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.

Grammy-award winning country-folk singer Lori McKenna's new album "The Tree" comes out this Friday. Her latest album is intensely personal — full of vignettes about family and home life.
Punk legend Viv Albertine on a lifetime of fighting the patriarchy
"What we conjured up ... was that we weren't going to try and be this constructed ideal of femininity," Viv Albertine says of her band's approach. She recently released a memoir, "To Throw Away Unopened."
Russia -- and grandma -- defy expectations in 'A Terrible Country'
When Andrei Kaplan returns to Moscow to care for his grandmother, he hopes to write an article based on her Soviet-era stories. But things don't go according to plan in this new novel by Keith Gessen.
'Give Me Your Hand' explores female mysteries and monstrosities
Megan Abbott's new thriller is set partly in a scientific lab studying a severe form of PMS. Abbott says she's fascinated by "this sort of idea that the female body is monstrous."
'Buzz' offers an admiration for bees amid continued die-offs
The severity of the enormous reduction in bee numbers over the past decade is at the heart of a new book by conservation biologist Thor Hanson, whose appreciation for the pollinators shines through.
Friday kicks off the beginning of Black Bike Week, a partnership between Slow Roll Minneapolis and The Culture Wellness Center.
Earlier albums from Tuareg musician Bombino have featured slick collaborations with members of the Black Keys and the Dirty Projectors, but he said on his website that with his latest record, "Deran," he wanted to "get closer to Africa," and the sounds of his home in the Sahara.
Historical fiction and magical realism meet in Alaska
"There are just so many elements to this book that make it so satisfying and so delicious and so worth reading over and over again, that it's just ruined me," says bookseller Charlotte Glover.
Emmy nomination analysis: Lots of old, but something new
For the first time in years, the venerable Modern Family and its cast failed to nab a nomination, making room for several freshman comedies — and new faces.
Sixty years ago Thursday the Quarrymen, featuring three quarters of what would become the Beatles, recorded "That'll Be the Day" together for the first time.