Your Minnesota guide to keeping holiday table talk light, engaging and politics-free
Let’s face it: We’re experiencing extreme levels of political polarization in the U.S., and not everyone likes to reminded of that during holiday family gatherings.
Arts & Culture
Covering Minnesota’s theater, music, dance, literature and visual arts.
Shifts, transformation and fun: Reflecting on the year in Minnesota art
I don’t think anyone could say the pandemic is over, but there certainly seemed to be a thaw from the worst of the COVID winter in 2022. The arts community in the Twin Cities and beyond have been reflecting on all that has happened in the last nearly three years, at times making both subtle and bold shifts in leadership, direction and vision.
The 40-year history of the International Eelpout Festival
The festival in Walker began in 1980 as a way to bring tourists to northern Minnesota during the long winter months.
Weekend Picks: an uplifting Christmas concert at the Dakota; Hanukkah burlesque; Monster Drawing Rally
Plus: Cello and piano; contemporary dance at Frogtown Rec Center; the Big Wu; and more.
Mark Mallman’s holiday show emphasizes peace and love over seasonal standards
“I think if you pull the religion out of Christmas songs and capitalism out of Christmas songs, you get the same spirit. When people say ‘spirit of the season,’ you kind of find the essence of peace and love,” Mallman said.
Sibley Historic Site: regional headquarters of the American Fur Company between 1836 and 1842
Established by fur trader and politician Henry Hastings Sibley, it sits on a bluff on the south side of the Minnesota river, just east of Historic Fort Snelling.
Weekend Picks: ‘The Little Prince’; feminist-led punk; and ‘Shall We PrAnce?’
Plus: BIPOC Holiday Maker Market at Arbeiter Brewing Co.; juried show at Rosalux; and Frank Theater’s “Listen Up!”
Twin Cities artists flocked to Miami to show at Art Basel, NADA and more
What if Minneapolis had a fair this big that could boost the visibility of Minneapolis as an art center?
Remembering Minneapolis architect David Madson
Madson designed an AIDS memorial in the mid-1990s, when few memorials for the disease existed and the epidemic was at its height.
Weekend Picks: Planetarium Mars experience; Christmas satire; shoegaze sound
Plus: Southside Aces hit the Dakota with New Orleans jazz and the women artists behind “Between the Stripes, Under the Stars” at the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery give a virtual artist talk.
‘Just that Indigenous Excellence’: How Jim Thorpe inspired rapper Tall Paul’s new record and life path
An Anishinaabe and Oneida hip-hop artist and athlete enrolled on the Leech Lake reservation, Paul Wenell Jr. was 11 years old and playing Little League football when he first started wondering about his gridiron ancestors.
Snow scenes from downtown St. Paul during Tuesday’s winter storm
MinnPost sent University of Minnesota intern and photojournalist Peyton Sitz out to capture images of a snowy downtown St. Paul during Tuesday’s winter storm.
Theater Latté Da’s ‘Christmas at the Local’ offers music, nostalgia, poetry
“Christmas at the Local” brings two literary gems together – Dylan Thomas’ “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” and “Amazing Peace,” a poem by Maya Angelou which has been adapted into a piece called “The Longing for Amazing Peace,” set to music by Chastity Brown.
Marine Mill, the first commercial sawmill in Minnesota
Over a period of about six decades, the mill produced millions of board feet of lumber and provided construction material used in towns and cities throughout the state.
Weekend Picks: Thanksgiving with Jearlyn Steele and friends; Small Business Saturday; SPCO
Plus: A bookstore grand opening; gallery events and more.
Organizers of upcoming ‘Decolonize Thanksgiving’ concert on why the truth matters
The first-ever Decolonize Thanksgiving concert, featuring David Huckfelt and the Unarmed Forces and songwriters Annie Humphrey, Joe Rainey Sr. and Keith Secola, takes place Friday at the Hook and Ladder Theater in Minneapolis, and will benefit the non-profit ministry First Nations Kitchen.
SPCO premieres ‘Now and Then,’ an act of musical layering by Viet Cuong
The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra will perform “Now and Then,” a piece the orchestra commissioned by composer Viet Cuong, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The story of an Ojibwe drum shows how auction houses can help — or hurt — efforts to repatriate Indigenous objects
Jaime Arsenault, the tribal historical preservation officer for the White Earth Nation, says sacred Native objects go up for sale on the private market all too often: “It’s a very painful Catch-22 situation that tribes find themselves in, I would say, on a weekly basis.”
How Minnesota became the top turkey producer in the U.S.
The Minnesota turkey industry began with small backyard flocks raised on family farms.
Weekend Picks: Visit the world’s top museums from the Twin Cities
Plus: Christmas at Pemberley; highlighting Black opera singers and composers Womenfolk Radio anniversary; and more.
