Works of Art

A look at the metro area’s world-class cultural offerings, from music to art museums to performing arts

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St. Louis has so much to offer patrons of the arts. Like many cities of similar size, we have and love our world-class art museums, symphony, and bustling big-ticket theater scene. But there’s a wonderful texture to this arts community, with plenty of midsize and small institutions in their own niches contributing to the tapestry. And so much of what happens here is collaborative, with organizations, individuals, and a robust philanthropic community striving to support creative expression.

VISUAL ARTS

Founded in 1879, the Saint Louis Art Museum is one of the nation’s most significant art institutions. In addition to its impressive permanent collection, SLAM routinely hosts incredible exhibitions. In 2018, painter Kehinde Wiley brought a show that included portraits of everyday St. Louisans. In 2015, for the 50th anniversary of the Gateway Arch itself a Modernist marvel, SLAM mounted St. Louis Modern, showcasing the city’s contributions to Midcentury Modern design.

The city’s smaller art museums provide a more accessible experience but still bring blockbuster energy. The works of artist Amy Sherald graced the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, which also dips into the city’s deep well of local talent every other year for the Great Rivers Biennial. The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, situated on Washington University’s Danforth Campus, was reopened by welcoming artist Ai Weiwei in 2019 after a major expansion. And the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, housed in an architectural marvel by Tadao Ando, hosted a retrospective of the work of Ruth Asawa in 2019. Laumeier Sculpture Park elevates a stroll into an artistic experience.

There’s an entire ecosystem of galleries. The Kranzberg Arts Foundation, in Midtown, shows photography in The Dark Room, visual art in the Kranzberg Gallery, performances in the .ZACK and The Dark Room, literary events in The High Low, and plenty more. Monaco, on Cherokee Street, is a collective space with intriguing offerings, just blocks from The Luminary, a forum and incubator for the arts.

MUSIC

The venerable St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the nation’s second-oldest symphony, is certainly a place to wear an evening gown and enjoy a truly fancy night out—but formal attire isn’t required. SLSO, led by music director Stéphane Denève, is a Grammy winner, but it’s so much more.

“As a symphony orchestra, our role is to create, to perform, to educate,” says Marie-Hélène Bernard, president and CEO of SLSO. The SLSO Youth Orchestra trains talented student musicians. SLSO’s IN UNISON chorus is focused on preserving and performing African and African-American music. The symphony has traditionally played a free concert in Forest Park at the beginning of autumn. With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, the orchestra initiated SLSO On the Go, a series of socially distanced performances and pop-ups for healthcare workers, seniors, and lucky passersby. It’s also the resident orchestra for another beloved institution: Opera Theatre of St. Louis.

In Grand Center, The Sheldon also hosts an array of arts offerings, with both concerts and art exhibits under one roof. Jazz St. Louis and the Big Muddy Blues Festival pay homage to the city’s rich contributions to uniquely American music. The Blue Strawberry is the hub of our robust cabaret scene. And an array of venues—The Pageant, Off Broadway, The Ready Room, The Focal Point, to name a few—offer an eclectic mix of music.

THEATER

One of the city’s biggest attractions is also its most singular—there’s truly nothing like it anywhere else. The Municipal Theatre Association of St. Louis, known affectionately as The Muny, is housed in an amphitheater in Forest Park that seats 11,000 (with about 1,500 of those spots set aside as free first-come, first-served seating) for a full outdoor season of Broadway-style musical theater each summer.

“It’s a truly rare experience,” says Mike Isaacson, artistic director and executive producer of The Muny. “It’s magical to watch shows of that caliber under the stars. There is something primal about that idea—and its being outdoors, when you’re in nature, adds a whole layer to that. This is deep in our DNA.”

For those who can’t get enough high-quality outdoor theater, the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival has you covered. Shakespeare in the Park takes over Shakespeare Glen in Forest Park to produce one of the Bard’s masterworks, alternating comedy with tragedy, each summer. SLSF also brings Shakespeare into the community with Shakespeare in the Streets, which reinterprets a play in the context of a particular neighborhood each year. During the pandemic, it went virtual with Shakespeare TV.

The rococo wonderland that is the Fox Theatre is a thing of beauty on its own, even without the touring Broadway productions, musicians, dance performances, and occasional comedian it hosts. Likewise, the regal Stifel Theatre downtown plays host to world-class acts. The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis produces world premieres, well-loved classics, and experimental works. St. Louis Actors’ Studio is a small company, operating in the historic Gaslight Theater, that has hosted provocative works, including the annual Neil LaBute New Theater Festival. The Black Rep, founded in 1976, is the largest professional African-American theater company in the nation. And STAGES St. Louis offers courses and camps for students, as well as Broadway-style performances at the 529-seat Ross Family Theatre inside the new, state-of-the-art Kirkwood Performing Arts Center.

FILM

“We want to encourage people to get outside their comfort zone,” says Cliff Froehlich, executive director of Cinema St. Louis. “Cinema St. Louis is definitely a torchbearer when it comes to expanding the kinds of movies people are willing to take a chance on.”

CSL is probably best known for the Saint Louis International Film Festival, which assembles an impressive slate of films from around the globe—including “bright, shiny” first-runs and eclectic flicks that would otherwise remain unseen here—to many screens around town over several weeks each fall.

But the organization has a whole suite of offerings. For 20 years, the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase has been shining a light on the great work being done by filmmakers in or connected to St. Louis. The Classic French Film Festival celebrates the city’s French heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. Golden Anniversaries presents movies celebrating their 50th years. QFest offers the best in LGBTQ cinema.

The metro region has long been receptive to film offerings beyond the latest superheroes-and-explosions flicks showing at the megaplexes. “We’ve had a very active art house scene over the years,” Froehlich says.

And, in classic St. Louis arts community style, he can’t help pointing to another local organization: “Props to the Webster University Film Series. It’s closing in on celebrating its 40th anniversary. They’ve always had a terrific lineup of films.”

LAUGHS & LITERATURE

The city offers a burgeoning comedy scene, with shows at The Improv Shop, as well as a host of other venues, including Helium Comedy Club, Funny Bone, and beyond.

If you’re the literary sort, you’re spoiled for choice here, too. The region has an impressive culture of indie bookstores: The Novel Neighbor, in Webster Groves, hosts authors and community events for adults and kids. Subterranean Books, in the Delmar Loop, is a cozy spot with eye-catching window displays that’s the perfect place for an afternoon of browsing. Dunaway Books, on South Grand, sells an impressive selection of rare, used, and out-of-print books. And Apotheosis Comics & Lounge, also on South Grand, is a comic book shop, event hub, and space where you can hear music and have a beer.

Book nerds in St. Louis have been persistently dependent on one specific place since 1969, and that’s Left Bank Books, in the Central West End. To call the shop, in business for a half a century, iconic would be an understatement. “We’re such an integral part of the community,” says Kris Kleindienst, co-founder and co-owner of Left Bank. “What we do is trade in information and culture, so what’s going on in our community is what’s going on in the bookstore.” The shop has stayed vital by responding to the neighborhood, the city, and the world. After such events as the terrorist attacks of September 11 and the death of George Floyd, the shop has responded with reading lists and space for people to read and think in. It hosts more than 300 events a year, plus a variety of reading groups, and partners with libraries, schools, and other institutions citywide. “The reason we’ve kept at it is that we knew we had something organic and real, and we saw that our customers weren’t just our customers,” says Kleindienst. “They are our friends and neighbors.”

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