Minneapolis is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the seat of Hennepin County. Anchoring strong music and performing arts scenes, Minneapolis is home to both the Guthrie Theater and the First Avenue nightclub. Reflecting the region's status as a center of folk, funk, and alternative rock music, the city was the launching pad for several of the 20th century's most influential musicians, including Bob Dylan and Prince.

Minneapolis has hosted theatrical performances since after the Civil War. Early theaters included the Pence Opera House, the Academy of Music, the Grand Opera House, the Lyceum, and later the Metropolitan Opera House, which opened in 1894. As of 2020 Minneapolis is home to dozens of theater companies.

The Guthrie Theater, the area's largest theater company, occupies a three-stage complex overlooking the Mississippi, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel. The company was founded in 1963 by Sir Tyrone Guthrie as a prototype alternative to Broadway, and it produces a wide variety of shows throughout the year. Minneapolis purchased and renovated the Orpheum, State, and Pantages Theatres vaudeville and film houses on Hennepin Avenue, which are now used for concerts and plays. A fourth renovated theater, the former Shubert, joined with the Hennepin Center for the Arts to become the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts, home to more than one dozen performing arts groups.

As of 2019, Minneapolis-based chefs have won James Beard Foundation Awards: Ann Kim, chef at Young Joni, Pizza Lola and Hello Pizza, won in 2019. Founder of the Sioux Chef, Sean Sherman won two James Beard prizes in 2019—the leadership award and best cookbook.

Year-round events include the City of Lakes Loppet, a 35 km cross-country ski race and winter festival in February; the MayDay Parade is returning in 2021; Art-A-Whirl; Pride Festival & Parade, Stone Arch Bridge Festival, and Twin Cities Juneteenth Celebration in June; Minneapolis Aquatennial in July; Minnesota Fringe Festival, Loring Park Art Festival, Uptown Metris Art Fair, Powderhorn Festival of Arts and the Lake Hiawatha Neighborhood Festival in August; Minneapolis Monarch Festival in September to celebrate the Monarch butterfly's 3,700 km migration; and the Twin Cities Marathon in October.