Courtesy of Bell Museum/University of Minnesota
In Minnesota, the arts thrive through 30,000 artists and 1,600 arts organizations, on 400-plus stages with Broadway tours, local plays, and award-winning orchestras, choirs, and dance troupes, and in more than 200 museums. And that’s just the beginning of what our state has to offer.
Whether it’s a shared moment during a live performance, the passage of words from an author’s mind to a reader, or a piece of art that resonates a profound experience, our state’s creatives are weaving threads between people across time and space that deepen our understanding of ourselves and each other.
Our state’s vibrant arts and culture scene is possible because of our investment in it. According to Torrie Allen, president and CEO of Arts Midwest, Minnesota leads the nation in per capita arts funding. Just as vital is community buy-in.
Courtesy of Visit Lake Street
“Arts organizations really need audience members to invest in and show up to support their work,” Allen says, noting that audience trends have significantly changed since the pandemic. “This reality is especially tough for smaller organizations that may have been historically underfunded and who are struggling to make ends meet, or sadly closing their doors.”
As our arts and culture landscape continues to change, there’s room to examine and uplift what molded us in the past while inviting what will define us in the future. In this A-to-Z guide of Minnesota’s arts and culture scene, we highlight institutions, individuals, grassroots organizations, and community builders—all of which connect people from across the state and beyond.
Alley Art
You won’t find more Prince murals outside of Minnesota, nor a more vibrant Bob Dylan mural outside of downtown Minneapolis. To uncover more public art, explore the vibrant tapestry of South Minneapolis with Visit Lake Street’s mural tour. Other brick-and-mortar canvases around the state include “Ganawenjige Onigam” outside the American Indian Community Housing Organization in Duluth, the mandala motifs in Mankato’s “All for One” mural, and Virginia’s series of murals that depict the life and history of the Iron Range.
Photo by Glen Stubbe
Broadway-Worthy Theater
Hennepin Arts, the Ordway, the Guthrie, Children’s Theatre Co., Chanhassen Dinner Theatres: They may be our largest and oldest theater institutions, but they merely scratch the surface of what Minnesota has to offer. For stripped-down theater with power, try Ten Thousand Things in St. Paul or the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis. Outside of the Twin Cities, Duluth has a one-two punch with its Duluth Playhouse and the inaugural season of Broadway at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center; Central Minnesota Theatre shows off a trio of musical-loving companies; and a staple of southern Minnesota is the outdoor Great River Shakespeare Festival in summer.
Concerts are aplenty, with a bounty of stages to choose from. First Avenue and 7th St. Entry is iconic to the Twin Cities, and its empire of associated venues contributes to a good ecology for local and touring bands—not to mention the metro’s stadiums and arenas, niche spots like The Cedar Cultural Center and Icehouse, or mid-size spots like The Armory. This makes events like Duluth’s Homegrown Music Festival possible, bringing more than 200 acts to 30-plus venues in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. Minnesota’s outdoor music festivals include WE Fest in Detroit Lakes, Lakefront Music Fest in Prior Lake, Taste of Minnesota in downtown Minneapolis, and the Minnesota Yacht Club Festival in St. Paul.
Photo by Darin Kamnetz
Dance stalwarts in the Twin Cities include TU Dance, Ragamala Dance Co., Collide Theatrical, and Duluth’s Minnesota Ballet. Local and touring groups stop at The O’Shaughnessy, Hennepin Arts venues, Northrop, and The Southern Theater, and for those into competition dance teams, the University of Minnesota Dance Team has the most-winning program in the country, claiming the national title 22 times since 2003.
Eras
The Minnesota History Center has permanent and rotating exhibits that dive into all facets of Minnesota’s past. Throughout the state, you can also explore niche historical attractions, like the SPAM Museum in Austin, a quirky ode to the popular canned meat’s Minnesota origins, or the Runestone Museum in Alexandria, which dives into the history of the Kensington Runestone—researchers are still asking how an alleged runic artifact from 1362 could be found on Olof Öhman’s farm in 1898.
Festivals
The Minnesota State Fair is among the largest in the U.S., and 2024’s iteration broke five daily attendance records. The Minnesota Renaissance Festival in Chanhassen has also garnered national acclaim, making Travel Channel’s list of Best Renaissance Festivals. In the warmer months, you’ll find events celebrating local traditions (Bean Hole Days in Pequot Lakes), celebrities (Judy Garland Festival in Grand Rapids), and heritage (Lumberjack Days in Stillwater).
Courtesy of Glensheen Mansion
Glamorous Houses
Minnesota has a fair share of Gilded Age opulence. Glensheen Mansion in Duluth is a 39-room home on a gorgeous 12-acre estate built for Chester and Clara Congdon; Rochester’s Mayowood Historic Home was built by Mayo Clinic co-founder Dr. Charles H. Mayo; and in St. Paul, visit the towering home of railroad titan James J. Hill.
