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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.

Bad Bunny halftime show lifts and gives hope to Latino Minnesotans at a difficult time

Bad Bunny halftime show lifts and gives hope to Latino Minnesotans at a difficult time

Latino Minnesotans hosted dance parties and played Bad Bunny music before the Puerto Rican artists’ highly anticipated and politically controversial Superbowl halftime show on Sunday. Some say they appreciate Bad Bunny for using his platform to criticize recent ICE actions, and he gives them hope in a trying time.
by Nicole Ki

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Poetry, music and snow sculptures: Minneapolis artists honor 'victims of ICE'

Poetry, music and snow sculptures: Minneapolis artists honor 'victims of ICE'

2024 Minneapolis Poet Laureate Heid E. Erdrich and various snow sculptors hosted a ceremony and vigil Saturday evening for “victims of ICE,” including the debut of a poem by Erdrich honoring Renee Macklin Good. The Luminary Loppet took place the same evening nearby on Lake of the Isles, bringing the beauty of this seasonal tradition during ugly times in the Twin Cities.
by Cait Kelley

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Ask a Bookseller: A few books for understanding how language gets weaponized 

Ask a Bookseller: A few books for understanding how language gets weaponized 

With the surge of ICE operations in Minnesota now in its third month, indie bookstore owners in the Twin Cities and beyond say that customers are coming in looking for three things: community, books to help them understand what's happening, and books to help them escape.  
by Emily Bright

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‘Ice Out for Good’: Art and censorship in the Minnesota snow

‘Ice Out for Good’: Art and censorship in the Minnesota snow

A new snow sculpture in Minneapolis features the face of Renee Macklin Good with a blindfold that says “ICE OUT,” and it references two snow sculptures that were disqualified from competitions last month for their references to the ICE surge.
by Alex V. Cipolle

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MN Shortlist, Feb. 6-12: Systems under pressure, repetition and the art of consequence

MN Shortlist, Feb. 6-12: Systems under pressure, repetition and the art of consequence

From experimental theater that fractures a café ritual to legacy dance that still insists on urgency, these events ask what happens when we interrogate the structures we’ve inherited and decide whether they remain fit for purpose.
by Anika Besst, Alex V. Cipolle and Max Sparber

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Amid the ICE crackdown: How artists are responding to this moment

Amid the ICE crackdown: How artists are responding to this moment

How are artists responding to the continued presence of federal immigration enforcement? MPR News host Angela Davis talks with a poet, a ceramic artist and a graphic artist about what they’re seeing, feeling and creating in this moment. 
by Angela Davis and Nikhil Kumaran

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Lady Macbeth as rockstar — Guthrie opens 'Macbeth' with Kiss the Tiger frontwoman 

Lady Macbeth as rockstar — Guthrie opens 'Macbeth' with Kiss the Tiger frontwoman 

Meghan Kreidler, best known as the frontwoman of Kiss the Tiger, reflects on her long personal connection to Lady Macbeth and how playing the role at the Guthrie has deepened her engagement with Shakespeare, her own ambitions and the play’s contemporary political resonance.
by Alex V. Cipolle

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How Rupert Murdoch created a media empire — and ‘broke’ his own family

How Rupert Murdoch created a media empire — and ‘broke’ his own family

Journalist Gabriel Sherman has covered the Murdoch family for nearly two decades. In his new book, “Bonfire of the Murdochs,” he chronicles the protracted public battle for control the family business.
by Sam Fragoso

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