering audiences a deeper understanding of the works and artists shaping our cultural landscape. Read more here.

Art Friend: Everyone needs an art friend. Art Friend is a new segment with our arts team. Art spaces can feel exclusive and art can be confusing, obtuse, and even boring. But, especially with the right context, everyone can be a critic. So let us be your guide- your Art Friend. Listen or read Art Friend stories here.

Our arts coverage is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment's Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.

Minnesota bestseller Abby Jimenez on the sweet and spicy genre of romance

Minnesota bestseller Abby Jimenez on the sweet and spicy genre of romance

Prolific romance writer Abby Jimenez joins Kerri Miller on Big Book and Bold Ideas for the very first time to talk about how romance is evolving, why it’s a vital part of reading culture and which one cupcake the Nadia Cakes creator would serve to a table of famous writers.
by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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Duluth musician Gaelynn Lea releases her first memoir

Duluth musician Gaelynn Lea releases her first memoir

“It Wasn’t Meant to Be Perfect,” traces Lea’s upbringing in Duluth, her rise to fame after winning NPR Music’s Tiny Desk contest in 2016, and how she’s navigated her disability throughout her life.
by Kelly Gordon and Aleesa Kuznetsov

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Dozens of Black pilots disappeared during WWII. Who are the men still lost?

Dozens of Black pilots disappeared during WWII. Who are the men still lost?

Dozens of Tuskegee Airmen went missing in action during World War II. Most of them have not been found. Who were these men and what happened to them? In her book, “Forgotten Souls,” NPR investigative correspondent Cheryl W. Thompson tells their stories.
by Ayesha Rascoe and Cheryl W. Thompson

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Move over, Mr. Ripley. ‘I Am Agatha’ is a delightfully duplicitous debut

Move over, Mr. Ripley. ‘I Am Agatha’ is a delightfully duplicitous debut

Nancy Foley’s deviously-plotted novel centers on an aging artist in New Mexico. Brutally dismissive of anyone who disagrees with her, Agatha is a perfectly engaging (if unreliable) narrator.
by Maureen Corrigan

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Why this Minneapolis feminist art collective still matters 50 years later

Why this Minneapolis feminist art collective still matters 50 years later

A Minneapolis exhibition marks 50 years of WARM, a pioneering feminist art collective that created space for women artists and helped reshape the local and national art scenes.
by Alex V. Cipolle

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A new poetry book, 20 years in the making

A new poetry book, 20 years in the making

A new poetry book explores poems of spring and connection through 20 years of poetry.
by Cathy Wurzer and Lukas Levin

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'Fargo' 30 years later: How it put Minnesota on the map, for good and bad

'Fargo' 30 years later: How it put Minnesota on the map, for good and bad

To celebrate 30 years of “Fargo,” a special showing at the Fargo Theatre features one of its stars, Peter Stormare, who will watch the movie in its entirety for the first time. Here’s how the movie put Minnesota on the map and changed how people thought of the state.
by Tadeo Ruiz Sandoval

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