Minnesota Arts

MN Shortlist, May 30–June 5: Hitchcock with a live score, an outlaw musical and women muralists
This week’s MN Shortlist highlights a live score performance of Hitchcock’s “The Lodger,” a new musical about Minnesota outlaw Nellie King and a talk on Latin American women muralists.
Art Hounds: War and healing, celebrating human creativity and a theatrical take on Virginia Woolf
Art hounds recommend a multimedia exhibition grappling with war and healing, an art-and-music night focused on human creativity over AI and a theatrical meditation on identity and gender, co-created by a Minneapolis father-daughter duo.
MN Shortlist: May 23-29
MN Shortlist is your weekly curated roundup of recommended events from MPR News, highlighting standout performances, exhibits and gatherings around the region.
‘Stop Killing Black People’: How a Minneapolis designer branded a movement
Graphic designer and activist Terresa Hardaway created the bold “Stop Killing Black People” typeface as a protest tool during the George Floyd uprising, turning expressive, hand-drawn lettering into a widely distributed visual language of abolition that rejected commercialization and embraced mutual aid.
MN Shortlist: May 16-22
MN Shortlist is your weekly curated roundup of recommended events from MPR News, highlighting standout performances, exhibits and gatherings around the region.
MN Shortlist: May 8-14 Mid West Music Fest, Hygge Happy Hour
MN Shortlist is your weekly curated roundup of recommended events from MPR News, highlighting standout performances, exhibits and gatherings around the region. This week's list includes Mid West Music Fest, Hygge Happy Hour and the St. Croix River Pottery Tour.
Art Hounds: Somali dance traditions, sculptural books and raw photography
This week, Art Hounds highlight a youth dance showcase of Somali folk traditions, a sculptural retrospective that blends books and architecture and a photographic call to face homelessness head-on.
Art Deco King: Remembering St. Paul artist Paul Manship on the 100th anniversary of a movement
A major figure in American Art Deco, St. Paul-born sculptor Paul Manship is celebrated at the Minnesota Museum of American Art with zodiac medallions and other works that trace his celestial obsessions and lasting legacy.
‘Smashing our dreams’: NEA terminates grants for many Minnesota arts organizations
Several Minnesota arts organizations, including Penumbra Theatre and the Lakes Area Music Festival, have had their 2025 NEA grants abruptly terminated as the agency shifts its funding priorities to align with new federal directives restricting support for projects promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.