Podcasts about houston museum

On Friday's show: Past officer-involved shootings have led many law enforcement agencies to train officers to de-escalate -- something that seems far less evident from encounters between Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers since the Trump administration's crackdown on undocumented immigrants. So, what happened to the concept of de-escalation? We talk it over with Dr. Everette Penn from the Texas Juvenile Crime Prevention Center.Then, we break down The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of the week.And we hear from spiritual jazz legend, Kahil El'Zabar ahead of his performance at the Houston Museum of African American Culture as part of the museum's latest exhibition, “Bayou City Stewards: America From Our Perspective." Watchhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S_4VS_-YnY&t=1688s

Can music transform the brain and body? Recorded live at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, with 11-time Grammy Award winner Chaka Khan and MD Anderson neurosurgery assistant professor, concert pianist, and music medicine researcher Dr. Mei Rui for a conversation inspired by Rufus's classic “Tell Me Something Good.” Together they explore the neuroscience of rhythm, music as medicine, Chaka's early years in Chicago, the profound role music has played in connecting with her nonverbal nephew Tallon, and how emerging research may benefit neurodivergent communities. This episode was produced in partnership with the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Chaka Khan Foundation, and MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Jason Fertitta – CEO & Partner, Americana Partners Jason Fertitta shares how Americana Partners grew from a $2.6B breakaway team to a $13B+ enterprise by focusing on ownership, enterprise value, strategic acquisitions, and long-term growth. In Summary Many advisors view independence as the ultimate objective: a chance to gain control, improve economics, and build a business on their own terms. For Jason Fertitta, independence was only the beginning. Louis Diamond speaks with the CEO and Founding Partner of Americana Partners about the firm's evolution from a $2.6 billion breakaway team in 2019 to a national enterprise managing more than $13 billion today. The conversation explores the decisions that fueled that growth, the mindset required to build long-term enterprise value, and why Jason believes advisors should evaluate success through the lens of net worth rather than annual income. Along the way, they discuss recruiting, acquisitions, private equity, professional management, and the tradeoffs that come with building something intended to outlast its founders. The Storyline The independent channel has matured. A decade ago, many advisors pursued independence primarily for greater autonomy, higher payouts, and control over the client experience. Today, a growing number are approaching the decision differently—viewing independence as a platform for building enterprise value, attracting capital, completing acquisitions, and creating businesses that can scale beyond the founders themselves. Jason Fertitta's journey reflects that evolution. When he and his partners left Morgan Stanley in 2019, Americana launched with approximately $2.6B in client assets and a vision to build a nationally recognized wealth management firm. Seven years later, the firm oversees more than $13B, employs roughly 100 people, operates across multiple markets, has completed several acquisitions, and brought on Lovell Minnick Partners as its first institutional investor. Throughout the conversation, Jason offers a transparent look at the realities of enterprise building. That includes reinvesting profits rather than maximizing income, hiring professional management long before it feels necessary, embracing acquisitions as a growth strategy, and making decisions based on long-term value creation rather than short-term economics. For advisors considering what comes after independence, the episode provides a practical framework for thinking about ownership, scale, capital, and the future value of their business. About the Build, Grow & Transact Series for Advisors Build, Grow & Transact explores what happens after independence. The series features advisors and firm leaders who viewed independence not as a destination, but as the foundation for building something larger. Some launched firms from scratch. Others scaled through recruiting, acquisitions, or strategic partnerships. Many eventually faced decisions around capital, ownership, succession, or liquidity. While every story is different, they share a common thread: a willingness to think beyond the transition itself and focus on creating long-term enterprise value. Through candid conversations with founders, builders, and industry leaders, the series examines the decisions, tradeoffs, and lessons that come with growing an advisory business into an enduring enterprise. For advisors contemplating independence, actively building a firm, or considering what comes next, Build, Grow & Transact offers a look at the paths others have taken—and what they've learned along the way. > Download a transcript of this episode… Listen and Learn Highlights for Advisors Why did Americana grow from $2.6 billion to more than $13 billion? (06:16)Jason explains how a combination of organic growth, advisor recruiting, acquisitions, and long-term strategic planning helped accelerate the firm's expansion. Why do clients often do more business with independent advisors? (12:17)Jason shares his perspective on why clients frequently deepen relationships after an advisor leaves a wirehouse environment. What role have alternatives played in Americana's growth strategy? (14:40)The discussion explores how differentiated investment access can help advisors stand apart in an increasingly commoditized marketplace. When is it time to build a professional management team? (18:36)Jason explains why Americana invested heavily in leadership, operations, and infrastructure from the very beginning. Why did Americana bring in private equity capital? (25:16)A candid discussion about growth capital, M&A opportunities, and the decision to partner with Lovell Minnick Partners. How do you evaluate enterprise value versus annual income? (20:16)Jason offers one of the episode's most important lessons: building wealth through ownership can look very different than maximizing current compensation. What makes a successful acquisition target? (39:51)Jason outlines how Americana evaluates M&A opportunities and how acquisitions fit into the broader client experience. Is it better to build your own firm or join an existing platform? (45:40)The conversation closes with Jason's perspective on the trade-offs between launching independently and joining a scaled independent enterprise. Topics Covered Enterprise value creation Independence and ownership Organic growth strategies Advisor recruiting RIA acquisitions Private equity partnerships Professional management teams Alternative investments Family office services Building a national wealth management firm Key Takeaways Independence can be a starting point for building an enterprise rather than the final objective. Long-term wealth creation often stems from ownership and equity appreciation, not from maximizing annual income. Reinvesting profits into leadership, infrastructure, and talent can accelerate enterprise value. Organic growth and acquisitions can complement one another when supported by a clear strategy. Outside capital can be a growth catalyst when aligned with management's long-term vision. The most scalable firms are often built around client needs rather than predefined acquisition targets. Advisors have more options than ever before, ranging from building independently to joining established platforms. https://youtu.be/_12jZJFsi4U Quotable Moments “Even to this day, I don't make anywhere near the amount of income that I made when I was on Wall Street. But my net worth is up tenfold.” “If you want to create value for yourself and your partners and grow your balance sheet, you can do it in a much more tax-efficient way in the independent world.” “I've never thought about how much of the company I own. I've thought about what my slice is worth.” “We want to build something our children would be proud to say we helped create.” FAQs Why are more advisors viewing independence as a business-building opportunity? The independent channel increasingly offers opportunities to create enterprise value, pursue acquisitions, attract capital, and build scalable businesses beyond a traditional advisory practice. How can advisors increase the enterprise value of their firms? Enterprise value is often driven by factors such as growth, profitability, leadership depth, recurring revenue, client demographics, infrastructure, and scalability. What role does private equity play in wealth management firms? Private equity can provide capital, strategic guidance, operational expertise, and acquisition support while helping firms accelerate growth initiatives. How do RIAs use acquisitions to grow? Many firms use acquisitions to expand geographically, add specialized capabilities, deepen client services, and accelerate asset growth. Why are professional management teams becoming more common among RIAs? As firms scale, dedicated leadership across operations, finance, compliance, and business management enables advisors to focus more effectively on clients and growth. Is launching an independent firm always the best path? Not necessarily. Some advisors prefer to build their own enterprise, while others may achieve their goals more effectively by joining an established independent platform that already provides scale and infrastructure. The independent channel increasingly offers opportunities to create enterprise value, pursue acquisitions, attract capital, and build scalable businesses beyond a traditional advisory practice. Enterprise value is often driven by factors such as growth, profitability, leadership depth, recurring revenue, client demographics, infrastructure, and scalability. Private equity can provide capital, strategic guidance, operational expertise, and acquisition support while helping firms accelerate growth initiatives. Many firms use acquisitions to expand geographically, add specialized capabilities, deepen client services, and accelerate asset growth. As firms scale, dedicated leadership across operations, finance, compliance, and business management enables advisors to focus more effectively on clients and growth. Not necessarily. Some advisors prefer to build their own enterprise, while others may achieve their goals more effectively by joining an established independent platform that already provides scale and infrastructure. Related Resources From Ex-Morgan Stanley Advisor to One of the Biggest Breakaway Stories of 2019 with Jason Fertitta (Podcast Episode) Intentional Growth: How Top Advisors Build Businesses That Last (Article) M&A Readiness Assessment (Tool) Guest Bio Jason Fertitta Jason is currently Chief Executive Officer / Founding Partner of Americana Partners. Jason was a Managing Director in Morgan Stanley's Private Wealth Division for eleven years. He joined Morgan Stanley in 2008 after six years with Lehman Brothers High Net Worth Division. Prior to joining Lehman Brothers, Jason worked six years for Texas Direct. Jason serves on the Board of The Good Samaritan Foundation and Endowment and the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Jason attended St. Edwards University in Austin. NOTE: The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Diamond Consultants. Neither Diamond Consultants nor the guests on this podcast are compensated in any way for their participation. View the transcript of this episode… Build, Grow & Transact: Americana's $12B Path from Breakaway to Enterprise A conversation with Louis Diamond and Jason Fertitta, CEO & Partner at Americana Partners.      Louis Diamond: Welcome to the latest episode of our podcast series for financial advisors. Today’s episode is Build, Grow & Transact: Americana's $12B Path from Breakaway to Enterprise. It's a conversation with Jason Fertitta, CEO and partner of Americana Partners. I’m Louis Diamond, and this is the Diamond Podcast for financial advisors. Mindy Diamond: At Diamond Consultants, we help elite advisors identify the right environment for their businesses to thrive, whether that’s at a wirehouse, boutique, or independent firm. With nearly three decades of experience, we’ve guided thousands of advisors, and represented more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in assets transitioned. And each year, one in four advisors managing a billion dollars or more who change firms are our clients. Our process is education driven, and based on building relationships, starting as your strategic partner well before you’re even thinking of a move. To schedule a confidential conversation, call us at 908-879-1002. Wondering why advisors change firms and where they’re headed? Are transition deals going up or down? Those very questions and more inspired us to create our annual advisor transition report. It’s the award-winning data-driven resource designed for advisors that connects the dots between the motivations around movement, and the firm’s appetite for top talent. Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make smart decisions. Download your copy at diamond-consultants.com/transitionreport. Louis Diamond: Independence is often viewed as the finish line. Break away, gain control, own the business, and enjoy the economics that come with it. But, for some advisors, going independent is just the beginning. That’s the idea behind this new series called Build, Grow, and Transact, featuring advisors who saw independence not as a destination, but as the first chapter of a business building story. And there will be some familiar names along the way, including our first guest who was on our show back in 2020, talking about what was at the time, one of the industry’s breakaway moves. That’s Jason Fertitta, CEO and founding partner of Americana Partners. When Jason and his partners left Morgan Stanley in 2019, they started Americana with approximately 2.6 billion in client assets, and a vision that extended well beyond becoming a successful independent firm. Today, Americana oversees more than 12 billion, has expanded nationally, completed multiple acquisitions, built out a professional management team, and brought on institutional capital to support its next phase of growth. What makes Jason’s perspective valuable that he’s now experienced independence through several different lenses as a breakaway advisor, as a founder, as a builder of enterprise value, and now as the leader of a firm, actively pursuing acquisitions and recruiting talent from across the industry. We talk about the decisions that fueled Americana’s growth, why Jason has always viewed the business through a long-term lens, what changed when private equity entered the picture, and why maximizing enterprise value often requires a very different mindset than maximizing current income. For advisors who think independence is a destination, Jason’s story offers a look at what can happen when it’s treated as a starting point instead, so let’s get to it. Jason, thanks for coming back on our show today. Jason Fertitta: Pleasure to be here. Thanks for inviting me. Louis Diamond: You got it. Yeah, you’re our first guest in our new subseries, so you should feel honored. And I’m honored too, because the last time we had you on the show, Americana was about a year old, you’re navigating COVID, and all those challenges. But, for listeners who may not remember the episode, can you give us a quick version of the origin story of Americana, and what the firm looked like when you first launched it? Jason Fertitta: Yeah, I believe if I’m remembering correctly, I was in Colorado talking to you guys, and it was right after we launched, so that was a fun but stressful time. I think at the time that we launched, it was certainly the road less traveled. Most teams go from one wirehouse to another. We had an entrepreneurial itch. There was 11 of us that started the firm. We actually launched the firm from this exact building that we’re in here, but all of this was under construction. We were in temporary space one floor below on card tables, and pizza boxes, and all the things that you can envision when you think of a startup. But, yeah, we weighed all of our options in terms of going from one firm to another, staying where we were, and had a lot of talks with ourselves, and our spouses, and they were all very supportive. When you do something like this, you’re certainly scratching the entrepreneurial itch that I think is required for somebody that wants to try and build their own company. And I think we’re all satisfying that itch in different ways. We all had a lot of other outside business interests. I’m passionate about the restaurant industry, because it’s what I grew up in as a kid. And so, had opened some restaurants with some chefs that I really admire, and were doing things like that to scratch the itch, but there’s no other way to do it than doing that in your profession. And so, we decided to launch the firm. We also just felt like Texas being such a wealthy state, there really wasn’t a regionally dominant RIA from here. There’s a lot of big RIAs in the Northeast, and the Northwest, and the West Coast. And we just felt like Texas was ready to hopefully be able to support the concept of launching it from the state, and then expanding it out regionally and nationally from here. Those are all thoughts in our heads and dreams and we’ve worked really hard to get to where we are, but I think we’re in a great spot right now for another leg of growth. Louis Diamond: Amazing. I would say that plan has certainly worked out. When you were on our show last in 2019, the firm was at about 2.6 billion at time of launch. And now, I saw in news articles and your ADV, it’s north of 12 billion, but I’m sure it’s even larger now. Can you walk through just what’s the makeup of the firm today? How many partners and advisors? What’s the profile of the end client? What markets are you in, in and around Texas or around the country? Jason Fertitta: Yeah, so today we’re roughly a hundred employees, right at 13 billion in AUM. I would say we have six offices, Houston, Austin, Dallas, Midland, Beverly Hills, and Nashville. We have about 30 advisors, 30 financial advisors, and our average account size I would say is right around $20 million. That’s not a rule, it’s just the way it is. We have some wonderful accounts that are two or three million, and we have some great accounts that are well over a billion. And in terms of the makeup of the firm, since the time we’ve spoken, and we’ll get into this later, but we have run in private equity, we have about nine families that are owners of the firm with us. It’s really families, private equity, and employees. That’s the cap table currently. Louis Diamond: Very cool. As far as building the firm geographically, for the offices of Texas, that makes sense to your earlier comment about wanting to build a Texas dominant or a regionally dominant firm. But, how’d you land in Beverly Hills and Nashville? That’s a little bit different. Jason Fertitta: Yeah, it is. I think so much of where we’re going is secondary to who we’re partnering with. I think we would go anywhere in the country if we had the right partner in that city. We’re not necessarily saying we have to be in Atlanta. Let’s find the right partners in Atlanta. It’s more about, we found the right partners in Atlanta, so we’re going to Atlanta. And you meet these people everywhere. Everyone has their own Rolodex inside of our firm. Sometimes it’s an employee here that has a relationship with someone that wants to break away and be part of an independent firm. Sometimes it’s me. There’s a lot of golf DNA in our firm, so we’ve met a ton of people through the incredible game of golf. In fact, last weekend we just hosted our first Americana Cub Golf Tournament where we took over an entire club, and invited 40 strategic invitations to people that could be helpful to our firm. I would say it’s really just networking, trying to find like-minded advisors that were very big at putting the client at the center of every decision you make. A lot of times you’ll come across of an advisor that financially looks really good on paper, but they’re maybe not always doing what’s right by the client. We run from those situations. We’d rather have a financial advisor that perhaps statistically is inferior to that other one on paper from a P&L perspective, but we feel like it’s doing what’s right by the client in the decisions. And that’s usually the main factor for us in seeking out the right partners. Louis Diamond: I love that. And one of the premises of this new subseries of ours is about growing, and then, of course, recognizing that value through some sort of monetization. To me, the star of your show is your insanely impressive growth, which I would assume comes from both organic means, and also from inorganic, whether through M&A, or recruiting teams from your