Shows / Pop of Culture
Pop of Culture
Pop of Culture explores the vibrant cultural scene of East Central Indiana. Join hosts Jennifer Blackmer, Michelle Kinsey, and Dr. Kara DuQuette as they delve into regional arts, showcase local events, and engage in insightful conversations with artists and curators. From small business spotlights to in-depth art analyses, Pop of Culture aims to amplify the voices of Indiana's artistic community, enriching lives with the diverse spirit of our state.
Episodes
Pop of CultureS03 E39 - We Put Down the Polls and Pull up the Covers
The Pop team stayed up way too late on election night, so we're taking a break this week. We've elected a few of our favorites from the archives, including…
Pop of CultureS03 E38 - We're in the Field for Fall
This week, we step out of the Pop studios to see what's happening in East Central Indiana this fall. (We even recorded the show outside!) Our Assistant…
Pop of CulturePop Bonus Track - "The Funny Pages"
This is the last week to see "The Funny Pages" at the Anderson Museum of Art. The exhibition features over 40 cartoonists with Hoosier ties, and was co-curated…
Pop of CultureS03 E37 - We're Live at Pop Fest!
This week was recorded live from our inaugural Pop Fest! Cohost Kara DuQuette moderates a panel of local artists: Jill Christman (author, editor, and professor…
Pop of CultureS03 E36 - We're Ready for Festival Festivities
This week, our resident film nerd (and assistant producer) Andrew Montavon talks with Jessica Chapman at the Heartland International Film Festival, which is…
Pop of CultureS03 E35 - We Work on our MasterWorks
This week we spend some time at a rehearsal for MasterWorks Chorale. We talk to members of the choir—and Artistic Director Kerry Glann—about what makes the…
Pop of CultureS03 E34 - We Free Joel
This week, we have a podcast exclusive extended interview with Muncie-formed band Free Joel. They're headed straight from a summer set at Lollapalooza to…
Pop of CultureS03 E33 - We Have Class, Glass, and a Day Pass
This week, we chat with glass artist John Miller. His oversized pop art sculptures inspired by the 100th anniversary of Route 66 are gathered in a new…
Pop of CultureS03 E32 - We Join the Fan Club
This week, we have a Conversation with enthusiastic comic book writer and editor Christina "Christy" Blanch. We'll talk about comics as an art form, what makes…
Pop of CultureS03 E31 - We Take a Look in Two Books
This week is for book lovers! We chat with Hoosier author Shifa Saltagi Safadi about her new middle grade novel "Sisters Alone." She tells us why she started…
Pop of CultureS03 E30 - We Pretend It's Fall
It's the last weekend to visit the pool, so we're diving back into some of our Fall favorites! We'll hear from: Michael Pace, Native American educator and…
Pop of CultureS03 E29 - We Import Blues from Canada
This week, we look well ahead at the 50th James Dean Festival in Fairmount, Indiana (always the last full weekend in September). The president of the James…
Pop of CultureS03 E28 - We’re Not Yet "Senior" Podcasters
This week, we look in somewhat unusual places to find art: Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis has an artists-in-residence program. We ask the artists (Jessica…
Pop of CultureS03 E27 - We're Lost in the Bayou
This week, as school gets back in session, we're looking at extracurriculars! Music class is with Louis Michot, longtime fiddle player and lead singer of the…
Pop of CultureS03 E26 - We Layer on the Flavor
Pop of Culture is back! This week, we head to a commercial kitchen to learn the art of layering flavors with Chef Jason Reynolds. He also talks about how his…
Pop of CulturePop Bonus Track - Pokey LaFarge
It's a little extra Pop! We sat down with musician Pokey LaFarge ahead of his performance at the Muncie Three Trails Music Series on Saturday, July 25. We…
Pop of CultureS03 E25 - We Build the Ultimate Road Trip Playlist
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…
Pop of CultureS03 E24 - We Have High-Octane Research Data
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…
Pop of CultureS03 E23 - We Welcome Back Long Haul Paul
This week, singer-songwriter and long-haul trucker "Long Haul" Paul returns to the show with his signature storytelling and songwriting—accompanied by banjoist…
Pop of CultureS03 E22 - We Cover Mountains, Memoirs, and Microloans
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…
Pop of CultureS03 E21 - We Come from the Ground Up
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…
Pop of CultureS03 E20 - We're in Cowboy Couture
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…
Pop of CultureS03 E19 - We Tell an Untold Story
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…
Pop of CultureS03 E18 - We Insult the French
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…
Pop of CultureS03 E17 - We Cross Blades
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…
Pop of CultureS03 E16 - We Get the Sensation of Summer
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…
Pop of CultureS03 E15 - We Find Joy
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…
Pop of CultureS03 E14 - We Do Duos
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…
Pop of CultureS03 E13 - We Ready Our Tastebuds
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…
Pop of CultureS03 E12 - We're on the Floor
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…
Pop of CultureS03 E11 - We're Live!
