Arts and Culture

The children of Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, sound just like any others. Happy, laughing, playing. But many of them face a difficult reality. Drugs and violence are daily concerns for many of these young children.

"Roots of Brazil" is a 5-part radio series exploring Brazil's cultural origins by illuminating Salvador da Bahia, a city at the center of the country's rich history. Producer Dani Hayes sat down with those who were able to travel to Salvador and interview those who are influencing modern-day Brazil.

Band members of a group that recently performed in Utah says contemporary popular music is dominated by predictable artists who often choose to play it safe by sticking to what has been done before.  For this Los Angeles-based trio, trying to be original beats trying to be popular.  

Utah isn't necessarily known as a destination for artists, but for Andrew Bird, whose new song 'Capsized' made it onto  NPR Music's Public Radio Best Songs of 2016 list, Utah provides opportunities for stellar performances.  

This summer marks the fiftieth year of the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti, a rural farming community in central Utah with a population around 3,000 people. The pageant depicts the events published in the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith’s founding of the LDS church, and the Utah pioneer’s migration west.

  A culinary chronicle about our distinctive approach to food, cooking and eating in the West.

Artists come from all over the United States to share their work with festivalgoers in the City of Logan’s annual Summerfest Arts Faire. UPR's Katie Peikes shares the story of one Summerfest vendor who is a high school teacher with a passion for wood art.

In April Utah Public Radio reporters spent two days training with national Peabody Award-winning producers The Kitchen Sisters. The workshop has resulted in a series of storytelling projects, including this one from arts and entertainment reporter, Mikey Kettinger, who spoke with musician Kathy Foster. Foster is a female bass player for the Thermals. The American indie band, based in Portland performed this past spring in Salt Lake City.

When Michael Ballam, the founding general director of the Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre, came home from sabbatical in Italy 10 years ago, he saw the Utah Theatre at 18 W. Center St. - closed at the time - and knew instantly he wanted to reopen it. 

Byran Snyder was a young American foreign service officer who takes us back to Genoa, Italy 1940. It was the day after Mussolini declared war on England.

Little Bloomsbury, a Logan-based non-profit organization, recently threw an art festival to celebrate its tenth year of promoting peacemaking.  Dr. Brenda Sun, the organization’s founder, believes the best defense against abuse is to create validating experiences. 

Former North Carolina politician Jesse Helms is a polarizing historical figure. Some see him as a idol, others see him as a joke. Many on the right, like GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz, idolize Jesse Helms. Most on the left, such, as Rachel Maddow, remember Helms for his racially insensitive actions and antics.

Tom Williams spoke with Braelyn, a brave little girl battling leukemia, who is featured in a book of photography and stories called “True Heroes.” We also speak with Braelyn’s mother Kristen about becoming a “cancer mom.”

A museum in Northern Utah is hosting a symposium for its current exhibition on ‘kitsch’, which is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as “pretentious bad taste, especially in the arts”.  

On the Civil Rights Pilgrimage, our group of 54 Strong followed a light all the way to Marion, Alabama to learn more about the roles and power of women in the music of the Civil Rights Movement. In that small southern town, we had the privilege of meeting up with Billie Jean Young -- famed actor, writer and McCarther Fellow who enlightened our group on why music was so central to the success of the Civil Rights Movement.

  On UPR's Folks Over, we've got live guests Reckless Uprising Unplugged, plus music from Panthermilk, Robert Linton, 3 Hat Trio, Red Rock Rondo, Hoodoo and Todd Wilkinson.

It’s becoming common for universities around the United States to invest in architectural aesthetics as a recruitment tool for attracting students. The latest example in Utah involves an addition to the skyline of USU.

The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art in Salt Lake City is embracing Americans' election-year-intensified interest in socio-political issues with several new visual art exhibitions dealing with ideology, immigration and sexuality.  

Walden, A Game is a new experimental video game based on the book by American philosopher Henry David Thoreau. It made its Utah introduction at this year’s New Frontier in conjunction with the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, which features virtual reality, video art installations, and immersive video and film creations. Tracy Fullerton, the game’s designer, says it serves as a vehicle for education and entertainment, and aims to appeal to gamers of all ages.  

Cellist Stefan Koch discovered the mostly overlooked music of Austrian composer Richard Stöhr nearly 100 years after it was composed.  Mr. Koch believes the music is largely unknown due to Stöhr’s Jewish background, and his history of being forced out of Nazi-controlled Austria in the late 1930s.

Move over Clark Kent, Cody Apedaile has his own alter ego and he’s currently saving hearts in Logan.

Donny and Marie Osmond put a twist on their trademark jingle as their wax figures for Madam Tussaud’s studio were revealed Tuesday for the first time at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.

Jonathan Christensen is a sculptor based in Logan, Utah.  His recent exhibition at Utah State University’s Projects Gallery included portraits made of clay and found objects. The artworks illustrate Jonathan’s personal growth as a born-and-raised Utahn who has experienced a range of life-changing events. One being his parents’ toxic marriage, another being his decision to disconnect from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as an adolescent boy, in favor of immersing himself in the counter-culture of punk rock.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word ‘kitsch’ as “Pretentious bad taste, especially in the arts.” Logan’s Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art has devoted a new exhibition to Kitsch and the evolution of its perception in the context of contemporary art.

Mummies of the World is on view at The Leonardo museum in Salt Lake City, with recently discovered mummies from Hungary, as well as mummies from Ancient Egypt and South America.