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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What does Damn Yankees, a 1950s musical have to say to audiences in 2025? With its themes of selling your soul to the devil to get a win or power or beauty, quite a bit.
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The White House has fired all six members of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, the independent federal agency that reviews design plans for monuments, memorials, coins and federal buildings.
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The order is to be implemented at school libraries on military bases in Kentucky, Virginia, Italy and Japan. Students and their families claimed their First Amendment rights had been violated when officials removed the books to comply with President Trump's executive orders.
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The Hungarian writer, known for his apocalyptic works, has won the 2025 Nobel Prize in literature. He joins the ranks of Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck and Toni Morrison.
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A cartographer, a composer, a neurobiologist, and a novelist are among the recipients of this year's "Genius Grants." Each Fellow will receive a no-strings attached award of $800,000.
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Most of us have a venue we love — a theater or concert space — where we really feel at home. But what do you do if that place goes through radical changes?
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The Smithsonian's museums and zoo are now closed due to the government shut down. Tours of historic Washington, D.C. sites have been suspended and the National Gallery of Art is also closed.
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The 2025 Booker shortlist is made up of works by veteran authors, many of whom have several books under their belts — and a couple that have been on this list before.
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Historians and citizens who say they are concerned about the Trump administration's pressure on the Smithsonian are working to document exhibits, as they exist today, throughout the museum network.
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Historians and citizens who say they are concerned about the Trump administration's pressure on the Smithsonian are working to document exhibits, as they exist today, throughout the museum network.