January 13, 2014 - MPR’s Euan Kerr reports on announcement of Sarah Bellamy as new artistic director at Penumbra Theatre and its five-year plan in stabilizing organization after financial struggle.
January 30, 2014 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Leslie Li, producer of a documentary on the Kim Loo Sisters, a 1930’s Chinese singing group that orginated form Minneapolis. Li is the daughter of one of the Kim Loo Sisters.
February 4, 2014 - MPR’s Tom Crann interviews former U.S. President Jimmy Carter about Joan Mondale, who passed away on February 3rd, 2014. Carter reflects on Mondale’s legacy in advocacy for the fine arts.
February 20, 2014 - MPR’s Kerri Miller has a conversation with Lou Bellamy, co-artistic director of Penumbra Theatre, and Ifa Bayeza, playwright of The Ballad of Emmett Till, about the themes of the play and its relevance to current tragic events concerning young men of color.
March 27, 2014 - On this episode of Minnesota Sounds and Voices, MPR’s Dan Olson profiles Orkestar Bez Ime, an Eastern European music group, which has become known as a Balkan party band. Olson interviews members of the band about the complicated music form.
May 2, 2014 - MPR’s Nikki Tundel profiles soul singer Sonny Knight, who finds himself back in the music scene after decades long absence.
May 9, 2014 - MPR’s David Cazares talks with Nelson Devereaux, member of the Twin Cities jazz group Courageous Endeavors. Devereaux discusses group’s focus on the tradition of improvisation.
May 12, 2014 - MPR’s Marianne Combs reports on new theater coalition focusing on an end to racial, ethnic stereotypes.
August 19, 2014 - With the announcement of author Louise Erdrich winning National Book Award for book “The Round House,” The Daily Circuit presents a rebroadcast of a 2012 interview with Erdrich about her book. The novel tells the story of a crime on a North Dakota reservation in 1988.
September 10, 2014 - Penumbra Theatre is hosting a conversation about events in Ferguson, Mo., where the killing of an unarmed young black man by a white police officer unleashed demonstrations and racial unrest.