We’re closing out Arab-American Heritage Month with author Diana Abu-Jaber who discusses growing up with an Irish-American mother and a Jordanian father who never felt at home in the US, the lively tensions between cultures, and the centrality of this to her writing.  We discuss her two memoirs, "The Language of Baklava" and "Life Without a Recipe." She describes the impact her father and grandmother had on her life and how their contrasting personalities were reflected in their approaches to...

We’re celebrating National Poetry Month with 2021 NEA Literature Fellow, poet Leslie Sainz who discusses her debut poetry collection, "Have You Been Long Enough at Table."  Sainz reads from her collection and talks about its major themes including the ambiguity, displacement, and impact of cultural heritage as a daughter of Cuban immigrants. She discusses the variety of poetic forms used in her collection, allowing form to be guided by the emotional and thematic demands of her work. Sainz...

MacArthur Fellow and 2002 Pulitzer-Prize Winner in Drama for “Topdog/Underdog, ” Suzan-Lori Parks tells us about her current play ”Sally and Tom”* now having its NY premier at the Public Theater. It’s a play within a play about Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson and combines Parks’ love of  American history and theater. We discuss the play's exploration of fraught subjects such as enslavement, sexual coercion, Black and white families living under the same roof under very different...

As we’re gearing up for the 2024 NEA Jazz Masters’ tribute concert, we are revisiting my conversation with 2017 NEA Jazz Master Bassist Dave Holland. From his roots in the English working class to becoming an admired figure in the jazz world, Holland shares his musical journey, marked by a deep passion for the bass, a transformative stint with Miles Davis, and a dedication to the next generation of jazz musicians. Dave Holland discusses his initial attraction to music through the ukulele and...

We’re taking a deep dive with Willard Jenkins into his life in jazz. Willard discusses his early exposure to jazz in Pittsburgh and Cleveland, crediting his parents' record collection for his initial fascination with the genre, and the profound impact local jazz scenes and radio had on his musical journey. Willard recounts his transformative college years at Kent State University, detailing how his love for jazz deepened, his early forays into jazz journalism, starting with writing for his...

In this special edition of Art Works, Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson and U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Santos have a far-ranging discussion that explores the intersection of arts, culture, and statistical science. Moderated by the NEA’s Director of Research and Analysis Sunil Iyengar, the two agency heads begin their conversation by mapping their journeys to the crossroads of arts and statistical science, both noting that these fields enhance each...

In this podcast, Amina Claudine Myers discusses her journey from the gospel choirs of Arkansas to becoming a 2024 NEA Jazz Master, highlighting her significant contributions to jazz, gospel, and blues. We discuss her early life in Blackwell, Arkansas, and Dallas, Texas, sharing stories of how family and church planted the seeds of her future in music and her transition from gospel music to discovering jazz and blues in college, detailing her growth as a musician and composer. She reflects on...

Co-founder Kirsten Cappy introduces us to I'm Your Neighbor Books—which aims to build communities where immigrants are welcomed and feel a sense of belonging by sharing diverse immigration stories in children’s literature—and explains the collaborative roots of the organization among leaders from immigrant communities, authors, illustrators, educators, and librarians.  She discusses the Welcoming Library project and how this traveling collection of children's books serves to introduce readers...

2020 NEA Literature Fellow Danielle Evans is author of two collections of stories  Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self and The Office of Historical Corrections, published ten years apart and to great acclaim. Today, we’re revisiting my 2021 interview with Danielle. In this podcast, we explore her intricate narratives that weave through the themes of history, race, and grief. Danielle shares her approach to writing, the importance of allowing stories to develop organically, and her...

We’re revisiting my conversation with the 2021 National Heritage Fellow, Reginald “Reggio The Hoofer” McLaughlin, a master tap dancer whose feet tell stories of tradition, perseverance, and cultural heritage. In this podcast, Reggio  discusses his childhood love for tap dancing sparked at community centers in Chicago, his transition from a successful career as an R&B bassist to a full-time tap dancer (and how this musical foundation influenced his tap dancing career) and his experiences...

In this tuneful podcast, 2024 NEA Jazz Master Saxophonist Gary Bartz talks about his life and career, touching on his roots, influences, collaborations, and the philosophical underpinnings that have guided his artistic journey. Born in Baltimore in 1940, Gary's musical journey began in a segregated America, where he found music to be a universal language that could transcend societal barriers. He discusses his early encounters with music which were deeply influenced by his family's musical...

In honor of Black History month, we’re revisiting this 2011 conversation with author and 2015 National Humanities Medalist Isabel Wilkerson  In this tuneful podcast, Wilkerson discusses her acclaimed book "The Warmth of Other Suns,"  exploring the profound impact of the Great Migration on American culture. This migration saw six million African Americans relocate from the rural South to the urban North from post-WWI through the 1960s, drastically transforming the country’s demographic...

