A Line Around Your Thoughts

Join the conversation and support A Line Around Your Thoughts as part of ⁠⁠⁠our Patreon community⁠⁠⁠. Interested in becoming an episode or season sponsor? Reach out to us ⁠⁠via our website⁠⁠.On the second Thursday of each month, poet David Klenda ("86") and multi-instrumentalist Thomas Richardson unleash The Chaos at the Blue Door Theatre.The Chaos is an unpredictable, semi-improvised evening of music, spoken word poetry, improv actors, stand-up comics, hula hoopers and even a magician.For this week's episode, David and Thomas recap what happened at the last Chaos (hint: someone gets beaned by a hula hoop) and preview what they think is coming up at the next one on May 14, 2026.Thanks to our Patreon sponsor-tier member ⁠⁠Mel Antuna Hewitt⁠⁠ for supporting ALAYT.

Join the conversation and support A Line Around Your Thoughts as part of ⁠⁠our Patreon community⁠⁠. Interested in becoming an episode or season sponsor? Reach out to us ⁠via our website⁠.We're back in the Rogue Heart Media studio this week to revisit with Imagine Jazz. But this time, we're talking to musician Brendan McMurphy.In honor of Jazz Appreciation Month, Imagine Jazz is hosting an International Jazz Day Celebration at the Spokane Public Library's downtown location on April 30, 2026. It's a full day of free concerts featuring ensembles like Kristina Ploeger Quintet, the Brent Edstrom Trio and The Glass Bead Orchestra plus up-and-coming musicians.Thanks to our Patreon sponsor-tier member ⁠Mel Antuna Hewitt⁠ for supporting ALAYT.

Join the conversation and support A Line Around Your Thoughts as part of ⁠our Patreon community⁠. Interested in becoming an episode or season sponsor? Reach out to us via our website.This week's episode was recorded at Hamilton Studio's Listening Room, where the musician Riley Anderson will be performing on April 24, 2026 as part of their Emerging Artists series.Riley makes solo music as RCA and is also the frontman for RCA and the Radicals. This episode closes with RCA and the Radicals' debut single "Lakeshore Drive."Thanks to our Patreon sponsor-tier member Mel Antuna Hewitt for supporting ALAYT.

Join the conversation and support A Line Around Your Thoughts as part of ⁠⁠⁠⁠our Patreon community⁠⁠⁠⁠. Engage with ALAYT on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠.This week, we're chatting with photographers Donna Larsen and Steve Whitacre, who are co-chairs of the Spokane Camera Club.They cover the ins and outs of the 94-year-old club before getting into that inescapable topic—AI—and its application in photographic judging. There's also time to talk about another perennial debate in photography: How much post-processing is too much?

Join the conversation and support A Line Around Your Thoughts as part of ⁠⁠⁠our Patreon community⁠⁠⁠. Engage with ALAYT on ⁠⁠⁠Mastodon⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠.Colin Manikoth, an assistant professor in the Department of Design at Eastern Washington University, joins us this week.The discussion touches on Colin's field of user experience (UX) design in addition to universal design principles, human-centered design and, of course, AI.

Join the conversation and support A Line Around Your Thoughts as part of ⁠⁠our Patreon community⁠⁠. Engage with ALAYT on ⁠⁠Mastodon⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠.This week, we're talking with printmakers Reinaldo Gil Zambrano and Madeline E. Goolie (aka MEG). We explore their processes, their inspiration as well as the many ways that the public can engage with printmaking locally. That includes, among many other things, the upcoming Spokane Print Fest (Apr. 4–18, 2026) and MEG's "UNTAMED" exhibition at the Entropy Gallery in May.

33 Artists Market returns to the podcast, now under the stewardship of this week's guests, Scott and Irene Kelly.The pair shed some light on why the popular multi-vendor event has changed hands and what they've got planned for the future — including their upcoming March 28, 2026 market.As artists themselves, Irene and Scott also talk about their respective backgrounds in weaving and digital art.

