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.

Art Hounds: The birth of the cancan in 'Le Petit Moulin'
This week on Art Hounds, Collide Theatrical Dance Company takes audiences to a Parisian nightclub, community theaters compete in AACTFest, and Kiese Laymon reads at The Loft.
28 ways to celebrate Indie Bookstore Day in Minnesota
Despite many stories of bookstores' demise over the last decade, Minnesota is actually ringing in this Indie Bookstore Day with more bookstores than last year.
In 'Walkaway,' a blueprint for a new, weird (but better) world
Cory Doctorow's latest novel is set in a ripped-from-the-headlines near future dystopia, where the creative and the capable are walking into the wilderness to build a new world.
Brave New Workshop's Dudley Riggs remembers when improv was considered 'shameful'
In his new memoir, "Flying Funny: My Life Without a Net," the improv theater pioneer recounts his early days as a trapeze artist in the circus, to fighting naysayers who said improv theater was a slap in the face to great playwrights.
Jonathan Demme, director of 'Silence Of The Lambs,' dies at 73
During more than four decades behind the camera, the Oscar-winning filmmaker forged a wide-ranging career -- from documentaries to horror. He died Wednesday from complications of esophageal cancer.
'Just show up': Sheryl Sandberg on how to help someone who's grieving
The Facebook executive lost her husband in 2015. She says, "Rather than offer to do something, it's often better to do anything. Just do something specific." Her new book is called "Option B."
Happy birthday to Replacements' Chris Mars
Mars left the band in 1990 and released several solo albums, before dropping out of the industry to devote himself full time to painting.
Hulu's 'The Handmaid's Tale' is compelling -- and chilling
The adaptation of Margaret Atwood's dystopian 1985 novel is a horror show revealed in slow motion -- and the true horror of its brutal, patriarchal future theocracy is how possible it seems today.
Stephan Pastis casts 'Pearls' before everyone
The creator of a quirky comic strip explains that he started cartooning as a way to get out of practicing law.