The Center's Studio Podcast

This episode features an interview with the editors Richard Benjamin Crosby and Isaac James Richards about their new book, Latter-day Eloquence: Two Centuries of Mormon Oratory. They discuss why public speaking is central to Latter-day Saint life, how touchstone speeches from the 19th century to the present tell the story of the LDS people, and why they remain essential reading and relevant today.

For a 30% discount for the book, us...

Part 1. Why We Make Art - We celebrate our 100th monthly episode with a survey of special moments from our history. This first of four episodes, Why We Make Art, is a sampler of a few stories of artists and why they create or in some way a description of trying to see the big picture. These stories come from painters Brian Kershisnik and Fidalis Buehler, scholars Mason Kamana Allred and Amanda Beardsley, dancer/choreographer Lisa H...

Part 2. Moments of Faith - This second celebratory episode of our 100th podcast includes six conversations with artists and includes intimate stories with a spiritual touch: Historian Richard Bushman in New York, then choreographer Vanessa Cook in Switzerland. James Faulconer tells a miraculous story from Brazil, we hear about a treasured but divided heirloom from Salt Lake City, Utah and the miracle of its reunion. We listen to re...

Part 3: Unexpected Insights - In this third of our Audio Exhibition to celebrate The Center’s Studio Podcast’s 100th episode, 7 clips were collected from podcasts where artists inform us about the world. These artists become the most engaging and delightful teachers you can imagine on a variety of topics: Barrett Burgin talks about horror films, Jeremy Grimshaw speaks about music and traditions in Bali, Jihea Hong-Park ...

Part 4: Emotional Moments -- In the finale of our celebration, we revisit clips from guests: Jamie Erekson, Samuel Evensen, Laura Allred Hurtado, Mauli Bonner, and Valerie Atkisson. These moving discussions become teary and include family tragedy, real-time stories happening during Covid, the highs and lows of careers, and complex social challenges. Finally, Glen Nelson summarizes some of the lessons he's learned from 100 episodes ...

Take a listen to the innovative, forthcoming Art Lab by the Center for Latter Day Saint Arts. It focuses on how art enhances family and group and experiences through interaction. Join four volunteers--Lauren and Nick Bazzarone and Emily and Jamie Erekson--as we preview a lesson from Art Lab about music, and jump into the experience with us.

Music performed by Scott Holden, The Unknown Galaxy: A Century of Classical Mormon Music, par...

Choreographer Vanessa Cook discusses her newest work, A Brief Collection of Moments, premiering at the Utah Metropolitan Ballet. Cook explores how dance combines with music, text, and visual art into this ambitious new piece, winner of the 2025 Ariel Bybee Endowment Prize. The conversation ranges from philosophy and choreography to the power of a single voice, echoing Bybee's own, growing into something much larger.

What beg...

Explore the fascinating profession of scenic art with Tessa Jorgensen, a professional artist working on Broadway, opera, ballet, tv, film, advertising, and immersive experiences. Learn about her unique skills painting 50-foot murals, backdrops, cycloramas, and theatrical set pieces for some of the country's biggest theatrical productions.

Music: "Please Only Tell Me Good News” by Stephen Anderson; used with permission.

Liked th...

In this episode of The Center's Studio Podcast, Glen Nelson interviews Mauli Bonner, a multifaceted artist and filmmaker. They discuss Bonner's diverse career, including his work on the Elijah Abel project, which combines dramatization and documentary to explore sensitive aspects of Black history within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Bonner reflects on his previous film, His Name Is Green Flake, and shares insight...

In this episode, Sylvie Scowcroft, a certified financial planner specializing in assisting artists, discusses their unique financial challenges. Artists face unpredictable income, healthcare access, and the societal pressures that often devalue their work. She also points out that many artists have advantages regarding tax deductions, for example, of which they are unaware. The episode touches on the broader implications of the art...

In this engaging episode about Christian painting, artist Rose Datoc Dall, explores her artistic journey, the curation of the book Expressions of Jesus, and the importance of cultural representation in art about Jesus Christ. The new book of hundreds of images includes over 100 artists throughout history and from around the world. It raises important questions: How should a contemporary artist represent the Savior right now? Should...

What does it take to get a new musical staged on Broadway? In this episode, composer and lyricist Kyle Fackrell describes the journey of his new Off-Broadway musical, The Art Tour, that opens on 42nd Street next week. More than a recounting of the challenges and triumphs of producing an original work for the theater, Kyle details how the two-character show represents all of us in our decisions to be bold. It asks questions about lo...

The Last Caravan is a tabletop roleplaying game created by Ted Bushman, set in a post-apocalyptic America that's been devastated by an alien invasion. Unlike many roleplaying games where players take on their personas of superheroes and intergalactic warriors, this game is about regular people--teachers, truck drivers, librarians, mechanics, moms, even dogs--who band together to survive wild situations. In this interview with the 2...

The Artists Residency at the Center concludes its 2025 cohort and asks the artists--Alexandra Mackenzie Johns (UK/Utah, literature & drama), David Jones (Oregon, music composition), Thayer Jonutz (Michigan, choreography), Zinta Jaunitis (United Kingdom, visual art), Jackie Leishman (California, visual art) and Daniel Martinez (Uruguay, visual art)--three questions. They are: what books they're currently reading, how Covid affec...

Most people are unaware of the symbiotic relationship between artists and the gallerists who represent them. How does a gallery support, encourage, and market an artist's work? And how does an artist rely on the expertise of a gallerist when they are starting out, in mid-career, and when they want to defy expectation with something new? This interview brings visual artist Justin Wheatley and David Ericson, the owner of David Ericso...

Winners of the Ariel Bybee Endowment Prize, Gonzalo and Susana Silva speak about their new exhibition, Instrumentos de silencio (Instruments of Silence). The 15-piece show at Sargent's Daughters gallery in New York (and later traveling to the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California) plays with ideas of musical instruments and history, but also the ways that invading Europeans subjugated and tandemized Andean populations ...

It’s like a true crime podcast, but it’s about art. An heirloom masterpiece is created, mutilated, inherited, then lost--one of the most important objects in a rich culture’s history. Over a century later, a frantic search ensues, not unlike a manhunt, with a deadline fast approaching and a forthcoming, major exhibition hanging in the balance. Can it be recovered in time?

Scholars Heather Belnap, Ashlee Whitaker Ev...

Taiwanese Australian filmmaker Daniel Yen Tu tells about a new book project and screenplay, '93 Castrol which is the fast-paced story of siblings, a stolen race car, and a search for redemption from self-described low-lifery. The discussion of this limited edition artists book contains something even bigger--an emerging artist discovering identity, voice, and a newfound sense of authenticity. 

Music: "Please Only Tell Me Good N...