Alabama Arts Radio podcast --Individual Artist Fellowship Recipient Gary Chapman

Visual Arts Program Manager Georgine Clarke interviews Gary Chapman, Professor of Art at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. Chapman's paintings are in the collections of all of Alabama's Art Museums. He was included in ASCA's 2008 publication "Alabama Masters:  Artists and Their Work" and is a two time recipient of the Council's Individual Artist Fellowship. During the program, Chapman discusses his painting and teaching philosophy as well as the use of symbolism in his paintings.

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Alabama Arts Radio podcast --Joyce Cauthen, Bullfrog Jumped

Rebroadcast of ACTC Director Joey Brackner inteviewing Alabama Folklife Association Director Joyce Cauthen about the CD release called Bullfrog Jumped, culled from original recordings made in Alabama by Byron Arnold in the late 1940s.
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Alabama Arts Radio podcast --Alabama Gospel Quartet Convention

This program is a rebroadcast of Steve Grauberger interviewing George Stewart, producer of the American Gospel Quartet Convention.  Also included are interviews from the convention in 2005 with veteran gospel singer  Roscoe Robinson and Ricky McKinney of the Blind Boys of Alabama. 
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Alabama Arts Radio podcast --Felecia Jones

In this show Barbara Edwards, Deputy Director, interviews Felecia Jones, Executive Director of the Black Belt Community Foundation.  The Council began working in partnership three years ago with the Black Belt Community Foundation to identify, celebrate and support the arts and culture of the black belt region of Alabama.
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Alabama Arts Podcast , Jacky Jack White

In honor of musician Jacky Jack White receiving a 2010 Alabama State Council on the Arts Fellowship award, this program is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner interviewing Jacky Jack White of the Sucarnochee Revue.  The Revue, a performance series of southern music is performed at Bibb Graves Auditorium on the campus of the  University of West Alabama  and broadcast throughout the region via radio. interviewing Jacky Jack White of the

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Alabama Arts Radio podcast Henry Glassie

This is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner interviewing renowned folklorist Henry Glassie in honor of Dr Glassie winning the prestigious Haskins Prize for lifetime achievement. In this program Glassie discusses his life and research of vernacular architecture in the Southern United States, and particularly in Alabama. 

Alabama Arts Radio Podcast, Christmas Music from Alabama Musicians

This week's program features Christmas songs selected from the Fretted Instruments Christmas CDs. For the past six years Herb Trotman, Wayne Anderson, and numerous Alabama musicians have put together CDs of Christmas music which are distributed each year at Fretted Instruments, Trotman's music store in Homewood.  The project involves what Herb calls "the Large and Amorphous Group", made up of area bands and musicians who record Christmas music especially for each year's CD. The songs include traditional carols, original songs such as Christmas in Alabama and Empty Stocking Blues, and popular favorites like White Christmas and The Christmas Song.

Alabama Arts Podcast,, Musician Herb Trotman

This week Deborah Boykin interviews Birmingham musician Herb Trotman, who talks about banjo playing and tells stories from three decades of performing old time and bluegrass music in Alabama.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast, Joe Watts and Colette Boehm of the Alabama Scenic Byways Program

In this program Joey Brackner interviews Joe Watts of the Alabama Scenic Byways Program   and Colette Boehm of Alabama's Coastal Connection.  Alabama's Coastal Connection has just been named a national byway by the National Scenic Byways Program.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast, Charlie Lucas and Chip Cooper

In this program Joey Brackner interviews Charlie Lucas and Chip Cooper about the new book Tinman published by the University of Alabama Press. Tinman features a narrative by Charlie Lucas, edited by Ben Windham, and beautiful photography of Lucas' work by Chip Cooper.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast, Ernestine Robinson Directory of the Plantation Heirs

Steve Grauberger interviews Auburn native Ernestine Hill Robinson about her life as a singer and the director of the a cappella Negro spiritual singing group, The Plantation Heirs. Musical example are included in the program.

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Alabama Arts Podcast, Susan Perry and Fred Fussell

Joey Brackner interviews Susan Perry of the Alabama Humanities Foundation and researcher Fred Fussell about the exhibit New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music.

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Alabama Arts Podcast, Andrew Freear Director of the Rural Studio

Deborah Boykin interviews Andrew Freear, director of The Rural Studio, a project of Auburn University's School of Architecture. He discusses how this community-based program enables students to learn through projects that ultimately provide affordable homes and public spaces in rural West Alabama.

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Alabama Arts Podcast, Gospel Songwriter Ezra Knight

Steve Grauberger interviews gospel songwriter and music teacher Ezra "Buddy" Knight about his career as a singing school and piano teacher, gospel songwriter, editor and distributor for the Stamp/Baxter Music Company, a major publisher of shapenote convention songbooks.

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Alabama Arts Podcast, Buddy Palmer CEO of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham

Joey Brackner interviews Buddy Palmer, President and CEO of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham.

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Alabama Arts Podcast , Bobby Horton

This is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner interviewing Alabama's curator of historic song - Bobby Horton.  Best known for his CDs of Civil War era music and membership in the popular band Three On a String, Mr. Horton also discusses his family's musical heritage and his work composing songs for numerous Ken Burns' documentary films. Bobby Horton was a recipient of a 2005 Governor's Arts Award.

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Alabama Arts Podcast , Dr. Thomas Bice

For this program, Diana Green interviews our Deputy State Superintendent of Education Instructional Services, Dr. Thomas Bice. Dr. Bice talks about the need for school reform and how the arts may play a role. Evident in the discussion is Dr. Bice’s passion for reaching all of Alabama’s students by asking adults to start thinking outside the box. His premise: “Adults can fix this problem!”

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Alabama Arts Podcast, Curtis Long, and Meaghan Heinrich

For this week's program Joey Brackner interviews Curtis Long, Executive Director  and Meaghan Heinrich, Education Manager of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast, Alabama Author Rick Bragg

Council Executive Director Al Head interviews renowned Alabama author Rick Bragg about his upbringing in Alabama and his writing career. They discuss Bragg's books, All Over But the Shoutin', Ava's Man, The Prince of Frogtown, and his yet unnamed, upcoming novel of essays built around stories of mill workers at the now defunct Union Yarn Mill in Jacksonville Alabama.

