Gina Samardge is a performer, music educator and the founder of Compass Arts, a nonprofit music and arts school. As you'll hear in this interview, Gina radiates positivity and total dedication to Compass's mission of collaborative learning.

The school district serves 2,000 meals a day across its six cafeterias. But this fall, supply chain bottlenecks are plaguing the big food suppliers it has traditionally relied on. Food services director Karen Pagano has responded by building stronger connections to local food growers.

Imam Abdullah talks about his path to Islam, the Muslim community in Beacon and the evolving place of Islam in American culture.

We're back! Beaconites returns to regular episodes with this interview with Rachel Saunders, who is running for Dutchess County Family Court Judge. Rachel describes how her local upbringing and legal career have prepared her for the often wrenching cases that come before our county's family court system.

Jonny Taylor and J Brooks Marcus compose and record music together under the name Obsidian Soundsystem. Among their music creations is the Beaconites podcast theme - a tune called Heliographs. On August 6, they are releasing Heliographs along with a bunch of other new music.

Matt and Emily Clifton are home cooks and life partners who publish original recipes, give food advice and write cookbooks – including a new one on dutch oven cooking. A funny episode about life, work and scotch eggs.

Sara MIlonovich had her professional debut at the age of 12. Along with her band Daisycutter, she's just released her seventh album, "Northeast." The songs are sad, yet instrumentally textured and uptempo "That's the bluegrass formula. You play horrifically sad stuff, but if you do it really fast nobody notices."

A gifted singer in church choirs, Sharlene Stout was recognized by Pete Seeger who recruited her to join his folk group. She toured with him for more than six years, from the age of 14 into her 20s. Later she formed the Southern Dutchess Coalition mass choir, an interfaith vocal group drawing from churches across the city. Sharlene shares memories of Beacon from the 1960s to the present.

This week on Beaconites, we hear from the two candidates running for Beacon city court judge in the upcoming primary: Tim Pagones, the three-term judge and lifelong Beaconite, and Greg Johnston, a public defender with 17 years' experience who has been endorsed by the Beacon Democrats. The primary takes place on Tuesday June 22. Vote!

Beacon's independent movie theater opened in 2019, but it's not only a theater. Mike and team have built a full-on community around the appreciation of movies. He talks about how the project took off and what his team has done to keep the business alive during Covid.