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Culture

Latest Stories

In France, Accents Are Now Protected by Law

By: Peter Yeung

A groundbreaking new rule aims to let people speak freely and without fear of discrimination.

The Purposeful Beauty of India’s ‘Saree Libraries’

By: Priti Salian

Inside the lending system for elegant attire that helps low-income women build social capital.

To Save Cherokee Language, This Program Pays People to Learn It

By: Kristi Eaton

With only 2,000 fluent speakers left, the tribe wants those who love the culture to help preserve it.

In a Mafia Stronghold, This Cooking School Is Stirring the Pot

By: Agostino Petroni

Arturo Pratticò saw young people working for the mob. What if he could make them chefs instead?

Sexual Harassment Has Virtually Vanished from These Farms

By: Vera L. Chang

Thanks to an amazingly effective program, many farmworkers no longer need to deal with this type of exploitation.

Colorado’s New Family Leave Law Could Transform Fatherhood

By: Andrew Wear

Iceland passed a similar law 20 years ago, and turned parents into more equal partners.

Related Collections

Art is Everywhere

You Cannot Use Force to Change Minds

By: Christine McLaren

She fought a brutal ritual with love – and changed a culture.

The Idea That Still Unites Us

By: Theodore R. Johnson

A rowdy, opinionated nation of 330 million requires a special kind of bond.

Their Love Knows No Borders – Not Even a Closed One

By: Sarah Berman

Along a ditch that separates the U.S. from Canada, a very 2020 romance is taking root.

You Don’t Have to Hate the Other Side

By: Eric Krebs

The ability to fight with love instead of rage is what makes us human.

The Complicated World of Staten Island

By: David Byrne

What the New York borough that voted for Trump taught me about the messy business of bridging divides.

Artistic Wizardry That Illuminates Our Bonds

By: Jennifer Van Evra

A child of Mexico City’s nightclubs is putting a spotlight on what connects us.

United by Activism, Separated by Decades

By: Scott Shigeoka

In our final “Bridging Divides” video, a young BLM activist and a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement connect across a lifetime of struggle.

What Canada Can Teach America about Racial Reconciliation

By: Scott Shigeoka

Both countries have a shameful history of oppression. One of them is facing up to it.

Why Millennials Are Moving Into Convents With Nuns

By: Scott Shigeoka

Even as young people eschew religion, some are forming unexpected bonds with sisters of faith through a shared commitment to social justice.

Is This the Unlikeliest Friendship in America?

By: Scott Shigeoka

She’s a gay rights activist. He’s an evangelical Christian. In our new video series, they explain why “impossible” friendships can be our most valuable.

LGBTQ+ and Religious People, Face to Face

By: Scott Shigeoka

In this moving video, two groups that have long struggled to connect finally let their guards down.

A Public Apology Seven Decades in the Making

By: Jennifer Van Evra

How two Canadians, united by an act of oppression, are transforming reconciliation into art.

Tackling Covid-Era Racism Across the U.S.-Canada Border

By: Jonathan Ore

An American and a Canadian artist explore what it means to be Black in a pandemic.

I Loathe Your Politics – So Let’s Be Friends

By: Poppy Noor

In an era of ideological rancor, a few brave souls are going out of their way to befriend their political opposites.

The Performance that Eased a Tribal Conflict

By: Gwynne Watkins

When Congolese refugees moved to New York, they brought their old rivalries with them. Then they put their strife on stage.

My Surprisingly Friendly Post-Prison Life

By: Alexander Hall

Yes, I encountered stigma, but also empathy and understanding – in part, because so many Americans know someone who’s been locked up.

We’re Closer Than We Realize

By: john a powell & Rachel Heydemann

The notion that our common bonds are wearing away obscures a simple truth: difference and division are not the same thing.

 

Making Art Is Keeping Us Sane

By: RTBC Staff

Neuroscientists have determined that creation can keep you from going Covid crazy, so we asked you to send us the art you’ve made under lockdown. It’s amazing.

Growing a Generation of Young Authors

By: Gwynne Watkins

Not yet old enough to vote, a new vanguard of teen writers is nonetheless fixing the publishing industry’s representation problem.

The Pandemic Will Be Livestreamed

By: Eric Krebs

The coronavirus is creating an explosion of quarantined online performance that is unscripted, unshowered and surprisingly uplifting.

This Is What Classical Music Looks Like

By: Gwynne Watkins

Meet the new generation of talent transforming music’s whitest genre.

An American Revolution at Sing Sing

By: Gwynne Watkins

A theatrical re-imagining of American independence, right where it’s needed most.

Creative Freedom

By: Gwynne Watkins

Prisons with art programs release people back into the world who are more stable, and far less likely to return. Why don’t the programs exist everywhere?

Rock-a-Bye Mama

By: Gwynne Watkins

New moms in difficult situations sometimes find it tough to connect with their babies. Carnegie Hall is helping change that with one of the simplest, most innate tools in the mothering toolbox: lullabies.

The Center is Everywhere: Indonesia!

By: David Byrne

A collectivist spirit permeates this island nation’s art scene, where artists supporting artists has helped the creative ecology thrive.

Nonstop Art in Lagos

By: David Byrne

This bustling Nigerian city is bursting at the seams with art fairs, biennials and galleries. Now, some of the artists who left to find work elsewhere are returning home.

How to Build a Creative Ecology

By: Allison C. Meier

It may be more art than science, but there appear to be a few basic conditions that can help give rise to places where artists can make a living.

India’s Amazing Art Hub

By: David Byrne

Not long ago I ended up at a biennial in Kochi, a little Indian city with a thriving art scene. Could this be a place where artists can make a living?

The Ecology of Creativity

By: David Byrne

Is the art world in the midst of a vast diffusion? These days, creative ecologies are proliferating, and the center appears to be everywhere and nowhere.

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