Alabama Arts Radio Podcast, Richard Metzger of the Troy-Pike Cultural Arts Complex in Troy, Alabama

Georgine Clarke, Visual Arts Program Manager for the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Richard Metzger, Executive Director of the Troy-Pike Cultural Arts Complex in Troy, Alabama. He explains how the exhibition space was created in a historic Post Office and describes the programs. The discussion features the current exhibition "Celebrating Contemporary Art in Alabama: The Importance of Being Southern." This presentation includes works by 41 artists who have received Individual Artist Fellowships from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Works range from photography, painting, sculpture and printmaking to hot glass, ironwork, ceramics and quilts. The exhibition marks the first time such an exhibition has been mounted in Alabama.

Alabama Arts Radio podcast 2009 National Heritage Fellows The Birmingham Sunlights

In this program Steve Grauberger interviews James Alex Taylor and Barry Taylor, two of the five members of the gospel a cappella group the Birmingham Sunlights. This September 22nd the Birmingham Sunlights will receive a National Heritage Fellowship for master folk and traditional artists in a ceremony in Washington D. C. from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). On the 24th of September they will preform at the 2009 NEA National Heritage Fellowships Concert. In this interview James and Barry describe the history of their group, its members and the travels they have experienced singing and representing Alabama in Africa, France, Italy and the United States. Examples of their singing are presented as well.

Alabama Arts Radio Podcast, Kelly Barsdate, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

In this program Barbara Edwards interviews Kelly Barsdate. Ms. Barsdate is the Chief Program and Planning Officer for the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies in Washingon, DC. She was a presenter at the Council’s 2009 Bill Bates Leadership Institute and discusses some of the topics she advanced at the Institute concerning Arts Participation.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast, Alabama Humanities Foundations Director Bob Stewart

Joey Brackner interviews Robert Stewart, Director of the Alabama Humanities Foundation, about the AHF mission and their programs including SUPER, the speakers bureau and grants to organizations.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast

Bluegrass musician David Davis talks with Deborah Boykin about his musical influences, including shapenote singing, Charlie Louvin, and his uncle, Cleo Davis, one of Bill Monroe's original Bluegrass Boys. He also discusses his experiences as leader of the Warrior River Boys, one of Alabama's most prominent bluegrass bands. The program includes music from their latest CD, Two Dimes and a Nickle.
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Alabama Arts Radio podcast for August 16, Wanda Robertson

This week Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews quilter Wanda Robertson of Florence about teaching quilt making in the Alabama Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program. Two of her students also discuss their experiences during the program.
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Alabama Arts Radio podcast for August 9th Bill Ivey

This program is a rebroadcast of Arts Council Executive Director Al Head interviewing Bill Ivey, Director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University. Subjects discussed are Ivey's background as past head of the National Endowment for the Arts, his involvement with the Curb Center and issues concerning Ivey's book published last year, arts, inc.: How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights.
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Alabama Arts Radio podcast for August 2nd

This week Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews jazz and blues musician and bandleader Theodore Arthur, Jr., of Mobile about his music career and his recent tour of Europe and the Middle East. Several of his music students join him during the program.
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Alabama Arts Radio podcast for July 26th

George Devours, musician and promoter talks with Deborah Boykin about the Blackwater Bluegrass Festival and his experiences in bluegrass music, including the Brushy Creek festivals of the 1970's and his friendship with bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs.
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Alabama Arts Radio podcast for July 19th

Arts in Education Program Manager, Diana Green interviews Foster Dixon, creative writing instructor at Booker T. Washington Magnet High School in Montgomery, Alabama. Mr. Dixon was named a 2009 Surdna Foundation Arts Teaching Fellow. During this interview he explains his proposed project for which he won the fellowship.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for July 12, Heirloom Sewing Marth Pullen

Heirloom sewing is the subject of this week’s program on Alabama Arts Radio. Folklorist Anne Kimzey interviews Martha Pullen of Huntsville, an internationally-known sewing teacher, author, publisher and host of public television’s popular show Martha’s Sewing Room.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for July 5th, Kathryn Tucker Windham

Joey Brackner interviews Kathryn Tucker Windham at her home in Selma about homecomings, unique graveyards and unusual grave stones.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for June 30th

Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, interviews poet and editor Sebastian Matthews, who appeared at the April 18 Alabama Book Festival. Matthews is the author of the poetry collection We Generous (Red Hen Press) and a memoir about his poet father, the late William Matthews, In My Father’s Footsteps. He co-edited, with Stanley Plumly, Search Party: Collected Poems of William Matthews. Matthews teaches at Warren Wilson College and serves on the faculty at Queens College Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing. His poetry and prose has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The Georgia Review, and on The Writer’s Almanac, among others. Matthews co-edits Rivendell, a place-based literary journal, and serves as poetry consultant for Ecotone: Re-Imagining Place.

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Alabama Arts Radio podcast for June 23rd Blue Note Five

Steve Grauberger interviews Eric Newby, Thomas Kelly, Gerald Johnson, Charles Draper and Willie Jordan of the Huntsville Police Department's Blue Note Five a cappella quartet (quintet) group. Selections from their CD are included.

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Alabama Arts Radio podcast for June 16th Fred Kuwornu Filmmaker

The Alabama State Council on the Arts sponsored a cultural exchange program with the City of Pietrasanta, Italy April 16-May 2. Barbara Edwards, Deputy Director, interviews Fred Kuwornu, an Italian filmmaker. Mr. Kuwornu wrote and directed a historical documentary entitled "Inside Buffalo." This documentary uncovers the historical and human events of the 92nd Division of the American Army, nicknamed Buffalo Soldiers. During the cultural exchange this documentary had its premiere screening at the Capri Theatre in Montgomery.

