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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More than 25 years after Tupac Shakur's death, there's been a development in the investigation into his murder. The Las Vegas Police Department says it has issued a search warrant in Nevada.
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"This Land Is Your Land" isn't just a campfire song for school kids. It's a celebration of the American landscape — but it's a celebration with an edge.
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Ricardo Alberto Maldonado will become the almost-90-year-old academy's executive director and president. -
Dan Solomon's YA novel The Fight for Midnight takes place during former Texas state lawmaker Wendy Davis' filibuster of a bill that would restrict access to abortion. The protagonist is a teen boy. -
Pixar's new movie "Elemental" is directed and co-written by Peter Sohn. It is partly an homage to his childhood growing up in a Korean family in the Bronx.
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In science class, Sohn saw the periodic table as an apartment building. The son of Korean immigrants, he felt the elements were a "beautiful metaphor" for cultures mixing in his New York hometown. -
One of the shining voices of bossa nova, the Brazilian artist made both herself and the song world famous with her beguiling rendition, kicking off an illustrious career. -
The annual survey of the most popular high school musicals and plays is out. In addition to top ten lists, the report finds attendance is up 13% but theatre teachers are worried about censorship.
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The Addams Family, Clue and Frozen JR were among the most popular shows, according to a new survey. But the report also showed that drama teachers are nervous about censorship. -
George Michael Todd, a combat medic in Afghanistan, helped grapple with his own PTSD and that of other vets by making a rap album called Combat Medicine. "Doc Todd" died earlier this month.