predecessor firms, or from other wirehouses. Can you talk a little bit about the breakdown of the two growth channels, and how you pursue both, organic and then inorganic growth? Jason Fertitta: Yeah. Well, I think organic growth, the preference for anyone that’s in our sea, because you don’t have to pay for organic growth. It’s just you have to expose your platform to potential clients, and it has to be differentiated enough for them to move assets from another firm to yours. And I would tell you, I think we do a really good job at that. We’ve built an incredible platform that has, and enables a financial advisor to have all the same arrows in the quiver that a big firm has. We’ve got an incredible alts department. We’ve got an incredible CIO that produces great research. We got incredible in-house portfolio managers, both in the core equity space, but then also the municipal bond space. We have an incredible external manager platform that has everything from cash management on steroids, to venture capital investing, to co-investing, to direct investments into companies. We have this really great platform. We also recognize that we want to grow through M&A as well, because there’s only so much time in the day you’re not willing to add more employees and more like-minded advisors to grow. We do both, to your point, we absolutely do both, and they’re both equally as important. On the M&A side, I would say it’s been responsible for half of our AUM growth over the last seven years, and the other half has been organic. And I think as we get bigger and bigger, that number’s going to not stay consistent. I would say that if we could grow our AUM organically by 10% per year, and then do five to seven acquisitions a year, combination of RIAs and Wall Street lift outs, I think those are good goals for us, and we’re off to a good start in trying to achieve those goals. Louis Diamond: I think if you pull off even half of that, I think your private equity sponsors, and investors, and employees would be very happy. Can we double click into the organic growth side? How do you view whether your growth rate changing organically since leaving Morgan to start the RIA? And if it has changed, what do you think are the things that are responsible for the faster growth, or slower growth if it’s slower than when you’re at Morgan? Jason Fertitta: One of the interesting secrets about being independent versus inside of a big bank is I think your clients will actually do more business with you if you’re independent. I didn’t realize that until we went independent. I had heard that before, but I was like, that may or may not be true. But, when we went independent, and every time we recruit a team from a big bank, the same thing happens. It’s like the clients are like, “What took you so long?” They’ve very much, for the most part … Now, that’s not every client, but most clients, I think prefer to be serviced by an advisor that’s conflict bringing the independent channel. There are other clients that might have a big investment banking relationship with a big bank, or something like that, like a business reason for not leaving. But, in terms of just being able to service the client from an independent channel where you’re a legal fiduciary, I think all the interest is aligned from client to service provider, and I just think it’s easier to raise money in this channel than it is at a bank. Louis Diamond: And you really think the types of clients you work with or just clients in general, the difference maker is really the conflict-free advice. Obviously, it sounds good, but I would argue that when you were at Morgan Stanley, your team was one of the top teams in the country, you had an amazing reputation, you’re probably giving similar quality advice then than you were today. How has that really manifested itself? Jason Fertitta: I always say I think you can have a great experience at a firm that is perhaps not the most prestigious, great firm in the country if you’re with the right team. And I think you can also have a horrible experience at a firm with a great reputation if you’re with the wrong team. It is my belief the most important thing from the customer’s perspective is who you’re working with. I appreciate your comments about our team, and we work very hard to deserve the reputation that you’re talking about. But, I also think that when you’re in the independent world, some of the things the banks do very well is they have great investment platforms, and a lot of due diligence in their products. I think when you’re an independent firm, you’re obviously, you don’t immediately have all of those same intangibles that a big bank has. I think it was very important for us to invest heavily into those departments inside of our firm to where we could be on some equal footing with Wall Street firms, and we have been. We have raised a lot of money for alternative managers. I think alternatives are a huge secret sauce that an independent advisor needs to have access to, because in a world where the public markets are getting more efficient and more commoditized, it’s very challenging to grow organically the way that we have without some secret sauce. And I think the secret sauce lies within the alternatives, because it’s very hard to differentiate yourself if you’re just trying to optimize someone’s public equity portfolio, and improve where they sit on the efficient frontier. I think that’s just a tough challenge. But, if you can mix in some truly differentiated alternatives where access is a big component of the value proposition, then all of a sudden, you’re bringing your clients something special, and something that’s unique. Louis Diamond: I really like that perspective. I think you’re completely right. I’ve always heard people say investments are commoditized, and it’s all about advice and planning, but I think the way you framed it about the ALFA essentially being worked out of it, so it’s the access, and it’s what you’re doing different on the investment side outside of the more basic or commoditized stuff that’s a difference maker. When you launched the firm, and I believe still today, Americana hired Dynasty Financial Partners as your infrastructure partner. Now that you’re significantly larger, you’re seven years into your independent journey, how does the relationship with Dynasty change, if at all? What do they do for you that you benefit from differently today than when you first launched? Jason Fertitta: Yeah, it would’ve been impossible for us to do what we did without Dynasty’s help. Dynasty has delivered for us in a meaningful way and they continue to. They’re a great partner. We definitely are developing our own sea legs as well, just because you have to just by virtue of the size that you get to. But, Dynasty, I think, has been incredibly innovative in terms of launching an investment bank and bringing … Dynasty’s brought us deals, which is incredible. Just in addition to being an infrastructure partner, they’ve actually provided us deal flow. They’re also, because they’re working with so many firms, you get in all sorts of situations as an independent firm, and to have someone to pick up the phone and say, “Here’s what we’re dealing with.” And they’ll say, “Oh, here are the three things you need to do. You either need to do it like this or this.” Just a lot of experience within Dynasty. I don’t know if we’re Dynasty’s biggest client or not, but I would say we’re certainly in their top three. We are looking to continue that relationship, and always having a relationship with Dynasty, but I would describe it as evolving, because our revenue is up 6X in the last six years. Louis Diamond: Amazing. That makes complete sense. The needs of the business when you are leaving a big firm is got to get the clients over, got to build the plane before it can fly, and understand how to do X, Y, and Z, to now, it’s enterprise building, and optimizing, and growing inorganically, so that makes complete sense, and very cool to hear that Dynasty has evolved or morphed the relationship to meet you where you are now. And to me, I think a big part of that is hiring professional management. That’s always a question we get. When am I big enough? When’s the right time to hire professional management, whether it’s a full-time CEO, a CFO, a COO, et cetera. I know in your case, fairly early on you hired Ron Thacker who was a regional manager from Morgan Stanley. I saw recently you hired a CFO, so you’re really professionalizing the leadership ranks. When did you know it was the right time to build a professional management team, and how did you think about that evolution? Jason Fertitta: We knew from day one that’s what we wanted to do. I think when you go independent, there’s a couple of different schools of thought. One school of thought is I can go independent. I’m not going to really have a boss. I’ll be my own boss. I may or may not grow the business. I’m going to run it in a way that’s lean. I might be able to have a little bit more of a take home because there’s not a third hand in the cookie jar in terms of the bank, and it’s a great lifestyle. I think that’s one school of thought and I think that’s great. That was not our school of thought. Our school of thought is we had a belief that in this country, there’s going to emerge five to 10 regionally dominant RIAs, and these regionally dominant RIAs were going to enjoy economies of scale, and they were going to compete with Wall Street. And in order to do that, we had to reinvest a lot of our profit into our business through building this management team that you’re referencing. Even to this day, I don’t make anywhere near the amount of income that I made when I was on Wall Street, but I’m not, and it’s because we’re building equity value, and we’re building something that will last, and we reinvest a lot of our cash flow into professionalizing the management team, and then being able to deliver on that promise to the financial advisors that are here that you’re going to have a platform, that when you walk in the room, you’re going to be able to compete with Wall Street. And so, that’s always been our goal, which is not necessarily everybody’s goal when they go independent, because it’s a lifestyle decision really. I work way harder today than I worked when I was at a Wall Street firm. Louis Diamond: It’s so interesting. Two threads I want to tug on from what you said. The first one is I think just the comment you made that you’re making less today when the business is significantly larger than it was when you’re at Morgan Stanley, you’re working harder. I think even that dynamic is going to feel like a shock to a lot of people, right? If you’re working harder, the business is doing six times more revenue than it was at Morgan Stanley, that doesn’t seem like a fair trade. How do you think about that relative to the equity value that you’re amassing? Was that always the plan, or is that just something you’ve leaned into as the firm has grown and scaled? Jason Fertitta: Well, the third component you left out is my net worth is up 10X- Louis Diamond: There you go. Jason Fertitta: … whereas if I would’ve stayed at a Wall Street firm, and so are all the employees here. If it’s about that, I can tell you that we checked that box. Americana is very valuable, and we’re happy about that. It’s really just about how you want to create that, right? If you want to create it through income, and pay a lot of taxes along the way, stay at the Wall Street firm. But, if you want to create value for yourself and your partners, and grow your balance sheet, you can do it in a much more tax efficient way in the independent world. And I’m light years ahead of where I would’ve been if I would’ve stayed at a Wall Street firm. Louis Diamond: I think that’s the coolest realization I think someone can have, right? We always say it’s like, what do you value more? Is it the short-term liquidity, or certainty of getting a big upfront recruiting deal at ordinary income, or staying where you are and keep making your 50% payout, take advantage of your firm’s retire in place program? And for many people, that’s what they value. But, for you, I think you very clearly and transparently articulated that, yeah, I might make less, but what really matters is my net worth. It’s how much I’m actually netting for my family in the long run. For people who want to play the long game, really buy into that concept, it sounds like following your path would be ideal, but it may not be for everyone. Jason Fertitta: It’s a much better path, and I’m living proof of it, and not only am I living proof of it, all of my partners are here, and everybody that owns equity in Americana is living proof of it. Louis Diamond: Amazing. You said you’re working more now than when you’re at Morgan. How has your day-to-day, or day in the life changed? What types of activities are you doing more or less of, and how do you balance everything? Jason Fertitta: Yeah, it’s hard to balance everything, it is. But, I would say that one of the unique things about Americana is the founders are all financial advisors. We aren’t consultants that came out of the consulting world, we’re financial advisors. I’m still a financial advisor. I still cover clients. I would say a third of my time is actually covering the house accounts here with some of my original partners. A third of my time is firm related stuff, and then, a third of my time is M&A, and that’s not only M&A, but helping the advisors that are here grow their business also. And so, I come across a lot of leads and opportunities. I’m not really taking them for the house account book or myself. I’m finding the right advisors that I feel I could service the clients the best, and then I’m flipping them to them and sitting second chair and I’ve seen some amazing growth to their businesses by just being able to send them leads. Louis Diamond: Yeah. I think that’s always like the tug of war for … I think most founders of RIAs in this industry, they were advisors themselves. They were the rainmakers, or they still are, but there’s definitely some folks who, whether because of lack of time, or lose the spark or passion for working with clients, that they pivot to being full-time CEO, or we’ve even seen people go the other way where they say, “I was the CEO. I really just want to be an advisor, or just do M&A, and I’m going to hire a CEO.” It’s really cool to hear how you split up your time, and you’re able to do it all. And I’m sure it’s not perfect. I’m sure your family wishes they saw you more, and et cetera, but it sounds like you’re able to really pursue your different passions. Jason Fertitta: All those three activities are very fun, and they keep everyday interesting, and you don’t necessarily know at what points in the day you’re going to be working on which bucket, and there’s a lot of blend and overlap, but we spend a lot of time here working on behalf of our clients, and the firm, and every day is an adventure, but it's fun. It’s a blast. Louis Diamond: Absolutely. Well, let’s spend some time talking about your fairly recent capital raise. In October of 2024, Americana announced that PE firm Lovell Minnick Partners, the firm’s first outside institutional investor was coming in to take a majority stake in the firm. Can you take us back to that decision? I’m sure it’s still clearly vivid. Maybe talk through it, and when did you first start to think seriously about bringing in capital? Jason Fertitta: Yeah, so probably at the end of ’23, we looked down, and there was $100 million worth of potential M&A that was fairly actionable that we could do. And the other M&A events we did were small deals, 10, $20 million sometimes, but firms with three, 400 in AUM to 600 million in AUM. We were doing deals that size, and we’re just passing the hat, and saying, okay, to the families that were in our cap table and to ourselves, who wants to write a check? The cap table was changing all the time based on people’s buy-in and M&A transaction. But then, when you sit down, and you look at potentially $100 million of M&A, if every deal came through that you’re in conversations around, and we owned at the time 75% of the firm, the families owned 25. If all of that M&A were to have happened, we didn’t have $75 million as employees. We were facing dilution. And then, we went to the families and said, “Hey, we don’t mind being diluted, but we got to know that if all of these came through, you guys want to invest another 100 million into this business.” And that’s when they said, “Well, we can. All the deals that you’ve done so far have been accretive and great. But, our value add to you is not M&A. It’s not underwriting. It’s not how to take this firm from four billion to 12 billion or customers. Why don’t you contemplate bringing in an institutional partner to help you round first base and go to second and third?” And so, I called a good friend, a gentleman by the name of Jimmy Dunne, who’s legendary in the world of golf and business. He’s a vice chair at Piper Sandler. I explained the situation, and he said, “Well, this is going to sound self-serving, but I think you should hire me and my firm to run a process to find your partner.” Louis Diamond: Classic investment banker. Jason Fertitta: And we did, and he worked on a very small retainer, and a contingency fee, and they helped us get ready to show the firm to the institutional world, and that took nine to 12 months of hard work to get ready. They ran the process. I think we had 30 firms sign the NDA in the October of ’24 month that you mentioned. I think we had 20 offers. And during that year, we were getting to know a lot of the people that were going to be bidding on us, and we frankly were incredibly impressed by Lovell Minnick and their success that they have had in investing in the wealth space. We were always pulling for Lovell Minnick to compete and compete well, got to run an honest process and Lovell Minnick was not the high bid, but they were a very good and well-thought-out bid that was easy for us to understand on why they were where they were. And for us, it was about how can we create value from this point forward with the right partner to really grow the firm and scale it to where we wanted it to be? And so, that was the more important driving factor in our decision to sell to Lovell Minnick. Now, of course, we wanted to sell a minority piece, but the reality is, given the activity that we had in our M&A pipeline at the time, they were going to eventually get to majority anyway. And so, I may be skipping ahead a little bit in the podcast, but I know what some of the questions are going to contemplate, and our thought was, you’re in a better position to negotiate minority rights before the transaction than later. And so, we got all of that out on the table in our negotiations with our private equity partner, and then just got married immediately instead of had this weird period of where they ultimately were going to get to majority control through M&A, and then, you have this awkward moment where that shift happens after you’re already partners. Louis Diamond: Very interesting. Was it a hard decision to give up majority control over your baby? Jason Fertitta: Definitely a lot of self-reflecting on behalf of our team and everything, but I think where we came out with it, and I’m a big believer in this, is the people that really control the business are the people that control the relationships with the clients. Lovell Minnick knows that, and we’ve never had a decision in a year and a half that we don’t all arrive at the same place. We negotiate, we study, but they know that it’s not in their best interest to try and force the management team to do something that the management team is not in agreement on, because at the end of the day, we’re servicing all of these accounts. Look, we don’t see eye to eye exactly on everything, no partners do. But, we’re generally in the same zip code on everything, and we talk things through until we all arrive at the same place that this is in the best interest of the company. And I think a big part of why that works so well for us in Lovell Minnick, and I think this is very unique in the industry, it all goes back to we all own the same share class. We’re all in the foxhole together. We all sink or swim together. There’s no way one group can win and another group can lose. We all own the exact same security. Not only do we all own the exact same security, but our employees own it. The families that are in our cap table own it. And so, every decision comes from the standpoint of how do we make decisions to benefit that security? Louis Diamond: Makes sense. It’s still a tough decision, but you lay it out, make it seem like an easy decision with the conviction you have, I think the very pure motivation to make that leap. Aside from capital to fuel M&A, what are the other things that Lovell Minnick is doing for your business to help it? Jason Fertitta: Well, Lovell Minnick, and this is another thing that was impressive to us, they’re always the first institutional capital until what’s otherwise an entrepreneurial family-owned business. They’re not afraid of building the things that you have to build to get ready to scale. They’ve seen