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Alabama Arts Radio podcast for June 9th New Dance Drama

As part of the Council’s International Exchange in April 2009, Diana Green interviews members of the New Dance Drama, from Pietrasanta, Italy. This Graham based modern dance company, with artistic director Adria Ferrali, spent three weeks in residency, rehearsing at the Montgomery Ballet studios, teaching and performing at Alabama State University, and performing as part of the sculpture Festival in Sylacauga. Adria Ferrali is joined in the interview by her dancers Thomas Johansen, Angelica Stella, and Sabrina Davini.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for June 2nd, Storytellers Bruce Walker and Joseph Trimble

Alabama Center for Traditional Culture director Joey Brackner interviews Bruce Walker and Joseph Trimble of the Alabama Storytelling Association

Alabama Arts Radio podcast for May 26th, Moundville Museum Betsy Irwin and Jay McGirt

Alabama Center for Traditional Culture director Joey Brackner interviews Betsy Irwin of Moundville Archaeological Park and Creek Indian weaver Jay McGirt about Indian art and the creation of new exhibits for the Moundville Museum.
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Alabama Arts Radio podcast for May 19th, Grove Hill Arts Council Terry Norris

In this program Community Arts Program Manager Randy Shoults interviews Terry Norris, founding President of the Grove Hill Arts Council (GHAC). They discuss the various programs, events and town mural project sponsored by the GHAC.
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Alabama Arts Radio podcast for May 12th, Willie King

To honor the late Willie King as the 2009 Alabama Folk Heritage Award winner this program is a rebroadcast of Rebecca Ryals interviewing Willie King at the 2003 Freedom Creek Blues Festival in Old Memphis near Aliceville, includes musical examples.
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Alabama Arts Radio podcast for May 5th, Beth Chapman

2009 Distinguished Artist Award winner Beth Nielsen Chapman is interviewed by Arts Council Executive Director Al Head about her life as a popular singer/songwriter and as an educator. They also discuss Chapman's inspirations and her unique process of songwriting.
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Alabama Arts Radio podcast for April 28th, Scooter Muse

Joey Brackner interviews Scooter Muse, the virtuoso banjo and guitar player from Florence, Alabama. Muse discusses his musical development and his continuing fascination with Celtic music.

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Alabama Arts Radio podcast for April 21st, Valentina Fogher

Georgine Clarke interviews Valentina Fogher, Collaborator of Cultural Activities for the City of Pietrasanta, Italy, about the Cultural Exchange Exchange between the State of Alabama and Italy. The program began in the summer of 2008 when Alabama took artists, musicians, exhibitions, film, and literature to Pietrasanta. From April 16-May 2, 2009, Italian artists, dancers, musicians, and film will be in Alabama. The focus of activities will be in Montgomery, with additional programs in Birmingham and Sylacauga. The City of Montgomery will sign a Sister City agreement with Pietrasanta. The theme of the Exchange this year is Michelangelo and His Heirs.

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Alabama Arts Radio podcast for April 14th, Poet Jim Murphy

Poet Jim Murphy is interviewed by Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum. Murphy is the author of Heaven Overland, published this year by Kennesaw State University Press. He is associate professor of English at the University of Montevallo, and his poems have appeared in The Southern Review, Southern Humanities Review, Brooklyn Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, Cimarron Review, Fine Madness, The Alaska Quarterly Review, Puerto del Sol, and in other journals, as well as in The Memphis Sun (Kent State University Press, 2000). He serves as Director of the Montevallo Literary Festival, held on campus each spring, and as an editor in poetry for Red Mountain Review, a Birmingham-based literary journal.

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Alabama Arts Radio podcast for April 7th, Author Mary Ward Brown

Randy Shoults, Community Arts and Literature Program Manager, travels to Selma to attend the public library's 'Lunch at the Library' program series and record their guest writer, Mary Ward Brown as she discusses her just published memoir, Fanning the Spark. After Ms. Ward’s presentation, long time friend and Instructor of English at University of North Alabama, Pam Kingsbury conducts a short interview.

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Alabama Arts Podcast for March 31st 2009

Alabama native and National Old-Time Banjo Champion Robert Montgomery talks with Deborah Boykin about his musical influences and the upcoming Chicken and Egg Festival in Moulton on April 18-19, 2009. In the program he demonstrates old-time banjo styles and discusses his recordings.

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Alabama Arts Radio podcast for March 17th, Christian Harmony Singing School

Steve Grauberger visits County Line Church in Corner Alabama to interview Cassie Allen and Emily Creel about their Christian Harmony singing school and next day singing held February 7th and 8th, 2009. Discussed in this program is the history of the 1958 Alabama edition of William Walker's Christian Harmony and the necessity of holding singing schools to teach shape-note singing. Also included in the program are songs recorded during this year's event.
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Alabama Arts Radio podcast for March 10th, Folklorist Paddy Bowman

Deborah Boykin interviews folklorist Paddy Bowman, Director for Local Learning. The National Network for Folk Arts in Education about her recent workshop for Alabama educators at the statewide Arts Education Summit. Bowman, who moved to north Alabama as a teenager, uses this experience to explain the importance of community and culture in the classroom.
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Alabama Arts Radio podcast for March 3rd, 24th annual Clay Conference

In honor of the 24th annual Alabama Clay Conference sponsored by the Alabama Craft Council and planned for Huntsville March 13-15, Georgine Clarke interviews Chris Greenman and Steve Loucks. Greenman is on the art faculty of Alabama State University and Loucks teaches at Jacksonville State University. Both are art professors as well as professional craft artists working in clay. The discussion covers the process of producing ceramic pieces, marketing, and the importance of the annual conference.

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Alabama Arts Radio podcast for Feb. 24th, Jerry Brown folk potter

To help promote the upcoming Jerry Brown Arts Festival , this program is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner interviewing Jerry Brown about the process of pottery making at his shop in Hamilton Alabama. This year the Jerry Brown Arts Festival is located at the Old WalMart Building at 1500 Military Street South, in Hamilton on March 7-8, 2009.

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Alabama Arts Radio for Feb 17th, Cinque Cullar

Barbara Edwards, Deputy Director, interviews Cinque Cullar. Mr. Cullar is founder and artistic director for the Tribe of Judah, a youth gospel group of students from Alabama State University and the Montgomery community. Mr. Cullar and Ms. Edwards talks about the newly released Black Belt Gospel Tour CD featuring students from Tuskegee Booker T.Washington High School, Greensboro East High School, Selma High School, Francis Marion High School and Judson College Voices of Praise.

Alabama Arts Radio for Feb 10th, Kathleen Driskell

Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, interviews poet and teacher Kathleen Driskell, author of Seed Across Snow and Laughing Sickness. Driskell’s poems have appeared in leading literary journals and she teaches in the Spalding University Brief Residency MFA Writing Program in Louisville, KY. Driskell will be in Alabama April 17-18, 2009, to participate in an Alabama High School Teacher Workshop on Friday and the Alabama Book Festival Poetry Tent on Saturday.
Driskell reads from Seed Across Snow and talks about her subjects in poems – domestic emergencies, motherhood, and everyday life that resonates with lush language and a deeply held sense of the world’s value. She also discusses teaching creative writing, and the value of the arts in our schools.
Thompson interviewed Driskell in the studios of WFPL in Louisville, Kentucky, and extends thanks to the staff for assistance.

