Can Art Save Us?

Tom Lutz, is a celebrated author, travel photographer, founder of the Los Angeles Review of Books and a distinguished professor at UC Riverside, the University of California. His current book is: 1925 - A Literary Encyclopedia, and this is much more than a reference work. This is a cultural x-ray on 1925, which he identifies as “the most stunning year.” Tom presents 1925 as a collage of literature, art, dance, music, the rise of ad...

Birungi Kawooya is a self-taught British-Ugandan artist, wellbeing researcher, and creative facilitator. Her name, Birungi, means 'Bringer of Good Things,' a name deeply rooted in Ugandan culture. Her art practice is a return to her heritage. Reconnecting with Ugandan culture, artisanal practices, and the natural environment, has been central to her personal recovery. After a marketing career in London left her deeply burnt out, Bi...

Today, public relations is powered by digital storytelling, inclusivity, immersive experiences, data and hybrid strategies. But it's also shaped by distinct and diverse artists who happen to be PR creatives. And that's exactly what this exhibition episode uncovers and celebrates. For the first time, the Art of PR, liberates these artists from the client brief. Now in its second year, this dedicated exhibition showcases PR professio...

You may be someone who has already experienced a 360 life change through ill health, or are currently supporting somebody with a life changing diagnosis. Dr Shanali Perera's own 360 story is one of sudden, abrupt and frightening change. 10 years ago, as a medical doctor, Shanali was specializing in rheumatology with a specific interest in vasculitis, a rare autoimmune disease, only to become diagnosed with it herself. Her fast trac...

Professor Ericka Verba, is the director of Latin American Studies at California State University. She's an author and a musician, recently reviewed as a rising star by the Los Angeles magazine voyage LA. She is notably the author of the first English language biography of Violeta Parra out now entitled Thanks to Life. The title translates Parra's iconic song, Gracias a la Vida, famously covered by Joan Baez and many more. Violeta P...

Tere Chad is a multidisciplinary artist and curator from Chile, currently based in London. She is fast rising as an international artist and to date she has held seven solo exhibitions, completed seven residencies participated in more than 50 collective exhibitions and has curated over 20 shows on four different continents. Her practice includes sculpture, painting, poetry, performance, textiles, installation and silversmithing. Pr...

Nicola Avramovich is not only considered one of Serbia's finest classical pianists, but one of the best of his generation.  He is a sought after performer giving numerous recitals and chamber music concerts worldwide, including prestigious festivals and leading concert halls here in the UK, Nicola Avramovich is the recipient of numerous prestigious scholarships and awards, including the Benjamin Britten Piano Fellowship at the Roya...

Gabriela Elisabeth Edawani Fernandez, known as Ina Leah, is a transdisciplinary artist and her work is rooted in the practices of the indigenous Lamaholot people of East Nusa Tengara, home of her cultural heritage. The Lamaholot people are indigenous to the southernmost province of Indonesia and the small islands around it. It's an area of natural beauty. Gabriela weaves together art and wellbeing practices, including improvisation...

Jane Wright is a ceramicist, violinist and champion of community arts. A West Yorkshire born musician and artist, Jane is now based in the iconic seaside town of Margate in Kent, famous for its art history. Margate was home to the renowned water colourist Turner, considered to be the best loved English Romantic artist, and it's currently home to Tracey Emin, famously known for her confessional art. Between world class artists and t...

David Emmanuel Noel, is a visual and interdisciplinary artist who often splits his time between New York and London. He collaborates with musicians and performers to explore race, identity and culture with an emphasis on public engagement. He's interested in promoting a fairer, kinder and inclusive society and he's worked with socially conscious organisations including New York's Groundswell Community Mural Project, the Powerhouse,...

Sometimes it seems people are just born gifted and Zoom Rockman started his working  artistic life from the age of eight, when he was self-publishing his own monthly comic, The Zoom, now considered a collector's item. Today Zoom is an award-winning political cartoonist, illustrator, puppet animator, and now the Director of his first animated one hour film, Survivor. This is the true story of Ivor Perl, who survived the Holocaust, a...

Sunaura Taylor is an artist, writer, activist, academic and mother. Sunaura is the Assistant Professor in the Division of Society and Environment and the director of the Disabled Ecologies Lab at the University of California, Berkely. A skilled artist, her artworks have been exhibited at venues such as the CUE Art Foundation, a contemporary art space in New York City, the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum, educati...

Tonye Ekine is one of the top 40 British Rising Stars recognized by the Royal Society of British Artists. He is also recently back from the world renowned, Venice Biennale, where he was selected for a highly prestigious fellowship with the British Council. In its 60th anniversary year, the Venice Biennale attracted half a million visitors to celebrate ground breaking artists from around the world. Tonye has set himself apart from o...

What's it like to be the least likely artists to have two hit, number one albums on Decca Records, one of the world's most iconic labels? Decca Classics, discovered and pursued singing nuns, the Poor Clares of Arundel in West Sussex, to record with them. The debut album, 'Light for the World,' sold out of cds within 24 hours, had 60 million streams, topped the Amazon and Apple music charts internationally and topped the UK speciali...

A first for the series, a mother and daughter, discussing parallels between their work. They have both successfully bypassed conventional and formal routes into painting and publishing winning awards and five star reviews. Following her teaching career, Yeside Linney, is a mostly self-taught artist who has quickly accrued multiple awards, including two national awards in The Women in Art Prize. Yeside was born in Nigeria but sent t...

This episode is about "Joyful madness" and a brilliant collaboration between Science and the Arts. Dr. Weliton Menário Costa, also known as Weli both as a scientist and as a recording artist, is the global winner of the "Dance Your PhD" competition. Complex academic research is communicated through dance to reach new audiences. It’s a tough but inspired challenge and a joy to see science celebrated through the Arts. The visibility ...

What happens when the judicial system we're taught to trust is in fact part of a complex web of systemic failure and structural discrimination on vast scales? My guests in this episode have raised one of the most important spotlights on systemic failure in Australia's prison system. Indigenous Australians are one of the most incarcerated people in the world. Alex Siddons is the director of the groundbreaking feature documentary, Th...

Julie Hesmondhalgh is one of Britain’s most loved actresses, she plays roles for stage and screen that tackle important issues and reach out to the hearts and minds of audiences everywhere. Her roles in drama have included sexual violence, the calamity of hate crimes, the representation of transgender people, exploring the right to die and more recently, exposing one of the most widespread miscarriages of justice in British history...

Dennis Clausen, is a professor of American Literature and Screenwriting at the University of San Diego in the USA. He’s a highly respected, award-winning author of many works of fiction that reflect his lived experience and special interest in American small towns. He’s also written, Storytelling as Art and Craftsmanship, offering practical strategies for Screenwriters and Creative Writers. The emphasis on storytelling as art and c...