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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From AI research to historical preservation, programs funded by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities reach every corner of the U.S. Now the government has terminated those grants. -
A majority of NEH employees received an email placing them on immediate leave. The news comes just days after many humanities councils across the country were told their grants would be terminated. -
Among the thousands of groups affected by the sudden cessation of funds are state arts councils, museums, historic sites, archives, libraries, educators and media outlets in all 50 states. -
A new White House executive order says the exhibition is an example of how the Smithsonian portrays "American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive." -
The Smithsonian Institution, a vast complex of research centers, museums and galleries, is the latest culture target of President Trump's executive orders. -
Comedian Conan O'Brien received the Mark Twain Prize at the Kennedy Center on Sunday night, which David Letterman called "the most entertaining gathering of the resistance ever." -
Symphony orchestra audiences aren't known for their rowdiness, but the vice president and second lady Usha Vance were loudly booed by the crowd as they entered the Concert Hall on Thursday night. -
The layoffs come after 200 Sesame Workshop employees announced they want to form a union. -
Folk musician Rhiannon Giddens said on social media that she has moved her May concert — originally scheduled for the Kennedy Center — to a different venue in Washington, D.C. -
A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center says the threat targeted Shen Yun, a touring dance troupe that is banned in China, because it is associated with the religious group Falun Gong.