Alabama Arts Podcast for January 27th 2009

This is a rebroadcast of our program on the Alabama Arts Education Summit 2008. This year the Summit will take place in Troy, Alabama February 18-20, 2009. The theme for this year's statewide conference is ”Speaking with One Voice." In this radio show, performing arts program manager Yvette Daniel interviews the four partners that were instrumental in the planning and implementation of the 2008 Summit: Diana Green, arts in education program manager at the Council, Donna Russell, executive director of the Alabama Alliance for Arts Education, Martha Lockett, executive director of the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts, and Sara Wright, director of academic innovative initiatives at the Alabama State Department of Education.
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Alabama Arts Podcast for January 20th 2009

This program is a rebroadcast of Alabama shapenote music and its history, in preparation for this year's Annual Capitol Rotunda Four-Book Shapenote Singing that will be held January 31st at the Alabama Department of Archives and History off of Union St between Adams and Washington in Montgomery. The singing will start at 9:30 am and end at 3pm. The public is welcome to come and listen or sing. For more information call 334-242-4076, x-225.
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Alabama Arts Podcast for January 13th 2009

In the first half of the program Joey Brackner interviews Film maker Robert Clem about his new film Gospel Highway. In the second half Joey interviews Auguster Maul, lead singer for the Delta Aires Quartet.
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Alabama Arts Podcast for January 6th 2009

This program is a rebroadcast of ASCA folklorist Joey Brackner interviewing preeminent Alabama historian Dr. Wayne Flynt about his book Alabama in the Twentieth Century. In the interview Dr. Flynt outlines the significant cultural contributions of Alabamians during the late century. Wayne Flynt is the Distinguished University Professor of History at Auburn University.
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Alabama Arts Podcast for Dec 30th 2008

Henri's Notion creates a musical mix of traditional Celtic and American music as well as their own compositions that have a rhythm and voice reflective of their Southern heritage, which lends a pleasing familiarity to the music.
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Alabama Arts Podcast for Dec 23rd 2008

Seasonal music from husband and wife duo, Annette and Bret Heim, who combine the flute and classical guitar in an exquisite, intimate experience. Their ability to bring their audience into their performances ensures repeat request and performances. They present compositions by living American and British composers of note in an audience-friendly way. Their performance at the National Czech and Slovak Museum was described as "absolutely astonishing."
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Alabama Arts Podcast for Dec 16th 2008

A full program of music of The Four Eagles Quartet a capella gospel group is presented from a program originally recorded during the "Sounds of the Seasons" performance series held at the Alabama State Capitol building in 2002.
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Alabama Arts Podcast for Dec 9th 2008

Joey Brackner interviews renowned folklorist Henry Glassie about his life and research of vernacular architecture in the Southern United States, and particularly in Alabama.
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Alabama Arts Podcast for Dec 2nd 2008

Joey Brackner interviews linguists Dr. Thomas Nunnally and Dr. Catherine Davies about the new Tributaries: Journal of the Alabama Foliklife Association Vol X that deals entirely with the dialects of Alabamians and southern speech.
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Alabama Arts Podcast for Nov 25th 2008

This program is a rebroadcast of Steve Grauberger interviewing Doug Back on the history of Classic Banjo. The program includes musical examples from Back's CD releases, The Banjo Goes Highbrow and The Big Trio Reprise on the Belmando label.
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Alabama Arts Radio for Nov 18th, 2008

Yvette Daniel interviews actor Ella Joyce about here one woman play A Rose Among Thorns: A Dramatic Tribute to Rosa Parks.
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Alabama Arts Radio for Nov 11th 2008

ASCA Literature Fellowship Recipient in Poetry, Jennifer Horne talks with Jeanie Thompson, Executive Director of the Alabama Writers' Forum, about Horne's love of Southern farming and gardening, her work as an anthologist, and her forthcoming poetry collection Bottle Tree (WordTech, 2010). Horne's anthologies include Working the Dirt: An Anthology of Southern Poets, published in 2003 by New South Books, and All Out of Faith: Southern Women Writers on Spirituality, edited with Wendy Reed and published by the University of Alabama Press. Horne holds an MFA from the University of Alabama, has published poems online in StorySouth.com and other literary journals, and is poetry book reviews editor for the Forum's Book Reviews on line.
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Alabama Arts Radio for Oct. 28th

Betty Ann Lloyd interviews Kathryn Tucker Windham about the John Reese photo exhibit featuring the people of Gees Bend, now on display at Gees Bend Quilt Collective. Kathryn also discusses her time as a newspaper reporter and amateur photographer.

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Alabama Arts Radio for Oct. 21st

Randy Shoults interviews Jannetta Whitt-Mitchell about various aspects of the Gulf Coast Ethnic and Heritage Jazz Festival that takes place during the first weekend in August each year in Mobile.
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Alabama Arts Podcast for Oct. 14 2008

Arts Council Executive Director Al Head interviews Beth Nielsen Chapman about her life as a popular singer/songwriter and as an educator. They also discuss Chapman's inspirations and her unique process of songwriting.

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Alabama Arts Radio for October 7th 2008

Yvette Daniel, Performing Arts Program Manager interviews George Culver the Executive Director of the Historic Ritz Theatre of Talladega, Alabama. On October 31st and November 1st 2008. the Ritz will be hosting Hal Holbrook in MARK TWAIN TONIGHT. These performances are billed as among the final few of this historic production's run. Culver also discusses educational programs connected to Ritz Theatre presentations and the interesting history of this historic theater in Talladega.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for Tuesday, September 30th

Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Jefferson County quilter Bettye Kimbrell about her work with 4-H Club students and their quilt exhibit at Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Kimbrell is a 2008 recipient of a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. The exhibition The Quilts of Bettye Kimbrell: Celebrating the National Heritage Fellowship is on display at the Alabama Artists' Gallery in the RSA Tower, 201 Monroe Street, Montgomery from September 19 - October 31, 2008. A reception honoring Mrs. Kimbrell is scheduled for Tuesday, October 7, 2008, from 4-6 p.m.
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Alabama Arts Podcast for Sept 23 2008

Joey Brackner interviews editors Jeff Jakeman, Claire Wilson and Ben Berntson about the new online Encyclopedia of Alabama.
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Alabama Arts Radio for Sept 16th 2008

