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Four smiling people in the center of a colorful graphic with the words "The Culture Show" written beneath them
Weekdays from 2 to 3 p.m.

GBH Executive Arts Editor Jared Bowen and a rotating panel of cultural correspondents and co-hosts provide an expansive look at society through art, culture and entertainment, driving conversations about how listeners experience culture across music, movies, fashion, TV, art, books, theater, dance, food and more. To share your opinion, email thecultureshow@wgbh.org or call/text 617-300-3838.

The show also airs on CAI, the Cape, Coast and Islands NPR station.

Come see The Culture Show LIVE at the  GBH BPL Studio every Friday at 2pm, and streaming on  GBH News YouTube.

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Listen to previous shows

  • Nicholas Ma joins The Culture Show to talk about his latest documentary, “Leap of Faith.” It follows 12 Christian pastors who are working to find hope and fellowship even though they hold deeply different beliefs .As they grapple with rifts within the Christian community they’re trying to reconcile that friction with their calling to promote tolerance and connection at the pulpit. “Leap of Faith,” has its opening night at The Coolidge Corner Theatre on Friday, October 18th.From there, Culture Show Contributor Lisa Simmons, artistic and executive director of the Roxbury International Film Fest and program manager at Mass Cultural Council, joins us to talk through the bumper crop of film festivals this season and she’ll offer some recommendations for horror films to take in ahead of Halloween.
  • Casey Soward has been a force in the performing arts sector. Recently he was named President and CEO of the Boch Center, home to the iconic Wang and Shubert Theatres. He joins us to talk about his vision and what it takes to have one of the most high-profile jobs in Boston’s art scene.From there Imari Paris Jeffries, President and CEO of Embrace Boston, reflects on Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. With Election Day on the horizon, he focuses on King’s fight for voting rights and his mission of fostering peace in a nation on edge. He also gives us a preview of this year’s Embrace Boston's Arts and Culture Summit.
  • “Nassim,” is Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour's audacious new theatrical experiment. Each night a different VIP performs, while the script waits unseen in a sealed box. Touchingly autobiographical yet powerfully universal, “Nassim” is a striking theatrical demonstration of how language can both divide and unite us. Presented by The Huntington Theatre Company, it’s onstage through October 27th at At the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. Nassim Soleiman joins The Culture Show to talk about this work, his background and his creative process.
  • Billy Bragg, one of the most outspoken singer-songwriters of his generation, he’s known for his labor activism and for his lyrics that range from romantic to radically political, with a constant throughline of hope for a better tomorrow. He’s released music and toured extensively with Wilco, putting unreleased lyrics by legendary American protest singer and activist Woody Guthrie to music. His latest album, “The Roaring Forty,” compiles dozens of iconic and deep-cut tracks from his now forty-plus year career. Billy Bragg’s “Roaring Forty” tour is well underway. He’ll be performing at the Chevalier Theater in Medford tonight.From there, Boston is now brighter and bolder by way of a new mural by Jeffrey Gibson at Dewey Square on The Greenway. Jeffrey Gibson is a multidisciplinary artist who is representing the United States at this year’s Venice Biennale. And it is historic. Gibson, whose ancestry includes Choctaw and Cherokee forebears, is the first Indigenous American to receive the honor of a solo show in the U.S. pavilion. He is an artist who fuses Indigenous aesthetics, history, politics, and pop culture –packing a powerful punch. Not just for the electrifying visuals but because in Gibson’s work there is a message as it grapples with questions of identity, oppression, and the struggle for freedom. Titled “your spirit whispering in my ear,” the mural is commissioned by The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy in collaboration with Mass MoCA. In addition to the mural, Jeffrey Gibson’s project at MASS MoCA, titled “POWER FULL BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT,” will open on November 3rd. Finally, to commemorate Indigenous People's Day, Culture Show contributor Julia Swanson takes us on a tour of public artworks that honor Indigenous culture. She’s a multidisciplinary artist and award winning photographer who is the creator of The Art Walk Project, a series of self-guided micro tours.
  • Today Jared Bowen, James Bennett II and Culture Show contributor Joyce Kulhawik go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review.First up, more than a dozen states, including Massachusetts, are suing Tik Tok, alleging that its algorithm was deliberately designed to get people hooked – violating consumer protection laws and causing a teenage mental health crisis along the way. We’ll look at what it means to be a society under the influencer.From there, the controversial Trump biopic, “The Apprentice,” is out, following a beleaguered journey to its theatrical release, from legal fights to fighting to find a distributor. Plus it’s the end of an era for Boston's fine-dining scene. Chef Barbara Lynch, whose reputation has been marred recently by reports of being abusive and volatile, is closing all of her remaining restaurants.