Culture Show co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and James Bennett II go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review.

First up, the return of the Fyre Festival. Notorious for scamming people the first time around, it’s back selling tickets that range between $1,400 and $1.1 million. 

From there it’s the legacy of Soul and R&B icon Roberta Flack,reflecting on the versatile career of the legendary actor Gene Hackman, and remembering actress Michele Trachtenberg of “Gossip Girl” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fame.

Then we raise a glass to South Boston’s summertime destination, Sullivan's Castle and Island, which just won a James Beard America’s Classics Award.

And ruminations on the fate of 007 now that Amazon owns the James Bond franchise.

Boston’s high-octane New Orleans-inspired brass band, Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, is celebrating Mardi Gras with a show this Saturday at Scullers.  Musician, composer and founder of Revolutionary Snake Ensemble Ken Field, and acclaimed trumpeter Jason Palmer join The Culture Show for a preview. 

From there the new director of the MIT Museum, Michael John Gorman, joins The Culture Show to talk about his vision for the museum and to talk about  Artfinity, the MIT festival for the arts.

Finally Mary Grant, president of MassArt joins The Culture Show for her monthly appearance to mark the fifth anniversary of MAAM and to discuss how the Trump administration’s agenda is reverberating through the arts sector and higher ed. 

Art and science converge in the exhibition “Nebulae: The Universe Unveiled,” on view at the New Bedford Art Museum through March 9th.  Six NASA photographs from the Webb and Hubble telescopes are on display with works by artists who have either been directly inspired by the NASA photographs or inspired by the marvels of the night sky.  Suzanne de Vegh, Executive Director  of  The New Bedford Art Museum; Mark Munkacsy, President of the Astronomical Society of Southern New England and Acting Director of the Observatory at UMass Dartmouth, and ceramicist and experimental filmmaker Harvey Goldman join The Culture Show for an overview.

The children’s musical “Finn” was commissioned by the Kennedy Center, and it had a critically acclaimed run at the end of last year. Under President Trump’s leadership, The Kennedy Center has pulled the plug on the musical’s tour.  The Director of “Finn,” Adrienne Campbell-Holt, joins The Culture Show to talk about the consequences of this abrupt cancellation.

Culture Show contributor Pedro Alonzo discusses how art fairs can be a life force for the arts and the cities that host them, and he weighs in on a conflict in Quincy over public art. Pedro Alonzo is an independent curator and the Artistic Director of the Boston Public Art Triennial.

Max Hodge’s, CEO of The Shed in New York City and Alex Poots, Artistic director at The Shed, join The Culture Show to talk about the innovative arts and culture venue and their current exhibition “Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy,” which is open through March 16, 2025.

From there artist Jay Critchley joins The Culture Show to talk about his exhibition, Jay Critchley: Democracy of the Land, Inc., FLAGrancy, which is  on view at Montserrat College of Art through March 5, 2025.

Finally Culture Show contributor Lisa Simmons joins us to talk about all things movies, including her Oscars predictions. Lisa Simmons is the  artistic and executive director of the Roxbury International Film Festival and program manager at Mass Cultural Council.

Megan Marshall, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography, has long been revered for her storytelling  skills and deep insights into historical figures, such as the poet Ellizabeth Bishop,  and Margaret Fuller, the 19th century journalist and celebrated intellectual of her time.  In her latest book,”After Lives: On Biography and the Mysteries of the Human Heart,” Megan Marshall takes a turn at autobiography, examining  her own art and life. Megan Marshall joins The Culture Show to talk about it.

From there we head to the coast of Maine. In recent years their lighthouses have been hit with millions of dollars worth of storm damage. Bob Trapani, an author and Executive Director of the American Lighthouse Foundation joins The Culture Show to talk about what it means to have all of Maine’s 66 historic lighthouses added to the World Monuments Fund 2025 global watchlist.

Finally it’s the  South Asian Showdown 2025 Bollywood/Fusion Dance Competition. This Saturday some of the best dance groups from the United States and Canada will compete at the Strand Theatre in Dorchester. Rohit Bhambi, President of Boston Bhangra and founder of South Asian Showdown, joins The Culture Show for an overview.

Culture Show co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and James Bennett II go over this latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review.

First up, hundreds of artists protest new National Endowment for the Arts restrictions,  asking the NEA  to reverse policy changes made in response to executive orders issued by President Trump.

