MN Shortlist Aug. 21-27: 140 years of Mexican music, art on the Gunflint Trail, comedy magic and more
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MN Shortlist is the MPR News weekly roundup of arts and culture recommendations. This week’s picks include a history of Mexican music in Minnesota, the new musical “Made in India” by local playwright Kristen Marx, the inaugural Duluth Flock ArtFest, the first Midwest Black Book Fair and more.
‘140 Years of Mexican & Latino Music in Minnesota’ at the Hennepin History Museum in Minneapolis — Through February 2028
In 1886, as Aaron Johnson-Ortiz tells it, a 56-member military band from Mexico came to perform at the inaugural Minneapolis Industrial Exposition. They performed for 41 days and even celebrated Mexican Independence Day in Minneapolis on Sept. 16, 1886, with a parade through the city.
“This would be the first cultural celebration of Mexican and Latino culture in Minnesota,” said Johnson-Ortiz, executive director of the Minnesota Latino Museum. To celebrate this untold history, the MN Latino Museum and the Hennepin History Museum collaborated on the exhibit “140 Years of Mexican & Latino Music in Minnesota,” which opened Aug. 20. The exhibit highlights historic photos, documents, banners and newspaper articles. There will be an opening reception Sept. 3. (Alex V. Cipolle)
‘Bonus Joy — A New Comedy Variety Show’ at Turf Club in St. Paul — Aug. 21
A little bit of everything is on the bill at Turf Club. “Bonus Joy,” a new locally produced variety show, brings together stand-up, music and magic for a night of entertainment where you’re never quite sure what’s coming next. Minneapolis comedians Ben Katzner and Pearl Rose host, with comedy from Maggie Faris and Comrade Tripp, music from the duo Ashton & Maddock and a performance from Parker William, a comedy magician and mentalist.
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The show starts at 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 21 at the Turf Club in St. Paul. (Annie Russell)
Flock ArtFest — Aug. 21-22
Bayfront Festival Park in Duluth will be home to the inaugural Flock ArtFest this weekend. It’s unclear if this two-day festival is completely bird-centric, but one thing is certain: there will be improvised bird-inspired puppetry including options for “life advice from a bird” and “tarot reading from a bird.”
Other highlights: Twin Cities textile artist Sadie Ward will host an interactive art event, making a “Superior Memories” quilt using upcycled textiles from festivalgoers’ written memories of the lake. The fest will also install a towering piece of dichroic film, or an iridescent shimmering material that will provide a dreamy new lens of Superior. Chalk artist David Sundaram will transform pavement into tableaux and there will also be a kid artist tent, where artists under 14 can display and sell their wares. Flock ArtFest tickets start at $10. The festival runs Friday from 12 to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Alex V. Cipolle)
‘Made in India’ at the Cowles Center for Dance & Performing Arts in Minneapolis Duluth — Aug. 21-29
The South Asian Arts & Theater House presents “Made in India,” a production that uses dance, theater and puppetry to tell the story of “an Indian-born transracial adoptee as she navigates identity, belonging, and the search for her roots.” The all-ages production includes more than 70 artists, dancers and crew members, including several South Asian adoptees and plays with many genres, from Michael Jackson to traditional and contemporary Indian dance and music. The play was written by Minnesota playwright and actor Kristen Marx and, according to the press release, it was “workshopped with parents who adopted from India, so those lived experiences are woven into the production.”
At the preview Aug. 19, director Madhu Bangalore told the audience to engage with the production. “Leave Minnesota Nice outside this,” he said. “There are times you might have to cheer, holler, hoot, cry. Let it all out. Your energy feeds the people on stage.”
Tickets are “pay what you like” with a $10 suggested donation. (Alex V. Cipolle)
‘Zagaandagaa-Anishinaabeg, People of the Thick Coniferous Forest’ exhibit celebration at the Chik-Wauk Museum & Nature Center on the Gunflint Trail — Aug. 22
Near the northern border, surrounded by the boreal forest, sits the Chik-Wauk Museum & Nature Center and Gunflint Trail Historical Society.
Inside the museum, a new permanent exhibit, "Zagaandagaa-Anishinaabeg, People of the Thick Coniferous Forest," has been years in the making.
Margo Brownell, chair of the Anishinaabe Exhibit Task Force at the museum, said the exhibit tells the story of the Anishinaabe, the Ojibwe people, who lived in the area before contact with settlers, through the fur trade and into the 1900s.
“We have been incredibly fortunate in doing this exhibit to have worked with the descendants from some of these Anishinaabe families that really lived here for generations,” Brownell said.
The exhibit features a mural of Ojibwe clan animals by Sam Zimmerman, an animated video by artist Jonathan Thunder, art by Carl Gawboy, artifacts that are on display for the first time and more.
The celebration runs from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the museum. Heads up: Though the museum's address is in Grand Marais, it’s more than an hour's drive from town, at the end of the Gunflint Trail. (Leah Lemm)
The Midwest Black Book Fair at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis — Aug. 22
Because Terresa Hardaway wasn’t busy enough, she decided to start the first Midwest Black Book Fair. Hardaway, the cofounder and owner of Blackbird Revolt, professor at the University of Minnesota and owner of Black Garnet Books (to list a few of her accolades), was in a meeting with other Black bookstore owners when it dawned on her — there isn’t an event to celebrate Black booksellers and authors in the state.
Hardaway got to work planning the event and reaching out to publishers, authors and bookstores in the region. The fair will feature two dozen particiants and organizations, along with workshops about Black literary history in Minnesota, the publishing industry and the influence of the Midwest on Black writers.
Hardaway took over Black Garnet Books in 2024 and said it’s hard for her to not think about the literacy crisis while planning the event. She hopes that people walk away excited to keep reading and get involved in bookish spaces.
“I have a responsibility to make sure that I am pushing this idea around the importance of literacy,” she said. “That should really be an agenda item for anyone who's in the literary space.”
The Midwest Black Book Fair is Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. at the University of Minnesota Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center in Minneapolis. Tickets are free, but attendees must register in advance. (Sam Stroozas)
