Elizabeth Blair Elizabeth Blair is a Peabody Award-winning Senior Producer/Reporter on the Arts Desk at NPR.
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Elizabeth Blair

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Elizabeth Blair 2018
Allison Shelley/NPR

Elizabeth Blair

Senior Producer/Reporter, Arts Desk

Elizabeth Blair is a Peabody Award-winning senior producer/reporter on the Arts Desk of NPR News.

Blair produces, edits, and reports arts and cultural segments for NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. In this position, she has reported on a range of topics from arts funding to the MeToo movement. She has profiled renowned artists such as Yayoi Kusama and Mikhail Baryshnikov, explored how old women are represented in fairy tales, and reported the origins of the children's classic Curious George. Among her all-time favorite interviews are actors Octavia Spencer and Andy Serkis, comedians Bill Burr and Hari Kondabolu, the rapper K'Naan, and Cookie Monster (in character).

Blair has overseen several, large-scale series including The NPR 100, which explored landmark musical works of the 20th Century, and In Character, which probed the origins of iconic American fictional characters. Along with her colleagues on the Arts Desk and at NPR Music, Blair curated American Anthem, a major series exploring the origins of songs that uplift, rouse, and unite people around a common theme.

Blair's work has received several honors, including two Peabody Awards and a Gracie. She previously lived in Paris, France, where she co-produced Le Jazz Club From Paris with Dee Dee Bridgewater, and the monthly magazine Postcard From Paris.

Story Archive

Wednesday

Remembering Tony Award-winning costume designer Franne Lee

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Franne Lee at the New York Public Library's Hal Prince exhibition in 2019. Lee designed the costumes for Prince's Sweeney Todd and Candide. Doug Reside/New York Public Library hide caption

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Doug Reside/New York Public Library

Franne Lee, who designed costumes for 'SNL' and 'Sweeney Todd,' dies at 81

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Monday

Far from the internet, these big, benevolent trolls lure humans to nature

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Friday

Wednesday

Juan Lastra unabashedly stood up, sang and filmed himself during one of Adele's concerts in Las Vegas. When security tried to get him to sit down, Adele told them to leave him alone. @juanp_lastra hide caption

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@juanp_lastra

Should you stand or sit at a concert? Adele fan ignites debate

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Tuesday

When concert security told a fan to sit down, Adele told them to leave him alone

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Sunday

A new children's album on Smithsonian Folkways includes a song about gay activist and politician Harvey Milk. The album was co-written by Cass McCombs and San Francisco preschool teacher Greg Gardner. Greg Gardner hide caption

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Greg Gardner

Wednesday

Major artists are reportedly ditching their A-list manager Scooter Braun

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Tuesday

Demi Lovato, Scooter Braun and Ariana Grande. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images, Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images, Jason Merritt/Getty Images hide caption

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Emma McIntyre/Getty Images, Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images, Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Saturday

Encore: Movie theaters are hot again

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Tuesday

The marquee at The Grove theater in Los Angeles announces the opening of Barbie in July 2023. Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images

Can movie theaters sustain the 'Barbie boost'?

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Wednesday

Mickey Mouse stars in the "Mickey and Friends Cavalcade" on July 2, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Kent Phillips/Walt Disney World Resort via Getty Images hide caption

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Kent Phillips/Walt Disney World Resort via Getty Images

Monday

Friday

Monday

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies was recently nominated for two Emmys but it was canceled after one season and has been removed from Paramount+. Above, Tricia Fukuhara as Nancy Nakagawa, left, Marisa Davila as Jane Facciano, Cheyenne Wells as Olivia Valdovinos and Ari Notartomaso as Cynthia Zdunowski. Eduardo Araquel/Paramount hide caption

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Eduardo Araquel/Paramount

The streaming model is cratering — here's how that's hurting actors, writers and fans

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Wednesday

A new development in the investigation into the murder of Tupac Shakur

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Tuesday

'This Land Is Your Land' is a celebration of the American landscape, with an edge

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Wednesday

Dan Solomon's The Fight for Midnight is a coming-of-age novel set in June of 2013, during former Texas state senator Wendy Davis' 13 hour filibuster of an abortion bill. Flux Books/North Star Editions hide caption

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Flux Books/North Star Editions

In 'The Fight for Midnight,' a teen boy confronts the abortion debate

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Sunday

'Elemental' director draws inspiration from his childhood

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Thursday

Concept art for Disney and Pixar's Elemental by the director Peter Sohn. Pixar hide caption

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Pixar

Earth, air, fire, water — and family — are all 'Elemental' for Pixar's Peter Sohn

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Tuesday

Brazilian samba and bossa nova singer Astrud Gilberto onstage in 1965. Evening Standard/Getty Images hide caption

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Evening Standard/Getty Images

Astrud Gilberto, 'The Girl from Ipanema' singer, dies at 83

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Monday

High school theater attendance is up — as are concerns about censorship, survey finds

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Spring Woods High School in Houston, Texas, is one of the schools that put on a production of The Addams Family. Susan Doremus/Educational Theatre Associaton hide caption

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Susan Doremus/Educational Theatre Associaton

These were the most frequently performed plays and musicals in high schools this year

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