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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Christine McVie died Wednesday at age 79. She wrote some of the band's most popular songs including: "Don't Stop" and "You Make Loving Fun."
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The dancer with the National Opera of Ukraine was killed in September. Oleksandr Shapoval had volunteered to fight after the Russian invasion. (Story aired on All Things Considered on Sept. 15, 2022.)
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Jazz cellist Tomeka Reid is one of this year's MacArthur Fellows. She and 24 other so-called "geniuses" will each receive $800,000 for their "exceptional creativity."
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Chances are the next Broadway hit will have originated at a regional theater taking a risk on an untested playwright. But once those playwrights are established, many of them start writing for TV.
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Sesame Street The Musical is a new, Off-Broadway show staring Cookie Monster, Grover, Elmo and the rest of the muppets. The producers tailored the experience to their target audience: toddlers.
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Since its publication on September 3, 1947, the book has lulled children around the world to sleep with its dreamy tradition of bidding "goodnight" to everything in the "great green room."
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The long-awaited new season of the kids' show Bluey, a cartoon about a family of Australian cattle dogs, premiered on Disney+ last week. (Story first aired on Weekend Edition Sunday on Aug. 7, 2022.)
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A new season of the hugely popular Australian cartoon Bluey is dropping on Disney+. With its made-up family games, high jinx and humanity, the series has hooked both kids and their parents.
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Ostin signed deals with major pop and rock talent over the decades, including Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac and R.E.M. He said the industry didn't have to prioritize sales over artistic freedom.
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Composer Deborah Wicks La Puma has written music for Mo Willems' famous Pigeon, Elephant and Piggie - and now for Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed on HBO Max.