Join the conversation and support A Line Around Your Thoughts as part of ⁠our Patreon community⁠. Engage with ALAYT on ⁠Mastodon⁠, ⁠Bluesky⁠ and ⁠Instagram⁠.This week we're in conversation with Greg Bem, a poet, community college librarian and the founder of Carbonation Press.Carbonation is a small, local literary publisher with a catalogue of about 20 titles so far. Two recent titles get special focus here: the bilingual poetry anthology Somos ajolotes (We Are Axolotls) and the Spokane-centric poetry anthology Down River, Deep Root.We also make a brief foray into another of Greg's ventures, the multidisciplinary event series called Foray for the Arts.

Join the conversation and support A Line Around Your Thoughts as part of our Patreon community. Engage with ALAYT on Mastodon, Bluesky and Instagram.This week we're on location at the Eastern Washington University Art Gallery to chat with visiting textile artists Meagan Smith and Allyce Wood.Meagan weaves using modern digital tools to create visually striking pieces, whereas Allyce often incorporates materials and methods in her work that have personal or traditional significance. Their joint exhibition "Tidal Loop" runs at the EWU gallery until April 3, 2026.The two artists discuss some of their exhibition pieces and weaving as a practice before fielding Lightning Round questions on heaven and lame superpowers.

Keep these conversations going by becoming a part of the ALAYT Patreon community.Interested in becoming an episode or season sponsor? Reach out to us via our website.This year's Spokane International Film Festival (SpIFF) runs from March 6 to 8, 2026.The festival includes over one dozen feature films plus live interviews and blocks of themed programming like Worlds of Animation, Queer Shorts, Best of the Northwest and the new Docs and Donuts series.Aaron Spickelmire, a longtime SpIFF planner and coordinator, talks about some of this year's special premieres and events.

Liz Hooker and Dave Aaron join us for this week's episode. Liz is the vice president of marketing and programming for the Downtown Spokane Partnership, and Dave is a local visual artist.They came in to talk about a new initiative that the DSP launched earlier this year called First Friday Face-Off.The monthly event has two artists independently create an original themed work in front of a live audience over the course of about two hours. The audience votes in real time for their favorite piece.Liz talks about the event itself, and Dave speaks to his unique experience in the inaugural First Friday Face-Off back in January.The next First Friday Face-Off is coming up on March 6. Its theme is "Women of Spokane History."

Time's running out, so be sure to vote for A Line Around Your Thoughts as Best Local Podcast in the Inlander's Best of 2026 poll before February 17!This week we're sitting down with Tanya Morton, the executive artistic director of Spokane Children's Theatre.In her role, Tanya has been working to cultivate a positive environment for kids, collaborate with other theaters and expand SCT's programming as well as its footprint. And she has some big news to share on that front.Tanya also talks about upcoming SCT shows and the prep that the theater is doing for its 80th season.

On this week's episode, Spokane Poet Laureate Mery Noel Smith assures us that the kids are alright.During her two-year tenure so far, she's spearheaded several programs to get poetry into the hands and hearts of children as well as young adults — including her most recent initiative, the selection of Spokane's first-ever Youth Poet Laureate.Mery sheds some light on some of those programs and discusses unconventional spaces that have proven good platforms for poetry, such as farmers markets and an upcoming Inland Sessions performance on KSPS.

Support A Line Around Your Thoughts on Patreon! Visit ⁠our Patreon community⁠ to learn more.Our guest this week is the Sandpoint-based singer, songwriter and visual artist Dario Ré.Dario performs locally both under his own name and with the ensemble Heat Speak. His music is an eclectic and inventive mix of chamber folk, world fusion, indie pop and, of late, electronic.We talk about that melange, including some recent singles and albums, as well as the growing divergence between his solo and band music. We also get into a frank discussion about his preferred mode of support, the patronage model.Dario performs with Heat Speak at the Listening Room on March 28, and in June he has an exhibition at the Entropy Gallery in downtown Spokane.