it in every investment they’ve made. And so, that was very refreshing to us, because frankly, we wanted the help. We wanted the expertise. We’re financial advisors at heart. Like a lot of private equity firms, LMP has this third party advisory relationships with industry people, and they’ve brought those people into our firm, several sit on the board of the firm today, and they’ve just been fantastic to work with. Some have more experience with FinTech, some have more experience with HR, some have more experience with actual investment platforms and product. Some have more experience in how to help clients optimize from a tax perspective. Some have family office experience. And so, we’ve really benefited from this group of people. And I would tell you that, since they came into our world, which is about 18 months ago, we have been building a lot of things that are about to be unveiled to not only our financial advisors, but our clients. And I think that the experience is just going to continue to get better for both of those segments. Louis Diamond: Very cool. Yeah, it seems like a great fit. And I meant to ask you before, because it’s such a cool, and I think still a fairly novel concept, but what was the thinking behind having nine families, their customers or clients come in, and buy some equity in the firm? Why’d you do that? And then what’s been the outcome of that? Jason Fertitta: It was more their idea than us after we launched the firm. And this goes back to my original comments about the clients want to do more business with you when you’re independent than when you’re inside the bank. And we have a lot of clients that are entrepreneurial. And so, I think when we explained to them the reasons why we were doing this, and the reasons why we’re so excited about it, they got excited about it too, some clients, most clients. And so, what they said was, “Yeah, we’re going to move our money to it, we’re excited about it, but if there’s an opportunity, we’d also like to own a piece of the firm.” And originally, when they said that, I didn’t know if they meant that they wanted us to give them, but they wrote a check. They all wrote checks. We set an arbitrary value of the firm in the first year after we launched it. And that wasn’t a whole lot of science behind the value. It’s basically what we would’ve been paid by walking across the street, and that was the original value. And they bought into the firm, and then, Lovell Minnick really thought it was a nice novel concept that they hadn’t seen before, and they’ve embraced it. When they invested, we brought another round of clients into the firm at that valuation. I think it’s really powerful, because what’s important for us in these families is that they’re all pillars of their respective communities and they’re spread across all over the country and Mexico. We have some incredibly good reputation, great business people in Mexico City, and Monterrey, and Los Angeles, and Midland, and Dallas, and Austin, and Houston. And we’re open to the concept of when we come into new markets, finding that pillar of the community, finding that family who people ask, “Well, what do you do with your money?” We want them to say, “Well, we own our own wealth management firm. He wants to have them call you and they’ll show you what we do with our money.” And that’s a powerful part of the organic growth and the flywheel. Louis Diamond: I absolutely love that. I oftentimes have clients, especially breakaway clients talk about how cool it would be to have a client or set of clients invest in their business. But, the reasons why, I love that as part of a very consistent, repeatable strategy of identifying key influencers essentially in different markets, and then having them come into the cap table. I would assume too, the dynamic of, “Oh, you should call Jason, he’s my financial advisor, he’s great,” to, “Hey, you should come in and meet my firm.” And I feel like clients are probably much more incentivized naturally to refer friends, family, et cetera. And just the power and dynamic of that referral is probably that much better than a referral from another happy customer who’s not an investor. Jason Fertitta: Exactly. When we’re looking at coming into a new city with a new partner, to the extent they have those clients in that community, and when they join us, we have a private equity partner that embraces that strategy and concept. When we’re talking to that Wall Street advisor, and they’re interested in our business model and our plan, I think that particular part of our business model is very differentiated and intriguing to them. Louis Diamond: Amazing. You mentioned in your last answer that you have, it sounds like you have some investors in Mexico, and that you’re serving families in Mexico and Latin America as well. Can you talk about adding that capability or the openness to go international? That’s clearly a big decision. It’s a different risk profile, different client needs. What was the thought process behind taking Americana, I guess, still in the Americas, but outside of America? Jason Fertitta: Yeah. Well, I think a lot of it is growing up in Texas, there’s a lot of wonderful families from Mexico whose kids and grandkids have moved here, and our children are going to school with their children, and they’re part of our community, and I think they’re a great part of our community. And so, I just started to notice how Wall Street treated this community as just one, right? And what we were able to do is cherry-pick a few families that we knew very well that are incredibly good reputations in the cities that they’re from, and their origins are from. And there’s a high desire on behalf of not only those families, but their friends to invest into the United States into our economy. And given that a lot of their children and grandchildren live in the US, these are families that have citizens and their family inside of the US and back home in Mexico. Most of these families, they’ve been going to our colleges. A lot of these families sit on the boards of Fortune 500 companies inside of the United States. These are families that are very easy to do due diligence on, and frankly, we have learned a lot from them. They’re very sophisticated families, and so, they’ve been amazing partners, and we use Bank of New York Pershing to custody a lot of these assets, and I think they’re increasingly becoming more interested in alternatives as part of their portfolios, because I think going back 15, 20 years ago, these families were mostly stocks, bonds, and cash. But, as they continue to build out their own family offices, they’re becoming more sophisticated and interested in alternatives, so it’s really been an exciting part of our firm. Louis Diamond: Did this expansion, does it scratch the itch to go into different Latin American countries in Europe and Asia, or is that not really part of the roadmap? Jason Fertitta: Well, it’s open to the concept. Like I said, the genesis of this for us was the fact that our children go to school with their children, and we got to know several families just through our social circles here in Texas. But, I don’t think that same phenomenon would exist in Europe, other Latin American countries per se, but we’re certainly open to it, and there’s a lot going on in Latin America. There’s a lot going on and a lot of potential, so we’re open to anything that increases the footprint in the right way for Americana. Louis Diamond: Great answer. Let’s go back a little bit to talk a little bit more about your M&A strategy. You merged with or acquired Boulevard Family Wealth, which was Matt Celenza’s firm. I think Matt was the first breakaway guest on our show, and an amazing advisor. You bought Goodpasture Gray in Nashville, and more recently you bought NRT Consulting. I think from my read, three different types of firms, different geographies. How do you think about the M&A strategy? Jason Fertitta: I feel like we’re building out a firm and departments in the firm, and each of those acquisitions goes into a different department of our firm. I think Matt Celenza and Boulevard are fantastic, and they’re really good at tax optimization strategies for families, and they’re really innovative there. That is a very hot topic with all of our clients. More and more families are getting smart about the fact that not only does it matter what your returns look like. What really matters is how much of those returns you get to keep. And so, Matt and his team are incredibly sophisticated and cutting edge on tax optimization, and that's proliferating throughout our firm right now, which is I think making us even better at what we can advise and provide to our clients. I would say that’s more in the family office service and tax planning part of our firm. Goodpasture Gray’s fantastic. WL who runs that firm, or did prior to the merger, I’ve known him for 30 years. He’s a longtime family friend. His clients are in Nashville, Santa Fe, and Texas. He and my father actually used to office together. And then, ironically, he hired Dynasty to represent him to find the right partner. That’s an example where full circle Dynasty brought him back and I hadn’t talked to him for decades, but we shared a bunch of fun stories about how I used to go up in college, and hang out with he and my dad in their office. That was a great full circle experience, but WL’s just a fantastic financial advisor that does what we’ve always done. He’s just a natural fit inside of our firm. And then NRT, Chris Ginsbach and his team, they’re unbelievable. They do bookkeeping services for families. They’re not signing tax returns, but the more sophisticated these families get, some of these families have 35, to 45, to 55 different LLCs that require bookkeeping services. He’s an accountant by training, so is everyone that works there. And I think that there’s a lot of cross-pollinating with our client base that wants bookkeeping services for their needs. With all of these different M&A events, it’s trying to meet or have the ability to meet your client at wherever their pain points are. And some of your client’s pain points are in bookkeeping and accounting. Some are in tax optimization, and some are just good old-fashioned financial advice and access. And all three of those acquisitions that you described are meeting that client in a different pain point, but they’re all pain points, and they’re all important. Louis Diamond: When you’re thinking about M&A, is it like you have, these are the three areas that we want to add to the firm? Next one, making it up, we want to add tax preparation. Are you then going out to find a firm that fits the bill, or is it more so just you’re selective with who you take on, and you look for a new capability, or just like an extreme alignment with how you’re already serving clients, and then, that’s what makes a compelling deal for you? Jason Fertitta: Yeah. Most of the time, we’re getting feedback from our clients on where they need help, and that is usually the spark that starts the fire on, okay, what if we added this? It’s really I would say more based on client feedback. We don’t have estate planning attorneys inside of Americana per se. We don’t have accountants that are signing people’s tax returns inside of Americana. We get a lot of interesting opportunities from accounting firms and estate planning firms. And so, I like how we have this great referral network in place with those industries. And so, I think we’d have to think long and hard about getting into those businesses per se. Louis Diamond: Makes sense. I feel like there’s probably a version of this story, your story, where you break away, you plot along, you’re happy to not have a boss anymore, clients are happy, maybe you get to like four or five billion in assets, and you call it a win, and just throw in coast mode, but clearly you didn’t do that. You went the opposite direction. What do you think drove the ambition to keep building towards something larger? What’s really sparking you and motivating you today maybe differently, or in a more defined way than it was when you first broke? Jason Fertitta: Yeah, I would say it’s not just me, it’s all the founders, and I think all the employees. I share this and not to sound corny about it. I think everyone here wants to try and build something that his or her children would say, “My parent was one of the founders and employees of Americana Partners.” It’s like, I think when you work at a bank, you definitely care about your brand that you’re building, but this is a whole next level of care about your brand. We really care about this brand, and we want it to outlast all of us. Louis Diamond: Love that. For a successful wirehouse advisor or team that’s sitting on a really nice practice maybe similar in size or in the same realm that you had back where you were in that world, and they’re thinking about maximizing their value, what advice would you offer? Do you think your story is an outlier, or do you think it’s doable by others if they follow certain advice or principles? Jason Fertitta: I would have a two-word answer. Call us. I’m kidding. I have a much longer answer. One of the things I really respected about a certain advisor, and if he’s listening to this, he’ll know exactly who he is, but I feel awkward saying his name. When I was contemplating going independent, I talked to an entrepreneur I really admire, and I called him, and I said, “Hey, we’re thinking about doing this.” And he said, “Look, I’m going to try and convince you to join our firm, and if you don’t end up doing that, it’s fine. There’ll be no hard feelings, because we ended up launching our own firm and I would never fault you for the decision if you wanted to do that with your team.” And we thought long and hard, we almost joined his firm. It was in a very different geography so we ended up launching our own firm. I would say that if you want to do it yourself, we would respond the same way. We would give you a high five, and wish you well, and say you’ve made a great decision, and we’d be pulling for you. If you want to spend more time with your clients, and less time in building the firm, we have the firm built, and it’s fantastic, and it wasn’t without blood, sweat and tears for seven years, and we can create a transaction that is economically the same or better as launching your own firm, and you have a voice, and you have a seat at the table, because we’re still small enough to where you can help shape the direction of this firm, and we want your input. The difference is that instead of spending a third of your time interacting with financial advisors the way I do, you could spend 90% of your time interacting with your clients, instead of a third, and be part of a firm that I think has great national prospects. But, I would never fault someone for doing it themselves, because that’s what we did, and that would be hypocritical. But, I really do think that this is a better path, even if you did it yourself, or if you did it with someone like us. I think you’re choosing two better options than what you currently have. Louis Diamond: I think it’s a great perspective, and I think it’s balanced and fair too. There’s plenty of people that I speak to where their passion is building. They want to be the next Americana, right? That’s what’s going to spark them and get them out of bed. They want to do M&A, they want to be the CEO, they want to really make their mark on the industry, and that’s fine. But, I do think there’s probably more advisors out there that would love to be part of something, and they’d love equity, and they’re passionate about different things than you were passionate about when you launched the firm. And the theory of a rising tide lifts all boats, it’s like, you can do this yourself or let’s just build something bigger and better together. And just getting comfortable with the theory of you’ll own a smaller piece of the pie, but the pie is much more valuable than owning 100% or 80% of something that’s less valuable, and is going to take you in a different direction personally. I always say we’re not in the business of making judgments for people. It’s up to them to define their goals, and then, we’ll help them execute on it. But, I really like that perspective. I agree, it’s not for everyone. What you did is extremely hard, it’s a risk, it’s a big swing. But, if you have the stomach for it, and you want to take the swing, to me there’s no better time to pursue that path than today. Jason Fertitta: I agree. And I could totally see a world over the next five years where some of these advisors that join us are bigger shareholders in this firm than me, and that would be great. Louis Diamond: Interesting. Jason Fertitta: I’m with you, not only do I agree with what you’re saying, to me, I’ve never thought about how much of this company do I own? I’ve thought about what is the percentage of the company that I own, and what is it worth? I could care less if it was 25%, 12.5%, 5%. What I care is, what is that slice worth? Louis Diamond: That’s a fun way to look at it. Jason, this has been really fun. This new series Build, Grow, and Transact, this is proof of concept, but we’re going to have to do a ton of these, because the richness of detail, and whenever we have breakaway guests, we’re talking to them in the beginning when they’re still finding their feet, everything’s new and fresh. They haven’t thought about or executed on M&A and taking on capital partners. But, I feel like this is the missing ingredient where it’s a playbook for how others can be better themselves, something to shoot towards. And I really appreciate your candor and transparency, and I’m very serious, we’ll have to do this again when you’re at 25 billion, and you have even more lessons, and I’m sure battle scars to share. Jason Fertitta: No doubt. I’m for sure open to doing that. And maybe in the meantime, I see the pictures behind your head there. I’d love to come visit you in Park City and hang out and ski, or play golf, or- Louis Diamond: You got it. Jason Fertitta: All right. Thanks for your time and thank you for having me. Louis Diamond: Thanks, Jason. Mindy Diamond: As a financial advisor, you hold yourself to the highest standards of integrity, honesty, and credibility. You are successful, because you take your professional responsibility seriously, and are dedicated to your clients, but are you living your best business life? Are your goals aligned with your firms, or could a better option exist? Should I Stay Or Should I Go is a book written with you in mind. It’s a self-guided journey that walks you through the key steps that we take with our advisor clients. This strategic thought process and roadmap to professional self-discovery is designed to help you ask the right questions, and think critically and objectively, whether you’re considering change or not. Learn how to get your copy at diamond-consultants.com/thebook. Build, Grow & Transact: Americana's $12B Path from Breakaway to Enterprise A conversation with Louis Diamond and Jason Fertitta, CEO & Partner at Americana Partners.      Louis Diamond: Welcome to the latest episode of our podcast series for financial advisors. Today’s episode is Build, Grow & Transact: Americana's $12B Path from Breakaway to Enterprise. It's a conversation with Jason Fertitta, CEO and partner of Americana Partners. I’m Louis Diamond, and this is the Diamond Podcast for financial advisors. Mindy Diamond: At Diamond Consultants, we help elite advisors identify the right environment for their businesses to thrive, whether that’s at a wirehouse, boutique, or independent firm. With nearly three decades of experience, we’ve guided thousands of advisors, and represented more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in assets transitioned. And each year, one in four advisors managing a billion dollars or more who change firms are our clients. Our process is education driven, and based on building relationships, starting as your strategic partner well before you’re even thinking of a move. To schedule a confidential conversation, call us at 908-879-1002. Wondering why advisors change firms and where they’re headed? Are transition deals going up or down? Those very questions and more inspired us to create our annual advisor transition report. It’s the award-winning data-driven resource designed for advisors that connects the dots between the motivations around movement, and the firm’s appetite for top talent. Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make smart decisions. Download your copy at diamond-consultants.com/transitionreport. Louis Diamond: Independence is often viewed as the finish line. Break away, gain control, own the business, and enjoy the economics that come with it. But, for some advisors, going independent is just the beginning. That’s the idea behind this new series called Build, Grow, and Transact, featuring advisors who saw independence not as a destination, but as the first chapter of a business building story. And there will be some familiar names along the way, including our first guest who was on our show back in 2020, talking about what was at the time, one of the industry’s breakaway moves. That’s Jason Fertitta, CEO and foun

Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo becomes first player to score in 6 different World CupsThe new exhibit honoring America's 250th birthday opens July 1stHow often do you normally hit the snooze button on your alarm?

On the Season 12 finale of National Treasure Hunt, co-hosts Aubrey Paris and Emily Black are joined by Mike McKee, executive director of the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia, and Stephen Pierce, founder of America's Rising Son, to assess National Treasure's portrayal of Freemasonry. Do these brothers believe Ben Gates is a member of their fraternal organization? Is Agent Sadusky a good representation of the Freemasons? And what treasures can you find at the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia? • Plan your visit to the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia at https://pamasonictemple.org/. • Tickets are available for National Treasure Hunt's HEIST NIGHT event at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Houston, TX, happening Thursday, May 21, at 6:30 PM. Get your tickets here: https://my.hmns.org/67154/67155 • Tickets for National Treasure Hunt's HEIST NIGHT event at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC, happening Saturday, May 23, at 5:30 PM, are currently SOLD OUT. Keep an eye on this page in case new tickets become available: https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/congressionalcemetery/national-treasure-hunt-s-heist-night • Order our new book, "Riley Poole's Book of Secrets: History for National Treasure Hunters," from Tucker DS Press or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Riley-Pooles-Secrets-Aubrey-Paris/dp/1959748394/, and leave a rating and review on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/246259636-riley-poole-s-book-of-secrets). • Order our first book, "National Treasure Hunt: One Step Short of Crazy," from Tucker DS Press or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/National-Treasure-Hunt-Short-Crazy/dp/1959748009. • National Treasure Hunt is now available as a video podcast! To watch video versions of this and future episodes, subscribe at www.youtube.com/@NTHuntPodcast. • Join the hunt on Twitter and Instagram using @NTHuntPodcast, and find new episodes of National Treasure Hunt every-other Wednesday on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. More information about the National Treasure Hunt podcast, walking tour, books, and events can be found at www.nthuntpodcast.com. • To access even more exclusive National Treasure Hunt content, including bonus episodes and watch parties, subscribe to our Patreon at www.patreon.com/NTHuntPodcast, and visit our Etsy store to find designs that celebrate your love of National Treasure: www.etsy.com/shop/NationalTreasurHunt/.

Co-hosts Aubrey Paris and Emily Black review both popular and niche conspiracy theories that Riley Poole may have written about in his book "The Templar Treasure and Other Myths That Are True." In the process, they consider why topics ranging from cryptids to covert government activities are universally appealing and how these legends have had a community-building effect throughout history. • Tickets are available for National Treasure Hunt's HEIST NIGHT event at the Westport Museum for History and Culture in Westport, CT, happening Saturday, May 16, at 4:00 PM. Get your tickets here: https://westporthistory.org/event/32869/ • Tickets are available for National Treasure Hunt's HEIST NIGHT event at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Houston, TX, happening Thursday, May 21, at 6:30 PM. Get your tickets here: https://my.hmns.org/67154/67155 • Tickets for National Treasure Hunt's HEIST NIGHT event at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC, happening Saturday, May 23, at 5:30 PM, are currently SOLD OUT. Keep an eye on this page in case new tickets become available: https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/congressionalcemetery/national-treasure-hunt-s-heist-night • Order our new book, "Riley Poole's Book of Secrets: History for National Treasure Hunters," from Tucker DS Press or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Riley-Pooles-Secrets-Aubrey-Paris/dp/1959748394/, and leave a rating and review on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/246259636-riley-poole-s-book-of-secrets). • Order our first book, "National Treasure Hunt: One Step Short of Crazy," from Tucker DS Press or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/National-Treasure-Hunt-Short-Crazy/dp/1959748009. • National Treasure Hunt is now available as a video podcast! To watch video versions of this and future episodes, subscribe at www.youtube.com/@NTHuntPodcast. • Join the hunt on Twitter and Instagram using @NTHuntPodcast, and find new episodes of National Treasure Hunt every-other Wednesday on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. More information about the National Treasure Hunt podcast, walking tour, books, and events can be found at www.nthuntpodcast.com. • To access even more exclusive National Treasure Hunt content, including bonus episodes and watch parties, subscribe to our Patreon at www.patreon.com/NTHuntPodcast, and visit our Etsy store to find designs that celebrate your love of National Treasure: www.etsy.com/shop/NationalTreasurHunt/.

In this "National Treasure in Real Life" episode, co-hosts Aubrey Paris and Emily Black review The Curse of Oak Island (Seasons 3 and 4) on the History Channel. Are the Lagina brothers and their team inching toward an understanding of what could be concealed on the Nova Scotia island? Will that understanding bring them closer to or push them further from National Treasure's Knights Templar lore? • Tickets are available for National Treasure Hunt's HEIST NIGHT event at the Westport Museum for History and Culture in Westport, CT, happening Saturday, May 16, at 4:00 PM. Get your tickets here: https://westporthistory.org/event/32869/ • Tickets are available for National Treasure Hunt's HEIST NIGHT event at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Houston, TX, happening Thursday, May 21, at 6:30 PM. Get your tickets here: https://my.hmns.org/67154/67155 • Tickets for National Treasure Hunt's HEIST NIGHT event at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC, happening Saturday, May 23, at 5:30 PM, are currently SOLD OUT. Keep an eye on this page in case new tickets become available: https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/congressionalcemetery/national-treasure-hunt-s-heist-night • Order our new book, "Riley Poole's Book of Secrets: History for National Treasure Hunters," from Tucker DS Press or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Riley-Pooles-Secrets-Aubrey-Paris/dp/1959748394/, and leave a rating and review on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/246259636-riley-poole-s-book-of-secrets). • Order our first book, "National Treasure Hunt: One Step Short of Crazy," from Tucker DS Press or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/National-Treasure-Hunt-Short-Crazy/dp/1959748009. • National Treasure Hunt is now available as a video podcast! To watch video versions of this and future episodes, subscribe at www.youtube.com/@NTHuntPodcast. • Join the hunt on Twitter and Instagram using @NTHuntPodcast, and find new episodes of National Treasure Hunt every-other Wednesday on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. More information about the National Treasure Hunt podcast, walking tour, books, and events can be found at www.nthuntpodcast.com. • To access even more exclusive National Treasure Hunt content, including bonus episodes and watch parties, subscribe to our Patreon at www.patreon.com/NTHuntPodcast, and visit our Etsy store to find designs that celebrate your love of National Treasure: www.etsy.com/shop/NationalTreasurHunt/.

