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Novelist and NEA Literature Fellow Peng Shepherd latest book is the speculative mystery The Cartographers.  Those of us who love maps think they are magical. In Shepherd’s book, this magic isn’t metaphorical; The Cartographers has, at its heart, not only the wonder and possibilities of map-making, but a map that is actually magical and becomes a dangerous obsession for a … [Read more...] about Meet Novelist & NEA Literature Fellow Peng Shepherd

In 2019, the NEA research office published Living Traditions, an analysis of the agency’s Folk & Traditional Arts grants portfolio. The report has launched a major capacity-building initiative for the folk arts field as a discrete arts subsector, which, in many U.S. regions, remains grossly under-funded. The Southwest Folklife Alliance (SFA), a nonprofit affiliated with the … [Read more...] about Strength in Numbers: Validating Infrastructure Needs for the Folk Arts Subsector

This week, we're speaking with the first Latino and non-academic Poet Laureate of Kansas Huascar Medina. Medina, who is a member of the National Council on the Arts, brings a strong and vibrant voice to poetry with work that explore home, separation, place, and inclusion, and with his advocacy for grassroots artists. In this podcast, Medina reads from his recent … [Read more...] about Meet the Poet Laureate of Kansas Huascar Medina

In this episode, we consider arts programming in juvenile justice settings, as well as a study of the arts’ potential to reduce antisocial or criminal behavior among youth in the general population. A transcript is available here. … [Read more...] about Quick Study: The Arts and Juvenile Justice

We celebrating Jazz Appreciation month with an in-depth conversation with composer and jazz musician Terence Blanchard.  Terence Blanchard has a long list of exceptional jazz credentials, but he’s most recently found acclaim as the first Black composer to compose an opera presented by the Metropolitan Opera. In this podcast, he discusses how he came to write the opera (which … [Read more...] about Meet Musician and Composer Terence Blanchard