Pop of Culture

This week, we've put together some of our favorite musical guests from Pop's first 2 ½ seasons, including: a live performance from singer-songwriter Dave Carter, 10-piece band "White Lies & the Half Truth" (featuring bandleaders Jarrod Case and Jason Cooper), healing Native American flute music from Larry Gindhart, a previously unaired song from Behind the Song artist Spencer, and more! Grab y...

This week, we start with Jill Blocker and Keith Roysdon, two Hoosier journalists turned authors who are traveling back to Muncie for the release of their new novels. We'll dive into the Dance Data Project with Elizabeth “Liza” Yntema and Nancy Dobbs Owen—and ask how they're using numbers to effect change in that industry. We'll also hear from Hall-of-Fame fiddler Michael Cleveland ahead of his gro...

This week, singer-songwriter and long-haul trucker "Long Haul" Paul returns to the show with his signature storytelling and songwriting—accompanied by banjoist Ric Dwenger! Paul talks about why he has to be disgruntled to write, how Ric gave him the courage to perform, and where he hopes the next years will take his career. In a PODCAST EXCLUSIVE, he performs three songs (and a little jingle about...

This week, we're all over the map! We start with Graham Watson, founder and President of the Vore Arts Fund, an organization distributing "unconditionally forgivable" microloans to get local art projects off the ground. He tells us why he thinks this should be the model for communities moving forward. We'll also speak with Braiden Robinson, who used a loan to further his lapidary business. Then, w...

We're extending the holiday weekend! This week, we're listening back to some of our favorite pieces, including: our visit to the powerful illustrative work in "Nora Krug: Belonging" at the David Owsley Museum of Art, our sit-down with local potter John Peterson, live music from Jess Jones, and canning family recipes with farmer Riley McDermott.

This week, Indianapolis-based fashion designer Jerry Lee Atwood tells us how he went from embroidering behind the bar at a coffee shop to seeing his looks on the red carpet. He has a new exhibition at the Eiteljorg Museum titled "Cowboy Couture: The Fashion of Jerry Lee Atwood." Also: we get tips from 2025 "DWNTWN Idol" winner (and returning guest) India Potter ahead of this years competition, and...

You've likely never heard of US Marine Oliver Sipple, who saved President Gerald Ford from an assassination attempt in 1975. His complicated story is brought to light in "Arlington, or Your Forgotten American Hero," a new play from American Lives Theatre in Indianapolis. Ahead of the play's world premiere, we welcome back Andrew Kramer (playwright) and Chris Saunders (director) from ALT—joined by...

This week, Scott Simon regals us with tales about tails! The NPR legend has a new book "Ulysses S. Cat and Other Animals I Have Known" chronicling a lifetime of remarkable relationships with pets. He even reveals which pet he named after IPR! Also: We'll sit down with Yaniv Segal, Orchestra Indiana's Artistic Director and Principal Conductor, ahead of the final concert of their current season (Sat...

This week, we join a Fencing Club class at Cornerstone Center for the Arts in Muncie! Instructor Christian Achgill (and his intermediate-level students) take Michelle and Jen through the basics—culminating in a back-and-forth bout! Also in the show: we talk to metal artist Tracy Davidson, who's made sculptures as big as trees and as small as earrings; she explains how she started jewelry-making as...

The Pop team has the week off to nurse our spring allergies, but we're listening back to some of our favorite interviews: James Edwards (Director of Horticulture at Minnetrista) and Erica Oliver (Environmental Education and Greenhouse Coordinator at the Dr. Joe and Alice Rinard Orchid Greenhouse) Chris Barnes of gospel soul duo The Sensational Barnes Brothers Indy 500 wreath-maker Julie Harman Van...

This week, we sit down for a conversation with educator, writer, and editor Jill Christman. Jill's most recent memoir "The Heart Folds Early" took her almost 20 years to write—emerging after multiple different iterations, pushback from publishing houses, and being shelved by the writer herself. Jill tells us why she ignored the advice she gives her writing students, and why now was the right time...

This week, we talk to two sets of artists that have teamed up! Jenni and John Marsh just finished directing "The West Wind" at Muncie Civic Theatre. It's the third play they've written together, and they'll take us into their collaborative creative process. And: Ruthie Berkey and Randy Eyestone are both musicians in their own right, but they've teamed up for performances across East Central Indian...