Support A Line Around Your Thoughts on Patreon! Visit our Patreon community to learn more.This week, Ashley Demoville and Claire Rae Edmo are our guests. Ashley is the Dean of Visual, Performing and Applied Arts at Spokane Falls Community College, and Claire is the college's second sƛ̓x̣etkʷ Artist-in-Residence.You can catch some of Claire's work at the Here & Now exhibition at SFCC. It runs until February 10, 2026.

Joining us in the Rogue Heart Media studio this week are Eric Woodard and Morgan Marie of Pivot Spokane.Pivot is the long-running, local, live storytelling series that includes quarterly mainstage events featuring workshopped storytellers from the community as well as more casual, open-mic events.With Pivot's mainstage event—themed "Rivals"—coming up on January 29, followed by the "Love Stinks" open mic event on February 11, Morgan and Eric came in to talk about what's in store for those. As founding board members who've been with Pivot since the very beginning, they also share their thoughts on how the series has changed over the past nine years.

We're sitting down this week with Alex Calbick and Tiffany Bubna of Spokane Puppetry, which is a new organization that aims to share their passion for puppetry as a craft and puppets as a creative medium.This year, Spokane Puppetry's previously ad hoc workshops are now a regular monthly event at both Art Salvage and Spark Central.The first workshop of 2026 is at Art Salvage on January 10, and the second is at Spark Central on January 17. This month's workshop theme is shadow puppets.Alex and Tiffany came in ahead of those workshops to talk about how the two of them came together around puppetry and why it's such an exciting and unique art form.And to help make their case, they brought with them special guests like Kritch Kriggle and Takeout. If you want to see them instead of just hearing their voices, be sure to check out the vodcast.

Happy New Year!Because of the holidays, we've had special episodes last week and this week. Together they make a two-part retrospective featuring moments from the Lightning Round that closes every interview.Whereas last week's episode drew from the podcast's first four months, this episode features guests from the latter part of 2025. They include Mel Antuna Hewitt, Preston Singletary & Miranda Belarde-Lewis, Ginger Ewing & Jackie Caro, Charlie Pepiton & Michael Kropf, Olivia Brownlee, Susie Leonard Weller, Darien Mack, Christina Villagomez & Sara Mortier, Karin Wedemeyer and Brett & Rose Noble.

Merry Christmas! As regular listeners know—and as our guests are sometimes surprised to discover—every interview on A Line Around Your Thoughts closes with a Lightning Round.This is the first of two special holiday episodes that revisit some Lightning Round moments from the past year. The selections in this episode are from ALAYT's first four months.Featured guests include Troy Nickerson & Chris Jensen, James Lowe, Shelly Wynecoop, Bryan Harnetiaux, Jess Walter, Dominique Betts & Celeste Bidwell Williams, Gwyn Pevonka, Zuill Bailey, Rachel Bade-McMurphy, Jim Mohr and Joe & Sienna Henson.

This week's guest is also acting as our host. He is the lighting designer, photographer and filmmaker turned venue owner, Don Hamilton.For this episode, Don invited A Line Around Your Thoughts to record at the Hamilton Studio, a former gym and auditorium in West Central that now moonlights as The Listening Room.Since launching almost two years ago to the day, this roughly 200-seat venue has become a favorite destination for intimate music and theatrical performances — in part because of its great acoustics.Don gets into the history of The Listening Room, the role that it fills in the community, his longer-term vision for the venue and why he's often comfortable when flying by the seat of his pants.Thanks to the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture for sponsoring this episode.Additional thanks to Maono for providing one of their new PD200W wireless hybrid microphones as part of their #PodAnywhere campaign. It allowed us to have an entirely cable-free setup.

This episode features Brett & Rose Noble, the husband-and-wife team behind the DIY record label and event promoter 2-2-1 Press.The now Spokane-based (by way of Illinois) label recently put out a scene compilation titled Beneath the Falls. They hosted the release concert for that back in November.2-2-1 Press is, among many other things, also the organizer of the upcoming Sonic Solstice festival, which is now in its third year and will showcase 20 bands over two days on December 19 and 20 at the Garland Theater.Rose and Brett talk about the ethos of DIY, the sounds and sonic influences of the bands on Beneath the Falls, the local punk/indie/hardcore scene as well as scented candles. After the closing credits, you'll be able to hear the track "Record Skips" by Hayes Noble, who is Brett and Rose's son. His is one of the ten tracks on Beneath the Falls.Thanks, too, to the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture for sponsoring this episode. The audio equipment company Maono kindly provided their new PD200W hybrid wireless microphone for this episode as part of their #PodAnywhere campaign.

