Noelle Trent, President and CEO of the Museum of African American History in Boston and Nantucket, joins us as Black History Month marks its centennial—100 years since Carter G. Woodson launched Negro History Week. She joins us to discuss why this milestone matters now and to give an overview of the museum’s Black History Month programming. To learn more go here.

Bass-baritone Davóne Tines joins us ahead of his Boston concert with early-music ensemble Ruckus, “What Is Your Hand in This?”—a genre-hopping exploration of Revolutionary-era hymns and ballads traced through American history. He reflects on his boundary-crossing career in opera and protest music, and how performance can become a form of cultural reckoning. To learn more about the upcoming concert go here.

Bruno Carvalho, Harvard professor and co-director of the Harvard Mellon Urban Initiative, discusses his new book The Invention of the Future: A History of Cities in the Modern World. He traces how cities—from Rio to Paris to New York—have been shaped by art, politics, and competing visions of modern life, and what urban history reveals about the futures we’re building. You can catch him tonight at Harvard Book Store.

After the White House ordered a sweeping review of exhibitions and interpretive text at the Smithsonian Institution, historians launched an unprecedented public documentation effort. Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian recruits volunteers to photograph artifacts, wall labels, and explanatory text across museums—creating a time-stamped, independent archive they call a “Crowd to Cloud” record. Co-founder Chandra Manning joins us to explain how the project works, and why preserving the public record matters now. Chandra Manning is a Professor of U.S.History at Georgetown University, a best-selling author and a former National Park Service Ranger.

Max Wolf Friedlich’s high-pressure play, “JOB” is set entirely inside a mandatory therapy session between a content moderator and a company-appointed counselor. Now in Boston. Friedlich joins us to unpack how “JOB” explores power, surveillance, and mental health in the modern workplace. “JOB” is presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company, onstage through Feb7 at Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts. To learn more go here.

Who decides what makes a building beautiful—the jury, or the public? Voting is now open for the Boston Society for Architecture’s Harleston Parker People’s Choice Award, where the public weighs in on the same finalists considered for the historic Harleston Parker Medal. Paige Johnston, the BSA's Senior Director of Programs & Impact, joins us to talk about this year’s finalists and what they reveal about how Greater Boston thinks about design. To learn more go here.

On this edition of The Culture Show, Culture Show co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Edgar B. Herwick III go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review.

First up, awards season. The Oscar race is underway, with “Sinners” leading with 16 nominations and major snubs including “Wicked: For Good” and stars Paul Mescal and George Clooney. The Razzies roasted flops like “Snow White” and “The Electric State,” while the Public Domain Film Remix Awards spotlighted artists reinventing newly public-domain classics from “All Quiet on the Western Front” to “Betty Boop” and “Nancy Drew.:

And Williamstown Theatre Festival is taking a summer season off as it retools its artistic and financial model, with plans to move toward a biennial schedule. The pause raises broader questions about sustainability, funding, and the future of regional theater in the U.S.

From there, Green Day is set to open the Super Bowl ceremony, bringing anti-establishment punk to one of the most mainstream stages in American television. Bad Bunny is also fueling Super Bowl buzz with a newly released trailer for his halftime show.

Plus, the Songwriters Hall of Fame announced its 2026 inductees, including Taylor Swift, Alanis Morissette, and Kiss’s Gene Simmons, honoring the architects behind decades of hits across genres and generations.

Finally, it’s our week in preview with host recommendations for the weekend.

Jared’s pick is the movie “H is for Hawk,” Callie’s offering is Candlelight Concerts: The Best of Hans Zimmer.and Edgar recommends the “Beasts of Burren Rolling Stones tribute in honor of photographer, Charles Daniels” at The Burren.

Actress Claire Foy joins The Culture Show to talk about her latest film, “H Is for Hawk”, adapted from Helen Macdonald’s bestselling memoir. Known for performances defined by restraint and emotional precision, Foy reflects on inhabiting grief, solitude, and endurance in a story that unfolds through the training of a goshawk. “H is for Hawk” opens in Boston area theaters this Friday.

Stephanie Thorassie is Executive Director of the Seal River Watershed Alliance, an Indigenous-led partnership of four First Nations working to protect the Seal River Watershed in northern Manitoba. She joins us to discuss the documentary We Are Made from the Land: Protecting the Seal River Watershed, screening this Saturday at the Peabody Essex Museum alongside the exhibition Knowing Nature: Stories of the Boreal Forest. To learn more go here.

Mary Grant, President of Massachusetts College of Art and Design, joins us for our recurring segment AI: Actual Intelligence. We talk about shrinking attention spans, the impact of scrolling culture, and how practices like slow looking — drawn from art history and museums — may help restore focus, curiosity, and deeper ways of thinking.

Culture Show contributor Joyce Kulhawik joins us for Stage and Screen, with her latest picks for what to see in theaters and cinemas right now. An Emmy Award–winning arts and entertainment reporter and President of the Boston Theatre Critics Association, you can read Kulhawik’s reviews here.

We continue our Michelin Guide series with Tracy Chang, chef and owner of PAGU in Central Square. Known for deeply personal cooking that blends Japanese technique, Spanish influence, and the flavors of her Taiwanese heritage, Chang reflects on what it means for a neighborhood restaurant to receive a Michelin Bib Gourmand — and how the honor fits into a career rooted in community and care. To learn more about PAGu go here.

Every year the Associates of the Boston Public Library ask: of the books that were popular one hundred years ago, which one still resonates today? On Tuesday, February 10, that question fuels the Hundred-Year Book Debate of 1926, as “The Sun Also Rises,” “The Weary Blues,” and “Winnie-the-Pooh” go head-to-head-to-head— with the audience deciding. Lisa Fagin Davis, Board Member and Chair of the Hundred-Year Book Award Committee for the Associates of the Boston Public Library, joins us for an overview. To learn more about the debate go here.

Paul Salopek has spent more than a decade walking the globe on foot as part of the “Out of Eden Walk,” retracing ancient human migration routes from East Africa toward Tierra del Fuego. A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and National Geographic Explorer, Salopek joins us from Alaska, where he’s pausing for the winter before continuing his journey through the Americas. To read all of his reporting go here.

After twelve years as chief restaurant critic for “The New York Times,” Pete Wells stepped away from the role following a health reckoning brought on by the demands of professional eating. He joins us to discuss “Reset Your Appetite,” his month-long series about developing healthier habits. A new article appears each Monday this month. You can read the current series here: January 5, January 12, and January 19.

Michael Nichols, president of the Downtown Boston Alliance, joins us to talk about Winteractive, the free public art program transforming downtown Boston this winter. From giant staring eyes to surreal sea creatures, the walkable exhibition invites passersby to look up — and see the city differently. To learn more go here.

Tracy K. Smith, former U.S. Poet Laureate discusses her book “Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times” — an invitation to listen, reflect, and let poetry guide us through uncertainty.

Don Gillis and Ray Flynn join The Culture Show to discuss Gillis’ new book “The Battle for Boston: How Mayor Ray Flynn and Community Organizers Fought Racism and Downtown Power Brokers.” On June 5th at 6:00 Don Gillis will be at a book event at the Roslindale Public Library. To learn more go here.

Pulitzer Prize–winning historian David McCullough spent decades helping Americans see their past in human terms. A new collection, “History Matters”, gathers his essays and speeches on why history endures — edited by his daughter Dorie McCullough Lawson and longtime collaborator Mike Hill. She joins us ahead of her American Ancestors Headquarters event today at 5 p.m. To learn more go here.

On this edition of The Culture Show, Culture Show co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Edgar B. Herwick III go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review.

First up, inaugural poet Amanda Gorman, who wrote a new poem for Renée Good — a Minneapolis poet and mother killed by a federal ICE agent — refusing to let her be reduced to a headline. Gorman’s poem turns grief into public witness, calling out power and insisting on accountability.

Then Boston’s food scene is losing two very different kinds of hangouts. Time Out Market in Fenway is closing January 23, while UNO is shrinking again in Massachusetts, with locations in Dedham, Braintree, and Revere shutting down.

Plus we dig into the latest James Bond casting buzz — with Callum Turner’s name in the mix as a possible next 007. What makes a convincing Bond now, and why do these rumors catch fire so fast?

And from superspy shake-ups to superhero succession: we talk about the speculation that Damson Idris could play the next T’Challa in Black Panther 3. What would that kind of recasting mean for the franchise — and for the character’s legacy?

Finally, Jared, Callie and Edgar share their recommendations for arts and culture events to take in. Jared’s pick: Company One Theatre’s “The Great Privatin.” Callie is looking forward to exploring “WINTERACTIVE” and Edgar’s heading to Scullers for John Coltrane and Miles Davis centennial shows.