By James Riemermann/Courtesy of Explore Minnesota

Indoors and out, this fall will be a stellar season for the arts in the Twin Cities.

Topping it off is the dramatically renovated Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, which reopened last year with $75 million in improvements, $10 million of which is going to the center’s beloved Sculpture Garden. The garden, which first opened in 1988 to national acclaim, features 17 new works, bringing the total to more than 40.

The playful, signature “Spoonbridge and Cherry” by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen remains at the center of the garden, catching the fall light in the spray from the massive cherry’s stem/fountainhead, along with Siah Armajani’s graceful footbridge connecting the garden with Loring Park across Hennepin Avenue. Highlights among the new pieces include “Hahn/Cock,” Katharina Fritsch’s 20-foot-tall blue rooster; Theaster Gates’ “Black Vessel for a Saint;” and Robert Walker’s iconic “Love.”

In addition to purchasing 3.4 acres of adjacent land and nearly doubling the space both within and surrounding the main building, the Walker has added the 385-seat McGuire Theater for performing artists and film; rooftop terraces with views of downtown; plus a new restaurant, cafe, shop, and underground parking to accommodate the center’s great and growing popularity.

Major exhibitions this fall include “Siah Armajani: Follow This Line” – the country’s first all-inclusive retrospective the Tehran-born, Minneapolis-based artist Siah Armajani. Other exhibitions coming this fall include “Mario García Torres: Illusion Brought Me Here,” followed by “Platforms: Collection and Commissions.”

Music, Theatre & Dance

There are plenty of great theater and music performances coming up this fall, as well. The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis is hosting performances like the one-woman show “Mala,” the Halloween-season appropriate “Frankenstein – Playing with Fire” reformed by Minnesota playwright Barbara Field, and Michael Frayn’s hilarious, behind-the-curtain comedy “Noises Off.”

For family theater fun, the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis will perform “Last Stop on Market Street” where a young man and his Nana travel current-day Chicago by public transit, and “I Come from Arizona” about Gabi Castillo’s brave personal journey. And to get you excited for the approaching holidays, “Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas” starts November 6.

Park Square Theatre in St. Paul will perform “The Agitators” – a historical drama about Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass.

At Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, the Minnesota Orchestra will perform “Jurassic Park – in Concert” — meaning you get to view the film in HD while John Williams’ score is performed by a full symphony. A highlight of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s fall season will be John Adams’ “Shaker Loops” with violinist Pekka Kuusisto.