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.

'Help Me!' documents a year of self-help books
Marianne Power decided to read one self-help book a month, for a year -- and follow the advice in each, to the letter. She says it became a much more intense undertaking than she'd anticipated.
Artist Max Siedentopf has incorporated the song into a new installation in the Namib desert, using an MP3 player connected to six speakers. He told the BBC that he "wanted to pay the song the ultimate homage and physically exhibit 'Africa' in Africa."
'Inheritance' investigates a family secret, with self-discovery at the core
Dani Shapiro, at age 54, is shocked to learn that the man she thought was her biological father wasn't a blood relative. Her memoir, a quest for the truth, reads like an emotional detective story.
'Ghost Wall' is an eerie coming-of-age tale that begs for a second read
Sarah Moss' beautifully written novel is set in the 1970s in the rugged countryside of the far north of England, where a group of campers are reenacting the daily lives of Iron Age Britons.
Twin Cities music legend Willie Murphy dies at 75
Murphy was part of the Minnesota music scene for decades, and fronted the band Willie and the Bees. "One of my main crusades (is) to get people to dance," Murphy told MPR News in 2009.
Beautiful! Carole King makes surprise appearance in Broadway show
Anything can happen in live theater, and audience members seeing "Beautiful," the life story of Carole King, got a surprise when King appeared in the role of herself to celebrate the show's fifth anniversary on Broadway.