National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets is filled with car chases, kidnappings, and fist fights, so how did the majority of the characters make it through their treasure hunt unscathed? Co-hosts Aubrey Paris and Emily Black diagnose hero and villain injuries in the National Treasure sequel, ultimately concluding whether or not the characters could realistically participate in the rest of the movie. Their prediction about the fate of one character in particular could totally change the way we think about National Treasure 3! • It's your last chance to register for the first-ever National Treasure Hunt Tour in Philadelphia, PA, which will run on Saturday, May 9. Sign up here before registrations close on April 18: https://forms.gle/2jetZW1eXhtnQU1N6 • Tickets will soon be available for National Treasure Hunt's HEIST NIGHT event at the Westport Museum for History and Culture in Westport, CT, happening Saturday, May 16, at 4:00 PM. Keep an eye on this page for tickets: https://westporthistory.org/event/32869/ • Tickets are available for National Treasure Hunt's HEIST NIGHT event at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Houston, TX, happening Thursday, May 21, at 6:30 PM. Get your tickets here: https://my.hmns.org/67154/67155 • Tickets for National Treasure Hunt's HEIST NIGHT event at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC, happening Saturday, May 23, at 5:30 PM, are currently SOLD OUT. Keep an eye on this page in case new tickets become available: https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/congressionalcemetery/national-treasure-hunt-s-heist-night • Order our new book, "Riley Poole's Book of Secrets: History for National Treasure Hunters," from Tucker DS Press or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Riley-Pooles-Secrets-Aubrey-Paris/dp/1959748394/, and leave a rating and review on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/246259636-riley-poole-s-book-of-secrets). • Order our first book, "National Treasure Hunt: One Step Short of Crazy," from Tucker DS Press or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/National-Treasure-Hunt-Short-Crazy/dp/1959748009. • National Treasure Hunt is now available as a video podcast! To watch video versions of this and future episodes, subscribe at www.youtube.com/@NTHuntPodcast. • Join the hunt on Twitter and Instagram using @NTHuntPodcast, and find new episodes of National Treasure Hunt every-other Wednesday on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. More information about the National Treasure Hunt podcast, walking tour, books, and events can be found at www.nthuntpodcast.com. • To access even more exclusive National Treasure Hunt content, including bonus episodes and watch parties, subscribe to our Patreon at www.patreon.com/NTHuntPodcast, and visit our Etsy store to find designs that celebrate your love of National Treasure: www.etsy.com/shop/NationalTreasurHunt/.

On Wednesday's show: From the latest on the war with Iran, to sexual misconduct scandals and resignations, to President Trump clashing with Pope Leo XIV, we discuss the latest developments in politics in our weekly roundup.Also this hour: What if the story of Eden isn't just about the past but about the African-American experience today? We talk with artist Clarence Heyward about his new exhibit at the Houston Museum of African American Culture, which reimagines paradise, exile, and hope through a powerful modern lens.Watch

Jake Austin Walker ("Liam Sadusky") joins co-hosts Aubrey Paris and Emily Black to reflect on his experience portraying Agent Sadusky's grandson in National Treasure: Edge of History. Learn about the role of music in the Disney+ show, how Liam and Myles nearly raided Billie's compound, and how a prop disaster threatened filming of the Graceland heist. Plus, how would Jess's relationships with Liam and Ethan have evolved if the show had gotten picked up for a second season? • Registrations are open for the first-ever National Treasure Hunt Tour in Philadelphia, PA, which will run on Saturday, May 9. Sign up here before all spots are filled: https://forms.gle/2jetZW1eXhtnQU1N6 • Tickets are available for National Treasure Hunt's HEIST NIGHT event at the Jamestown Settlement in Williamsburg, VA, happening Saturday, April 11, at 6:00 PM. Get your tickets here: https://www.jyfmuseums.org/events/programs-activities/heist-night • Tickets are available for National Treasure Hunt's HEIST NIGHT event at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Houston, TX, happening Thursday, May 21, at 6:30 PM. Get your tickets here: https://my.hmns.org/67154/67155 • Order our new book, "Riley Poole's Book of Secrets: History for National Treasure Hunters," from Tucker DS Press or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Riley-Pooles-Secrets-Aubrey-Paris/dp/1959748394/, and leave a rating and review on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/246259636-riley-poole-s-book-of-secrets). • Order our first book, "National Treasure Hunt: One Step Short of Crazy," from Tucker DS Press or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/National-Treasure-Hunt-Short-Crazy/dp/1959748009. • National Treasure Hunt is now available as a video podcast! To watch video versions of this and future episodes, subscribe at www.youtube.com/@NTHuntPodcast. • Join the hunt on Twitter and Instagram using @NTHuntPodcast, and find new episodes of National Treasure Hunt every-other Wednesday on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. More information about the National Treasure Hunt podcast, walking tour, books, and events can be found at www.nthuntpodcast.com. • To access even more exclusive National Treasure Hunt content, including bonus episodes and watch parties, subscribe to our Patreon at www.patreon.com/NTHuntPodcast, and visit our Etsy store to find designs that celebrate your love of National Treasure: www.etsy.com/shop/NationalTreasurHunt/.

National Treasure: Edge of History ended after a ten-episode run, so what happened to Jess Valenzuela, Tasha Rivers, and their crew after they found the Pan-American treasure? Co-hosts Aubrey Paris and Emily Black break down the characters' social media posts featured in the show's finale credits. Who achieved their career goals, who is stuck in the past, and which couples are still together? • It's your last chance to register for the spring 2026 National Treasure Hunt Tour in Washington, D.C., which will run on Saturday, April 25. Sign up here: https://forms.gle/X8GQzdvjpoqgeA9H7 • Registrations are now open for the first-ever National Treasure Hunt Tour in Philadelphia, PA, which will run on Saturday, May 9. Sign up here before all spots are filled: https://forms.gle/2jetZW1eXhtnQU1N6 • Tickets are available for National Treasure Hunt's HEIST NIGHT event at the Jamestown Settlement in Williamsburg, VA, happening Saturday, April 11, at 6:00 PM. Get your tickets here: https://www.jyfmuseums.org/events/programs-activities/heist-night • Tickets are available for National Treasure Hunt's HEIST NIGHT event at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Houston, TX, happening Thursday, May 21, at 6:30 PM. Get your tickets here: https://my.hmns.org/67154/67155 • Order our new book, "Riley Poole's Book of Secrets: History for National Treasure Hunters," from Tucker DS Press or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Riley-Pooles-Secrets-Aubrey-Paris/dp/1959748394/, and leave a rating and review on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/246259636-riley-poole-s-book-of-secrets). • Order our first book, "National Treasure Hunt: One Step Short of Crazy," from Tucker DS Press or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/National-Treasure-Hunt-Short-Crazy/dp/1959748009. • National Treasure Hunt is now available as a video podcast! To watch video versions of this and future episodes, subscribe at www.youtube.com/@NTHuntPodcast. • Join the hunt on Twitter and Instagram using @NTHuntPodcast, and find new episodes of National Treasure Hunt every-other Wednesday on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. More information about the National Treasure Hunt podcast, walking tour, books, and events can be found at www.nthuntpodcast.com. • To access even more exclusive National Treasure Hunt content, including bonus episodes and watch parties, subscribe to our Patreon at www.patreon.com/NTHuntPodcast, and visit our Etsy store to find designs that celebrate your love of National Treasure: www.etsy.com/shop/NationalTreasurHunt/.

Michael Singer, a longtime unit publicist for Jerry Bruckheimer, joins co-hosts Aubrey Paris and Emily Black to share memories of working on the National Treasure: Book of Secrets set. Which scene was interrupted by a U.S. president addressing the media, at which national landmark was production given exactly 13 minutes to film, and which Hollywood heavyweight was particularly impressed by National Treasure 2's elaborate sets? • Registrations are now open for the spring 2026 National Treasure Hunt Tour in Washington, D.C., which will run on Saturday, April 25. Sign up here before all spots are filled: https://forms.gle/X8GQzdvjpoqgeA9H7 • Registrations are now open for the first-ever National Treasure Hunt Tour in Philadelphia, PA, which will run on Saturday, May 9. Sign up here before all spots are filled: https://forms.gle/2jetZW1eXhtnQU1N6 • Tickets are available for National Treasure Hunt's first public event of 2026! Join Aubrey at the Houston Museum of Natural Science (Houston, TX) on Wednesday, March 18, at 6:30 PM for an interactive lecture and book signing you won't want to miss. Get your tickets here: https://my.hmns.org/62632/62633 • Order our new book, "Riley Poole's Book of Secrets: History for National Treasure Hunters," from Tucker DS Press or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Riley-Pooles-Secrets-Aubrey-Paris/dp/1959748394/, and leave a rating and review on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/246259636-riley-poole-s-book-of-secrets). • Order our first book, "National Treasure Hunt: One Step Short of Crazy," from Tucker DS Press or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/National-Treasure-Hunt-Short-Crazy/dp/1959748009. • National Treasure Hunt is now available as a video podcast! To watch video versions of this and future episodes, subscribe at www.youtube.com/@NTHuntPodcast. • Join the hunt on Twitter and Instagram using @NTHuntPodcast, and find new episodes of National Treasure Hunt every-other Wednesday on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. More information about the National Treasure Hunt podcast, walking tour, books, and events can be found at www.nthuntpodcast.com. • To access even more exclusive National Treasure Hunt content, including bonus episodes and watch parties, subscribe to our Patreon at www.patreon.com/NTHuntPodcast, and visit our Etsy store to find designs that celebrate your love of National Treasure: www.etsy.com/shop/NationalTreasurHunt/.

National Treasure: Edge of History sets the scene of a major hero-villain showdown at the USS Kidd in Baton Rouge, a creative decision that served as a subtle yet intentional nod to the USS Intrepid's role in the first National Treasure film. Co-hosts Aubrey Paris and Emily Black tell the war-filled, pirate-adjacent tale of the USS Kidd and how it came to be a Louisiana memorial and tourist attraction. Did the Disney Plus spinoff series do the battleship justice? • Registrations are now open for the spring 2026 National Treasure Hunt Tour in Washington, D.C., which will run on Saturday, April 25. Sign up here before all spots are filled: https://forms.gle/X8GQzdvjpoqgeA9H7 • Tickets are now available for National Treasure Hunt's first event of 2026! Join Aubrey at the Houston Museum of Natural Science (Houston, TX) on Wednesday, March 18, at 6:30 PM for an interactive lecture and book signing you won't want to miss. Get your tickets here: https://my.hmns.org/62632/62633 • Order our new book, "Riley Poole's Book of Secrets: History for National Treasure Hunters," from Tucker DS Press or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Riley-Pooles-Secrets-Aubrey-Paris/dp/1959748394/, and leave a rating and review on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/246259636-riley-poole-s-book-of-secrets). • Order our first book, "National Treasure Hunt: One Step Short of Crazy," from Tucker DS Press or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/National-Treasure-Hunt-Short-Crazy/dp/1959748009. • National Treasure Hunt is now available as a video podcast! To watch video versions of this and future episodes, subscribe at www.youtube.com/@NTHuntPodcast. • Join the hunt on Twitter and Instagram using @NTHuntPodcast, and find new episodes of National Treasure Hunt every-other Wednesday on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. More information about the National Treasure Hunt podcast, walking tour, books, and events can be found at www.nthuntpodcast.com. • To access even more exclusive National Treasure Hunt content, including bonus episodes and watch parties, subscribe to our Patreon at www.patreon.com/NTHuntPodcast, and visit our Etsy store to find designs that celebrate your love of National Treasure: www.etsy.com/shop/NationalTreasurHunt/.

Welcome to National Treasure News! In this installment, Aubrey Paris sits down with her co-host Emily Black to discuss the inspiration behind her new edutainment history book, "Riley Poole's Book of Secrets: History for National Treasure Hunters." While Riley's fictional National Treasure 2-featured text "The Templar Treasure and Other Myths That Are True" does not exist in real life, Aubrey aims to scratch the itch for any National Treasure fan who has ever wondered what historical topics could possibly pique the interests of individuals who, like Riley, are uninterested in history as it's traditionally taught. Don't miss a thought-provoking foreword by National Treasure director Jon Turteltaub! (This episode of NTN was recorded on February 11, 2026.) • Order "Riley Poole's Book of Secrets: History for National Treasure Hunters" from Tucker DS Press (https://www.tuckerdspress.com/product-page/riley-poole-s-book-of-secrets), on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Riley-Pooles-Secrets-Aubrey-Paris/dp/1959748394/), or wherever you buy books, and leave a rating and review on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/246259636-riley-poole-s-book-of-secrets). • Registrations are now open for the spring 2026 National Treasure Hunt Tour in Washington, D.C., which will run on Saturday, April 25. Sign up here before all spots are filled: https://forms.gle/X8GQzdvjpoqgeA9H7 • Tickets are now available for National Treasure Hunt's first event of 2026! Join Aubrey at the Houston Museum of Natural Science (Houston, TX) on Wednesday, March 18, at 6:30 PM for an interactive lecture and book signing you won't want to miss. Get your tickets here: https://my.hmns.org/62632/62633 • Order our first book, "National Treasure Hunt: One Step Short of Crazy," from Tucker DS Press or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/National-Treasure-Hunt-Short-Crazy/dp/1959748009. • National Treasure Hunt is now available as a video podcast! To watch video versions of this and future episodes, subscribe at www.youtube.com/@NTHuntPodcast. • Join the hunt on Twitter and Instagram using @NTHuntPodcast, and find new episodes of National Treasure Hunt every-other Wednesday on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. More information about the National Treasure Hunt podcast, walking tour, books, and events can be found at www.nthuntpodcast.com. • To access even more exclusive National Treasure Hunt content, including bonus episodes and watch parties, subscribe to our Patreon at www.patreon.com/NTHuntPodcast, and visit our Etsy store to find designs that celebrate your love of National Treasure: www.etsy.com/shop/NationalTreasurHunt/.

