Episodes
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March 3, 2025 - Oscars roundup with Joyce Kulhawik, James Stavridis, and Danyson Tavares
Joyce Kulhawik joins The Culture Show for an Oscars recap with her take on the snoozers, snubs and surprises. Joyce Kulhawik is a Culture Show contributor, Emmy-award winning arts and entertainment reporter and president of the Boston Theatre Critics Association. You can find her reviews at Joyce’sChoices.From there, Admiral James Stavridis. He led NATO's global operations from 2009 to 2013 as Supreme Allied Commander for the alliance. He is also a prolific and popular author of historical military fiction whose novels offer cautionary tales. He joins The Culture Show to talk about geopolitics, European history and his process as a writer.Finally Danyson Tavares, the Executive Director of the Boston Society for Architecture joins The Culture Show for his take on President Trump’s executive order, mandating classical architecture for government buildings. -
February 28, 2025 - Week in Review: Fyre Festival 2, Roberta Flack, and Amazon's James Bond
Culture Show co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and James Bennett II go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review.First up, the return of the Fyre Festival. Notorious for scamming people the first time around, it’s back selling tickets that range between $1,400 and $1.1 million. From there it’s the legacy of Soul and R&B icon Roberta Flack,reflecting on the versatile career of the legendary actor Gene Hackman, and remembering actress Michele Trachtenberg of “Gossip Girl” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fame.Then we raise a glass to South Boston’s summertime destination, Sullivan's Castle and Island, which just won a James Beard America’s Classics Award.And ruminations on the fate of 007 now that Amazon owns the James Bond franchise. -
February 27, 2025 - Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, Michael John Gorman, and Mary Grant
Boston’s high-octane New Orleans-inspired brass band, Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, is celebrating Mardi Gras with a show this Saturday at Scullers. Musician, composer and founder of Revolutionary Snake Ensemble Ken Field, and acclaimed trumpeter Jason Palmer join The Culture Show for a preview. From there the new director of the MIT Museum, Michael John Gorman, joins The Culture Show to talk about his vision for the museum and to talk about Artfinity, the MIT festival for the arts.Finally Mary Grant, president of MassArt joins The Culture Show for her monthly appearance to mark the fifth anniversary of MAAM and to discuss how the Trump administration’s agenda is reverberating through the arts sector and higher ed. -
February 26, 2025 - Nebulae: The Universe Unveiled, Adrienne Campbell-Holt, and Pedro Alonzo
Art and science converge in the exhibition “Nebulae: The Universe Unveiled,” on view at the New Bedford Art Museum through March 9th. Six NASA photographs from the Webb and Hubble telescopes are on display with works by artists who have either been directly inspired by the NASA photographs or inspired by the marvels of the night sky. Suzanne de Vegh, Executive Director of The New Bedford Art Museum; Mark Munkacsy, President of the Astronomical Society of Southern New England and Acting Director of the Observatory at UMass Dartmouth, and ceramicist and experimental filmmaker Harvey Goldman join The Culture Show for an overview.The children’s musical “Finn” was commissioned by the Kennedy Center, and it had a critically acclaimed run at the end of last year. Under President Trump’s leadership, The Kennedy Center has pulled the plug on the musical’s tour. The Director of “Finn,” Adrienne Campbell-Holt, joins The Culture Show to talk about the consequences of this abrupt cancellation.Culture Show contributor Pedro Alonzo discusses how art fairs can be a life force for the arts and the cities that host them, and he weighs in on a conflict in Quincy over public art. Pedro Alonzo is an independent curator and the Artistic Director of the Boston Public Art Triennial. -
February 25, 2025 - Luna Luna at The Shed, Jay Critchley, and Lisa Simmons
Max Hodge’s, CEO of The Shed in New York City and Alex Poots, Artistic director at The Shed, join The Culture Show to talk about the innovative arts and culture venue and their current exhibition “Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy,” which is open through March 16, 2025.From there artist Jay Critchley joins The Culture Show to talk about his exhibition, Jay Critchley: Democracy of the Land, Inc., FLAGrancy, which is on view at Montserrat College of Art through March 5, 2025.Finally Culture Show contributor Lisa Simmons joins us to talk about all things movies, including her Oscars predictions. Lisa Simmons is the artistic and executive director of the Roxbury International Film Festival and program manager at Mass Cultural Council. -
February 24, 2025 - Megan Marshall, Maine's lighthouses, and the South Asian Showdown
