Center for Puppetry Arts Artistic Director Jason Hines has been fascinated by the rivalry between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla since building a Tesla coil for a junior high science fair. Now his award-winning puppet spectacle "Tesla vs. Edison" returns to the stage, complete with a live Tesla coil and a Niagara Falls showdown lit to look electrified. WABE Arts and Culture Editor Sherri Daye Scott talks with Hines about restaging the show, building an all-Atlanta creative team, and why, for now, "you gotta be in Atlanta to see it." 🎭 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Atlanta muralist Nick “Turbo” Benson is leading a team of four painting “Next Stop,” a new Atlanta Beltline Art mural going up under an overpass on Cameron M. Alexander Boulevard in English Avenue. On this episode of WABE Arts, Sherri Daye Scott talks with Benson about honoring the Reverend Cameron M. Alexander — and a surprise nod to Gladys Knight hiding in the paint. 🎧 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Atlanta’s Alif Institute, a nonprofit focused on preserving and sharing Arab cultures, had the idea to take some of its most popular arts workshops out of its Chamblee-Tucker building for a pop-up event at Johns Creek's Newtown Park. On this episode of WABE Arts, Sherri Daye Scott talks with Alif executive director Mouna Abdelhamid about why she's betting a public park can do what a classroom can't. 🎧 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

VIVO, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's Summer String Institute, wraps up today with a free concert at Atlanta Symphony Hall. WABE Arts and Culture Editor Sherri Daye Scott stopped by the ASO this week to see what five days of rehearsal taught a  group of young musicians from different backgrounds about playing as one. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Atlanta Storytellers marks one year with its fifth show, “The Songs That Shape Us,” pairing live personal stories with live music at Eddie’s Attic. On this episode of WABE Arts, Sherri Daye Scott talks with founder and director Josh Cuthbertson about how a standing Moth date with his daughter turned into a storytelling series — and why he’s in no hurry to outgrow it. 🎧 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emmy-winning cinematographer and photographer John Simmons has spent six decades documenting Black life in America — starting at 15, shooting for the Chicago Defender. Now, a selection of that work is on view at Mason Fine Art in Atlanta, in a solo exhibition called “It Started in the 60s,” running through July 25. 

WABE's Sherri Daye Scott sat down with Simmons at the gallery to talk about the work on the walls and the stories behind them.  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More than 100 visitors and locals stopped by WABE's phone booth at the Atlanta Cultural Exchange this summer, sharing what their impressions of the city during FIFA World Cup 2026. On this episode, hear from radio personality Jade Jones, a visitor from South Africa, a shoutout to local creative Dante Kyle, and a very confident young voice with strong opinions on who's taking home the trophy. Sherri Daye Scott has more 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Harry Connick Jr. made his Carnegie Hall debut this year with an original orchestral piece written as a tribute to his late mother. On this episode of WABE Arts' What's Feeding You?, Sherri Daye Scott talks with Connick about writing that piece, the idea behind his forthcoming book, “Babe: Elaboratio,” and why he never plans a set list before a show. Connick brings his band to Chastain Park July 11. 🎧 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Atlanta is a hip-hop capital now, but it wasn’t always. On this episode of WABE Arts, Sherri Daye Scott talks with Dr. Regina N. Bradley, associate professor of English and African Diaspora Studies at Kennesaw State University and author of “Chronicling Stankonia,” about how the city and the music shaped each other, from OutKast and the Dungeon Family to trap and the neighborhoods that gave the sub-genre its sound. Bradley previews “How Hip-Hop Made Atlanta,” her free three-part lecture series presented by the Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA) and supported by a grant from Georgia Humanities for the nation’s 250th anniversary. 🎙

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Atlanta poet and spoken word artist Ashlee Haze is one of sixteen writers to receive a 2026 South Arts Literary Arts Grant. Her award is going toward “KIERA,” a nonfiction book and audiobook exploring abundance, wealth and liberation for Black women and the historically marginalized. For Haze, the project is as much about how the story gets told as what it says. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.