This week we're sitting down with Karin Wedemeyer, founder and executive director of both the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint and Sandpoint's Bel Canto Opera.Since its founding in 2009, the Sandpoint Conservatory has grown to the point where it has an accredited, professional staff of around 20 and teaches several hundred students every year.The conservatory also hosts and organizes events like the North Idaho Flute Festival, the Music Matters! after-school program, concerts by the North Idaho Philharmonia  as well as Bel Canto's vocal performances and light operas.Karin sheds some light on how this very European model of music education found its way to Sandpoint, why humor is one of opera's best ambassadors and some of the things she misses about German Weihnachtsmärkte.Thanks to the the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture for sponsoring this episode.

Our guest for this Thanksgiving Day episode is the choreographer, dancer, arts advocate and potter Suzanne Ostersmith.Up until a few months ago, Suzanne was the chair of Gonzaga University's dance program — a program that she herself founded.She retired in May after 25 years at the university, but she certainly hasn't been idle since then.For one, she's been a multifaceted creative force behind Gonzaga's upcoming production of Thumbelina. The original story ballet is based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale and will include young dancers from local studios.Suzanne also currently serves as co-chair of the Spokane Arts Commission, and on top of that, she's been cultivating a pottery practice. She talks about all those different strings in her bow and shares some insight into how Thumbelina first came about.Thanks to this episode’s sponsor, the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, and a special shout-out to local artist and arts educator Carrie Scozzaro for helping to support the podcast.

On this week's episode, our guests are Sara Mortier and Christina Villagomez, who are tattoo artists based, respectively, in Spokane and Coeur d'Alene.They currently have a joint exhibition titled Body of Work at the Terrain Gallery in Spokane. It runs until the end of November 2025.One unique thing about this exhibition is its separation of tattoos from the human body. Instead the artists use silicone objects and mannequins as their medium.Christina and Sara talk about the choices behind that and the growing acceptance of tattoos, not just in terms of fashion or modes of self-expression, but as fine art.They also delve into gender biases in tattoo culture, how techniques once used in prison paved the way for a more feminine style of tattooing, plus movies that are actually dreams.Many thanks to the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture for sponsoring this episode.

We explore multiple disciplines with this week's guest, Darrien Mack.Darrien is a DJ, a hip-hop artist, a videographer, a writer, a graphic designer and much, much more.One night you might see him curating a DJ set as Rosethrow, whereas the next night he'll performing with his group Truehoods. And the night after that he'll be capturing video for an event with Terrain or Pivot.And with such a broad creative portfolio to his name, this episode's conversation naturally runs the gamut. We talk about obscure words, obscure music, connecting with other human beings and treating design almost as a way of life.Thanks once again to this episode's sponsor, the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture.

This week our guest is the Spokane photographer Dean Davis.Dean's work is the subject of a new retrospective exhibition at Spokane Falls Community College. It features select photos from his more than 30-year career in both commercial and fine-art photography. In this interview, Dean recaps that long career to give some context to those featured photos. Along the way, we end up talking about his early adoption of techniques like HDR and tilt shift as well as processes like giclée printing.We also get into his ongoing projects like Pictures of Poets and his more recent foray into ceramics.Many thanks to the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture for sponsoring this episode.

The writer Susie Leonard Weller is our guest this week. She recently published 52 Global Reflections: A Pilgrim’s Travel Memoir — a book that's part memoir, part travel diary and part discussion starter.Susie gives some background on why she wrote the book as well as some of the places and experiences that left the most lasting impressions on her.As part of that conversation, we also talk about travel as an act that connects us to humankind.You can find out more about Susie's book at the 52 Global Reflections website.And a big thanks to our sponsor for this episode, the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture.

