The Art Box

For this episode, MJ traveled to Scenic, Arizona to visit Amber and Edj, co-founders of Donkey Dreams Sanctuary, a place where compassion, connection, and the quiet wisdom of donkeys come together.

Donkey Dreams Sanctuary is the manifestation of Amber and Edj’s desire to create environments where donkeys can truly thrive while helping humans deepen their own well-being. After years of guiding people toward emotional and physical we...

In this reflective and delightfully candid conversation, poet Mike Cullinane joins The Art Box to talk about life after deadlines, the beauty of observation, and rediscovering creativity in the second act.

A former journalist turned poet, Cullinane traces his journey from writing postcards and corporate presentations to authoring the poetry chapbook Rescue Dog Hejira and contributing to publications like The Galway Review, Failed H...

In this inspiring episode of The Art Box, we welcome Francisco Silva, whose passion for astronomy and education left a lasting impression on Steve and his son JT at a recent dark sky program at Avi Kwa Ame National Monument. Francisco serves as Vice President of the Las Vegas Astronomical Society’s Educational Outreach Program, where he helps connect people of all ages to the beauty and science of the night sky.

Their conversation ...

Sometimes the desert has its own plans.

In this short but heartfelt episode, recorded live at the Stewards of the Earth Festival at Cactus Joe’s in Blue Diamond, the skies opened, and the Mojave offered its blessing in the form of steady, cleansing rain.

Join us as we pause to honor that gift and reflect on the power of water in this dry land. With thanks to Kym and Carmen for organizing, Cactus Joe for hosting beneath the cholla a...

Join in my ultimately fun conversation with the endlessly creative Sandy Beeler, radio host, theatre producer, muralist, and passionate arts advocate whose energy fuels Northern Nevada’s cultural scene.

By day, Sandy hosts four radio shows across Nevada and New Mexico. By night, she helps keep the arts alive as Vice President of Ghost Light Productions, Secretary of the Elko Art Foundation, and the artist behind Buzzy Bee Art, wher...

In this episode of The Art Box, we sit down with Summer Wilson, Mesquite author, playwright, and founder of the Virgin Valley Writers Group, to explore the power of storytelling and the courage it takes to give voice to quiet truths. Summer shares her creative journey across Screen writing, poetry and short stories, and how her passion for community has shaped a welcoming home for local writers to grow, share, and belong.

We also d...

For this special Harvest of Thought installment, we invited writers from across the country to share original flash fiction, tiny worlds built with precision, emotion, and imagination.

The challenge? Each story had to come in at 500 words or fewer.

Flash fiction is a unique art form, a place where pacing tightens, language sharpens, and every sentence must carry its full weight. These stories don't wander; they ignite, twist, shimm...

Our nationwide call for short-form personal essays brought voices from many walks of life, each answering the invitation to share a story or insight that could be recited in under six minutes.

In this second installment of our Harvest of Thought: Essays series, we continue to explore the richness of human thought and lived experience. These writers look back with humility, forward with imagination, and inward with courage.

Some sto...

Three months ago, we invited insightful voices from across the nation to share original essays for a special Harvest of Thought edition — short reflections filled with heart, perspective, memory, and meaning.

The only request: each essay had to be able to be spoken aloud in six minutes or less — a challenge that pushed writers toward clarity, honesty, and lyrical brevity.

In Part I, we present the first gathering of those thoughtfu...

Three months ago, we set an invitation loose across the country: Send us your words. Send us your heart. Let us hear what you carry inside.

The response was extraordinary. Artists from coast to coast shared poems filled with vulnerability, wisdom, humor, and grace. In Part II of our Harvest of Thought poetry edition, we continue celebrating those voices.

Some poems arrive soft as dawn. Others shout with joy or ache with truth. Toge...

Three months ago, we reached out across the nation, inviting talented friends, poets, writers, and creative souls to lend their voices to a special project. What followed was a generous outpouring of words, emotion, and imagination.

Today, in Part I of our Harvest of Thought poetry edition, we share some of those remarkable submissions. These poems explore love, grief, wonder, identity, humor, memory, and the quiet places our heart...

In this episode of The Art Box, host MJ Stiles sits down with friend, mystery and thriller author Lana M. Fox, whose gripping stories unfold in the dramatic landscape of Hood River, Oregon.

Lana is the author of The Truth Will Set You Free, a Colorado Gold Fiction finalist, and the creator of the Hood River Mystery Series featuring Detective Liz Ellisen, with titles My Sister’s Keeper, Through Frozen Eyes, and Her Last Breath. Her ...

If you listen to one podcast all year, this is the one. In this powerful episode of The Art Box, host MJ speaks with Dr. Lena Cavusoglu, professor at Pacific University, about her remarkable art-based research project, Faces Seen, Voices Heard. Blending academic inquiry with visual storytelling, Dr. Cavusoglu’s work explores how society responds to people with visible facial differences—those living with birthmarks, scars, burns, o...

In this special three-part series of The Art Box, host MJ takes us home to Oregon for an intimate look at the stories, friendships, and creative spark that drive Petty Fever, the award-winning Tom Petty tribute band beloved across the Northwest and beyond. Through personal connections with the band and their families, MJ explores the music that shaped their lives, the heart behind their performances, and the shared passion that kee...

In this special three-part series of The Art Box, host MJ takes us home to Oregon for an intimate look at the stories, friendships, and creative spark that drive Petty Fever, the award-winning Tom Petty tribute band beloved across the Northwest and beyond. Through personal connections with the band and their families, MJ explores the music that shaped their lives, the heart behind their performances, and the shared passion that kee...

In this special three-part series of The Art Box, host MJ takes us home to Oregon for an intimate look at the stories, friendships, and creative spark that drive Petty Fever, the award-winning Tom Petty tribute band beloved across the Northwest and beyond. Through personal connections with the band and their families, MJ explores the music that shaped their lives, the heart behind their performances, and the shared passion that kee...

In this special episode, co-founder Steve Dudrow takes a thoughtful pause to share what’s been happening behind the scenes at The Art Box Podcast. After a brief lull between episodes, Steve catches listeners up on the many creative directions the team has been pursuing, from public art projects and poetry collections to new podcast adventures and community outreach.

Hear updates on Mesquite Works STEAM Center’s “STEAM into 2026” ca...

The Art Box travels to Las Vegas to explore one of the valley’s most dynamic creative spaces — the Winchester Dondero Cultural Center. Our guest is Irma Varela, the visionary Cultural Program Supervisor who has spent decades shaping a place where artists, performers, and neighbors gather to imagine and create.

Irma shares the story behind the Center’s mission to nurture community through the arts, from neighborhood murals and cross...