Podcasts

The former U.S. Poet Laureate and National Medal of Arts Recipient talks about her writing with a focus on her most recent book of poems, "Sonata Mullatica."

Stanley Nelson discusses his award-winning documentary "Freedom Riders."

The artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater discusses his first season as artistic head of the company.

Composer, choreographer, and performer Meredith Monk reflects on her 45-year career as a performance artist.

Creating work at the intersection of art, architecture, landscape, and technology.

Part 2: The 2012 Jazz Master discusses his approach to music.

In Part 1 of a two part conversation the legendary drummer and NEA Jazz Master talks about his early career.

The gifted 26-year-old pianist talks about making a career in jazz.

"Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear," is his inside look at a full season of Seattle's Pacific Northwest Ballet.

Trumpeter and flugelhorn player, composer, arranger, educator, advocate, and NEA Jazz Master.

Literary biographer Brenda Wineapple discusses her book, "White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson."

Keri Putnam discusses Film Forward, an initiative of the Sundance Institute and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Now in its second year, the program aims to enhance cross-cultural understanding, collaboration and dialogue thr...

Tim O'Brien, who served in Vietnam, talks about his novel (and Big Read selection) The Things They Carried  and how fiction can often tell a deeper truth about war. 

Saxophonist, composer, arranger and NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Heath talks about his storied career and some of the jazz greats he’s played with.

Celebrating opera in America and the 2011 NEA Opera Honorees.

What's it like to co-create a festival from scratch in a small mountain town with little money and a lot of help from friends and neighbors?

Stage designer and 2011 NEA Opera Honoree discusses opera as a collaborative endeavor.

Billy Luther explores different facets of his heritage in his documentaries. His latest looks at a little known celebration of the "Laguna Pueblo, Grab Day."

Football All-American at The Citadel, Morris Robinson started studying voice at the age of 30, and now sings at the great opera houses throughout the country.

The Slack key guitar master and NEA National Heritage Fellow on making music the Hawaiian way.

A conversation with the songwriter/novelist who performs under the stage name John Wesley Harding.

Co-Founder of the Vermont Performance Lab, Sara Coffey talks about creating spaces and community support for contemporary dance in rural Vermont. 

NEA National Heritage Fellows and co-founders of San Jose Taiko, Roy and PJ Hirabayashi talk about the importance of this traditional art in the Asian American community.

Innovative director Nic Muni talks about the challenges and rewards of producing opera.