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.

Think fantasy is kid stuff? Try 'Trouble the Saints'
Alaya Dawn Johnson's new novel is set in New York on the eve of World War II, in a world where a few lucky (well, not that lucky) people are gifted with "saints' hands," that give them strange skills.
One-third of U.S. museums may not survive the year, survey finds
In a survey of more than 750 museum directors, 33 percent of them said there was either a "significant risk" of closing permanently by next fall or that they didn't know if their institutions would survive.
Exhausting effect of FOIA requests evident in 'Baseless'
Nicholson Baker's book misses the mark in an aim to take readers on a quest to discover if the U.S. used biological weapons developed in the '50s — and to examine the failings of public records law.
Arts board announces simplified grant program for MN artists struggling in COVID-19 economy
The Minnesota State Arts Board has approved a trio of new grants meant to help artists and organizations weather the economic turmoil created by COVID-19. But artists say the new grants don't go far enough to serve historically marginalized communities.
Alex Trebek is here to tell you, 'The Answer Is ...'
The Jeopardy! host didn't plan to write an autobiography. "I'm just a quiz show host who's been doing the same job for 36 years," he says. But writing the book gave him "a great deal of satisfaction."
The real 'Hamnet' died centuries ago, but this novel is timeless
Maggie O'Farell's new novel confront's a parent's worst nightmare: The loss of a child. In this case, it's Hamnet, the real-life son of William Shakespeare, whose death may have inspired “Hamlet.”
The Thread: 'My Dark Vanessa' by Kate Elizabeth Russell
Are you flying through your summer reading list? Kerri Miller is here for you with the first of three delicious midsummer thrillers to keep you reading late into those summer nights.
Linguist John McWhorter says 'White Fragility' is condescending toward Black people
Columbia University professor John McWhorter says the bestselling book “White Fragility” supposes that "Black people's feelings must be stepped around to an exquisitely sensitive degree."
1918 flu inspired Donoghue's 'Pull Of The Stars' — a disquieting pandemic novel
Set in a Dublin maternity ward in 1918, the novel captures a city devastated by a pandemic. By diving into the terrors of the past, Emma Donoghue presciently anticipates the miseries of our present.