This week, we get a taste of culinary offerings in ECI: Prabhu Krishnan welcomes us into Bayleaf Indian restaurant in Muncie; Jeff Clark and chef Jason Reynolds from the video series "A Taste for Whiskey" banter ahead of their educational appearance at Public Media Pours ; and Cheryl Crowder (Muncie Downtown Development) and Lindsay Montgomery (Aerial Annex) preview a different beverage-themed eve...

This week... we're still recovering from celebrating our 100th episode! So we're listening back to some of favorite trips in past seasons: we find local artists on the floor of the 2025 Indiana Artisan Marketplace, we look to the skies with members of the Academy of Model Aeronautics, and The Ball State Studio Band brings us into their rehearsal. We'll also have a brand new arts calendar!

This week, we're celebrating our 100th episode by doing the show live! We'll be joined by NPR's Stephen Thompson for a national perspective on pop culture right now. We'll chat with filmmaker and local history expert Chris Flook about the history of arts and culture in East Central Indiana. We'll also check in with some of our favorite "WAYWO" guests, do our Arts Calendar live, and laugh at some o...

The Pop of Culture podcast is going to be a little late this week... because we're doing the show live to celebrate our 100th episode!  Join us Friday, March 20th at 12:00 p.m. on IPR's airwaves , via the Ball State Public Media App , or on indianapublicradio.org . If you can't listen live, we'll have the show up as soon as possible—and we still like you just as much!

We first heard from Indiana's Poet Laureate Curtis L. Crisler after he had been selected for the role in 2024. This week, he joins us in-studio to share how he's moving now that he's been selected for a second term. We'll learn about the "Chitlin Circuit," how Motown influences his work, and the new poetry form he's pioneering. Also in this show: Ball State University's Department of Theatre and D...

This week, we meet writer and poet Mark B. Hamilton. He has a new book of poems inspired by Captain William Clark's (of Lewis & Clark) journal entries as they voyaged west. He also took the 8,000-mile journey himself, so we have to ask him about that incredible experience. We also immerse ourselves in the the David Owsley Museum of Art's visiting exhibition of "Nora Krug: Belonging," which det...

This week, award-winning playwright Alice Tuan steps into our studios to have a Conversation Between the Coasts. She was on Ball State's campus after being commissioned to write a play and workshop that play with students; she tells us about that experience, why sitting in discomfort is important, and creating art in the age of constant feedback. Also on the show: Melody A. Lynch is the COO of a n...

This week, Sara McKinley (Carnegie Library Manager and Archivist) and Melissa Gentry (Supervisor of the Map Collection at Ball State University Libraries) give us a sneak peek of their panel event "Women of Whitely: At the Heart of Muncie’s Black History" happening Thursday, February 26 at the historic Shaffer Chapel Museum in Muncie. They'll use archival material and "story maps" to tell the stor...

The Pop Team is off this week, so enjoy some relevant favorites: - Indiana Poet Laureate Curtis L. Crisler - Fort Wayne band SUN.DYLE - "Beautiful Things" writer Robert Earle - Fine artist Anne Maddox  ...and we'll pop up with a new episode next week!

This week on Pop of Culture, we meet Heather Taylor and Casey Morgan of Cocoa & Cream Collective—a new bakery opening in Yorktown... soon! They take us through the process of opening a new small business and why their team is truly a collective. We'll also catch up with musician Nick Kendall of Time for Three, a genre-bending trio with a new album based on the works of Emily Dickinson. The til...

This week, we're immersed in the visiting exhibition "Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley: Let the World See." Minnetrista Director of Curation & Exhibition Sebastián Encina explains how their team chooses exhibitions, and why this one was so important to bring to East Central Indiana. Also in this show: we chat with 2026 NPR Tiny Desk Contest judges Anamaria Sayre and Robin Hilton, "Arts Aliv...

This week, we learn about two singer-songwriters—one real, one fictional. Author Lori Rader-Day returns to the show with her new murder mystery "Wreck Your Heart," set in the country music scene of Chicago (yes, really). Later, we hear a performance from multi-genre musician Katie Jo Robinson, recorded live for Pop of Culture. Also in this episode: A Beautiful Thing set " In the Delivery Room ," a...

This week we're rocking with local band Pothole, who identify their sound as "765 PUNK." Bandmates Carter Minton and Lawson Sanchez take us through the process of their soon-to-be-released "sister" EPs. Also in this episode: artist Tashema Davis takes us into a new exhibition centering women of color in the community at Kennedy Art Center, and we'll get a taste of "Destination: Munchie" from Desti...