Co-hosts Aubrey Paris and Emily Black create the ultimate National Treasure playlist inspired by the personalities, motivations, and backstories of the films' key characters. Can you guess the Taylor Swift song they assign to Abigail Chase, or the Lady Gaga hit that best represents Ben Gates? • Listen to the full playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1sfXT0q4iCJzMXGYNLR4QH?si=0EhU7ApkRe2giwQSPDrlCA • Tickets are now available for National Treasure Hunt's first event of 2026! Join Aubrey at the Houston Museum of Natural Science (Houston, TX) on Wednesday, March 18, at 6:30 PM for an interactive lecture and book signing you won't want to miss. Get your tickets here: https://my.hmns.org/62632/62633 • Aubrey's new book, "Riley Poole's Book of Secrets: History for National Treasure Hunters," is now shipping! Get your copy from Tucker DS Press (https://www.tuckerdspress.com/product-page/riley-poole-s-book-of-secrets) or Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Riley-Pooles-Secrets-Aubrey-Paris/dp/1959748394/) today. • Order our first book, "National Treasure Hunt: One Step Short of Crazy," from Tucker DS Press or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/National-Treasure-Hunt-Short-Crazy/dp/1959748009. • National Treasure Hunt is now available as a video podcast! To watch video versions of this and future episodes, subscribe at www.youtube.com/@NTHuntPodcast. • Join the hunt on Twitter and Instagram using @NTHuntPodcast, and find new episodes of National Treasure Hunt every-other Wednesday on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. More information about the National Treasure Hunt podcast, walking tour, books, and events can be found at www.nthuntpodcast.com. • To access even more exclusive National Treasure Hunt content, including bonus episodes and watch parties, subscribe to our Patreon at www.patreon.com/NTHuntPodcast, and visit our Etsy store to find designs that celebrate your love of National Treasure: www.etsy.com/shop/NationalTreasurHunt/.

Lisette Olivera, better known by National Treasure fans as "Jess Valenzuela," joins co-hosts Aubrey Paris and Emily Black to reflect on her time in the lead role of National Treasure: Edge of History for Disney Plus. Lisette shares memorable moments from filming, which range from haunted locations to bug encounters, as well as hot takes about the villains of the National Treasure franchise. Plus, is she Team Liam or Team Ethan? • Tickets are now available for National Treasure Hunt's first event of 2026! Join Aubrey at the Houston Museum of Natural Science (Houston, TX) on Wednesday, March 18, at 6:30 PM for an interactive lecture and book signing you won't want to miss. Get your tickets here: https://my.hmns.org/62632/62633 • Aubrey's new book, "Riley Poole's Book of Secrets: History for National Treasure Hunters," is now shipping! Get your copy from Tucker DS Press (https://www.tuckerdspress.com/product-page/riley-poole-s-book-of-secrets) or Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Riley-Pooles-Secrets-Aubrey-Paris/dp/1959748394/) today. • Order our first book, "National Treasure Hunt: One Step Short of Crazy," from Tucker DS Press or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/National-Treasure-Hunt-Short-Crazy/dp/1959748009. • National Treasure Hunt is now available as a video podcast! To watch video versions of this and future episodes, subscribe at www.youtube.com/@NTHuntPodcast. • Join the hunt on Twitter and Instagram using @NTHuntPodcast, and find new episodes of National Treasure Hunt every-other Wednesday on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. More information about the National Treasure Hunt podcast, walking tour, books, and events can be found at www.nthuntpodcast.com. • To access even more exclusive National Treasure Hunt content, including bonus episodes and watch parties, subscribe to our Patreon at www.patreon.com/NTHuntPodcast, and visit our Etsy store to find designs that celebrate your love of National Treasure: www.etsy.com/shop/NationalTreasurHunt/.

Elijah Gowin uses photography to speak about ritual, landscape and memory.  He was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1967 and received his BA in Art History from Davidson College in 1990 and MFA in Photography from the University of New Mexico in 1997. His photographs are in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Houston Museum of Fine Art, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, among others.   His awards include the John S. Guggenheim Fellowship in 2008 as well as grants from the Charlotte Street Foundation and the Puffin Foundation.  He founded Tin Roof Press to publish his books on art and photography including “The Last Firefly” in 2024 and “Of Falling and Floating” in 2011.  Presently, he is a Professor in the Department of Media, Art and Design at the University of Missouri-Kansas City where he directs photographic studies.  Gowin is represented by the Robert Mann Gallery, New York, Photo Gallery International, Tokyo and Bond Millen Gallery, Richmond, Virginia. Elijah Gowin, Tree 1. Date: 2012 Size: 15.33x 23, Pigment inkjet print Elijah Gowin, fireflies in trees, selangor river, malaysia, 2017 Size: 22”x30.75” Elijah Gowin, House 1 Date: 2014. Size: 15.33”x 23” Pigment inkjet print

Episode No. 729 features artists Justin Favela and David-Jeremiah. The Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery is presenting a commission from Favela titled Capilla de Maíz (Maize Chapel) through a not-yet determined date. The Favela makes the Renwick's grand salon gallery a fantastical space, complete with shimmering gold-fringed walls and piñata corncobs that highlight the role of maize in North American visual culture. It accompanies "State Fairs: Growing American Craft," an exhibition that details artists' contribution to the US tradition of state fairs that is on view at the Renwick through September 7, 2026. (The Renwick is temporarily closed because Republicans in the White House and on Capitol Hill have shut down the federal government.) Favela's work typically investigates Mexican or Latin American craft practices, especially cartoneria (more commonly known as piñata making). His work has been the subject of exhibitions at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, the Des Moines Art Center, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and more. The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is presenting "David-Jeremiah: The Fire this Time" through November 2. The exhibition presents a group of vertical assemblages of black and other polychromatic paintings on shaped wood that form an installation. The twenty-eight works stand over ten feet tall. The primary configuration surrounds viewers completely before giving way to a final suite of paintings featuring abstract assemblages that include references to fire. The exhibition was curated by Christopher Blay. A catalogue is available from MAMFW. David-Jeremiah's work reflects the artist's experience of Black masculinity in America. Previous David-Jeremiah solo exhibitions have been at the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Mass., and the Houston Museum of African American Culture; he has participated in group shows at institutions such as Project Row Houses, Houston. In 2020, David-Jeremiah received a Nasher Sculpture Center Artist Grant Award. Instagram: Justin Favela, David-Jeremiah, Tyler Green.

Welcome to National Treasure News! In this installment, co-hosts Aubrey Paris and Emily Black overview upcoming dates and locations for their year-long America 250 Tour across the United States. See current dates below, and keep an eye on nthuntpodcast.com/events for additional event announcements. (This episode of NTN was recorded on September 5, 2025.) • October 9, 2025: Debut of HEIST NIGHT at President Lincoln's Cottage (Washington, DC) (Tickets: https://www.lincolncottage.org/event/heist-night/) • October 10, 2025: HEIST NIGHT at President Lincoln's Cottage (Washington, DC) (Tickets: https://www.lincolncottage.org/event/heist-night/) • November 1, 2025: HEIST NIGHT at Historical Society of Princeton (Princeton, NJ) (Tickets: https://princetonhistory.org/events/heist-night-in-the-afternoon/) • March 18, 2026: Interactive Lecture at Houston Museum of Natural Science (Houston, TX) (Tickets available in 2026) • April 11, 2026: HEIST NIGHT at Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation (Williamsburg, VA) (Tickets available in 2026) • May 16, 2026: HEIST NIGHT at Westport Museum for History and Culture (Westport, CT) (Tickets available in 2026) • Join the hunt on Twitter and Instagram using @NTHuntPodcast, and find new episodes of National Treasure Hunt every-other Wednesday on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. More information about the National Treasure Hunt podcast, walking tour, and book can be found at www.nthuntpodcast.com.

The most visited park in Houston is Hermann Park... home to the Houston Zoo, The Houston Museum of Natural Science, Miller Outdoor Theater, The Houston Garden Center, and a public golf course.

Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. In this Episode, Emily chats with "The Button Man", Harlem artist Beau McCall, an artist renowned for his unique use of buttons in wearable and visual art. McCall's work is featured in prominent collections such as New York's Museum of Arts and Design and London's Victoria and Albert Museum. McCall recounts his upbringing in Philadelphia, his move to Harlem, and his early inspirations. He explains how his fascination with buttons began with his mother's collection and grew through various craft classes. McCall shares memories of his artistic evolution, his experiences with the Harlem community, and the personal significance of his work, including tributes to friends lost to AIDS. The episode concludes with McCall's advice to aspiring artists and a nod to his ongoing support from his mother.About Artist Beau McCall :Drawing inspiration from the vast button collection of his mother and family, Beau McCall creates wearable and visual art by applying clothing buttons onto mostly upcycled fabrics, materials, and objects. With deliberate focus the buttons are arranged to stimulate one's curiosity and imagination, while simultaneously drawing attention to the unique history of buttons. Thereby McCall's work generates a discussion surrounding many topics such as pop culture and social justice.McCall began his professional career in Harlem in the 1980s after arriving from his native, Philadelphia with nothing more than a few hundred dollars, a duffel bag, and buttons. Circa 1988 he made his critically acclaimed wearable art debut at The Harlem Institute of Fashion (HIF) show for HARLEM WEEK. McCall went on to become an established force within HIF's Black Fashion Museum collective presenting at their shows consecutively through circa 1995, as well being featured in their museum exhibitions and prestigious events. During this time, McCall's visually captivating work was featured in the fashion bible Women's Wear Daily, on the PBS version of George C. Wolfe's The Colored Museum (1991), and in the award-winning film Quartier Mozart (1992), directed by Jean-Pierre Bekolo. The film won prizes at film festivals in Cannes, Locarno, and Montreal and was nominated, in 1993, for a British Film Institute award.McCall eventually applied his mastery of the button to visual art. Since then, he's been proclaimed by American Craft magazine as “The Button Man.” His visual and wearable art has been included in exhibitions at The Museum at FIT, Nordstrom, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, Houston Museum of African American Culture, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Stax Museum of American Soul Music, the Langston Hughes House in partnership with the inaugural Columbia University Wallach Art Gallery Uptown triennial and StoryCorps, and Rush Arts Gallery. McCall's work is held in the permanent collection of public institutions and by private individuals including the Museum of Arts and Design (New York), Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia), Victoria and Albert Museum (London), The Museum at FIT (New York), Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (New York), Amistad Research Center (New Orleans), The Museum of Modern Art Library (New York), Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art (New York), Stonewall National Museum & Archives (Fort Lauderdale), and The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Library (San Francisco), Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Residence, Debbie Harry of Blondie, Jeffrey Gibson, and Cristina Grajales. McCall has also been commissioned by the Museum of Arts and Design, Columbia University, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. And his wearable art can be found in gift shops including the Newark Museum of Art. McCall has been featured in the NY Times, Associated Press, NPR, L.A. Times, and more. In addition, he has served as a teaching artist at the Newark Museum of Art, the New York Public Library, and the Harlem Arts Alliance. McCall has also created a wearable art line called, Triple T-shirts. For these pieces, he upcycles three T-shirts by combining them into one flowing garment that can be worn in six different ways. Each style—from poncho to hoodie to shawl and beyond—brings dynamic versatility to traditional T-shirts. The shirts are curated to form a narrative about various socially-conscious and lighthearted themes.In 2021, McCall released his debut artists' book titled, REWIND: MEMORIES ON REPEAT, commissioned and published by SHINE Portrait Studio@ Express Newark, Rutgers University-Newark. The book honors the legacy of ten of McCall's deceased friends through collages composed of archival photos and images from his button artwork. The collages capture the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, from Philadelphia to New York, during the LGBTQ+ rights movement, the height of disco music and the AIDS crisis.In 2024, McCall debuted his first-ever retrospective and exhibition catalog titled, Beau McCall: Buttons On! at Fuller Craft Museum. The exhibition is currently on a nationwide tour.Through his work, McCall remains committed to channeling and contributing to the universal cultural legacy one button at a time.Visit Beau's Website:  BeauMcCall.ComFollow Beau on Instagram: @Beau_McCallFor more on Beau's exhibit "Buttons On!" CLICK HERE--About Podcast Host Emily Wilson:Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women's Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco.Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWilFollow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast--CREDITS:Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 LicenseThe Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com

On Friday's show: Saharan dust is headed to Houston, as it typically does this time of year. And much of the country could see the Northern Lights this weekend because of a powerful geomagnetic storm. We learn about both from Eric Berger of Space City Weather.Also this hour: From the head of FEMA saying he didn't know there was a hurricane season here, to the National Weather Service receiving permission to hire 125 meteorologists and specialists after losing more than 560 employees earlier this year due to Trump administration cuts and retirements, we break down The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of the week.Then: Wolverine, Spider-Man, Batman, Black Panther -- a lot of popular superheroes are based on animals. But why? Maybe it's because a lot of animals kind of have superpowers. A new exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science called Extreme Animals Alive explores that.And what makes certain Houston eateries and music venues unforgettable, even after they disappear? We reflect on some of the city's lost iconic spots.

