Art Works Podcast

Feb 25 2025 696 ep. 30 mins 302
Art Works Podcast artwork

The National Endowment for the Arts podcast that goes behind the scenes with some of the nation’s great artists to explore how art works.

  Arts
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Terence Blanchard: The Music That Speaks

Feb 25 2025 38 mins  
In the second part of our conversation with 2024 NEA Jazz Master trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, we explore the emotional and creative depths of his work, from his jazz innovations to his evolution as an opera composer. Blanchard shares the challenges of scoring the documentary When the Levees Broke and discusses how his Grammy-winning album A Tale of God’s Will emerge

February 11, 2025

Feb 11 2025 39 mins  
In part one of this two-part interview, trumpeter, composer, and 2024 NEA Jazz Master Terence Blanchard speaks about his deep musical roots in New Orleans and how the city’s rich traditions shaped his artistry. He reflects on growing up in a household filled with music, his early piano lessons, and the pivotal moment when he switched to trumpet after hearing Alvin Alcorn. Blancha

Strings of Transformation: June Kuramoto and the Journey of the Koto

Feb 10 2025 32 mins  
Koto musician and 2024 National Heritage Fellow June Kuramoto shares her remarkable journey from Japan to Los Angeles, recounting the challenges of adapting to a new culture as a young child and how a chance encounter with the koto reconnected her with her heritage. Kuramoto discusses her rise as one of the few koto masters in America, her deep exploration of the instrument’s tra

January 14, 2025 Hana S. Sharif: Curating Conversations at Arena Stage

Jan 14 2025 34 mins  
A conversation with Hana S. Sharif, Artistic Director of Arena Stage since August 2023. Sharif discusses her transformative first year at the helm and her inaugural season as Arena’s producing artistic director. She reflects on the vibrant theatrical community in Washington, D.C., and her commitment to amplifying dynamic voices in American theater. With an ambitious 2024/25 seaso

December 17, 2024 Andy Statman: Master of Many Musical Traditions

Dec 17 2024 41 mins  
To mark the rare convergence of Christmas and Chanukah, we’re revisiting a conversation with one of the nation’s most extraordinary musicians 2012 National Heritage Fellow Andy Statman. A virtuoso clarinetist, mandolin player, and composer, Statman has defied musical boundaries throughout his career. Starting with his early love for bluegrass and mentorship under David Grisman,

December 10, 2024

Dec 10 2024 38 mins  
Opera is being transformed into a more inclusive and innovative art form, and Opera Praktikos (OPrak) is one of the companies leading this movement. Co-founded by librettist Marianna Mott Newirth and opera journalist Greg Moomjy, OPrak is New York City’s first disability-forward opera company, committed to breaking down barriers for artists and audiences. Today, a conversation wi

Revisiting Author of Interior Chinatown Charles Yu

Dec 03 2024 28 mins  
Today we revisit our 2020 interview with Charles Yu, whose novel Interior Chinatown received the National Book Award for fiction and has been recently adapted into a Hulu series by Yu who is also the showrunner. A novel told in the format of a screenplay, Interior Chinatown follows Willis Wu, a bit player in a TV procedural, as he wrestles with his dreams, identity, and the limitat

Exploring American Routes: A Conversation with Nick Spitzer

Nov 26 2024 39 mins  
In this special Thanksgiving episode of Art Works, we’re revisiting our interview with Nick Spitzer, folklorist, radio host, and the 2023 Bess Lomax Hawes National Heritage Fellow. Nick discusses his path from college radio to producing the award-winning American Routes, a program that has spent 25 years exploring the intersections of Cajun, Creole, jazz, blues, gospel, and more.

November 19, 2024 Celebrating Jazz Giants: Roy Haynes and Lou Donaldson

Nov 19 2024 29 mins  
Last week, the music world lost two titans of jazz: drummer Roy Haynes and saxophonist Lou Donaldson, both NEA Jazz Masters who reshaped the genre with their artistry. This special episode of Art Works pays tribute to their immense contributions through archival interviews and timeless performances. From Roy Haynes' crisp, innovative drumming that defined the evolution of jazz over

November 12, 2024 Theater of War: Bridging Greek Tragedy and Veteran Stories

Nov 11 2024 28 mins  
In honor of Veterans’ Day, we’re revisiting an episode of Art Works that tells the origin story of the transformative project Theater of War Productions. Co-founded by classicist, translator, and director Bryan Doerries, Theater of War began with a simple yet profound concept: presenting staged readings of Sophocles' plays Ajax and Philoctetes to military communities as a means