Arts and Culture

“The Work of Art” at St. Louis Art Museum displays art made by people working for the Federal Art Project, a New Deal program better known for its grand, public murals. It includes the first works by African American artists to enter the museum’s collection. Many have never before been on view.

Lisa Jeanine Findley of Missouri is is charged with trying to defraud Elvis Presley’s estate of millions of dollars and steal ownership of the iconic Graceland property in Memphis.

After winning the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in poetry and retiring after three decades teaching at Washington University, Carl Phillips has published a new collection of poems. Like much of his work, they linger on themes like the unreliability of memory and the ever-present specter of loss.

Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis is presenting a trio of the playwright’s early one-act plays. They show the influence the city’s vibrant cinema culture of the 1930s had on the writer.

After 16 years as artistic director of the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, James Robinson is headed west to lead Seattle Opera.

Erin Freeman, a choral director and conductor based in Washington, D.C., will become the third-ever leader of St. Louis Symphony Chorus. Predecessor Amy Kaiser retired in 2022 after 27 years at the helm.

Mike Isaacson, Muny executive producer and artistic director, describes this season’s premieres of “Waitress” and “In the Heights.”

Mike Steep and Matt Wall discuss the origins of DadBod and why seeing former students at their shows isn’t as awkward as one might think.

Kate Bergstrom, the new artistic director of Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, plans to lure new audiences while welcoming back theater supporters who’ve drifted away in recent years.

Recent John Burroughs graduate and Lake St. Louis resident Shangri-La Hou discusses themes of nature, spirituality, identity and place in her work, and poetry as a tool for self-expression and raising ecological awareness.