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.

As personal challenge, writer makes climate change a mainstream literary topic
Writer Amitav Ghosh chided the literary world of writers, critics and readers to take climate change seriously and make it a central topic. While his new novel “Gun Island” does that, it’s also a page turner.
Navigating culture and crushes in 'Frankly in Love'
David Yoon's young adult debut follows Frank Li, a Korean American kid who concocts a plan to keep his strict parents from finding out that he's dating a non-Korean girl — what could go wrong?
Pipestone National Monument to stop sale of pipes on park grounds
The move is the culmination of decades of contention and several years of more-formal talks about whether to continue selling pipes made from the quarries at Pipestone — spiritual objects carved from what many Native American tribes consider sacred ground.
'A Cosmology of Monsters' blends freaky frights and family feels
Shaun Hamill's new novel uses the lens of horror to examine the ways we interact and fail to interact with each other, and the way a family can be held together by the very things that tear it apart.
'They Will Have to Die Now' is a bare-knuckles account of the fight against ISIS
James Verini's book will stand up with some of the best war reporting, as he takes an unblinking look at the dirtiest kind of battle — urban combat — and the human wreckage it leaves in its wake.