Art Works Podcast

For more than 40 years, folklorist, state park manager, and 2019 National Heritage Fellow Bobby Fulcher has been seeking out and recording traditional artists, creating programming around these artists to shine a light on their work, and serving as an inspiration and mentor to multiple generations of young folklorists. That Fucher has accomplished all this while working for Tennessee State Parks really gets to the heart of his vision: the deep connection between traditional culture and the natural environment in which it occurs. He began his career as a naturalist and came to love and cherish not just the environment but also the traditional arts that were created in the Cumberlands of Tennessee. When he first heard traditional banjo music in college, he thought, “If I could learn that, I’d be happy every day there on out.” He did learn the banjo and would bring it with him when he went on his search for little-known traditional musicians because he believed that if you arrive with “a banjo or fiddle in your hand, you’ll make yourself welcome wherever you go.” He is a soft-spoken philosopher who has brought to his work an insatiable curiosity and a deep sense of wonder. You’ll hear it in this podcast—and you’ll also hear some of the old-time music Fucher has shone a light on.

In this 2021 podcast, we get a lesson in Hill Country Blues from Grammy Award Winner Cedric Burnside. Cedric has the blues in his bones: his father, uncles, and cousins all played. His grandfather was blues legend R.L. Burnside, known to Cedric as “Big Daddy.” Cedric essentially grew up in R.L.’s house, listening to the music, playing along at the regular house parties and at the local juke joint. Beginning his musical career as a drummer, by the age of 12 or so, he was backing R. L. on tours. A songwriter most of his life, he added guitar-playing to his musical repertoire and began a successful solo career. In this podcast, Burnside talks about his “really amazing, adrenaline-pumping little childhood,” his relationship with R.L., what makes Hill Country blues Hill Country blues, and his joy in bringing the music to the world.

Leonard Bernstein only composed a handful of shows on Broadway, but he was a game-changer. From On the Town to West Side Story, Bernstein mixed genres and styles of music—incorporating jazz, blues, ragtime, Latin beats-- mixing them with popular song traditions and the rhythms of the streets and then filtering it all through his own distinctive voice.  In this 2018 podcast, we explore it all with Rob Kapilow.  You may know Kapilow from the public radio program "What Makes It Great" in which he takes listeners inside of music to explore that very question. Well, in this pod, Kapilow discusses what makes Leonard Bernstein's music for Broadway great. He talks about Bernstein's impact on Broadway,  his refusal to accept musical silos, and his generosity and difficulty as a collaborator. Rob also illustrates the distinctiveness of the chords, rhythms, and melodic structures that Bernstein composed.   It's a musical exploration of a great composer in musical theater.

In this podcast, Matthew Gardiner talks about directing Stephen Sondheim’s "Into the Woods," the emotional draw of musical theater, and Stephen Sondheim’s mastery of it. We discuss Signature's commitment to musical theater and its development through its many programs, the theater's long association with Stephen Sondheim, what goes into staging an iconic musical like "Into the Woods," the theater's creative decision to support a 15 piece orchestra in a house that seats 278, the theater’s deep commitment to local actors and artists, its intensive and long-term commitment to an inclusive theater, and Matthew's own journey into theater. Let us know what you think about Art Works—email us at artworkspod@arts.gov. And follow us on Apple Podcasts   

In this 2019 interview, author and educator Renée Watson talks about her prize-winning YA title, Piecing Me Together and Watch Us Rise (co-written with poet Ellen Hagan). Both look at the lived experiences of black girls as they grapple with identity right at the intersection of race, class and gender. But Watson is a story-teller not a sociologist and, as in life, her characters can and do respond in unexpected ways. In this podcast, we also discuss what goes into writing for young adults, how her own experiences are reflected in Piecing Me Together, the joy of collaborative work*,* and Watson's own trajectory as a writer, educator and performer. Let us know what you think about *Art Works--*email us at artworkspod@arts.gov.

In this podcast, Navajo/Diné Textile Artist and Weaver and 2022 National Heritage Fellow TahNibaa Naataanii talks about Navajo/Diné weaving, which is more than an art--it's a way of life. Naatanii raises sheep, shears them, dyes, cards, spins, and, finally, weaves their wool. She tells us the creation story of Diné weaving, and its deep spiritual connections to her everyday practices.  We talk about the ways she honors Navajo traditional weaving while also expanding it artistically in various ways--from reworking traditional patterns to incorporating different fibers into her weaving. Finally, Naataanii also talks about the impact of environmental degradation on the land and the challenges it poses for her and future generations.  Email us at artworkspod@arts.gov. And follow us on Apple Podcasts You can see a sample of Naataanii's work at arts.gov where you can also check out the documentary Roots of American Culture—a film about TahNibaa and all of the 2022 National Heritage Fellows.

