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.

A festival of short plays about Native life
The National Native American Ten Minute Play Festival offers audiences and performers a rare chance to experience Indian humor and language onstage.
Editorial cartoonist Steve Sack on 36 years of commentary, caricature
Pulitzer-Prize winning cartoonist Steve Sack has captured six presidents as well as countless governors, senators and representatives in his career. His new book is a look back at political history, in caricature.
NPR has compiled 50 songs you can enjoy while watching Monday's solar eclipse.
The backstories of the books you loved growing up
Bruce Handy's new book takes an emotional, intuitive look at the world of children's books, from 'Goodnight Moon' to 'Charlotte's Web,' which he calls 'a mastery novel of ideas' about life and death.
Comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory dies at 84
Gregory was known for his sharp satire, political activism and health advocacy. He went on multiple hunger strikes to protest issues like the Vietnam War and police brutality.
In 'The Stone Sky,' some worlds need to burn
N.K. Jemisin won Hugo Awards for the first two volumes of her Broken Earth trilogy. 'The Stone Sky' is a powerful, timely finale to this story of a world built on oppression and exploitation.
The case for short stories: 'How can you not be satisfied with this one perfect, delicious thing?'
Bookseller Kathryn Harper tore through 'The Tower of the Antilles' in two days. The short story collection is 'ten different, interesting pieces that you put together,' she said.
'Stay With Me' is a novel of commitment, culture and the struggle to conceive
Set in Nigeria in the 1980s, Ayobami Adebayo's debut novel tells the story of a couple who desperately want to have a child, in a society where that's what's expected of them.
A letter dated Friday cited the "false equivalence" of President Donald Trump's comments about last weekend's "Unite the Right" gathering in Charlottesville.