Georgine Clarke interviews Tuscaloosa quilt artist Yvonne Wells, whose quilts are known as story or picture quilts. Her hand-stitched fabric constructions use rich symbolism and vivid colors, with themes ranging from religion to social and political issues. She also frequently produces whimsical and humorous pieces. Of particular note are her portrayals of the Civil Rights movement, with quilts depicting the history of slavery as well as icons Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks. She has represented the State of Alabama in international cultural programs in France and Italy. In the interview, Yvonne talks about her choice of materials and also discusses two projects: twelve quilts she describes as "a book" titled On the Move and a group depicting the Seven Deadly Sins.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for Sept 9th

Arts Council Executive Director Al Head interviews Bill Ivey, Director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University. Subjects discussed are Ivey's background as past head of the National Endowment for the Arts, his involvement with the Curb Center and issues concerning Ivey's recently published book, arts, inc.: How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for Tuesday, Sept 2nd

Joey Brackner interviews Eric McKinney and Russell Gulley about the Annual Dekalb Fiddling Convention held in Ft Payne.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for Tuesday, August 26th

Joey Brackner interviews Sally Smith and Jamie Lawrence of Alabama Contemporary Theater. They discuss "Birmingham Rhapsody" a play being developed from oral histories that the theater has been collecting about Birmingham's Civil Rights era.

Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for Tuesday August 19th

Georgine Clarke interviews Alabama artist Stephen Savage of Daphne. Savage received the 2002 Alabama State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship in photography in 2002. He teaches and also produces both commercial and fine art photography. The discussion covers elements of the art form and the uses of digital photography as well as current approaches to teaching. Savage describes the Alabama Photo Book project which he is producing with print maker and art book designer Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. In this project participating Alabama photographers provide a photograph which is used with limited text to produce a simple eight page book
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for Tuesday August 12th

Sand Mountain fiddler Gene Ivey is the subject of this week’s program on Alabama Arts Radio. Folklorist Anne Kimzey talks to Mr. Ivey and his apprentice Joseph Coleman about playing music and making handcrafted fiddles at Ivey’s workshop in Ider.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for Tuesday August 5th

This show is a repeat of an earlier broadcast in acknowledgment of playwright and educator Billie Jean Young as a recipient of the 2008 Alabama State Council on the Arts Fellowship in the area of theater. Fellowships are the most prestigious of grants awarded to individuals by the Council. In this program, Steve Grauberger interviews actor and playwright Dr. Billie Jean Young, in Yantley Alabama, about her play Oh Mary Don't you Weep: The Margaret Ann Knott Legacy. Also interviewed is Choctaw, County educator and civil rights activist Carrie Mae Johnson.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for Tuesday July 29th

In this program, Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, travels to the Alabama Folk School at Camp McDowell near Jasper. She talks with Folk School director Megan Huston and potter Sandra Heaven about pottery making and other craft and music classes offered in this natural retreat setting.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for July 22nd 2008

Rebroadcast of Steve Grauberger interviewing Kevin Nutt, of CaseQuarter Records talking about his research on early blues recording artist Ed Bell from Greenville, Alabama. His Tributaries article on the subject can be obtained at Alabamafolklife.org. Kevin can be heard weekly, online, at WFMU with his radio program Sinners Crossroads.
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Alabama Arts Radio Series Tuesday, July 15th

This program is a rebroadcast of Steve Grauberger interviewing Stanley Smith, John Etheridge, and Bill Aplin, elected officers of the Sacred Harp Book Company (Cooper revision), includes Sacred Harp singing examples.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for July 8th 2008

Meagan Vucovich, summer intern for the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Patti Hendrix Lovoy, director of VSA Arts of Alabama, along with Ali DeCamillis, art therapist, Dr. Rodney Tucker, director of the UAB Palliative Care Unit, Dr. Avi Madan-Swain, a Pediatric Psychologist/Neuropsychologist at UAB. The discussion focuses on VSA Arts of Alabama’s Arts in Healthcare program.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for July 1st 2008

This is a repeat of Gina Clifford, director of Design Alabama, interviewing Cheryl Morgan, Professor at Auburn University and Director of the Center for Architecture and Urban Studies, about Your Town Alabama Workshop. Your Town Workshop is an intensive two-and-half day event that includes: lectures, case-study presentations, and interactive group problem solving scenarios involving community planning and design work in a hypothetical small town.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for June 24th 2008

This program is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner interviewing Alabama's curator of historic song - Bobby Horton. Best known for his CDs of Civil War era music and membership in the popular band Three On a String, Mr. Horton also discusses his family's musical heritage and his work composing songs for numerous Ken Burns' documentary films. Bobby Horton was a recipient of a 2005 Governor's Arts Award.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for June 17th

DesignAlabama was honored to have Thomas Hylton, of Save Our Land, Save Our Towns as a speaker at their 2008 DesignAlabama Mayors Design Summit. As a former newspaper, man, this Pennyslvania native and resident has turned a passion for a walkable world into a successful non-profit organization promoting walkable communites, downtown redevelopment and historic preservation. Join us during this radio program as we learn more about what individuals and communties can do to save our land and save our towns.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for June 10 2008

Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Birmingham photographer Mark Gooch about his career and his recent project documenting Alabama folk artists for the exhibition Carry On: Celebrating Twenty Years of the Alabama Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program. (click here for PDF)
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for June 3rd 2008

Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers' Forum, interviews poet and Gadsden, Alabama native Jake Adam York, whose collection A Murmuration of Starlings was recently published by Southern Illinois University Press. The book won the Crab Orchard Review Open Poetry Competition in 2007. Thompson talks with York about the elegies for slain civil rights workers and other individuals, including Emmit Till who was killed in Money, Mississippi, that comprise the collection. York's previous book, Murder Ballads, contains the first of these elegies, and he plans to continue the sequence through several more poetry collections. He teaches at the University of Colorado in Denver where he directs the undergraduate creative writing program.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for May 27th 2008

In this program Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Jefferson County quilter Bettye Kimbrell about her work with 4-H Club students and their quilt exhibit at Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Kimbrell is a 2008 recipient of a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for May 20th 2008

Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, interviews two writers who participated in the 3rd Annual Alabama Book Festival on April 19. Kate Gale, founding editor of Red Hen Press of Los Angeles, California, and Richard Goodman, author of French Dirt and The Soul of Creative Writing, also taught writing techniques and discussed publishing on April 18 at the inaugural creative writing workshop open to the general public as part of the Festival outreach. Dr. Gale is a poet (Fishers of Men, Selling the Hammock, Mating Season) novelist, and librettist. She maintains a busy teaching schedule in the Los Angeles area, manages Red Hen Press – one of the top selling poetry/prose independent presses in California – and pursues her own writing. Mr. Goodman teaches in the Spalding University Brief Residency MFA Writing Program in Louisville, KY. He lives in New York, NY. Dr. Gale read in the poetry venue, dubbed Poetry SouthWest, for the cross fertilization of Southern and Western writers. Richard Goodman read from his two books and discussed writing with festival-goers.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for May 13th 2008