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…
Pop of CulturePop of Culture - Live! Tomorrow
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…
Pop of CultureS03 E10 - We Get All C's
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…
Pop of CultureS03 E09 - We Survive the Wintering
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…
Pop of CultureS03 E08 - We Have "Balls Balls Balls"
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…
- Pop of Culture
S03 E07 - We Put Ourselves on the Map
This week, Sara McKinley (Carnegie Library Manager and Archivist) and Melissa Gentry (Supervisor of the Map Collection at Ball State University Libraries) give…
Pop of CultureS03 E06 - We Take a Dive Into the Archives
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"…
Pop of CultureS03 E05 - We Build a Bakery
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…
Pop of CultureS03 E04 - We Reflect on the Banks of the Tallahatchie
This week, we're immersed in the visiting exhibition "Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley: Let the World See." Minnetrista Director of Curation & Exhibition…
Pop of CultureS03 E03 - We Wreck Your Heart
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…
Pop of CultureS03 E02 - We Hit a Pothole
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…
Pop of CultureS03 E01 - We Get Our Glass in Gear
Welcome to Season 3! Lots to get to... We'll start with two different takes on the medium of glass: documentarian Chris Flook tells us what surprised him…
Pop of CultureS02 E44 - We Look Back at the Best of 2025
The Pop of Culture team is readying Season 3! As we celebrate the new year, we picked some of our favorite segments from last season, like our visit to the…
Pop of CultureS02 E43 - We Predict a Vacation
Surprise! It's our last episode of the year, so we're gifting it to you a little early! This week, we're speaking with Meg Crane, the inventor of the home…
Pop of CultureS02 E42 - We Might Need Subtitles
This week, we sit down with the multi-multi-talented Anwar Frazier. He recently won the 2025 Muncie Mayor's Arts Awards People's Choice, and he'll tell us how…
Pop of CultureS02 E41 - We're Visionaries
This week, we have an extended conversation with Kyren Monteiro. Kyren is an audio engineer and hip-hop artist with an audio production company in Marion…
Pop of CultureS02 E40 - We Think People Make Place
This week, we speak to artists with work that reflect their communities: Henrik Söderström is a professor at Indiana Wesleyan University who has an exhibit at…
Pop of CultureS02 E39 - We Decorate for Halloween
The Pop of Culture team is off this week—and it's Halloween! So, we're listening back to some of our favorite spooky interviews, including: Brian Blair of…
Pop of CultureS02 E38 - We Hear Diversity in Sound
Where do electronic music artists go in Muncie? IPR's Ransom True takes us to a studio where the mixing decks are open for experimentation and collaboration…
Pop of CultureS02 E37 - We Do a Cannonball (Into Leaves)
This week, we continue our Beautiful Things series with Joseph Gross's "Jumping in Leaves," a short essay about the author and his son in autumn. Then, we'll…
Pop of CultureS02 E36 - We Add a Pop of Color, a Pop of Music, and a Pop Host
This week: how two fine arts organizations in East Central Indiana are adapting to attract audiences. We'll speak to Daniel Wiley with the Anderson Symphony…
Pop of CultureS02 E35 - We Have Star Power
Inside this episode: The Indiana Clay Conference is held every two years, and this year it's in Muncie! Organizer (and Ball State professor) Ted Neal talks…
Pop of CultureS02 E34 - We Go Through the Village and Into the Woods
This week, during IPR's fall pledge drive, we're listening back to some of our favorite recent pieces, including: a trip into the faux woodlands created for…
Pop of CultureS02 E33 - We're on Location
This week, we're all over the map! Our first stop is Michael Greer, President and CEO of ArtsFund in Seattle. He'll explain how arts are essential for…
Pop of CultureS02 E32 - We Pull Out Our Pocket Constitutions
This week, we sit down with Nicole Etcheson, a Civil War and Reconstruction Era scholar, ahead of her public lecture for Constitution Week—where she'll speak…
Pop of CultureS02 E31 - We Find New Harmonies
This week, Jenni Werner joins us for Conversations Between the Coasts. Jenni is Executive Artistic Director of The New Harmony Project, an arts organization…
Pop of CultureS2E30 - We're Hooked on Butter
The Pop Team is off this week, so we're listening back to some of our favorite parts from Season 2, including: Stevie Hahn (AKA "Ray Toffer") on how he creates…
Pop of CultureS02 E29 - We Can't Stop the Beat
This week is all about live music: Muncie Civic Theatre is in the middle of its run of "Hairspray," director Terry Whitt Bailey and Muncie Civic Artistic &…
Pop of CultureS02 E28 - We Step Into a Foggy Future
This week, we're listening back to some of our favorite interviews from Season 2 (so far): longtime Muncie artist and businesswoman Ann Johnson tells us about…
Pop of CultureS02 E27 - We're Not Afraid of the Dark
This week, we take a trip to the forest... indoors! We get an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of Minnetrista Museum and Gardens' latest exhibit "Good Night…