Culture
Latest Stories
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.
You Cannot Use Force to Change Minds
She fought a brutal ritual with love – and changed a culture.
The Idea That Still Unites Us
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.
Related Collections
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
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
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
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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