If you purchase art supplies in the Spokane area, then you've almost certainly stopped into Art Salvage.Art Salvage is a resale outlet for the materials used in the making of all kinds of visual and tactile art. That could be paints and textiles, or it could be found objects that end up being creatively repurposed.My guest this week is the founder, owner and executive director of Art Salvage, Katie Patterson Larson.She talks us through their intake processes, the nexus of the circular and the creative economies, as well as Spokane's apparent fascination with rubber stamps.Thanks to our episode sponsor, the ⁠Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture⁠.

The singer, songwriter and musician Olivia Brownlee is our guest on A Line Around Your Thoughts this week.Recently, Olivia's been musing on a project that combines oral history and music. And if you're familiar with her work, that's a logical next step after her album This Is Where You Live, which commemorated the people and places of Spokane in song.We do indeed talk about that oral history project as well as This Is Where You Live, her long tenure with Zonky Jazz Band and her single-per-month club.But we can't help meandering a little to reflect on, among other things, music as shared experience.Thanks to our episode sponsor, the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture.

This week we're covering both music and film with guests Charlie Pepiton and Michael Kropf.They are two Gonzaga University professors who've pooled their talents for a new short film titled Love, Eleanor. Charlie is the film's director, and Michael composed the score.A preview screening of Love, Eleanor is coming up on October 18, 2025 with live accompaniment and a debut concert from the new chamber string orchestra Luminia. In anticipation of that, we sat down to talk about how Michael's music helped inspire Charlie's film, which in turn helped inspire the string ensemble that Michael co-founded with Jason Moody of the Spokane Symphony.Visit the Square Top Theatre website for a Love, Eleanor film trailer and more details on the preview screening.And thanks once again to the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture for sponsoring this episode!

This episode is going out on on Thursday, October 2, 2025, which means Terrain's big annual arts showcase takes place tomorrow night (Oct. 3) in downtown Spokane. The VIP preview night is tonight.For its (Sweet) 16th year, Terrain is featuring 850 works of art by 483 regional artists. There are also literature readings, short films, choreography, site specific installations and live performances by a number of bands across multiple genres.This week's guests preview as much as of that as they can. They are Terrain's co-founder and executive director Ginger Ewing and the organization's operations director Jackie Caro.Along with some behind-the-scenes insights into jurying and planning the show, Ginger and Jackie talk about what's new this year as well as what's returning. We also delve into ghost encounters!Thanks to the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture for sponsoring this episode.

This week we're sitting down and chatting with Aimee Brooks and Morganne Elkins of Banana Slug Books.Banana Slug recently published its first book, a short-story anthology titled Spokane Campfire Stories.It features work by 23 writers, including Sam Ligon, Kate Lebo, Kris Dinnison, Katy Shedlock, Gregory Spatz and Aimee herself.Spokane Campfire Stories had its official launch at a reading in Manito Park in late August. Not long after that Aimee and Morganne came into the Rogue Heart Media studio to talk about the anthology in more detail.Through the course of that conversation, we ended up discussing how Banana Slug Books got its start, the fusion of oral and literary traditions as well as Spokane's soft spot for seeing itself reflected in fiction.If you're thinking of purchasing a copy of Spokane Campfire Stories, be sure to support your local bookstore! It's available locally at Auntie’s, Atticus, Jupiter’s Eye and Wishing Tree Books.

We departed the Rogue Heart Media studio and went on location for this week's episode to sit down with glass artist Preston Singletary and independent curator Miranda Belarde-Lewis.Preston's exhibition Raven and the Box of Daylight is currently showing at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture until January 4, 2026.This episode was recorded onsite during the installation of that exhibition, which depicts the story of the mischievous Raven bringing light to the world as recounted in Tlingit lore.The three of us talked about Raven as a figure in tribal mythology, the universality of a good story, and the idea of art—and particularly Indigenous art—as a vehicle for information.Naturally, too, we get into the specifics of Preston's work and the exhibition itself, including its use of sound and lighting to create a multisensory experience.

