Minnesota Arts

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.
Thinking outside the ‘daily concrete life’: How puppets and picture books create a sense of possibility
Minnesota artist Anne Sawyer, a puppeteer and educator, channels her lifelong love of storytelling and improvisation into a new children’s book about pollinators that blends science, imagination and playful creativity.
Opera returns to the Minnesota Orchestra with ‘Turandot’
The Minnesota Orchestra, under music director Thomas Søndergård, is performing Puccini’s “Turandot” in concert for the first time in years, featuring soprano Christine Goerke and signaling a possible return to opera in the ensemble’s programming.