Yvette Daniel interviews Alabama Shakespeare Festival's Chief Operating Officer Michael Vigilant about upcoming events and his new play Bear Country. Also on this program is an interview with Elyzabeth Wilder about her new play Furniture of Home. Both plays were developed through the Southern Writers Project at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for May 6th 2008

Deborah Boykin interviews Mary and Bill Smith about their work in the Folk Arts Apprenticeship program.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for April 29th 2008

Part III of our Series on the Alabama Arts Education Summit held in Troy, Alabama February 21-23, 2008. Focusing on the essential link of communities and K-12 schools, Diana Green interview Dr. Lisa Stamps, principal at Gordo Elementary in Pickens County, about the partnerships she has developed to enhance the arts in her school, and how the Summit supported her efforts.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for April 22nd 2008

Part II of our Series on the Alabama Arts Education Summit held in Troy, Alabama February 21-23, 2008. Focusing on the essential link needed between higher education and K-12 schools, Diana Green, arts in education program manager interviews Professor and arts educator Larry Percy, who hosted the Summit at Troy University in Troy Alabama. Mr. Percy discusses the potential for higher education to take a leading role in providing quality arts education in K-12 schools.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for April 15th 2008

Part I of a 4-Part Series on the Alabama Arts Education Summit held in Troy, Alabama February 21-23, 2008. The theme for this statewide conference was “Creating partnerships to ensure quality arts education in Alabama.” As an introduction to this series, performing arts program manager Yvette Daniel interviews the four partners that were instrumental in the planning and implementation of the Summit: Diana Green, arts in education program manager at the Council, Donna Russell, executive director of the Alabama Alliance for Arts Education, Martha Lockett, executive director of the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts, and Sara Wright, director of academic innovative initiatives at the Alabama State Department of Education.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for April 8th 2008

Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, interviews Ace Atkins and Rheta Grimsley Johnson, two authors who will be joining 70 others at the 3^rd Annual Alabama Book Festival, April 19 in Montgomery’ Old Alabama Town from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Rheta Grimsley Johnson’s latest book Poor Man’s Provence, chronicles her home away from home in Cajun Louisiana. Grimsley, a native of Montgomery, Alabama, is an award-winning reporter and columnist for the Atlanta Journal Constitution and has earned numerous awards for her writing, including the National Headliner Award for commentary in and Scripps Howard's Ernie Pyle Memorial Award. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary and is also author of Good Grief, the authorized biography of Charles Schulz. Currently she writes a syndicated column for Kings Features Syndicate.
Ace Atkins, a native of Troy, Alabama, is the author of critically acclaimed Nick Travers crime novels, including Crossroad Blues, Leavin’ Trunk Blues, Dark End of the Street, Dirty South, and White Shadow. Atkins talks with Thompson about his new novel Wicked City, a fictionalized account of Phenix City, Alabama in the 1950s.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for April 1st 2008

This weeks program features Georgine Clarke interviewing Dan Halcomb, Deputy Director of the Huntsville Arts Council. Subjects discussed deal with issues of Huntsville area arts organizations, educational programs and various attributes of this year's Panoply Festival, to be held April 25th the 27th, 2008.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for March 25th 2008

Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, interviews Montgomery author Kirk Curnutt. Curnutt is a 2007 Literature Fellowship recipient from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. His novel called Breathing Out the Ghost has just been released from River City Publishing in Montgomery. Kirk Curnutt is the author of several scholarly works, most recently The Cambridge Introduction of F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Coffee with Hemingway (an entry in Duncan Baird Publishers’ series of imaginary conversations with leading historical figures). He is also the author of a collection of short stories, Baby, Let’s Make a Baby, also from River City Publishing. He is a former finalist for both the Tennessee Book Award/Peter Taylor Prize and the Dana Literary Awards. Curnutt is a three-time consecutive winner of the Hackney Literary Award for short stories. Thompson speaks with him about the craft of writing, shaping the structure of a novel, and the relationship of an author’s mythic landscape to his work.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for March 18th 2008

This week, Joey Brackner, Director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, interviews Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts.They discuss the state’s master artists whose craft and music traditions are featured in an exhibit titled Carry On: Celebrating Twenty Years of the Alabama Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for March 11th 2008

Diana F. Green, arts in education program manager, visits with Vassie Welbeck-Browne and Malik Browne, after a performance of Langston Hughes: Emperor of the Muse, which was held for students at Demopolis High School on Friday, February 28^th . Vassie & Malik are teaching artists from StoryTree Company, participating with the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts, as part of a Dana Foundation project. This project trains artists in the Black Belt region to partner with local schools to implement arts integration programs. Vassie and Malik work primarily in Greene County, where they have developed an anti-violence/conflict resolution drama program for high school students.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for March 4th 2008

This is a rebroadcast of executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum Jeanie Thompson interviewing Sena Jeter Naslund, 2000 Harper Lee Award Winner, Hall-Waters Award Winner and recent participant in last year's 2nd Annual Alabama Book Festival. Sena Jeter Naslund is the author of five novels, Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette , Four Spirits, Ahab's Wife; Or, the Star-Gazer, Sherlock in Love, and The Animal Way to Love, also two short story collections, The Disobedience of Water and Ice Skating at the North Pole. Naslund founded and directs the Spalding University Brief Residency MFA Writing Program in Louisville, KY and is Writer in Residence at the University of Louisville. She is currently the Kentucky Poet Laureate.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for February 26th 2008

This is a rebroadcast Anne Kimzey, Folklife Specialist for the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, interviewing Sudha Raghuram a dancer in the Indian classical tradition of Bharatanatyam (Bah-rah-tah Nah-tee-yahm). She is a master artist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts' folk arts apprenticeship program. In the interview, Sudha describes this ancient dance form and tells about teaching it here in Alabama.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for February 19th 2008

For this program, Joey Brackner interviews David Johnson, director of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, about the 2008 Induction Banquet and Awards Show presented February 22nd at the new Marriott Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center in Montgomery. Johnson discusses this year's award recipients and the talent to perform during the event. Musical examples are included.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for February 12th 2008

