Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy.
Rob Schmitz is NPR's international correspondent based in Berlin, where he covers the human stories of a vast region reckoning with its past while it tries to guide the world toward a brighter future. From his base in the heart of Europe, Schmitz has covered Germany's levelheaded management of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of right-wing nationalist politics in Poland and creeping Chinese government influence inside the Czech Republic.
The University of Arkansas Fine Arts Center reopens April 16 after a $38 million restoration. School of Art director Rachel Debuque reflects on the building's history and its future as a hub for arts education.
Catherine Wallack, architectural records archivist at the U of A, discusses curating the Fine Arts Center's reopening exhibition, the building's landmark 1951 art show and the joy of archival work.
Fayetteville native and U of A jazz pianist Claudia Burson discusses her career, her time studying in the Fine Arts Center, and her upcoming performance at the building's April 16 reopening.