Megan Marshall, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography, has long been revered for her storytelling skills and deep insights into historical figures, such as the poet Ellizabeth Bishop, and Margaret Fuller, the 19th century journalist and celebrated intellectual of her time. In her latest book,”After Lives: On Biography and the Mysteries of the Human Heart,” Megan Marshall takes a turn at autobiography, examining her own art and life. Megan Marshall joins The Culture Show to talk about it.From there we head to the coast of Maine. In recent years their lighthouses have been hit with millions of dollars worth of storm damage. Bob Trapani, an author and Executive Director of the American Lighthouse Foundation joins The Culture Show to talk about what it means to have all of Maine’s 66 historic lighthouses added to the World Monuments Fund 2025 global watchlist.Finally it’s the South Asian Showdown 2025 Bollywood/Fusion Dance Competition. This Saturday some of the best dance groups from the United States and Canada will compete at the Strand Theatre in Dorchester. Rohit Bhambi, President of Boston Bhangra and founder of South Asian Showdown, joins The Culture Show for an overview. -
February 21, 2025 - Week in Review: The National Endowment for the Arts, the JFK Library, and the WNBA in Boston
Culture Show co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and James Bennett II go over this latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review.First up, hundreds of artists protest new National Endowment for the Arts restrictions, asking the NEA to reverse policy changes made in response to executive orders issued by President Trump.From there, it’s the JFK Library and Museum, which was forced to temporarily close after a handful of federal employees were fired. Finally, Singer and actor Donnie Wahlberg doubles down on Boston. Not only is he working to bring a WNBA expansion team to his hometown, he’ll be joining the local police force by way of “Boston Blue,” a spinoff of “Blue Bloods.” -
February 20, 2025 - Chelsea Handler, Cory Doctorow, and the Red Bull Heavy Metal contest at Boston City Hall
Comedian, television host, advocate and New York Times bestselling author Chelsea Handler joins The Culture Show to talk about her forthcoming book “I’ll Have What She’s Having.” It’s a collection of hilarious and heartfelt essays that detail what it took for her to become the woman she always wanted to be. It’s in bookstores on February 25th and is available for preorder on her website. On February 26th you can catch Chelsea Handler at Brookline Booksmith for a book signing event. From there New York Times bestselling author Cory Doctorow joins us to talk about “Radicalized,” a collection of four science fiction novellas connected by social, technological, and economic visions of what America could be in the near future. Published in 2019, one of those novellas, “Radicalized,” anticipated how frustrations with the profit-driven health insurance industry could lead to the kind of violence that happened in real life when Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was assassinated. Cory Doctorow’s latest book is “Picks and Shovels.” Finally, snowboarding phenom Maggie Leon joins The Culture Show for an overview of this Saturday’s Red Bull Heavy Metal street snowboarding competition. Located at Boston’s City Hall Plaza, 2:00-5:30, it’s free to the public. -
February 19, 2025 - The Joachim-Ma Stradivarius, Bryan Stevenson, and the Phoenix of Gaza VR experience
Recently a rare violin crafted in 1714 by Antonio Stradivari during his renowned “Golden Period” fetched $11.3M at Sotheby’s New York with the proceeds benefiting New England Conservatory. The funds will be used to establish the largest named endowed scholarship in support of future generations of musicians. The result places the violin among the most valuable musical instruments ever sold at auction. Andrea Kalyn, President of New England Conservatory, joins The Culture Show to talk about this remarkable story,From there it’s Bryan Stevenson.Ten years ago the civil rights lawyer wrote the bestselling memoir “Just Mercy,” documenting his career fighting for disadvantaged clients and people on death row. It awakened Americans to the injustices within our criminal justice system. The tenth anniversary edition of “Just Mercy” was recently published. Bryan Stevenson joins The Culture Show to reflect on what has changed since it was published.Finally, "Phoenix of Gaza." Culture Show producer Kate Dellis brings us the story of how Virtual Reality is being used to memorialize Gaza. -
February 18, 2025 - Imari Paris Jeffries, Swan Lake at Boston Ballet, and Julia Swanson
Imari Paris Jeffries, President and CEO of Embrace Boston, joins The Culture Show to talk about what it means to honor Black History Month amid President Trump’s DEI rollbacks.From there Mikko Nissinen, Artistic Director of Boston Ballet, joins The Culture Show for a preview of their upcoming production of “Swan Lake,” which is onstage at the Citizens Opera House February 27th through March 16th.Finally, Culture Show contributor Julia Swanson takes on a virtual tour of the three works of public art that will fill anyone with hope and joy. Julia Swanson is a multidisciplinary artist and award winning photographer who is the creator of The Art Walk Project – a series of self-guided micro tours of art across Greater Boston.
