April 2, 2024

Comedian and actor Chris Fleming. He has a comedy special streaming on Peacock, a YouTube Channel with a cult following and he’s selling out comedy venues – but he’s far from selling out. As someone who has built a following playing the oddball, his absurdist comedy can’t be corrupted by success—he’ll be the first to tell you that it lives outside of the standards that come with standup. Ahead of his show at the Wilbur, the Massachusetts native joins us. In January we were joined by Amanda Shea, curator of HellaBlack Volume Six, when she was doing an open call for artists to submit their work. Now, HellaBlack is nearly here. HellaBlack is an interdisciplinary performance event curated by and for Black artists. On April 8, artists will showcase their work. Amanda Shea is back for a preview. She is the 2022 Boston Music Awards Spoken Word Artist of the Year, a performer and activist. She is also the host of GBH’s “Outspoken Saturdays” a spoken word poetry event for emerging artists, which we host at our studio at the Boston Public Library. From there, how the arts has been an economic engine. Waterville, Maine, the former mill town turned college town, was struggling. Only a few years ago their downtown was desolate. Today it is abuzz with shops, maker spaces, an arts complex and a museum. The investment, driven largely by Colby College, has turned the town around. David Greene, the president of Colby College, joins us.