Heritage can be found everywhere in Minnesota. Museums like the American Swedish Institute and the Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery in the Twin Cities offer a glimpse into a few of the rich cultures in the state, but you can also explore site-specific history at St. Paul’s Fort Snelling, Minneapolis’ Mill City Museum, and Duluth’s Split Rock Lighthouse. If you’re in the St. Cloud area, swing by the Stearns History Museum, the only nationally accredited county history museum in the state. Even more important are the hubs where community flourishes. Minneapolis’ Midtown Global Market is home to a wide range of diverse events and more than 45 businesses, amplifying 20-plus cultures since 2006. A few miles over, the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood is a thriving Somali community, as is Willmar, Minnesota. Latinx culture abounds in St. Paul’s District del Sol—be sure to stop by during Cinco de Mayo. Our capital city is also the epicenter of one of the nation’s largest populations of Hmong people. To learn more about Hmong culture and view works by Asian American artists, visit Xia Gallery & Cafe, a community gathering space in the Little Mekong Cultural District.
Courtesy of MNHS
Ice, Ice Baby
The fun doesn’t stop when Minnesota’s 10,000-plus lakes freeze over. Bundle up for the Twin Cities’ winter festivals like Art Shanty Projects, which turns frozen Lake Harriet into an on-ice art exhibit, and the 130-plus-year-old Saint Paul Winter Carnival, famous for its iconic ice sculptures. Greater Minnesota options include Ice Fest in Breezy Point, Polar Fest in Detroit Lakes, and the Grumpy Old Men Festival in Wabasha, named after the rom-com filmed in the same southeastern city. For figure skating, go beyond the jumps with contemporary dance-centric American Ice Theatre and Brownbody, a multidisciplinary arts organization that combines dance, theater, and figure skating to create performances that center on Black artistry.
Justice and art have always intertwined, and many local artists have become national leaders in creating works that push the envelope and advance conversations around social justice. Laura Zabel, executive director of Springboard for the Arts, recommends starting with Seitu Ken Jones, Ta-coumba T. Aiken, Ricardo Levins Morales, and Heid E. Erdrich. Seitu Ken Jones and Ta-coumba T. Aiken are extraordinary visual artists with a long history of collaboration. Shadows at the Crossroads at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden continues the artists’ 1992 sculpture series and depicts silhouettes of seven important Minnesotans, including Harriet Robinson Scott, an enslaved woman whose legal battle for freedom made history. Ricardo Levins Morales’ activism often takes the form of posters, zines, and buttons spanning topics from prisons and policing to labor issues, immigrant rights, and more. Heid E. Erdrich has been an editor of several Native American anthologies and has written her own poetry and prose collections. (Heid’s sister, Louise Erdrich, is also an award-winning author and the owner of Birchbark Books & Native Arts in Minneapolis.)
Courtesy of RLM Art Studio
Kilns & Pottery
Kilns are firing even when it’s not the summer’s St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour. In addition to the studios along the tour and in the Twin Cities, you can also visit the Pottery Museum of Red Wing or the Maine Prairie Studio in Kimball, which has a shop, classes, and an open studio, or the Mankato Makerspace in southern Minnesota
Literature
Minnesota is home to many literary icons, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kao Kalia Yang, Vince Flynn, and Kate DiCamillo, plus indie publishers Milkweed Editions, Graywolf Press, and Coffee House Press. Get your next read at Twin Cities spots like the animal-filled Wild Rumpus or the three-story Midway Book Store. In greater Minnesota, independent stores stud the map, from Austin’s Sweet Reads—a candy and bookstore with the world’s largest collection of “Berenstain Bears”—to New Ulm’s Lykke Books, which features a community center, cafe, rentable gym, and artisan market, all while supporting local youth programming.
Courtesy of MIA
Masterpieces await at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), the Marine Art Museum in Winona, the Rourke Art Gallery & Museum in Moorhead, the Nemeth Center in Park Rapids, the Rochester Art Center, and Northeast Minneapolis’ Northrup King Building, to name a few.
Nerd Out
Twin Cities Con and CONvergence are two of the largest fandom events in the Twin Cities, but there’s also Rochester’s Nerdin’ Out, which leans into comics and sci-fi, Duluth’s Excalibur Convention, and Austin’s tabletop-focused Austi-Con.
Orchestras
While Minnesota boasts the Grammy Award-winning Minnesota Orchestra, there are more than 40 orchestras in the state—including the Bemidji Symphony Orchestra, the Mesabi Symphony Orchestra, the Rochester Symphony, and more.
Photo by Uche Iroegbu
Prince still reigns king in Minnesota—MPR’s The Current even has a digital radio station that’s all Prince, all the time. Save the date for celebration Purple Rain 2.0, taking place June 5-9 in downtown Minneapolis and Chanhassen’s Paisley Park.
