Artist, performer and host Helga Davis brings a soulful curiosity about and love of people to the podcast Helga: The Armory Conversations. She draws the listener into intimate conversations with artists, scholars and cultural change-makers, famous and lesser known, who join her to share the steps they’ve taken along their paths. These inspiring conversations expand our world and our imaginations as we explore what we think we know about each other. The new season of Helga is a co-production of WNYC Studios and Park Avenue Armory. WNYC Studios is a listener-supported producer of other leading podcasts including Radiolab, On the Media, and Death, Sex & Money.Part American palace, part industrial shed, Park Avenue Armory supports unconventional works in the performing and visual arts that cannot be fully realized in a traditional proscenium theater, concert hall, or white wall gallery.

Wilson Castro, Raven Garcia, and Biviana Sanchez of the Armory’s Youth Corps program talked about what it means to be vulnerable with oneself and with each other.

Researcher, writer and critic K. Anthony Jones discusses what it means to make your own way and how to carve a path where one does not exist.

Curator, critic and writer, Antwaun Sargent engages Helga in a discussion around the motivations behind his work as a curator and the circuitous path that led him to a life in art.

Professor, Lawyer and ACLU President Deborah Archer sat down to speak with Helga about some of her earliest moments and how they shaped her desire to fight for equality.

Liliana Maria Percy Ruíz, radio producer and founding member of On Being with Krista Tippett sits down with Helga to talk about identity, her definition of faith and the complexities of family.

Jad Abumrad, co-Host and creator of WNYC’s Radiolab, joins Helga to talk about the beginnings of his career, the impact of family and how he works with doubt.

Opera singer Davóne Tines joined Helga to talk about his path towards a career in classical music, how he’s tried to bring his whole self to his work and the impact of feeling like he can’t.

Author and performing artist Karen Finley—whose raw and transgressive performances have brought debate, censorship and controversy—speaks with Helga Davis about the evolution of her early work and what she wants to give her audience now.

Youth author Jason Reynolds joins Helga Davis to talk about what it means to make work during the pandemic and how important it is to make space for the next generation.

Helga Davis invites Scholar and Author Tina Campt to explore her relationship to her practice and to family, centering the conversation on the power and pleasure of listening to images.

Actress and Disability Advocate Marilee Talkington sits down with Helga Davis to talk about her journey towards a life in theater, how she continues to innovate in that space as a low vision actress, and how important it is to be a resource and voice for her community.

Visual artist Nick Cave joins Helga Davis to talk about the evolution of his sculptural work, his community collaborations, and how to move from Black sorrow to Black excellence.

Learn more about previous seasons of Helga at wnycstudios.org.

Helga: The Armory Conversations podcast is a co-production of WNYC Studios and Park Avenue Armory.

 

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