We’re marking Thanksgiving week by posting an interview I did earlier this year for the issue of American Artscape that focused exclusively on Native-Americans artists.  I spoke with author and NEA Literature Fellow Kelli Jo Ford (Cherokee) whose award-winning novel Crooked Hallelujah --a semi-autobiographical novel of linked short stories--takes us through the complicated lives of four generations of Cherokee women. Crooked Hallelujah, which is Ford’s debut novel, is not about “being Cherokee”; it is about these particular Cherokee women, how they fail, succeed, and survive. It’s an important distinction. They are not on the page to give us a history lesson but their experiences of intergenerational poverty, trauma, the scars of forced assimilation, and an unforgiving church are informed by that often unspoken history. Ford talks about writing Crooked Hallelujah, the importance of geographic place that resonates throughout the book, and the limitations and the fierceness of the love these women share. She also discusses her own upbringing on the reservation raised by generations of Cherokee women, living off the reservation as an adult, and her pushing against her own fiction as necessarily needing to contain cultural or historical explainers of what it means to be Cherokee.  We’d love to know your thoughts—email us at  artworkspod@arts.gov. And follow us on Apple Podcasts. And check out latest issue of American Artscape which just posted— Original Threads: Equity and Access in the Arts for Hispanic/Latinx Communities.

We are celebrating Native American Heritage Month and the NEA National Heritage Award by revisiting Theresa Secord—a 2106 awardee and Penobscot basketmaker.   Although Secord’s great-grandmother was renowned for her baskets woven from the bark black ash tree and sweet grass, Theresa herself didn’t learn to weave until she was an adult.  In the podcast she discusses returning to the reservation after getting a master’s degree in geology and becoming interested in the traditional cultural art forms of the Wabanaki and learning basketry from an elder Penobscot basketmaker.  Becoming an accomplished and award-winning artist, Secord talks about her growing awareness that basket-making was close to becoming a dying art form and her determination not to watch this fade into history;  she discusses co-founding the Maine Indian Basketmaker’s Alliance—an organization she led for 21 years, and her continuing commitment to conservation to preserve the ash tree against the destruction of the invasive emerald ash borer beetle.  Join us online on November 17 when we premier the documentary called “Roots of American Culture”  a celebration of the  artistry of  the 2022 National Heritage Fellows. Check out our website arts.gov for more details. We’d love to know your thoughts--email us at  artworkspod@arts.gov.

C. Brian Williams talks about the art of stepping—defining and historicizing the art form and discussing its deep connection to African-American fraternities and sororities. (He learned to step when he was accepted into a fraternity at Howard University). He talks about the creation of Step Afrika! which began in 1994 as a dance festival in South Africa and grew into an education and performing arts organization and in now one of the top 10 U.S. Black dance companies, the company’s commitment to education (all dancers are expected to be teaching artists) and its dedication to cultural exchange. He also discusses the company’s commitment to bring the art form to as many people as possible and its creation of choreography that fits as easily in a school auditorium as it does on a Broadway stage.  C. Brian Williams also discusses the significance of traditional arts globally and its ability to open a window into the soul of a nation.   Join us online on November 17 when we premier the documentary called “Roots of American Culture”  a celebration of the  artistry of all the 2022 National Heritage Fellows. Check out our website arts.gov for more details. We’d love to know your thoughts--email us at  artworkspod@arts.gov.

Kevin Locke passed away on September 30, 2022. He was a Lakota flute player, hoop dancer, teacher, and 1990 National Heritage Fellow. And we’re paying tribute to him by reposting this 2015. In the podcast, Kevin Locke talks about learning to play the indigenous flute—which had been on the brink of extinction, his work in the revitalization of the Lakota language, and the difference in meaning dance has in indigenous culture as compared to European culture. Locke also describes the Hoop Dance and its significance—the Hoop Dance is another traditional practice that almost died out-- in which he uses 28 wooden hoops to create a series of designs and patterns. Kevin Locke also discusses the universal importance of traditional arts and how the specificity of them creates connections among different peoples. We’d love to know your thoughts--email us at  artworkspod@arts.gov.