Screenwriter and Director Cord Jefferson discusses his critically acclaimed film, “American Fiction” which is a satirical exploration of popular culture’s often narrow and limiting representation of Black people.  We catch up with director/writer Cord Jefferson whose film ”American Fiction”   has been nominated for five academy awards (Best Picture, Best adapted screenplay  (Jefferson), best actor (Jeffrey Wright), best supporting actor (Sterling K. Brown and best score (Laura Karpman). Not...

Steve Zeitlin, founder and executive director of City Lore, and Phyllis Zimmer, founder and president of the Nurse Practitioner Healthcare Foundation, discuss their joint project "From Heritage to Health" (H2H).  Funded partly by the National Endowment for the Arts, this initiative aims to integrate storytelling and the arts into healthcare, particularly for a culturally diverse population.  Zeitlin and Zimmer talk about the various components of the program: learner-needs assessments,...

 In this podcast, folklife presenter, educator, host and producer of “American Routes,, and 2023 National Heritage Fellow Nick Spitzer discusses his multifaceted career, his upbringing, and his understanding of cultural innovation in America. We talk about his life-long passion for radio and his discovery and embrace of American vernacular culture, his career as folklorist in academia, government, and media, including his NPR and Smithsonian collaborations and “American Routes”, Spitzer’s...

In today’s podcast, filmmakers Sam Pollard and Ben Shapiro discuss their film “Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes.”   In our conversation, they place Max Roach within the context of American culture, emphasizing his legendary status as a drummer, a composer, and a significant figure in Black consciousness and activism.  Sam Pollard shares his 40 year journey in  making this documentary, while Ben Shapiro talks about his own connection to Roach reaching back to a radio documentary. They discuss...

A conversation with Director of Presented Programming at the McCarter Theatre Center Paula Abreu halfway through her first season on the job!  Abreu took over from her predecessor Bill Lockwood who ran the program for 60 (yes, 60) years. We discuss the balance between honoring his legacy and introducing her own vision, some history about the McCarter Theatre Center, its connection to Princeton University, and its unique role as a cultural powerhouse. (The McCarter Theater Center is known not...

Karen Ann Daniels explores her dual roles at the Folger Shakespeare Library as the Director of Programming and Artistic Director at the Folger Theatre, and her innovative approach to programming and audience engagement in the evolving landscape of theater post-pandemic. Daniels discusses her arrival at the Folger during a period of significant change, including the pandemic, racial reckoning, and major renovations, and how these challenges presented unique opportunities for outreach and...

A conversation with singer, actor, and producer Brandon Victor Dixon. We talk about his role in Alicia Keys’s play “Hell’s Kitchen”  currently at the Public Theater, collaborating with Keys and the other performers in the play, what goes into creating a role in theater, his stepping into the role of Burr in “Hamilton” and the challenges that brought, and playing Judas in “Jesus Christ Superstar” in a live television performance. We also discuss his upcoming benefit concert for the Classical...

In this  2019 podcast, filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky discusses her project "Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements," and her commitment to making films accessible to differently-abled audiences.  We talk about her first feature documentary, "Hear and Now," which won the Audience Award at Sundance in 2007 and explored her deaf parents’ experiences when they were 65 with cochlear implants and its relationship to her film “Moonlight Sonata," which was partly inspired by her deaf son,...

We’re marking the end of Indigenous Peoples Month by revisiting my 2018 interview with Randy Reinholz (Choctaw),  the producing artistic director and Founder of Native Voices at the Autry a Los Angeles theater company that produces new work by Indigenous playwrights.  For almost 30 years, Native Voices at the Autry has been providing opportunities and support to Native American playwrights…and by extension Native actors, designers, musicians and other theater artists. It is the country’s only...

  Dr. Zella Palmer is a professor, food historian, author and filmmaker and serves as the Chair and Director of the Dillard University Ray Charles Program in African American Material Culture in New Orleans, Louisiana. In this podcast, she discusses the Ray Charles program, the importance of material culture, especially to African Americans and other historically marginalized groups,  her commitment to preserving the legacy of African-American and Native American culinary history in New...

Today, we are celebrating Indigenous Peoples Month with an interview with author Cynthia Leitich Smith.  A member of the Muscogee (Creek) nation, Smith is a bestselling, award-winning children’s-YA writer and the author-curator of the Native-centered Heartdrum imprint  at HarperCollins Children’s Books. She also is the 2024 Southern Mississippi Medallion Winner and the 2021 NSK Neustadt Laureate and is widely recognized for her fiction for young readers that centers on contemporary  Native...

To mark Veteran’s Day, we’re revisiting our2017 interview with author Sebastian Junger a journalist deeply engaged with war and the people who fight in them. As a contributing editor for Vanity Fair, he’s covered international stories including the war in Afghanistan, a region and subject he’s returned to over the course of his career. In this podcast, Sebastian Junger discusses his book Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging  which explores the complexities soldiers can find when they return...