Visiting Minneapolis will open your mind and stir your imagination. Its flourishing arts community; peppered with awards, accolades, "firsts," "biggests" and "bests" complements a thriving downtown and lush surroundings.

Arts & museums

• More than 57 museums in the Minneapolis area.
• Mill City Museum won the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2004 Honor Award.
• The Minneapolis Institute of Arts currently ranks among the top ten regional museums in the United States.
• The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is one of the largest urban sculpture gardens in the country.
• MSN named the Minneapolis Institute of Arts one of the top 10 art museums in the nation.
• "One of the best contemporary art exhibition facilities in the world ... [the Walker's] special qualities are grace, flexibility, and esthetic tact." New York Times
• The Walker Art Center has been cited several times as one of the 10 most visited art museums in the country.
• Newsweek called the Walker Art Center “possibly America’s best contemporary art museum.”
• The Minnesota Children’s Museum was ranked the 8th-best children’s museum in the country by Child magazine.
• The only castle in the Minneapolis area is home to the American Swedish Institute.
• Named “Most Literate City” by University of Wisconsin – Whitewater.

Theater & music

• More theater seats per capita than any other city beside New York.
• More than 30 theater venues and nearly 100 theater groups in the city.
• More than 10 dance companies and 20 classical music groups.
• 3 Tony Award-winning theaters call Minneapolis home – Children’s Theatre Company, Theatre de la Jeune Lune and Guthrie Theater.
• The largest Fringe Festival in the country takes place in Minneapolis with over 750 theater performances in one week
• Home to the country’s oldest continuously running theater – Old Log Theater, the nation’s flagship regional theater – the Guthrie Theater, the largest dinner theater – Chanhassen Dinner Theatre and the oldest satirical theater – Brave New Workshop.
• “… [The Children’s Theatre Company is] one of those cultural nuggets you come upon in unexpected parts of the country.” New York Times
• Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel magazine named Minneapolis’ provocative small playhouses as one of the “most interesting tourist attraction[s] in America.”
• Minneapolis has the 4th most active jazz scene in the country
• On November 5, 1903 – three weeks before the Wright brothers made their first airplane flight – the Minnesota Orchestra performed its inaugural concert.
• The 98-member Minnesota Orchestra performs nearly 200 concerts each year. Its award-winning concert broadcasts, produced by American Public Media and carried by nearly 150 radio stations nationwide, reaching over 181,000 people each week, according to Arbitron.
• The Minnesota Opera is now the 16th largest opera company in the nation with an annual budget of almost $7 million.
• The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, is the nation’s only full-time professional chamber orchestra and is widely regarded as one of the finest chamber orchestras in the world.

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