From there, it’s the JFK Library and Museum, which was forced to temporarily close after a handful of federal employees were fired. 

Finally, Singer and actor Donnie Wahlberg doubles down on Boston. Not only is he working to bring a WNBA expansion team to his hometown, he’ll be joining the local police force by way of “Boston Blue,” a spinoff of “Blue Bloods.”

Comedian, television host, advocate and New York Times bestselling author Chelsea Handler joins The Culture Show to talk about her forthcoming book “I’ll Have What She’s Having.” It’s a collection of hilarious and heartfelt essays that detail what it took for her to become the woman she always wanted to be. It’s in bookstores on February 25th and is available for preorder on her website. On February 26th you can catch Chelsea Handler at Brookline Booksmith for a book signing event. 

From there New York Times bestselling author Cory Doctorow joins us to talk about “Radicalized,” a collection of four science fiction novellas  connected by social, technological, and economic visions of what America could be in the near future. Published in 2019, one of those novellas, “Radicalized,”  anticipated how frustrations with the profit-driven health insurance industry could lead to the kind of violence that happened in real life when Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was assassinated. Cory Doctorow’s latest book is “Picks and Shovels.” 

Finally, snowboarding phenom Maggie Leon joins The Culture Show for an overview of this Saturday’s Red Bull Heavy Metal street snowboarding competition. Located at Boston’s City Hall Plaza, 2:00-5:30, it’s free to the public.

Recently a rare violin crafted in 1714 by Antonio Stradivari during his renowned “Golden Period” fetched  $11.3M at Sotheby’s New York with the proceeds benefiting New England Conservatory. The funds will be used to establish the largest named endowed scholarship in support of future generations of musicians. The result places the violin among the most valuable musical instruments ever sold at auction. Andrea Kalyn, President of New England Conservatory, joins The Culture Show to talk about this remarkable story,

From there it’s Bryan Stevenson.Ten years ago the civil rights lawyer wrote the bestselling memoir “Just Mercy,” documenting his career fighting for disadvantaged clients and people on death row.  It  awakened Americans to the injustices within our criminal justice system. The tenth anniversary edition of “Just Mercy” was recently published. Bryan Stevenson joins The Culture Show to reflect on what has  changed since it was published.

Finally, "Phoenix of Gaza." Culture Show producer Kate Dellis brings us the story of how Virtual Reality is being used to memorialize Gaza.

Imari Paris Jeffries, President and CEO of Embrace Boston, joins The Culture Show to talk about what it means to honor Black History Month amid President Trump’s DEI rollbacks.

From there Mikko Nissinen, Artistic Director of Boston Ballet, joins The Culture Show for a preview of their upcoming production of “Swan Lake,” which is onstage at the Citizens Opera House February 27th through March 16th.

Finally, Culture Show contributor Julia Swanson takes on a virtual tour of the three works of public art that will fill anyone with hope and joy. Julia Swanson is a multidisciplinary artist and award winning photographer who is the creator  of  The Art Walk Project – a series of self-guided micro tours of art across Greater Boston.

“New York Times” bestselling author Joseph Finder joins The Culture Show to talk about his latest book, “The Oligarch’s Daughter,” which tells the story of Paul Brightman, a man on the run, living under an assumed name in a small New England town with a million-dollar bounty on his head. The suspenseful thriller takes us into the worlds of global intelligence, Wall Street and Russian Oligarchs.

From there we mark the 20th anniversary of the CatalystCollaborative@MIT. The partnership between MIT and Central Square Theatre is the longest-running collaboration between a research institution and a professional theatre. Two of the co-founders, Alan Lightman and Debra Wise, join The Culture Show to talk about its trajectory and their current play “SPACE,”  which is presented by Central Square Theater as part of the Brit d’Arbeloff Women in Science and Catalyst Collaborative@MIT production. 

Finally we remember poet Danielle Legros Georges who died last week. She was born in Haiti and moved to the United States with her family when she was six. She grew up in Boston and left an indelible mark here as only the city’s second Poet Laureate, serving from from 2015 to 2019. She taught Creative Arts at Lesley University, and was a  translator and published poet. She joined The Culture Show recently to talk about her latest book, “Three Leaves,Three Roots: Poems on the Haiti-Congo Story.”