July 1, 2026 - Eddie S. Glaude Jr, "Song of Massachusetts," and Megan Hilty

July 1, 2026 - Eddie S. Glaude Jr, "Song of Massachusetts," and Megan Hilty

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.  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. The Tony-nominated actress and singer Megan Hilty also brings her star power to the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular. Ahead of the Fourth of July festivities we talk to her about her career, which has moved between Broadway, television and concert stages. You can also catch Megan Hilty at The Umbrella Arts Center on August 30th. To learn more go here [https://theumbrellaarts.org/evening-megan-hilty].

June 30, 2026 - Boston Symphony Orchestra President and CEO Chad Smith and Julia Swanson on Boston public art

Chad Smith [https://www.bso.org/profiles/chad-smith], president and CEO of the Boston Symphony Orchestra [https://www.bso.org/], joins The Culture Show as the BSO heads into a major summer season shadowed by the decision not to renew music director Andris Nelsons’ [https://www.bso.org/profiles/andris-nelsons] contract beyond the 2027 Tanglewood season. Smith talks with Jared Bowen about the fallout, the questions facing the orchestra, and what comes next. He also previews the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular [https://www.bso.org/boston-pops-fireworks-spectacular] on July 4 and the season ahead at Tanglewood [https://www.bso.org/tanglewood]. We have invited Andris Nelsons on the show to get his perspective. He has not responded to our invitation. Culture Show contributor Julia Swanson [https://www.jscreatesonline.com/] returns for our Public Service Arts Announcement, looking at the public art hiding in plain sight across Boston. Swanson, a multidisciplinary artist and award-winning photographer, is the creator of The Art Walk Project [https://theartwalkproject.com/about], a series of self-guided micro-tours of art across Greater Boston. This month, she takes us from Rixy’s new Greenway mural, The Midnight Ride [https://www.rosekennedygreenway.org/rixy/], to Boston’s fading ghost signs and the brotherly duo working to keep them visible.

June 29, 2026 - Olivia Wilde on "The Invite," the Nantucket Comedy Festival, and Boston Harbor City Cruises at 100

Actor and filmmaker Olivia Wilde joins The Culture Show to talk about The Invite [https://a24films.com/films/the-invite], her new A24 comedy, which she directs and stars in. The film, co-starring Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton, opens in Boston at the Coolidge Corner Theatre [https://coolidge.org/films/invite-2026] on Friday, July 3, before its nationwide release on July 10. Comedian Kevin Flynn, co-founder and executive director of the Nantucket Comedy Festival [https://nantucketcomedy.com/], joins us as the festival marks its 20th year July 9–11. Its youth program, Stand Up & Learn [https://standupandlearn.org/], helps young people build confidence through comedy. Boston Harbor City Cruises [https://www.cityexperiences.com/boston/city-cruises/] is marking 100 years on the water, from ferries and harbor tours to whale watches and Codzilla [https://www.cityexperiences.com/boston/city-cruises/codzilla/]. Jared Bowen talks with Bob Lawler, regional vice president and general manager of Boston Harbor City Cruises, and David Coffin, maritime storyteller, chantey singer and longtime harbor narrator.

June 26, 2026 - Week in Review: The Reflecting Pool, Clive Davis, and Dolly Parton's truck stop

On this edition of The Culture Show, Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley, and Culture Show contributor Lisa Simmons, go over the week’s top arts and culture headlines, which include: President Trump’s blue Reflecting Pool makeover has become a swampy spectacle in Washington, with algae, peeling paint and blame quickly giving way to parody songs and guerrilla projections. What began as a patriotic renovation ahead of America’s 250th has become an accidental canvas for satire. Clive Davis, the legendary music executive who died this week at 94, leaves behind a towering legacy in American music. With a golden ear for talent, Davis worked with artists from Janis Joplin and Bruce Springsteen to Whitney Houston. More than a century after the Titanic sank, a new fight is surfacing over what should happen to artifacts recovered from the wreck. RMS Titanic Inc., the company with salvage rights, wants to auction more than 100 objects, raising questions about preservation, profit and whether pieces of one of history’s most famous maritime graves should ever be sold. Cape Cod is becoming home to Bards on the Bay, a new Wellfleet retreat for playwrights and theatrical composers founded by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel and Michael Maso, who led The Huntington for more than four decades. Dolly Parton has gone from “9 to 5” to I-65. The country music legend has opened her first truck stop and travel center in Cornersville, Tennessee, complete with fuel, food, showers, Dolly merchandise and a coffee shop called “Cup of Ambition.”

June 25, 2026 - Ensemble Altera's "Declarations," Children's Art Carnival in Harlem, and a home for Les Bleus in Boston

Providence-based chamber choir Ensemble Altera [https://www.ensemblealtera.com/] joins The Culture Show live from GBH’s Fraser Performance Studio to perform excerpts from Declarations [https://www.ensemblealtera.com/tickets], a new work marking America at 250. The full world-premiere work will be performed Saturday, June 27 at 7 p.m. at Old South Church in Boston and Sunday, June 28 at 3 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Providence. Curator Souleo and artist Michael A. Cummings discuss Children’s Art Carnival in Harlem: The Making of Contemporary Artists [https://wallach.columbia.edu/content/childrens-art-carnival-harlem-making-contemporary-artists], a new exhibition at Columbia University’s Wallach Art Gallery tracing the Harlem arts center that helped shape generations of artists, including a young Jean-Michel Basquiat. Cliff Dever, owner of Warehouse Kitchen + Sports Bar, joins us to talk about running a downtown Boston sports bar during World Cup fever. Warehouse has partnered with the French national team to serve as the official bar for Les Bleus supporters, just steps from the FIFA Fan Festival at City Hall Plaza [https://www.meetboston.com/event/fifa-fan-festival%E2%84%A2-boston/89936/].