August 29, 2013 - The Walker Art Center's popular Internet Cat Video Festival has a new venue: the Minnesota State Fair's Grandstand. MPR’s Matt Sepic provides a sound portrait of the festival and talks with audience members. Sepic also interviews Scott Stulen, Walker Art Center organizer, and Will Braden, cat video award winner for the popular “Henri.”
August 29, 2013 - MPR’s Annie Baxter looks at why advertisements featuring gay couples are still few and far between. Although many companies try to cater to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender customers, those efforts are generally not obvious to the general public.
August 30, 2013 - The Minnesota State Fair is one of the few places where fish and falcons, lambs and llamas are all within a short stroll of each other. That inspired a reflection on the ancient relationships between humans and animals from playwright and storyteller Kevin Kling.
November 4, 2013 - On this episode of The Daily Circuit, Kerri Miller talks with writer Garrison Keillor, who says that poets who think their art is an opportunity to communicate the bleakness of their lives should reconsider.
December 4, 2013 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer interviews Jack Barkla, who since the 1970s, has been responsible for creating the auditorium shows at Dayton’s in downtown Minneapolis. Barkla calls it "conjuring up magic."
January 13, 2014 - MPR’s Euan Kerr reports on announcement of Sarah Bellamy as new artistic director at Penumbra Theatre and its five-year plan in stabilizing organization after financial struggle.
January 30, 2014 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Leslie Li, producer of a documentary on the Kim Loo Sisters, a 1930’s Chinese singing group that orginated form Minneapolis. Li is the daughter of one of the Kim Loo Sisters.
February 4, 2014 - MPR’s Tom Crann interviews former U.S. President Jimmy Carter about Joan Mondale, who passed away on February 3rd, 2014. Carter reflects on Mondale’s legacy in advocacy for the fine arts.
February 20, 2014 - MPR’s Kerri Miller has a conversation with Lou Bellamy, co-artistic director of Penumbra Theatre, and Ifa Bayeza, playwright of The Ballad of Emmett Till, about the themes of the play and its relevance to current tragic events concerning young men of color.
March 27, 2014 - On this episode of Minnesota Sounds and Voices, MPR’s Dan Olson profiles Orkestar Bez Ime, an Eastern European music group, which has become known as a Balkan party band. Olson interviews members of the band about the complicated music form.