Queens
Drag queens are onstage at mainstay spots in the Twin Cities, including Union’s rooftop, LUSH, and Gay 90’s, but you can sometimes find them reading stories in local libraries. Catch an event from Mankato’s Drag Me With A Spoon or head to the Red Carpet Nightclub in St. Cloud.
Research never looked so fun with immersive dioramas at the Bell Museum of Natural History and a giant astronaut at the Science Museum of Minnesota. Don’t miss the shows at Duluth’s Marshall W. Alworth Planetarium or open house nights at Northfield’s Goodsell Observatory.
Sacred Sites
Eleven Native American tribes have sovereign status in Minnesota, but Cannomok’e—or Pipestone National Monument—in southwest Minnesota is affiliated with 23 tribal nations. For over 3,000 years, Indigenous people have quarried stone at Cannomok’e to make ceremonial pipes, and the site is still considered sacred land. Nearby, Jeffers Petroglyphs is home to Minnesota’s first recorded history, inscribed by Native Americans in rock carvings as early as 7,000 years ago. Wakan Tipi (sometimes referred to as Carver’s Cave), located within Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, and the nearby Indian Mounds Park are two sacred sites in St. Paul. Wakan Tipi, which translates to “dwelling place of something sacred,” is a centuries-old cave where Dakota people have gathered for private ceremonies. The cave structure and petroglyphs that once covered the walls were destroyed by European settlers, developers, and railroad expansion, but Native-led nonprofit Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi is working to conserve and restore the sacred site. This summer will mark the grand opening of the Wakan Tipi Center, an intergenerational gathering place with an exhibit hall, ceremony space, teaching kitchens and gardens, and more. Situated on a bluff above the Wakan Tipi cave is Indian Mounds Park, a sacred burial site with deep significance to Dakota, Ho-Chunk, and Ioway nations and home to the only remaining burial mounds in the Twin Cities area. Even still, only six mounds visibly remain from the 50-plus that were originally there.
Photo by Peter VonDeLinde/Walker Art Center
Three-Dimensional Art
Check out our state’s incredible sculpture gardens, including the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden with its iconic Spoonbridge and Cherry at the Walker Art Center, Caponi Art Park in Eagan, the ever-changing Franconia Sculpture Park in Shafer, or the 15-acre Anderson Center Sculpture Garden in Red Wing.
Uproarious laughter is found at Acme Comedy Club, Brave New Workshop, Rick Bronson’s House of Comedy in Mall of America, and Goonie’s Comedy Club in Rochester. In the Twin Cities, enjoy shows by Blackout Improv and the Funny Asian Women Kollective, as well as the 10,000 Laughs Comedy Festival.
Video can change the world, and Mizna, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Film Society (Cine Latine, MSPIFF, and more) and the Twin Cities Film Festival certainly agree. Keep an eye out for the next title by Minnesota filmmakers Dawn Mikkelson, Keri Pickett, Jimmy Chin, Joua Lee Grande, Sequoia Hauck, and—of course—the Coen Brothers, and for a nostalgic viewing experience, check out historical-theaters-turned-movie-theaters like Canby Theatre in Canby, the Grand Theater in Crookston, the Palace Theater in Luverne, and the State Theatre in Hutchinson.
Courtesy of International Wolf Center
Wildlife
One of the most satisfying things about a Minnesota summer is hearing our state bird call over the lakes, but you can find wildlife of all sorts at the Como Zoo & Conservatory in St. Paul and the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley. Be sure to leave time to traverse the Minnesota Zoo’s treetop trail (the world’s longest elevated pedestrian loop!), a 1.25-mile walking trail retrofitted from an old monorail track. Head up to Ely for its International Wolf Center and the seasonal North American Bear Center or go south to Wabasha for the National Eagle Center.
Xylem brings water and nutrients from the plant’s root to the rest of its structure, and you’ll find plenty of examples at the 1,200-acre Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassen, the 800-acre Cowling Arboretum in Northfield, and the 400-acre Northland Arboretum in Brainerd.
Youth
Juxtaposition Arts in North Minneapolis offers youth a space for art and design education, creativity, and self-expression. Articulture provides opportunities for people of all ages to tell their stories through the visual arts in the Twin Cities, and the Edina Art Center has fostered creativity for over 30 years, offering classes in photography, pottery, painting, and more for children and teens (and adults!). Or head south to the Rochester Art Center, which offers a wide range of educational programs for youth.
Zany roadside attractions are plentiful throughout the state. Pose on top of Paul Bunyan’s palm at the World’s Largest Paul Bunyan in Akeley, push a button to make the world’s largest crow caw in Belgrade, and remember to eat your greens with the over-55-foot-tall Jolly Green Giant in Blue Earth.
Courtesy of Juxtaposition Arts
