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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.

Independent TV festival hopes to be an industry catalyst in Duluth

Independent TV festival hopes to be an industry catalyst in Duluth

The five-day Catalyst Content Festival kicks off Wednesday in Duluth. It's like a film festival, but for "episodic content." Think: Netflix or Hulu. Festival organizers moved the event to Duluth this year, and say they hope to be here for the long haul.
by Dan Kraker

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How high school debate in 1990s Kansas explains the present: A novel argument

How high school debate in 1990s Kansas explains the present: A novel argument

Author Ben Lerner's new semi-autobiographical book, The Topeka School, finds a competitive-debate whiz kid navigating adolescence — and perhaps the precursors to today's American politics.
by Ari Shapiro

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Here are the finalists for the 2019 National Book Awards

Here are the finalists for the 2019 National Book Awards

The shortlists this year include Marlon James, Susan Choi, Carolyn Forché, Jason Reynolds and more than two dozen other authors and translators. Winners in five categories will be unveiled next month.
by Colin Dwyer

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In 'Tough Love,' former U.N. ambassador Susan Rice aims to reclaim her voice

In 'Tough Love,' former U.N. ambassador Susan Rice aims to reclaim her voice

The former national security adviser endured ridicule over comments made after the Benghazi embassy attack. Her book allows her tell her own story — and she is also open about foreign policy failures.
by Caitlyn Kim

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Zadie Smith has something for everyone in 'Grand Union'

Zadie Smith has something for everyone in 'Grand Union'

Smith's first short story collection is wide-ranging, covering everything from politics to murder to drag queens. Some of the slighter stories feel like footnotes, but many show off Smith at her best.
by Heller McAlpin

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Innocence Lost: explained

Innocence Lost: explained

In the series of articles and radio reports beginning today titled “Innocence Lost,” MPR News aims to offer the fullest telling to date of the sexual abuse that plagued Children’s Theatre Company in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.
by Eric Ringham

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Minnesota monk to deliver prestigious lecture in Washington

Minnesota monk to deliver prestigious lecture in Washington

Father Columba Stewart, executive director of the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library at St. John’s University in Collegeville, will give the Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities. Past honorees include Toni Morrison and Arthur Miller.
by Mohamed Ibrahim

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Innocence Lost: Children's Theatre Company responds to questions

Innocence Lost: Children's Theatre Company responds to questions

When Managing Director Kimberly Motes and Artistic Director Peter Brosius of Children’s Theatre Company agreed to an interview with Marianne Combs, they asked that MPR News to publish their comments in their entirety. This is the full text of that interview.
by Marianne Combs

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Innocence Lost: A culture of abuse

Innocence Lost: A culture of abuse

Allegations of abuse at the Children's Theatre Company date back to 1972, an arrest was made a dozen years later and some survivors are only now finding justice.
by Marianne Combs

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