Show Summary:As a mom to two daughters, Natasha is always on the lookout for STEM-inspired clothing that's both stylish and empowering. If you can relate or are interested in the story of two passionate entrepreneurs, then this episode is for you! Join Claire and Natasha as they sit down with Margarita (Maty) and Ana—the creative co-founders behind Prisma Kiddos. Frustrated by the lack of options in kids' fashion, these passionate moms took matters into their own hands, launching a brand that blends STEM inspiration, gender empowerment, and sustainability into every unique outfit. In this conversation, we explore their journey as entrepreneurs, the challenges they've faced, and the passion that drives their mission. (Plus, Remi makes a special appearance to show off one of her favorite Prisma Kiddos looks!)About Prisma Kiddos:Prisma Kiddos is driven by the vision of two incredible moms, Ana and Maty, who saw a need to break free from traditional gender norms and promote equality through fashion. Their mission is to inspire the next generation of kids to embrace their curiosity, creativity, and passion for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).With designs that go beyond stereotypes, Prisma Kiddos offers non-traditional clothing options that empower girls and introduce boys to sensitive and thoughtful themes. Their eco-friendly materials and ethical manufacturing practices reflect their commitment to sustainability, making sure that their products are not only stylish but also kind to the planet.Links from the Show:Related The STEM Space Podcast Episodes90. We Launched a Weather Balloon153. Don't Tell Your Kid to be an Engineer127. Why You Should Teach About STEM CareersVivify STEM Blog Posts How to Launch a Weather Balloon: Ultimate STEM ChallengeTop 10 Ways To Encourage Girls In STEMVivify STEM LessonsWeather Balloon Launch: STEM Engineering Project GuideBreak Down Stereotypes! Who is a STEM Professional? game & activitiesSTEM Classroom Posters - Inspirational or Careers!Building Bricks STEM: STEM Careers - K-5 Challenge Mats or 3-5 Building ChallengesSTEM Careers BINGO - K-5 or 5-12Other STEM ResourcesPrisma KiddosRube Goldberg CompetitionsBoston Children's MuseumThe Whiteside Museum of Natural HistoryInternational Dimetrodon Day - April 5Natasha & Family go to Boston Children's Museum (ft. Prisma Kiddos apparel)Houston Museum of Natural ScienceShare your Quick Tips with us!THE STEM SPACE SHOWNOTESTHE STEM SPACE FACEBOOK GROUPVIVIFY INSTAGRAMVIVIFY FACEBOOKVIVIFY XVIVIFY TIKTOKVIVIFY YOUTUBE

Hermann Park in Houston is home to the Houston Zoo, Miller Outdoor Theater, The Houston Museum of Natural Science, and much more.

For fiber artist Aaron McIntosh, quilting is an act of defiant documentation. Growing up in an Appalachian family with a generations-deep tradition of quilting, he learned the craft as a boy and went on to develop his own ethos and mission, studying first at the Appalachian Center for Craft in Tennessee and then earning his MFA at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.In recent years, Aaron has placed his own personal history and metaphorical body into fabric sculptures that blend his familial and cultural background with his identity as a queer Appalachian artist. His work has been exhibited in a variety of institutions, from the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and the Toledo Museum of Art to Hangaram Art Museum in Seoul. In 2015, he started the “Invasive Queer Kudzu” project, a community storytelling, archiving and art-making project focusing on queer communities, past and present, in America's Southeast. In this interview, Aaron, who is currently an associate professor at Concordia University in Montreal, describes why and how he claimed the South's most notorious weed as his artistic inspiration and clears up any misconceptions about the fiber arts ever having taken a back seat to other fine arts throughout human history.https://aaronmcintosh.com/home.html

On Tuesday's show: CenterPoint Energy faced another hearing on Monday related to its response to power outages caused by Hurricane Beryl. We find out what was said before a Texas State Senate special committee and the potential implications.Also this hour: For more than a decade, Joe Holley has written a column called Native Texan for the Houston Chronicle, which tells the stories of some of the known and unknown legends of Texas. The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer has a new collection of some of those columns called Native Texan: Stories from Deep in the Heart. Holley joins us ahead of an event at Brazos Bookstore tonight.Then, with the Olympics underway, we continue to share examples of some of the summer Olympic sports played in Houston, continuing with a visit to West Houston Archery.And we continue our series on museums and other attractions to visit around the area with a trip to the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

If you're new here, welcome! We've put together a starter pack for you, with episodes and articles to welcome you to the City Cast Houston community.  July is all about freedom, but even after Independence Day, there are so many things to do in Houston all month long. From fun (and cool!) indoor activities to summer traditions like going to the beach, our guide to July will help you beat the heat and make the most of this month in H-Town. Do you love taking a good summer road trip? We put together a guide of the best road trips to take this summer!  For even more tips on how to make the most of July in Houston, check out the latest events in the Hey Houston newsletter.  Check out all our recommendations and activities for the month here: Miller Outdoor Theatre La La Land on Thursday, July 11th at 8 p.m. and Top Gun: Maverick on Friday, July 19 at 8 p.m. at Trebly Park Find your nearest Houston Public Library  PuttShack Houston  Forget Me Not Houston for brunch  Just Ride Watercraft tours on Buffalo Bayou  Cidercade Houston  Pizzana Houston  The Menil and Bistro Menil Best Cold Treats and Frozen Desserts Brewsology Beer Fest at the Houston Museum of Natural Science  Discovery Green is showing the Lion King on Friday, July 20th at 7 p.m. Port of Houston tour Star Spangled Salute at Miller Outdoor Theatre  Freedom Rocks Music Fest  Omni Houston Hotel Galleria swim pass El Segundo Swim Club Things You Didn't Know Your Houston Public Library Card Could Do  Looking for more Houston news? Then sign up for our morning newsletter Hey Houston  Follow us on Instagram  @CityCastHouston Don't have social media? Then leave us a voicemail or text us at +1 713-489-6972 with your thoughts! Have feedback or a show idea? Let us know!  Interested in advertising with City Cast? Let's Talk! Thanks to our sponsor of today's episode, Downtown Houston+! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Exploramos el fascinante mundo de los Tiranosaurios Rex con Stephanie Marcos del Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Houston. Desde su descubrimiento hasta su posible relación con otras especies, descubre los secretos de estos colosos del pasado.

One of America's most iconic photographers, widely recognized for his fine art, editorial and commercial work. Stephen's pictorial stories of Mainland China, California's Highway One, Ellis Island, the ravages of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and an impressionistic study of Burned Objects set the tone for a series of career-defining projects that catapulted him to the top of the photographic landscape. Stephen's work has been featured on NPR and CBS Sunday Morning as well as being on the covers of New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Time, Fortune, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, and many others. Day to Night, Wilkes' most defining project, began in 2009. These epic cityscapes and landscapes, portrayed from a fixed camera angle for up to 30 hours, capture fleeting moments of humanity as light passes in front of his lens over the course of a full day. Blending these images into a single photograph takes months to complete. His photographs are included in the collections of the George Eastman Museum, James A. Michener Art Museum, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Dow Jones Collection, Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation, Jewish Museum of NY, Library of Congress, Snite Museum of Art, The Historic New Orleans Collection, Museum of the City of New York, 9/11 Memorial Museum, Fenimore Art Museum, Art in Embassies, U.S. Department of State and numerous private collections. 

On Friday's show: With the bridge collapse in Baltimore after a container ship struck it, we talk with Roger Guenther of the Port of Houston, about whether something like that could happen in the Houston Ship Channel and about what measures are being taken to make our port safer. Also this hour: We discuss the future of in vitro fertilization in Texas in light of a recent Alabama Supreme Court decision. Then, from record visitors to Houston, to Buc-ee's partnering with the Houston Museum of Natural Science to prepare students for the upcoming eclipse, to an actor from the TV series Yellowstone getting booted off a flight here in Houston, this week's non-experts weigh in on The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of the week. And more light is being shed on HISD's controversial performance evaluation system for teachers from an unexpected source: the Texas Education Agency itself.

To kick off Black History Month, MHD and co-host Chavonne Taylor discuss the legacy and historical impact of Black Los Angeles with historian Larry Earl Jr. Larry Earl Jr. is a Leimert Park resident and owner of 1619 Exhibits, a dynamic boutique arts firm that specializes in designing distinctive exhibitions, providing expert archival solutions, producing engaging public programming, and activating public spaces with vibrant civic art and cultural projects. With well over two decades of experience in museums and the field of cultural arts, Larry has been associated with some of our nation's preeminent cultural institutions. Prior to founding 1619 Exhibits, Larry served as Executive Director of the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum located in Culver City, CA and was the Founding Executive Director of the Houston Museum of African American Culture (HMAAC).

Discover what Kurt Nauck has in common with Pink Higgins (The Good Bad Man), why the Houston Museum of Natural Science bought his venture, and when he hired his Dad (15 minutes). ================================================= CEO Blindspots® Podcast Guest: Kurt Nauck. A lifelong entrepreneur, Kurt began his first business as a freshman in high school. Upon entering Texas A&M University, he started his second business, Korwear, selling senior boots and uniforms to the Aggie Corp of Cadets. He graduated with a degree in wildlife biology (which he never expected to use), but wound up starting another business in Houston called Wildlife on Wheels. Hiring wildlife graduates out of A&M, this traveling zoo serviced the greater Houston area for 8 years until he sold it to the Houston Museum of Natural Science where it continues to exist today. Another business he began in 1984 was Memory Machines, a shop in downtown Houston specializing in mechanical and musical antiques. This operation morphed into Nauck's Vintage Records, the world's largest purveyor of vintage 78rpm and cylinder sound recordings made from the 1890s to the 1950s. His involvement in the world of vintage records led to a 2009 Grammy nomination for a historical reissue of Edison cylinders entitled "Polk Miller and His Old South Quartet." In 2012, Kurt formed Texas Ready, a company dedicated to teaching people how to become food self-sufficient. He and his Texas Ready business partner Lucinda Bailey sell heirloom seeds to people who wish to grow food in their own backyard, as well as food preservation equipment such as freeze dryers, dehydrators and canners, and they offer hands-on instruction pertaining to food production, preservation and storage. For more information about the bloody legacy of Pink Higgins; ⁠https://truewestmagazine.com/article/pink-higgins/ https://a.co/d/aR7Ay2 For more information about Kurt Nauck's companies; Nauck Vintage Records; 78rpm.com Texas Ready; TexasReady.net ================================================= CEO Blindspots® Podcast Host: Birgit Kamps. Birgit's professional experience includes starting and selling an “Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Private Company” and a “Best Company to Work for in Texas”, and serving as a Board Member with various companies. She is able to help investors and executives quickly discover blind spots holding their organization back, and accelerate leadership effectiveness. In addition, Birgit is the host of the CEO Blindspots® Podcast which was recognized for having the “biggest listener growth” in the USA by 733%, and most recently for having the "top 1.5% global ranking" in its category; ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.ceoblindspots.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To ask questions about this or one of the 200+ other CEO Blindspots® Podcast episodes, send an email to⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠birgit@ceoblindspots.com⁠

¡Sumérgete en las profundidades marinas

William Sarradet talks with Houston's Sarah Welch and Fort Worth's Raul Rodriguez about the nature of zine festivals and the landscape of self-publishing in Texas. "I think being in Texas has actually put us at a good advantage for doing self-publishing work because there are so many major cities in the state...We've done some out of state stuff, but I think the events we do in Texas are often the highest quality." See related readings here: https://glasstire.com/2023/12/03/art-dirt-looking-at-zine-fests-and-self-publishing-in-texas This week's podcast is sponsored in part by the Houston Museum of African American Culture and their annual museum fundraiser and art auction, Champagne and Ribs, which is happening December 14 in Houston. The auction features works by internationally recognized artists Evita Tezeno, David McGee, Floyd Newsum, Johnny Floyd, and others. Your bid not only gets you an incredible work of art, but also goes a long way in sustaining the Houston Museum of African American Culture. The museum will be open during the week of December 3, from Tuesday to Saturday, 11a.m. - 6 p.m. to preview the auction and purchase Champagne & Ribs tickets online or in person. Learn more and support the museum here: https://hmaac.org

On Thursday's show: We learn about the mixed reactions to the news that Travis Scott plans to perform in Houston this fall for the first time since the fatal disaster at his Astroworld music festival. Also this hour: While we could sure use more storm clouds these days, clear nights do offer a good chance to check out astronomical events like the Perseid Meteor Shower this weekend. We discuss that and other cool things about space with local astronomer Dr. Carolyn Sumners from the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Then, we learn why Houstonian Amy Weinland Daughters decided to pen hand-written letters to all 580 of her Facebook friends -- and how they reacted. She's written a book about the experience called Dear Dana. And Spider-Man first debuted on this date in 1962. More than 60 years later, comic book adaptations on film and TV are huge business. We revisit a 2018 conversation with Richard Evans of Bedrock City Comic Co. and film critic Joe Leydon about comics' interactions with mainstream culture and whether we've hit a so-called "superhero fatigue" in our entertainment yet.

Richard Sandler is a street photographer and documentary filmmaker. He has directed and shot eight non-fiction films, including “The Gods of Times Square,” “Brave New York” and “Radioactive City.” Sandler's still photographs are in the permanent collections of Brooklyn Museum, Center for Creative Photography - University of Arizona, Houston Museum of Fine Art, Museum of the City of New York, New York Historical Society, New York Public Library. He was awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship for photography, a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation fellowship for Filmmaking, and a New York State Council on the Arts fellowship for Filmmaking. Resources Richard Sandler   Harvey Wang Websites Sponsors Charcoal Book Club Frames Magazine Education Resources: Momenta Photographic Workshops Candid Frame Resources Download the free Candid Frame app for your favorite smart device. Click here to download it for . Click here to download Support the work at The Candid Frame by contributing to our Patreon effort.  You can do this by visiting or the website and clicking on the Patreon button. You can also provide a one-time donation via . You can follow Ibarionex on and .  

