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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This year, one lucky little company's professionally produced commercial will air during the Super Bowl's third quarter — all free — thanks to a contest held by the software firm Intuit. The four finalists include an organic egg farm and a natural compost supplier. For Intuit, it's a smart way to drum up more business.
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As the city tries to emerge from bankruptcy, the artwork in the Detroit Institute of Arts — a collection appraised at more than $850 million — might wind up on the auction block. But a federal judge mediating Detroit's bankruptcy has a plan that just might keep the art in the city — and reduce cuts to retirees' pensions.
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The question of categorizing art by ethnicity or gender is at the center of a very public debate surrounding a new show at the Smithsonian called "Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art." -
An Indian-American comedian unafraid to joke politely about race and politics, Hari Kondabolu regularly challenges long-standing beliefs with his material. While his comedy is about being treated like an outsider, the jokes offer a sense of community.
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The Hirshhorn contemporary art museum had proposed an ambitious plan for a giant, inflatable addition. But the Board of Trustees couldn't agree on whether to continue fundraising to build the bubble, so the museum's director — the project's biggest supporter — will resign. -
The Bolshoi Ballet is deeply beloved in Russia. But a series of recent scandals — capped by a nasty acid attack on the company's artistic director in mid-January — has sent shock waves through artistic circles.
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Financing a movie can be tough — but more and more filmmakers are crowdsourcing their creative cash. Nearly 10 percent of the films at this year's Sundance Film Festival found backers through the online fundraiser Kickstarter. -
Etsy began as a place for home crafters and small businesses to sell their goods, but it has experienced growing pains as it surpasses 800,000 sellers. Some sellers are actually fronts for factories, while other sellers have left because the site isn't designed to handle volume. -
One of Billie Holiday's most iconic songs is "Strange Fruit," a haunting protest against the inhumanity of racism. Many people know that the man who wrote the song was inspired by a photograph of a lynching. But they might not realize that he's also tied to an iconic event in America's history.
