The Culture Show Podcast

June 18, 2026 - Dr. Noelle Trent of the Museum of African American History, Mary Grant, and the MOMENTUM festival

Dr. Noelle Trent, president and CEO of the Museum of African American History in Boston and Nantucket, joins us to discuss Freedom! A Juneteenth Celebration [https://www.maah.org/juneteenth/]. The museum marks the holiday with a free open house and block party on Joy Street, plus a sister celebration on Nantucket [https://www.maah.org/events/]. Mary Grant, president of MassArt, returns for AI: Actual Intelligence, our recurring conversation with some of the region’s most original thinkers. This month, she reflects on a commencement season marked by political controversy, disinvited speakers and debates over what graduates need to hear. Catherine T. Morris, founder and executive director of the Boston Art & Music Soul Festival, joins us to discuss MOMENTUM [https://www.bamsfest.org/momentum], a five-day festival celebrating Black art, music, culture and enterprise across Greater Boston. She is joined by Isaiah Thelwell of Greater Brockton Young Professionals, one of the partners bringing MOMENTUM to Brockton through Fuller After Dark [https://fullercraft.org/programs/fuller-craft-museum-x-greater-brockton-young-professionals-fuller-after-dark/].

June 17, 2026 - The Salem Rainbow Stroll, The Clyde Best Story, and Salad Days at the Carpenter Center

Sebastian Crane and Lawrence Gullo  join us to discuss the Salem Rainbow Stroll [https://www.salemghosttours.com/Pride.html], a 90-minute walking tour exploring Salem’s hidden LGBTQIA+ history. The tour runs weekends through June, with proceeds benefiting the Trans Emergency Fund of Massachusetts. Director Dan Egan joins us to discuss Transforming the Beautiful Game: The Clyde Best Story [https://www.mfa.org/event/film/transforming-the-beautiful-game-the-clyde-best-story], opening the Roxbury International Film Festival [https://www.roxfilmfest.com/films-and-events] on June 18 at the Museum of Fine Arts. The documentary follows Clyde Best’s rise from Bermuda to West Ham United, where he became one of the first Black stars in English soccer while facing racism from the stands. Kate McNamara, director of the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts [https://carpenter.center/], and James Hoff, co-founder of Primary Information, join us to discuss Salad Days: Primary Information [https://carpenter.center/exhibitions/carpenter-center-presents-salad-days-primary-information]. The summer project turns the Carpenter Center’s third floor into a temporary art bookstore, screening room and archive, on view June 18 through August 16.

June 16, 2026 - Regie Gibson on "Song of Massachusetts," Josef Palermo on the Kennedy Center, and Nashoba Valley Winery

Regie Gibson, the inaugural Poet Laureate of Massachusetts, joins us to discuss Song of Massachusetts, his new collaboration with composer Carlos Simon. Commissioned by the Boston Pops, the piece premieres at the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular [https://www.bso.org/boston-pops-fireworks-spectacular] on July 4. Artist and arts organizer Josef Palermo joins us to discuss his Atlantic piece, What I Saw Inside the Kennedy Center [https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/04/inside-kennedy-center-shutdown-drama/686801/]. Palermo spent 10 months at the Kennedy Center as its first curator of visual arts and special programming. Justin Pelletier, chief operating officer of Nashoba Valley Winery [https://nashobawinery.com/] in Bolton, joins us as the farm-winery heads into its busiest season. New England’s oldest running winery has grown into a winery, orchard, distillery, brewery and restaurant operation.

June 15, 2026 - Antonia Bennett, Eddie S. Glaude Jr., and Igor Golyak on DELIRIUM

Antonia Bennett joins us ahead of her Father’s Day concert at Regattabar [https://www.livenation.com/event/rZ7HnEZ1AfZ_ZV/antonia-bennett-father-s-day-concert] in Cambridge on June 21. The daughter of Tony Bennett and Sandra Grant Bennett, she grew up close to the world of American popular song before studying at Berklee and building her own career in jazz, standards and original music. Eddie S. Glaude Jr. joins us to discuss his new book, America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries, as the country approaches its 250th birthday. The Princeton professor, political commentator and New York Times bestselling author will appear at a Brookline Booksmith event at WBUR CitySpace [https://brooklinebooksmith.com/event/2026-06-15/wbur-cityspace-eddie-glaude-jr] tonight at 6:30. Igor Golyak, founder and artistic director of Arlekin Players Theatre, joins us to preview DELIRIUM [https://www.arlekinplayers.com/works/delirium], his new adaptation of Eugène Ionesco’s Frenzy for Two, or More. The production runs June 18 through July 2 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, turning an endless domestic argument into absurdist comedy, existential crisis and public chaos.

June 12, 2026 - Week in Review: Sagrada Família, the Kennedy Center, and David Hockney

This week on The Culture Show, Jared Bowen is joined by Culture Show co-host Callie Crossley and Culture Show contributor James Sullivan, a journalist and author specializing in popular culture and Americana who is also on the faculty of Emerson College, for a look at the week’s top arts and culture headlines. In Barcelona, Gaudí’s Sagrada Família reaches a milestone 144 years in the making, with the completion of the central tower dedicated to Jesus Christ — making the basilica the tallest church in the world. In Washington, President Trump’s name is coming down from the Kennedy Center after a federal judge ruled the renaming illegal, even as the institution prepares to award Bill Maher the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. David Hockney, one of the best-known contemporary artists, has died at age 88. We reflect on his legacy, which included his famed sun-soaked swimming pools of Los Angeles, the landscapes of his native Yorkshire and his innovative works with digital media.  With World Cup matches headed to Foxborough, Boston faces a civic stress test as the tournament brings questions about traffic, transit, late-night crowds, fan culture and protest.