Pamela Espeland

6 mins ago If you’ve admired the iconic Bob Dylan mural in downtown Minneapolis, or noticed art filling otherwise empty windows along Hennepin Ave., or looked up at billboards featuring Minneapolis’ essential workers, you’ve seen some of Joan…

Can you hear that growing rumbling sound? Like a distant storm, a massive train or a thousand hooves? That’s the sound of the fall arts season moving in, of doors opening and lights turning on, musicians tuning their instruments, singers warming up,…

The Bach Society of Minnesota (BSM), the oldest Bach society in the United States, responded to the pandemic with three virtual events and two series of free outdoor Mobile Mini-Concerts, during which musicians gave hundreds of solo performances…

After a national search that began in early 2020 and was paused for almost a year when COVID struck, the Weisman Art Museum (WAM) at the University of Minnesota has a new director. Alejandra Peña-Gutiérrez, who has led the Museo de Arte de Ponce in…

Prepare the toasts, ready the confetti and pop the corks: Liquid Music is back. Starting in November, continuing in March through June 2022, six events will take place at the Parkway Theater, with more in development for next fall and as far ahead as…

In April 2020, shortly after COVID rolled in, impresario Steve Heckler had already canceled — or postponed, the word he preferred — three things: a small jazz festival planned for March 29 in Uptown, a livestreamed concert series that was supposed to…

The Playwrights’ Center has announced its 50th season, no small feat for a nonprofit arts organization even in the best of times. PWC serves, supports and champions playwrights, launches careers, promotes new plays to production at theaters across…

The new leader of the Ordway is a jazz fan. Chris Harrington, who last week was named the organization’s 12th president and CEO, will leave the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, where he has worked since 2012 in audience development, revenue generation…

Looking slick in suits and ties, the five-piece band filled the air with the sounds of traditional New Orleans jazz. As Dan Eikmeier rose from his chair again and again to take solos, clarinetist Tony Balluff cracked, “The work never ends for a…

In January 2018, St. Agnes Bakery, a 30-year-old wholesale bakery in St. Paul, was looking at its best year ever. Not only did St. Agnes supply restaurants and groceries in the Twin Cities, it also made buns for vendors at U.S. Bank Stadium, which…

Susan Albright, managing editor of MinnPost since the start (in the early years, she shared the job with Roger Buoen; both were formerly with the Star Tribune), has retired. Everyone at MinnPost is happy for her, sad for us. She’ll now have more time…

Approaching its 30th birthday, Theater Mu has announced a 2021-22 season called “Seeing Ourselves.” It’s half virtual, half in person, with the in-person part not set to begin until mid-February 2022. The second-largest Asian American theater company…

Dance, theater and music will return to the Walker Art Center’s McGuire Theater this fall after what feels like an interminable absence. COVID forced the Walker to shift as many in-person programs online as it could. Among the events we lost was the…

Missing from Sue McLean & Associates’ original announcement of its summer 2021 not-in-the-Zoo concert series was a night with Trombone Shorty, who has been a Music in the Zoo regular – or at least has seemed like one, his presence and personality are…

The Jungle Theater has announced the shortest season since its founding in 1991. The 2021-22 season will include three mainstage productions compared to the usual five, sometimes six, and in 2018-19, seven. But the Jungle is still alive. And during…

What we wish we could write, right now, is how the arts are roaring back. Not long ago, in pre-delta-variant days, a lot of people were writing that. Theater was roaring back. Music was roaring back. The poetry slam scene was roaring back. Arts…

JC Sanford and Asuka Kakitani spent more than a decade living the jazz life in New York City, the jazz capital of the world. Sanford was an in-demand trombonist, composer and conductor who led several cutting-edge big bands including the…

Much of the world is on the move, fleeing something, escaping somewhere, seeking safety. For now, the evacuation of Afghanistan holds the headlines, and news of unaccompanied immigrant children crossing our borders has receded. The children are still…

Amid the noise, smells and crowds of the Minnesota State Fair, the Fine Arts Exhibition is a world of its own. Step inside the red brick building on the corner of Randall and Cosgrove and things slow down – your feet, your breathing, maybe even your…

Dear Artscape reader, Over the years, people have asked (for real!) for a way to keep up with what’s happening in Artscape and maybe look back at the week to see what they missed. Starting today, you can sign up for an Artscape newsletter that will…