Minnesota Arts

State Fair Rejects: Art that didn’t make the Fine Arts Competition
After hundreds of artists were rejected from Minnesota's prestigious State Fair Fine Arts Competition, two Twin Cities galleries are hosting popular "reject shows" featuring the overlooked works, celebrating artistic resilience and sparking public interest and conversation.
A taste of the Fringe Festival: Four shows
With more than 100 productions scattered across the city, the Minnesota Fringe Festival is too sprawling to capture in a single take. From a reanimated insult comic to a Shakespeare lottery, here’s a glimpse of what this year’s Fringe has to offer.
MN Shortlist, Aug. 1-7: A festival of Finns, drag opera and more
MN Shortlist is your weekly curated roundup of recommended events from MPR News, highlighting standout performances, exhibits and gatherings around the region.
New Smithsonian exhibit highlights American fairs, including crop art, butter from Minnesota
An August exhibition at the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery, inspired by Minnesota’s State Fair traditions, will highlight American craft through artworks like crop art, butter sculptures and textiles.
MN Shortlist, July 25-31: Collage, Mozart Americana and more
MN Shortlist is your weekly curated roundup of recommended events from MPR News, highlighting standout performances, exhibits and gatherings around the region.
Cartoons, culture and care: Latino artist creates bilingual mental health universe
Rocky Casillas Aguirre’s bilingual art show, “U are the Universe,” uses playful cartoon characters to explore mental health in a way that’s accessible to Latino youth and families.
Q&A: With ‘Chunkadelic,’ Nur-D doubles down on joy and resistance
Minnesota rapper Nur-D discusses his new album “Chunkadelic,” a genre-blending, deeply personal project born from a Reddit insult, exploring joy, resistance and staying true to himself in a conformist industry.
Isaac Thompson named president and CEO of Minnesota Orchestra
Isaac Thompson, a Twin Cities native and current head of the Oregon Symphony, has been named president and CEO of the Minnesota Orchestra, returning to lead the organization he grew up attending.