WORK IN PROGRESS: Conversations with Creators

Matt West directed and choreographed the new version of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” the musical, having choreographed the original version in 1994. On today’s show, he talks about what it was like to reimagine the musical three decades later, making it lighter, brighter and even more spectacular.

“Beauty and the Beast” opens at Albuquerque’s Popejoy Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 14, and runs through Oct. 18.

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Santa Fe-based designer Jontay Kahm (Plains Cree) is a rising star in the world of high fashion. A 2023 Vogue Magazine feature compared him favorably to Alexander McQueen, and in 2024 he was named Best Emerging Fashion Designer of the Year at Toronto’s Creative Arts and Fashion Awards.

Jontay spoke with Logan from The Jule Museum at Auburn University, which is hosting the first solo museum exhibition of his work, “Jontay Kahm: Personified Existence.” The exhibition runs through Dec. 6.

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Renowned architect, scholar and artist Jorge Otero-Pailos has revolutionized the field of cultural heritage preservation through thought-provoking experimental projects. On today’s show, he talks about casting the soot and dust of the British Parliament in monumental sheets of latex as part of his ongoing series, “The Ethics of Dust,” as well as the unforeseen meanings that work acquired when it was unveiled during the fateful Brexit vote of 2016. He also discusses his new painting show, “Capitol Collective,” about the U.S. Capitol Building, which opens Friday, Sept. 25, at Zane Bennett Gallery in Santa Fe.

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Roswell-born Michael Glen has been flying in hot air balloons since before he could speak. His father took him on his first balloon ride when he was only two weeks old. But an auto accident in 1996 changed his life forever. He was thrown from his vehicle and became paralyzed from the waist down. On today’s episode, Michael talks about his journey to becoming the world’s first paraplegic balloon pilot, as well as his innovative video podcast, “Born to Fly,” which is filmed aboard his “Baby Bee” balloon.

Logan, who is deathly afraid of heights, will be going up with Michael during Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta this year. Watch and subscribe to this channel for updates!

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Musician Craig O'Keefe is the co-founder, producer and creative director of "The Sixties Show," an off-Broadway extravaganza that features note-for-note re-creations of the greatest musical hits of the 1960s. On this week's episode, Craig talks about his musical inspirations, as well as the technical challenges of creating perfect emulations of well-known songs across an array of genres.

New Mexican audiences can see Craig and his band live when "The Sixties Show" comes to Popejoy Hall on Saturday, Sept. 26.

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#thesixtiesshow #craigokeefe #broadwaymusicals #popejoyhall #popejoypresents #newmexicomusicaltheater #broadwayinterview #60sshow #60smusic #musicianinterview

Southwest-based fashion designer Madison Van Der Lingen is the creator of MadVan Design and executive producer of Albuquerque Fashion Week.

On today’s show, she discusses her upcoming AFW fashion event, Nocturnal Flame, coming to Wheels Museum on Oct. 16. She also helps to demystify the world of fashion, encouraging even the most fashion-challenged individuals to develop their own personal style.

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Award-winning singer-songwriter and producer Ron Crowder joins “Work in Progress” this week to discuss his new album, “Moving at the Speed of Life,” and to play a few songs from it. Crowder, who is one of New Mexico’s most respected and versatile musicians, talks about his musical journey and the virtues of being self-taught.

There will be an album release concert in Albuquerque on Friday, Aug. 28, at Fusion 708, produced by AMP Concerts. Crowder will be performing with his seven-piece band. Tickets are now on sale at this link: https://ampconcerts.org/event/461859/ron-crowder.

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Albuquerque-based poet and educator Manuel González was named poet laureate of New Mexico in 2025 and will serve through 2028. “The laureateship is how I try to bring poetry into schools, libraries, Pueblos, tribal communities, rural towns, cultural spaces and public institutions,” he said. González previously served as Albuquerque’s poet laureate from 2016 through 2018. Most recently, he joined other leading artists, policymakers and innovators at the 2026 AFTACON Conference, hosted by Americans for the Arts (AFTA), the nation's leading nonprofit advancing the arts and arts education.

On this week’s episode, González talks about poetry as medicine and discusses his experiences bringing poetry to underserved communities. He also gives a dramatic reading of two of his poems.

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Sophia Heymans is a contemporary artist known for magical landscape paintings where hills, trees and rocks come alive with mysterious human presences. On this week’s show, Sophia talks about growing up in a rural part of Minnesota and how those formative experiences in nature continue to inform her work.

Heymans’ latest exhibition “Land of Rest” opened at The Valley in Santa Fe on July 3 and runs through Aug. 9. It is her third exhibition with the gallery, and it features paintings inspired by New Mexico and the Rocky Mountains.

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Street artist Shepard Fairey emerged from the 1980s skateboarding and punk scenes. Best known for his breakout 1989 street art campaign, “Andre the Giant Has a Posse,” and the iconic 2008 “Hope” poster he designed for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, Fairey is one of the most influential street artists of all time.

On today’s show, he talks about two important new murals he’s painting in New Mexico this month – one in Albuquerque and one in Santa Fe – and his new exhibition at Santa Fe’s Turner Carroll Gallery, which runs from July 17 through Aug. 10. He also talks about the political implications of his art and how his work has changed over the years.

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