This week's episode features a conversation with the bookbinder and book artist Mel Antuna Hewitt, who goes by Mel the Maker.Mel came in to talk about her own work with the printed page and the act of creating something unique in a medium that's usually about reproducibility.She also prompts some reflection on what makes a book a book, which is a thought she'll continue in her forthcoming exhibition, titled "Communications." That opens on October 3, 2025 at the Terrain Gallery.Thanks to our episode sponsor, the ⁠Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture⁠. The MAC is currently showing the nationally touring exhibition Preston Singletary: Raven & The Box of Daylight. Preston and his exhibition curator Miranda Belarde-Lewis will be the guests on next week's episode of ALAYT.

On this week's episode, our guests are Jeni Riplinger and Jaiden Haley of the arts incubator Emerge Coeur d'Alene.Jaiden is the nonprofit organization's operations manager, and Jeni is the executive director.Emerge just had its annual Block Party in July, and it's now gearing up for the INK! Print Rally on September 13, 2025. That community event, which is themed "Portals," will gather nearly two dozen artists to create large-scale block prints with the help of an asphalt roller.Jeni and Jaiden highlight all the ways they're augmenting that event this year, and we also explore the why's and how's of Emerge's Ceramic Throwdown, its YOURS retail shop, its pottery studio and its gallery.Thanks once again to our episode sponsor, the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture.

We have two guests on this week's episode: Joe and Sienna Henson of Hitchhiker's Theatre.The two of them co-founded Hitchhiker's Theatre last year with a view to bringing live performances to unconventional spaces.The nomadic troupe's second season opens next week with a two-evening (Sept. 5 & 6, 2025) performance of the play 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche at The Guardian in Spokane.We definitely get into the details of that play as well as the opportunities Hitchhiker's Theatre is opening up for new talent — not to mention some digressions about audience interaction and clown college.Thanks to our episode sponsor, the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, for their continued support of these conversations.

This week's episode brings Jim Mohr into the Rogue Heart Media studio.Jim wears at least two hats in the Spokane community — one as the interim vice president of student affairs at Spokane Falls Community College, the other as the executive director of the Blue Door Theatre.He sat down to talk about the second of those, including their Spokane School of Improv, the BOOST center for professional development, their updated schedule for improv shows and the new Yes, And gallery.We dig into the meaning of that phrase "Yes, And" and why its usefulness transcends the stage.Thanks to our episode sponsor, the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture. The MAC is currently showing the nationally touring exhibition Preston Singletary: Raven & The Box of Daylight .

On this week's episode, we're in conversation with Jon Kuritz, a video director who co-founded the nonprofit production house Live from Somewhere.Live from Somewhere is the group behind the music video series of the same name, which got its start during the pandemic by filming regional bands in all kinds of settings. They've since branched out into organizing the new Curators of Sound concert series at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture.The next Curators of Sound event is on Wednesday, August 20, and features the bands Museum of Light, Kung Fu Vinyl, True Hoods and Hayes Noble.Jon talks about that event as well as the upcoming Live from Somewhere premieres at the Garland Theater. Those have just been rescheduled to October 8 for Nothing Shameful and November 12 for Museum of Light.We also get into the rationale for organizing multi-genre concerts and the sheer amount of labor that goes into a labor of love.Thanks to founding sponsor Rogue Heart Media SPC for their continued support of ALAYT.

For this week's episode, Rachel Bade-McMurphy—jazz musician, composer and music advocate—is in the Rogue Heart Media studio to talk about, among other things, her new project, the Glass Bead Orchestra.The Glass Bead Orchestra is 10-piece ensemble that received a prestigious and very competitive Chamber Music America grant for women and minority bandleaders.The group debuts in its full incarnation this weekend (Aug. 10) at the Hamilton Studio's popular Listening Room. After that, they head to Washington State University to record a full-length album.Rachel outlines all that the CMA grant is enabling them to do, how the project ties into her advocacy and appreciation initiative Imagine Jazz and what it has to do with a Hermann Hesse novel.Along the way, we get into topics like the local jazz scene, women in jazz as well as spirit animals.Another heartfelt round of thanks to our episode sponsor, the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, where you can catch the nationally touring exhibition Preston Singletary: Raven & The Box of Daylight.

