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.

"I wanted my characters to be respectable," LJ Alonge writes. "I wanted them to somehow escape the judgement they'd get for just being, the same kind of judgement I've gotten for just being..."
She created high art out of imagined chaos in such novels as "Poor George" and "Desperate Characters" and out of the real-life upheavals in her memoir "Borrowed Finery."
Former President Bush says SNL impressions never bothered him a bit
"The best humor is when you make fun of yourself," George W. Bush said on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday night. President Trump regularly dismisses the satirical jabs aimed at his administration.
They formed on the north side of Chicago and got their first break in 1965 when they appeared in 13 episodes of a program called "All Time Hits Show," which was broadcast on WGN-TV.
Guillermo del Toro's house of curios
A new show at the Minneapolis Institute of Art showcases some creepy and strange objects from the home of the man who directed movies like "Hellboy" and Pan's Labyrinth."
Sanity is slowly lost in 'Spaceman of Bohemia'
It's 2018 and a mysterious cloud has appeared between Earth and Venus. A Czech astrophysicist is sent to investigate. The only problem? Hanging on to his sense of reality while alone in space.
A Purple Heart warrior takes aim at military inequality in 'Shoot Like a Girl'
Maj. Mary Jennings Hegar is part of a lawsuit that argues excluding women from combat is unconstitutional. She says the lawsuit isn't about women's rights -- it's about military effectiveness.
How do you raise a feminist daughter? Chimamanda Adichie has 15 suggestions
Chimamanda Adichie's new book began as a letter to a childhood friend (and new mother) who had asked for some advice. It's called "Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions."