Introducing our New Podcast: The UnderTow

We look at a lot of stories at ArtsJournal. And we pick the 20 or so every day we think say something about where the culture is going or how it works. If you’re a regular reader of ArtsJournal, you know that our interests range across the arts and the world of creativity, exploring ideas in science, technology and the world around us.

One of the reasons ArtsJournal is valuable is that we monitor hundreds of publications and find stories that might not be obvious. And recently we’ve winnowed our attentions even further to flag “don’t miss this” stories — usually a couple each day that we think are great reads or worthy of special attention.

And today we introduce a new podcast — ArtsJournal’s “The UnderTow” – a more or less weekly deeper look at two or three stories from the past week. I’m the host (and the producer, etc). I’ve been wanting to do some version of this for years (as you’ll hear about in this first episode), but have never found the time to commit to it.

This first episode touches briefly on the multimedia origins of ArtsJournal, then on three stories from last week:

1. The Van Cliburn Competition’s decision to include six Russian pianists in this May’s competition when cultural institutions worldwide are suspending their relationships with Russian artists after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
2. The quirky, truly unconventional new logo and branding that the Mellon Foundation recently debuted.
3. Arts organizations have gotten through COVID shutdowns, but the most challenging period may be just ahead as COVID relief ends, arts activity ramps up, and audiences are slow to return.

The podcast lasts about 20 minutes, and I’m still figuring out how it all works. Give a listen an let me know what you think. I’m wildly open to suggestions — about format, about style and content, about guests, and about stories. You can write to me at theundertow@artsjournal.com . The podcast should be available at most places you get your podcasts, though it may take a little time for all the services to list it.

Oh, and I understand you’re supposed to say: If you like what you hear, please click the “subscribe” button. It makes a difference. You can find the episode here.