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.

Getting too old for Narnia in 'Light Between Worlds'
Laura Weymouth's new novel follows two sisters struggling with the aftermath of their adventures in a magic land. That struggle is the vivid heart of the book, but its Narnia-lite doesn't quite work.
'Travelling Cat' chronicles friendship, loss and life on the road
You don't have to be a cat lover to enjoy Hiro Arikawa's novel about a man and his cat, traveling across Japan to visit old friends. And you may find yourself tearing up by the end.
Singer-songwriter Mikaela Davis has been playing the harp since elementary school, and she went to college with plans to become a symphony harpist. Along the way, the Rochester, New York native decided she wanted to play her own compositions with a small band.
Museum of the Bible says 5 of its most famed artifacts are fake
After independent analysis, the museum said on Monday that five of its famed Dead Sea Scrolls fragments were fake. They will be pulled from their exhibit. Other fragments will undergo further study.
'Glimmer of Hope' provides a blueprint for launching social change
With a new collection of essays, the 25 founders of March For Our Lives return the subject of the Parkland shooting and gun violence to national consciousness just in time for midterms elections.
Fierce, spiky 'Friday Black' packs a big punch
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's intellectually hefty debut works through ideas about racism, about classism and capitalism, about the apocalypse, and, most of all, about the corrosive power of belief.
The band is led by Paul Wright and Tim Harrington, who met in high school and developed their vocal harmonies one summer while busking on the streets of Boston.
The Beastie Boys on their hip-hop journey and missing Adam Yauch
Adam Horovitz (aka Ad-Rock) and Mike Diamond (Mike D) of the hip-hop group Beastie Boys talk about their new book, which is largely a love letter to their late band mate, Adam 'MCA' Yauch. Plus they reflect on growing up in 1980s New York City and how they gained respect in hip-hop.