In this program, Visual Arts Program Manager Georgine Clarke interviews Mobile Museum of Art director Tommy McPherson. McPherson discusses the various collections and educational programs his museum has to offer the public. Also discussed are future exhibits and the museum's connection to the immediate community of contemporary artists in the Gulf Coast area.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast February 5th 2008

In this program, highlighting Black History Month, Steve Grauberger interviews actor and playwright Dr. Billie Jean Young, in Yantley Alabama, about her play Oh Mary Don't you Weep: The Margaret Ann Knott Legacy. Also interviewed is Choctaw, County educator and civil rights activist Carrie Mae Johnson.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast January 29th 2008

To help promote the 23rd Alabama Clay Conference, to be held this year at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa on February 8-10, this program is a rebroadcast of Georgine Clarke interviewing two Alabama ceramic artists who taught at the 21st Alabama Clay Conference. Larry Percy is on the Art faculty at Troy University. His work has been inspired by the time he has spent in the Southwest, particularly New Mexico. He talks about that influence of the land in his sculptural, vessel forms. He also discusses his ways of teaching at a college level. Scott Bennett owns Red Dot Gallery in Birmingham, where he produces his work and also teaches classes. As a relatively new Alabama resident, Scott talks about the strong clay community of artists in the state and also describes approaches to his own work.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for January 22nd 2008

This program is a rebroadcast of Alabama shapenote music and its history in preparation for this year's Annual Capitol Rotunda Four-Book Shapenote Singing that will be held on Saturday, February 2nd. Due to a scheduling conflict, the singing will not be in the Capitol Rotunda but at the Alabama Department of Archives and History off of Union St between Adams and Washington in Montgomery. The singing will start at 9:30 am and end at 3Pm. The public is welcome to come and listen or sing. Afterwards, at 3pm, there will be reception for the exhibition "Carry On: Celebrating Twenty Years of the Alabama Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program" at the Alabama Artists Gallery located on the first floor of the RSA Tower at 201 Monroe Street.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for January 15th 2008

In this program Joey Brackner interviews storyteller Donald Davis and the Brundidge Historical Society's Johnny Steed about this year's Piddler's Storytellin' Festival that will feature Sheila Kay Adams, Kathryn Tucker Windham, Donald Davis and Andy Offutt Irwin. Included in the program are stories told by Donald Davis, Kathryn Tucker Windham and Andy Irwin.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for January 8th 2008

This program is a broadcast of a 1991 Radiovisions series that features bluesman Johnny Shines. Radiovisions is a production of Russell Gulley and the Big Wills Arts Council of Ft. Payne Alabama. The Radiovisions series of programs were initially released as audio cassettes. This particular program is a brief biography of the late Johnny Shines and his music.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for January 1st 2008

On this program Joey Brackner interviews Robert Moehr, Julia Brown and Jordan Phillips about documenting the personal narratives of WWII Veterans in DeKalb County, Alabama.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for December 25th, 2007

This program features Christmas holiday music from the Mariachi Garibaldi storytelling of Kathryn Tucker Windham and the music of The Tribe of Judah, Bobby Horton and soprano Bessie Hunter-Shelton.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for December 18th, 2007

Randy Shoults, Community Arts and Literature Program Manager for the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Hannah Leatherbury, E-Services Manager for the Southern Arts Federation. Ms Leatherbury talks about the Southern Artistry program and other programs and projects offered by Southern Arts Federation to assist artist and arts organizations in the South.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for December 11th

Arts in Education Program Manager, Diana Green, interviews Rosemary Johnson, executive Director of the Alabama Dance Council, about the Alabama Dance Festival which takes place over President’s weekend each January in Birmingham. This January, the Festival includes tracks for many age groups, a new community program entitled “Dance Across Birmingham” and performances by Bridgeman Packer Dance.

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Alabama Arts Radio Series Tuesday, December 4th

Barbara Edwards, Deputy Director, interviews Cinque Cullar, Artistic Director for the Tribe of Judah. As a part of the Black Belt Arts Initiative, the Council sponsored a contemporary Gospel tour featuring the Tribe of Judah in Selma and Union Springs. The tour included an education component and a public performance. During this interview, Mr. Cullar offers his definition of Gospel music, talks about his work with the Tribe of Judah, and comments on the Black Belt Gospel Tour.

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Alabama Arts Radio Series for November 27th

In this program Steve Grauberger interviews musician and instrument maker Winky Hicks from Grove Hill, Alabama. Mr. Hicks received a Folk Arts Apprenticeship grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts to teach the art of bluegrass banjo to interested students. He discusses his method of teaching and performs a few musical examples on his banjo. Hicks also describes his craft of mandolin, guitar and banjo construction.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for November 20th, 2007

Arts 4 Excellence is a school arts intiative sponsored by the Alabama State Council on the Arts. An Arts 4 Excellence school is committed to strong comprehensive arts programs across the curriculum. Arts classes spend equal amounts of time creating, performing and responding to art in order to develop the greatest understanding possible. Every member of the school community uses the arts in some way to enhance their own unique contribution to the learning community. Three schools in Montgomery County have begun the planning and professional development required for the program. Diana Green interviews Cathey Hendricks, Brenda Lindsey, and Deborah Clark who are principals at Carver Elementary, Vaughn Road Elementary and Brewbaker Intermediate schools, respectively. She also interviews Grace Quantock, a 5th grade teacher at Vaughn Road Elementary.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for November 13th, 2007

Arts Council Executive Director Al Head interviews Representative Artur Davis at Cheaha State Park after Congressman Davis spoke to participants of the annual Bill Bates Leadership Institute. Davis discusses his fondness for reading and writing as well as his interest in community revitalization and the role of the arts in public education.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for November 6th, 2007

Visual Arts Program Manager Georgine Clarke interviews Dale Lewis from Oneonta and Bobby Michelson from Birmingham, two artist fellowship recipients from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Fellowships are given annually for excellence of work and to assist with career development. These professional, full-time artists work with wood and are furniture builders. Discussions range from uses and types of wood to marketing, design, and ways of commissioning work.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for October 30th 2007

This rebroadcast is the second of two programs that Steve Grauberger interviews participants of the 2004 Alabama State Gospel Singing Convention about convention history, song writing and publishing, piano playing, and singing schools. Music examples are also included. This and the previous program is to help promote the 77th Annual Convention held November 9th and 10th, 2007 at Trinity Baptist Church in Oxford Alabama. For more information contact Lonnie Hilley at 256-237-5761 or email