This week we're in conversation with Danny Anderson, a longtime actor who's now leading My Turn Theater, a Spokane-based organization that provides performing arts opportunities to adults with disabilities.My Turn Theater's new production of The Lion King, Jr. is opening this weekend (Saturday, Aug. 2) at the Spokane Civic Theatre and will run there for a little over a week.Danny talks about the origins of My Turn Theater, its unique shadow actor model and what's been happening since it went on hiatus in 2023.He also gives an update on Stage Left Theater's award-winning production of Antoinette Nwandu's Pass Over, which is headed to Monaco later this month for an international community theater showcase.Thanks to sponsor the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture for making yet another ALAYT episode possible. The nationally touring exhibition Preston Singletary: Raven & The Box of Daylight features work by the Seattle glass artist based around Tlingit mythologies and is running at the MAC now.

We sit down this week with visual artist Gwyn Pevonka, who also happens to be the driving force behind the 33 Artists Market.There's a 33 Artists Market coming up this weekend (Saturday, July 26, 2025). It's in a brand new location at the Pergola Event Center, and the number of participating artists has tripled for this particular event.Gwyn talks about why she chose to make this her biggest market yet, all the ways that 33 Artists Market has changed since it launched in 2022 as well as the changes that she's making to her own art. The conversation ended up covering everything sororities and the art-buying economy to creative metamorphosis.A hearty thank you goes out to our episode sponsor, the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture. The nationally touring exhibition Preston Singletary: Raven & The Box of Daylight features work by the Seattle glass artist based around Tlingit mythologies.

On this week's episode we catch up with Zuill Bailey, who is not only an internationally touring cellist but also artistic director of the Northwest BachFest.There are three BachFest concerts coming up next week. First, there's Music in Manito on July 22 and 23. That's followed by the Afterglow performance at Barrister Winery on July 24. All three shows feature the same guest artists — namely, the Brazilian-inspired trio Biribá Union as well as the violinist Helen Hwaya Kim.But the two different venues mean that the concerts are going be very different experiences. Zuill talks about that as well as his larger vision for BachFest, which might have something to do with the more unexpected songs on his streaming playlist.A huge thanks our episode sponsor, the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture. The new nationally touring exhibition Preston Singletary: Raven & The Box of Daylight features work by the Seattle glass artist based around Tlingit mythologies.

This week we're talking with Dominique Betts, the co-founder of Bright Comet Theatre, and Celeste Bidwell-Williams, who has the lead role in BCT's upcoming production of Carrie: The Musical.Carrie opens Friday, July 18 at Stage Left Theater. More info on the show is available at either the Bright Comet or Stage Left websites (linked in this description).Dominique and Celeste naturally provided some insight into this staging of Carrie, but they also put the production in the context of Bright Comet's mission to provide opportunities to underrepresented actors.And we couldn't help but touch on Bright Comet's subtle—or maybe not so subtle—fondness for shows that involve blood.Massive thanks to our episode sponsor, the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture. The new nationally touring exhibition Preston Singletary: Raven & The Box of Daylight features work by the Seattle glass artist based around Tlingit mythologies.

This week's episode features another pair of guests: Melody Chang and Andrea Olsen of Spokane Valley Summer Theatre — and by extension the Idaho Central Spokane Valley Performing Arts Center.Andrea is the organization's associate artistic director, and Melody is the communications & marketing director.Melody and Andrea came into the Rogue Heart Media studio to reflect on SVST's 10th anniversary and update us on the progress on the new performing arts center. They also talked about what's in store for the rest of this season, which kicked off in June with Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance.SVST's next show is Rodgers and Hammerstein's A Grand Night for Singing; it opens on July 11. That's followed by Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in August.A huge thanks to our episode sponsor, the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture. The new nationally touring exhibition Preston Singletary: Raven & The Box of Daylight features work by the Seattle glass artist based around Tlingit mythologies.

