
Elizabeth Blair
Elizabeth Blair is a Peabody Award-winning senior producer/reporter on the Arts Desk of NPR News.
Blair produces, edits, and reports arts and cultural segments for NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. In this position, she has reported on a range of topics from arts funding to the MeToo movement. She has profiled renowned artists such as Yayoi Kusama and Mikhail Baryshnikov, explored how old women are represented in fairy tales, and reported the origins of the children's classic Curious George. Among her all-time favorite interviews are actors Octavia Spencer and Andy Serkis, comedians Bill Burr and Hari Kondabolu, the rapper K'Naan, and Cookie Monster (in character).
Blair has overseen several, large-scale series including The NPR 100, which explored landmark musical works of the 20th Century, and In Character, which probed the origins of iconic American fictional characters. Along with her colleagues on the Arts Desk and at NPR Music, Blair curated American Anthem, a major series exploring the origins of songs that uplift, rouse, and unite people around a common theme.
Blair's work has received several honors, including two Peabody Awards and a Gracie. She previously lived in Paris, France, where she co-produced Le Jazz Club From Paris with Dee Dee Bridgewater, and the monthly magazine Postcard From Paris.
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President Trump has announced the Kennedy Center honorees. They are Sylvester Stallone, Gloria Gaynor, George Strait, Michael Crawford and the band KISS. Trump said he will also host the ceremony.
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"What is it like to be a teen right now?" Young artists explored that question for two different exhibitions of their work this summer. But on the National Mall, their work was deemed too political.
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The artist, best known for her portrait of Michelle Obama, said the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery wanted to keep her portrait of a trans woman out of the exhibition American Sublime.
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GOP Lawmakers have approved funds for the Kennedy Center under the condition that the opera house be renamed after the first lady. It's the latest big change for the arts organization under Trump.
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Tiny Chef began as a passion project. Now, fans are rallying to revive it after Nickelodeon canceled the show.
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Since taking office, President Trump has aggressively tried to reshape cultural institutions. Last month, he claimed he was firing the director of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.
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The ripple effects of the Trump administration's anti-trans and DEI policies and rhetoric can be felt throughout this year's WorldPride festival.
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For 20 years, teens from around the country have come to Washington, D.C. to compete in the national Poetry Out Loud finals.
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From AI research to historical preservation, programs funded by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities reach every corner of the U.S. Now the government has terminated those grants.
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From taking over the Kennedy Center to halting federal funding of DEI programs, President Trump's actions have had a tremendous impact on artists, audiences and arts institutions.