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for October 23rd, 2007

This rebroadcast is the first of two programs of Steve Grauberger interviewing participants of the 2004 Alabama State Gospel Singing Convention about convention history, song writing and publishing, and singing schools. Music examples are also included. This program is to help promote the 77th Annual Convention held November 9th and 10th, 2007 at Trinity Baptist Church in Oxford Alabama. For more information contact Lonnie Hilley at 256-237-5761 or email

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for October 16th, 2007

In this program Anne Kimzey, Folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews mother and daughter quilters Mozell Benson and Sylvia Stephens of Opelika. They discuss their participation in the State Arts Council’s Folk Arts Apprenticeship program and share family memories of quilting and farm life in Lee County. Mrs. Benson also talks about her experience of being selected by Auburn University’s College of Architecture, Design and Construction to have a quilt studio designed and built for her by college students. Mozell Benson is a nationally recognized quilter, having received a National Heritage Fellowship in 2001 from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for October 9th 2007

Each summer the Council sponsors the Bill Bates Leadership Institute, a retreat for arts professionals in the state. This gathering provides an opportunity for arts professionals to meet and to discuss broad issues and common interests. Barbara Edwards, Deputy Director of the Council, interviews Cary McQueen Morrow, a featured speaker for the 2007 Bill Bates Leadership Institute. Ms. Morrow is the Executive Director of the Center for Arts Management and Technology at Carnegie Mellon University. In the interview, Ms. Morrow shares information on the work of the Center for Arts Management and Technology and discusses trends in software applications and social networking technology.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for October 2nd 2007

Visual Arts Program Manager Georgine Clarke interviews Claire Robitaille from Magnolia Springs and Christopher McNulty from Auburn, two artist fellowship recipients from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Fellowships are given annually for excellence of work and to assist with career development. Claire is a mixed media sculptor, using fiber techniques, metal and seed beads in her constructions. Christopher is on the faculty at Auburn University and produces drawings as well as wood sculpture. Discussions range from international exhibitions to concepts in creating art to ways of teaching.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for September 25th

Barbara Edwards, Deputy Director of the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Keith Cromwell. Mr. Cromwell is the Executive Director of Red Mountain Theatre in Birmingham and the Council’s 2008 Arts Administration Fellowship recipient. In this interview, Mr. Cromwell talks about his career as a professional theatre artist and the impact of the Arts Administration Fellowship on his career and Red Mountain Theatre.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for September 18th 2007

Visual Arts Program Manager Georgine Clarke interviews six student participants in the Council's annual Visual Arts Achievement Program. The Program provides a statewide exhibition competition in six districts statewide, culminating in an exhibition in the Alabama Artists Gallery in Montgomery. It also provides a portfolio jury review resulting in $500 college scholarships. Students interviewed on the program include three scholarship recipients as well as the best in show winner and the teacher of the year, all from Bob Jones High School in Madison. Also on the program are two scholarship recipients from BTW Magnet School in Montgomery. The Council considers Arts in Education Projects to be a highest priority.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for September 11th 2007

In this program Anne Kimzey, Folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Amita Bhakta a rangoli artist in Florence. An art that comes from India, rangoli are temporary designs drawn in rice flour and other materials to decorate the floors and courtyards of the homes in India. Ms. Bhakta, who is originally from India, received a Folk Arts Apprenticeship grant from the State Arts Council to teach rangoli to children in the Indian community in Florence as a way of passing on this tradition and connecting them with their cultural heritage.

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Alabama Arts Radio Blog September 4th 2007

This program is the broadcast of a 1989 Radiovisions production. It features Charlie Louvin of the legendary Louvin Brothers of Sand Mountain. The program includes a narrative history of the Louvins as well as various recordings made by them. Russell Gulley and the Big Wills Arts Council of Ft. Payne Alabama produced the Radiovisions series that were released originally on cassette tape

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for August 28th

This program is a rebroadcast with Diana Green interviewing writer Peggy Denniston and photographer, Shelia Hagler, and two middle school students. Sheila Hagler is the Alabama State Council on the Arts 2007 Fellowship recipient for photography. An incredible photographer in her own right, Sheila partners with Peggy to encourage new photographers in Bayou La Batre, a shrimping community once ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. A selection of student work created after the storm traveled to Chicago as part of a project called Eyes of the Storm – a Katrina Hurricane Relief Effort, and subsequently entered the Photography Hall of Fame in Oklahoma.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for August 21st

Joey Brackner, Director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, interviews Alabama native, and renowned artist, William Christenberry at his home in Washington D.C. This is the second of two interviews with Christenberry discussing his life’s work as an artist that includes his acclaimed photographic documentation of rural Alabama, his unique dream house sculptures, the Klan Tableau, and ongoing mixed-media work.

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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast for August 14th 2007

Joey Brackner, Director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, interviews Alabama native, and renowned artist, William Christenberry at his home in Washington D.C. This is the first of two interviews with Christenberry discussing his life’s work as an artist that includes drawing and painting as well as his unique dream house sculptures and acclaimed photographic documentation of rural Alabama.

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Alabama Arts Radio/Podcast for August 7th 2007

In this program, Anne Kimzey, Folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, continues a conversation with professor Steve Miller, coordinator of the Book Arts Program at the University of Alabama. This is the second of a two-part series where Miller describes hand papermaking and discusses two recent book projects featured in the Southern Arts Federation exhibit conceived through American Masterpieces, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts.

At the University of Alabama, Professor Miller produces a series of interesting podcasts; interviews with book artists and poets, are hosted by Steve Miller and are very specific to the craft of Book Art education and publishing. The programs are in MP3 format and their site has an iTunes/iclick feed available for those who use this feature.

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Alabama Arts Radio July 31st

In this program, Anne Kimzey, Folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews professor Steve Miller, coordinator of the Book Arts Program at the University of Alabama. This radio show/podcast is the first in a two-part series, where Miller discusses the art of making books by hand, including letterpress printing and hand papermaking. Hear how the faculty and students of Alabama’s Book Arts Program use ancient technology to produce cutting edge work.

At the University of Alabama, Professor Miller produces a series of interesting podcasts; interviews with book artists and poets, are hosted by Steve Miller and are very specific to the craft of Book Art education and publishing. The programs are in MP3 format and their site has an iTunes/iclick feed available for those who use this feature.


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AFA Community Scholars Program

Here is a link to Alabama Arts Radio Page

Here is a direct link to the AFA Scholars program