Our guests this week are Pollyanne Birge of the City of Spokane's Office of Neighborhood Services as well as independent artist Madison Merica.Pollyanne and Madison came in to talk about This Is Spokane:A Civic Guide for Neighbors, which is a new zine that the city has put out to help residents get a better fix on how local government works. Madison was the lead artist on that project.We talk about what a zine is, why it was a really good medium for this kind of content, and how it's one a few different arts-related tools that the city's using to increase civic engagement.A big thanks to our episode sponsor, the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture. The new nationally touring exhibition Preston Singletary: Raven & The Box of Daylight opens there today. Visit the MAC's website for tickets and more details.

This week's episode features a conversation with author Jess Walter, whose new novel is titled So Far Gone and was just published by HarperCollins.So Far Gone is set in and around Spokane but its story isn't region-specific. It's meant to be a portrait of a country where people who might be sitting around the same Thanksgiving table can be living in entirely different realities.Jess and host E.J. Iannelli talk about that phenomenon as well as how much overlap there is between the author and his outspoken protagonistMany thanks to our founding sponsor, Rogue Heart Media SPC.

For this week's episode of A Line Around Your Thoughts, we're joined by Bryan Harnetiaux, the Spokane Civic Theatre's playwright in residence since 1982.Bryan came in to provide the lowdown on the upcoming Playwrights' Forum Festival that bears his name.In 2025, the festival runs from June 19–22 in the Spokane Civic Theatre's Firth J. Chew studio space. This year, its 35th, there are a dozen one-act plays that will be performed in two different rotations over those four days.Out of our festival-focused conversation sprang a number of other topics. We also ended up discussing the value of theater criticism, the importance of workshopping and why plays are never truly finished.Another massive thanks to our founding sponsor, Rogue Heart Media SPC, for making these episodes possible.

Our guest on this week's episode of A Line Around Your Thoughts is Mallory Battista, an independent artist who works in a variety of media.You've probably already come across Mallory's work in the form of murals, mosaic sculptures, holiday window displays, ironworking or comics. She was even kind enough to design the logo for this podcast.We ended up talking about, among other things, zines, the Garbage Goat and the importance of public art — as well as the recent renaissance of public art in Spokane, and why that might be under threat by the current economic climate.NB: We recorded this ahead of this year's Spokane Zine Fest, which took place last weekend, so the upcoming issue of Spokane Sequential that Mallory references is already here. The same goes for her Asphalt Art street mural near Emerson Park, which was completed earlier this week.Her new "Dragons and Rime" bench is set to be unveiled in Riverfront Park's Sister Cities Garden later this month.Once again, many thanks to our founding sponsor, Rogue Heart Media SPC, for supporting these early episodes.

This week's episode puts us in conversation with Marit Fischer and Rob Worstell. Marit is the chief marketing officer at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture; Rob is the organization's education director.Although most MAC conversations tend to focus on the exhibitions, what we talk about instead are the museum's educational and outreach initiatives. They include everything from a youth arts leadership program called Teens at the MAC to the new Curators of Sound concert series.That means there are plenty of dates for your calendar, including the annual ArtFest, which is coming up this weekend.We also get into why these programs matter, so if the word museum makes you think of a static repository of historic objects, you might find that perspective challenged.A heartfelt shout out to our founding sponsor, Rogue Heart Media SPC, for making these early episodes possible.

On this episode we sit down with Darya Pilram, an artist and Economic Recovery Corps Fellow.We discuss both of those roles, starting with her very first solo exhibition titled "Embracing Imperfection: The Art of Kintsugi Repair." It runs at Spokane's Trackside Studio until May 30, 2025.Then we dive into her work helping to establish creative districts in Garland and Hillyard in Spokane well as in Coeur d'Alene and Kellogg, Idaho.Along the way we talk about the dynamics of Washington State's nearly $120 billion creative economy and why the creative economy itself can be such an elusive concept.We'll also get into Creative Mornings, a new venture here in Spokane that helps creative-identifying individuals connect with each another as well as the wider world.A huge thanks, as always, to our founding sponsor, Rogue Heart Media SPC.