Artist of the Week
The Jack Straw Artist of the Week Podcast highlights work created through the Artist Residency Programs at Jack Straw Cultural Center.-
Artscape - Frank Ulwenya
This Artscapes radio piece was produced at Jack Straw in 2000 as part of a series highlighting the work of Jack Straw’s resident artists. The project Safarini: In Transit featured African immigrant artists living in Seattle. In addition to Frank Ulwenya, a guitarist and songwriter from the Maragoli area of Western Kenya, Safarini included Wawali Bonane, Kofi Anang, Lora Chiorah-Dye, and Obo Addy. The Safarini compact disc was released by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in 2000.
-
Nic Masangkay - Promises We Couldn't Keep
“Promises We Couldn’t Keep” is the first single from Nic Masangkay‘s new EP, When the World Is Ending, I Listen. Join Nic and Mako Kikuchi at Jack Straw on October 25th for a listening party, talkback, and behind-the-scenes of the EP.
-
Pepper Brandon Blake - First Time Caller
Jack Straw artist Pepper Brandon Blake is releasing his new album First Time Caller, Long Time Listener, produced through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program, in October. Join us at Jack Straw on October 17th to celebrate the album’s release.
-
Unpoetry: Eric Michael Acosta and Till the Teeth
This week we’re sharing an excerpt from Eric Michael Acosta‘s performance with Till the Teeth (Jonathan Rodriguez and Sandesh Nagaraj) in the Jack Straw New Media Gallery on June 12th, 2025. As part of his Jack Straw Artist Support Program Residency, Eric curated three installments of his Unpoetry performance series in conjunction with Till the Teeth’s New Media Gallery installation we being so. You can see and hear more from these events via Bandcamp and YouTube.
Applications for Jack Straw’s 2027 Artist Residency Programs are available now!
-
Araki Kodō VI - 雨上がり (Ame Agari)
“雨上がり (Ame Agari)” is from Kodō Araki VI’s album 古轍 (Kotetsu), produced through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program. Kotetsu, releasing September 10th, is available for pre-order now. Join the artist at the Chapel Performance Space for a celebratory performance on Saturday, September 12th, with special guest Adam Robinson.
-
Maia Brown and Shelby Handler - Ways of Awe
Ways of Awe is a new audio series by Maia Brown and Shelby Handler, produced through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
Weaving together interpretative translations, research, interviews, and sounds, Ways of Awe is a queer anti-Zionist audio companion for the Jewish High Holidays. Join talmud scholars, rabbis, and artists as they unearth the meanings, grammar, and ancient gossip inside the holiest prayers of the Jewish year. These audio collages range from meditative to liberatory, grief-stricken to playful, irreverent to awestruck, and from the ancestral to the immediate.
From Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, the Days of Awe, or the Yamim Noraim, are a portal for collective reckoning and return. Each episode of Ways of Awe features a different prayer and could be listened to during the ten days, or in the month of Elul leading up.
You can hear the whole series at https://signalfirecoop.org/ways-of-awe/
Applications for Jack Straw’s 2027 Artist Residency Programs are available now via Submittable.
-
River Coello New Media Gallery Podcast
Jack Straw artist River Coello talks with Carlos Nieto about their Jack Straw New Media Gallery installation HAMPI.
-
The Chet Corpt Kora Trio - Tabara
Kora player and Jack Straw resident artist Chester Corpt recorded his arrangement of the traditional Mandinka song “Tabara,” performed with Eric Likkel on clarinet and Brady Kish on bass, as part of his Artist Support Program recording project. Chet writes, “I try in the group to introduce the principles of West African music, as I understand them as a player of the kora, to two players who are far more versed in the American musics that show heavy African influence.”
-
Kathya Alexander - Keep A'Livin'
This week we’re sharing the first chapter of Kathya Alexander‘s audiobook of Keep A’Livin’, produced through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program. This speculative fiction novel “explores the reality of activism as more than just a handful of speeches given at protests, the costs to those who dedicate themselves to activist work, and the passion that drives us ever onward to a better, more just future.”
-
KTNA - Keep It to Your Soul
This week’s selection is “Keep It to Your Soul,” from the soundtrack to KTNA’s Jack Straw New Media Gallery installation The Kelp Forest. The Kelp Forest opens this Friday, June 26th at 7pm!
