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.

August 1, 2017 8:14 AM

Randy Newman's new album takes on everything from Putin to blues musicians

One song is based on the true story of blues harmonica player and singer John Lee Curtis who called himself Sonny Boy Williamson. After he died in in 1948, another blues musician named Alex Miller started using the name.

by MPR News Staff

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July 31, 2017 10:41 AM

Sam Shepard, Pulitzer-winning playwright, is dead at 73

Sam Shepard, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Oscar-nominated actor and celebrated author whose plays chronicled the explosive fault lines of family and masculinity in the American West, has died.

by The Associated Press

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July 31, 2017 10:18 AM

Sen. Jeff Flake: 'As conservatives, our first obligation is to be honest'

A new book by the Republican from Arizona details where he thinks the GOP has gone wrong. Flake wrote the book in secret because he didn't want his advisers to try to talk him out of it.

by Steve Inskeep

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July 31, 2017 10:00 AM

Corporate bungling and political scandal abound in Jesse Eisinger's new book

Why don't crooked corporate CEO's go to jail anymore? Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jesse Eisinger uncovers culture of cowardice, incompetence, and corruption in both government and finance.

by Jason Heller

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July 31, 2017 8:55 AM

Manilow's 'Looks Like We Made It' topped charts 40 years ago

The song was used in a TV ad during the 2012 Super Bowl. That was the year that some people believed the Mayans predicted the world would end.

by MPR News Staff

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July 30, 2017 12:00 AM

The zoo is a terrifying place in 'Fierce Kingdom'

Gin Phillips' new novel follows a young mother trying to keep her child safe during a mass shooting at a zoo.

by Lizzie Skurnick

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July 30, 2017 12:00 AM

Michiko Kakutani, chief 'Times' book critic, steps down after nearly 4 decades

For 38 years the Pulitzer Prize winner was one of the most influential voices in the world of books. During her tenure, she lauded -- or lambasted -- just about all of this generation's great writers.

by Colin Dwyer

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July 30, 2017 12:00 AM

New memoir unpacks the life and tragic death of 'The Hot One'

Carolyn Murnick and Ashley Ellerin were childhood best friends -- but as sometimes happens, they grew older and drifted apart. Then, in 2001, Ellerin was brutally murdered in her Hollywood Hills home.

by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

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July 30, 2017 12:00 AM

A 'Portable' overview of a complex, compelling history

'The Portable Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers,' thoughtfully edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Hollis Robbins, is a rewarding read that reminds us the past isn't a single story.

by Genevieve Valentine