Town Square with Ernie Manouse airs at 3 p.m. CT. Tune in on 88.7FM, listen online or subscribe to the podcast. Join the discussion at 888-486-9677, questions@townsquaretalk.org or @townsquaretalk. First, Nicole Temple, Vice President of Education at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, joins us to share details about the museum's new exhibit Sharks! The Meg, The Monsters, & The Myths, and how it seeks to explore the history of sharks and debunk myths people have about them. Plus, Temple explains what museumgoers can find at the exhibit's six galleries, including, physical interactives, touchable items, photo ops, live animals, a 50-foot Megalodon model, and much more. For more information on the exhibit, click here. Then, we're joined by Jeff Kurr, Emmy nominated producer, cinematographer, and director for Discovery Channel's Shark Week, and Marine Ecologist and Shark Researcher Dr. Neil Hammerschlag to discuss sharks, our fascination with them, and their relationship to humans. Kurr discusses his more than thirty years with Shark Week, what's it's like being in the water filming sharks, and what technology has allowed him to see and the places it's allowed him to go in order to capture footage of sharks. Dr. Hammerschlag explains whether we're seeing more sharks swimming closer to shore due to climate change, information about Shark behavior, and surprising facts. Guests: Nicole Temple Vice President of Education, Houston Museum of Natural Science Jeff Kurr Emmy Nominated Producer, Cinematographer, and Director of Discovery Channel's Shark Week Dr. Neil Hammerschlag Marine Ecologist & Shark Researcher Founder, Atlantic Shark Expeditions Investigator, Marine Biodiversity Observation Network Town Square with Ernie Manouse is a gathering space for the community to come together and discuss the day's most important and pressing issues. We also offer a free podcast here, on iTunes, and other apps

  On Thursday's show: The Biden administration has announced it's devoting $1 billion to develop clean hydrogen energy. What could that mean for the Houston area, which is expected to be home to a future hydrogen hub? Also this hour: We learn about the extraordinary measures structural engineers had to develop so that skyscrapers could be built on Houston's mushy soil. Joe Colaco, one of the engineers responsible for that -- a man who has worked on some of the world's most recognizable buildings -- explains how it works. Then, it's quickly become an annual symphony tradition – performing a major film score live, in sync with a screening of the movie. The Houston Symphony is doing it with Harry Potter July 14-15 and Star Wars July 28-29. And the Houston Museum of African American Culture and Emancipation Park Conservancy are screening a couple of classic hip-hop films -- Wild Style, Beat Street, and House Party. We talk about those films, the history of hip-hop culture, and Houston's unique place in that culture.

  Welcome to our June 2023 monthly Digest: a monthly newsletter of the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania! During the first few days of the month, we will start sending out our calendar of events. These events will be within the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania as well as any pertinent information from the National Federation of the Blind and the Pennsylvania blind community. If you or anyone you know have any upcoming events or information that can pertain to the blind community in Pennsylvania, please send them to Stacie Leap at stacie.leap@gmail.com by the 29th of the month so it can be added to our calendar for the following month.     Special Note: There will be no July 2023 monthly digest as a lot of us will be in Houston, Texas for the 2023 National Convention! 1. A Message from our State Affiliate President Hello everyone! We are now in the month of June and things are really happening! We are continuing our conversation with BBVS, so if there are any concerns, please let me know! On June 8th, the next OVR Board meeting will be held via Zoom.  Contact information will be available shortly.  Registration for the National Convention is closed and we are waiting impatiently for the 2023 Agenda! I hope to see many of you in Houston!   Lynn Heitz President, National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania president@nfbp.org   Google Calendar Links The National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania also has a Google Calendar that can be viewed either through the web or subscribed to your calendar apps.  You can view the calendar without subscribing to it and view it on your web browser by clicking the link in the show notes. However, if you wish to subscribe to the calendar and get the events on your calendar apps, please click Subscribe in the show notes and go through the steps to subscribe:    Member Spotlight” Harriet Go Each month, we will highlight someone within our affiliate. The goal is to allow other members to learn about other members within the affiliate. We hope you enjoy this little spotlight!   Harriet Go serves our state affiliate as our secretary. She is also the President of the Keystone Chapter. Considered quite hilarious, she shows off her comedic styles at our meetings and social functions. She is proclaimed to be the number 1 best seller of M&M's. Make sure you do not leave any lying around because she will start selling them! Full of energy, she is taking on the role of Kids Camp Director at our 2023 National Convention in Houston, Texas.  This definitely requires bouts of energy and patience that she learned at her current job as an elementary school teacher for the School District of Philadelphia.  She is always willing to have a conversation so if you get a chance to meet her in-person, introduce yourself and say “Hello!”   Calendar of Events The following events are also on our Google calendar with the Zoom information. If anyone within a chapter, division, or group see any errors or misinformation, please contact Stacie Leap at stacie.leap@gmail.com    The below information is correct as of the first week of the month. The information is most up-to-date on the Google Calendar so please check back periodically to ensure the right information.   Jigsaw Chapter monthly Meeting   a monthly meeting for those who do not have a local chapter in their geographical area. This is our at-large chapter.  Meetings Saturday, June 3, 2023 at 10:00 AM   Keystone Chapter Monthly Meeting   a monthly meeting for those who live in the Philadelphia area. This is one of two local chapters in the Philadelphia area. The other chapter is the Greater Philadelphia Chapter. Saturday, June 3, 2023 at 10:15 AM   Coffee with the State President and Board This monthly discussion meeting brings everybody together to get to know the state affiliate board members and the happenings within the state's divisions, chapters, and advocacy efforts. Wednesday, June 7, 2023 at 7 PM     Greater Berks Chapter Monthly Meeting A monthly meeting for those who live in the Greater Berks County of Pennsylvania    Friday, June 9, 2023 at 10 AM   Greater Lehigh Valley Chapter Monthly Meeting A monthly meeting for those who live in the Greater Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania.  This includes Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, and the surrounding areas. Saturday, June 10, 2023 at 10 AM   Deaf Blind Division Monthly Meeting  a monthly meeting for those who consider themselves to be Deaf Blind and their supporters.          Monday, June 12, 2023 at 6 PM   Pennsylvania Association of Blind Merchants (PABM) Monthly Meeting  a monthly meeting for those who are or wish to be involved with the Business Enterprise Program, entrepreneurship and their supporters.    Wednesday, June 14, 2023 at 6 PM     Capital Area Chapter Monthly Meeting   a monthly meeting for those who live in the Greater Harrisburg area.   Saturday, June 17, 2023 at 10 AM     Erie County Chapter Monthly Meeting   a monthly meeting for those who live in Erie County Pennsylvania. Saturday, June 17, 2023 at 2 PM     Blind Parents Group Monthly Meeting   a monthly meeting for blind parents, grandparents, and their supporters   Saturday, June 17, 2023 at 7 PM   Pennsylvania Organization of Parents of Blind Children (PAOPBC) Monthly Meeting  a monthly meeting for parents of blind children and their supporters  Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 11 AM   Pittsburgh Chapter Monthly Meeting A monthly meeting for those who live in the Greater Pittsburgh area. Wednesday, June 21, 2023 at 6 PM   Greater Philadelphia Chapter Monthly Meeting a monthly meeting for those who live in the Philadelphia area. This is one of two local chapters in the Philadelphia area.  The other chapter is the Keystone Chapter. Saturday, June 24, 2023 at 10 AM     Brandywine Valley Chapter Monthly Meeting   a monthly meeting for those who live in the Brandywine Valley.   Saturday, June 24, 2023 at 10 AM     Pennsylvania Association of Guide Dog Users (PAGDU) Monthly Meeting   a monthly meeting for those who have or are considering getting a guide dog as well as their supporters.   Saturday, June 24, 2023 at 4 PM     Pennsylvania Association of Blind Students (PABS) Monthly Meeting   a monthly meeting for blind students of all ages and their supporters.   Monday, June 26, 2023 at 7 PM     Blind Seniors Group Monthly Meeting   a monthly meeting for those who are seniors or almost seniors as well as their supporters.   Wednesday, June 28, 2023 at 7:30 PM   White Canes Connect Podcast  Did you know that the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania has a podcast? It is hosted by members David Goldstein and Lisa Bryant. It features interviews with our PA members as well as interviews and resources for the blind community. You can listen to it wherever you listen to podcasts. Listen on  Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, IHeartRadio, and on YouTube @PABlindPodcast. Contact White Canes Connect at whitecanesconnect@gmail.com if you have any show ideas or wish to be on the podcast.   National Convention 2023 Our national convention will take place from July first through sixth in Houston, Texas. Online registration for the 2023 National Convention is closed. Do not worry, you can still register for convention when you are there in-person; however, prices will be $5 higher and will cost $30 per person. Banquet tickets will still be $70. More information on the convention including hotel reservations, agenda, and registration to the Career Fair, Kid Camp Day Care, and the NOPBC Conference can be found at www.nfb.org/convention There are also different tours and a baseball game that you can purchase tickets for. 1. Tours to Space Center Houston will cost $35.00 per person, regardless of age. There are three tour opportunities. The price includes both the tour ticket(s) and roundtrip transportation. 2. The tour of the Houston Museum of Natural Science, which includes an exhibit by 3-D Photo Works of King Tut's sarcophagus. This touchable piece will provide visitors with all kinds of information about the boy king. Tours of all exhibits will be led by docents. The museum would like feedback regarding ways to make the museum more accessible, and we will send everyone who attends a brief survey following the tour so you can offer comments. The tour price for this event is $37.00, regardless of age. Like the Space Center Houston tour, the price includes both the tour ticket(s) and roundtrip transportation. 3. On July 7, the Houston Astros will play the Seattle Mariners, at Minute Maid Park A.K.A the Juice Box. The game will begin at 7:10 PM, and there is a plan to take a group of Federationists to that game.   All tour information and game information can be found at the NFB of Texas's website. See the show note for the link   Special Shout-Outs! Birthday Wishes The National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania would like to wish all those who were born in June a very happy birthday!   Thank you, Dad! The NFB of Pennsylvania would also like to extend our gratitude to all fathers and father figures! Thank you for all your hard work, perseverance. Love, and support! Happy Father's Day!   Speedy Recovery to Lyvette Byrd! Greater Philadelphia Chapter Board Member Lyvette Bird had a series of surgeries and have been in the hospital since May 15th. We wish her to get well soon and have a complete and speedy recovery!   Well wishes to Gloria Nathan-Cherry Greater Philadelphia Chapter Board Member Gloria Nathan-Cherry had surgery in late May and is recuperating at home. We would like to extend our well wishes and also wish her a speedy and complete recovery!   Get Better Joseph Powell! We would also like to extend our well wishes and a complete and speedy recovery to Greater Philadelphia Chapter member Joseph Powell as he recuperates at home from the surgery he had in May!   Congratulations to Lily Asadullina! We want to congratulate Keystone Chapter member Lily on the birth of her first-born Aria Eva! Welcome to the world Aria and we wish you nothing but wonderful and amazing things as you grow and bond with your family members and friends!   Fundraisers Blind Parents Group T-Shirts Fundraiser The t-shirts come in either black with white letterings or white with black letterings. Both shirts say “I Support #BlindParents” with the NFB of PA Logo and “Blind Parents Group” at the bottom. Funds raised will start a scholarship fund to assist blind or visually impaired parents and their family through financial life hardships. To purchase a t-shirt, please contact Stacie Leap at stacie.leap@gmail.com  . Stacie will also have some t-shirts available at the 2023 national Convention to those wish to purchase it there!   Other External Events These events are not hosted or sponsored by the NFB or the NFB of PA. However, we think these might be good resources for those living in Pennsylvania. If you have any events that you wish to be in our monthly digest, please email Stacie Leap at stacie.leap@gmail.com   OVR State Board of Vocational Rehabilitation Quarterly Meeting Thursday, June 8, 2023 10 AM to 2:30 PM Break: noon to 12:30 PM This meeting will be held virtually via Zoom. The public is invited to call in to this meeting using the following information: Webinar ID: 822 3300 7808 Passcode: 787610 Or One tap mobile: US: +16469313860,,82233007808#,,,,*787610# or +19292056099,,82233007808#,,,,*787610# Additional Zoom information can be found in the show notes.   Disability Pride Week 2023 The week of June 5-10, 2023, there will be a lot of events in honor of Disability Pride Week. You Can register via the Google Form registration page .  Our own Keystone Chapter's member Esther Gillyard will be performing on June 10, 2023 at 3pm ET. Events are as follows: June 5: Disability Pride Kick Off at City Hall: flag raising, live music by Johnny Crescendo, Ben & Jerry's ice cream giveaway, and guest speakers include Deputy Secretary of ODP Kristin Ahrens, Disability Pride PA's Board Chairperson Chuck Horton, and Director of LGBT Affairs Celena Morrison, City Rep Sheila Hess, and more   June 6: Karaoke Block Party at Inglis Innovation Center from 2-6 PM   June 7: Microaggressions Workshop with Artist Wendy Elliott-Vandivier at 2 PM   June 8: Exploring Nature on the Trail  11-1 PM on the Delaware River Trail   June 8: Meet & Mingle with Liberty Resources from 5-8 PM   June 9: A Laughing Lunch (more details to follow)   June 10: Parade kick off at City Hall's North Apron at 11 AM (approcimately4 blocks) Festival begins at 1600 Ben Franklin Parkway at 11 AM with live music on the hour at 12, 1, 2, and 3 PM; and resource tables, fun activities for all ages, food trucks, and community!   Disability Pride PA encourages all people to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions, please call them at (267)621-1480 or email them at info@DisabilityPridePA.org  at least 10 days in advance of your participation.   John Jon Awareness Walk Our member Lyvette Byrd is putting on her 2nd Annual John Jon Awareness Walk on Saturday, July 15, 2023 from 8AM to 10AM ET at the John Heinz Wildlife Refuge Park in Philadelphia, PA. It is to raise awareness about people with different abilities and to honor their advocates. More information and registration can be found at the For the Byrds Consulting website.!   Liberty Resources' Blind/Low Vision Support Group Our members Karen Rose and Simone Cooper partner up with Liberty Resources to hold a weekly virtual support group at Liberty Resources. The aim is to share resources and provide support to those experiencing blindness or low vision. Meetings are weekly on Tuesdays from 1pm to 2pm ET via Zoom. You do not need to live in Philadelphia to attend these meetings, this is open to all in Pennsylvania! For more information or to sign-up, please email Latoya Maddox at LatoyaMaddox@libertyresources.org   Vision Thru Art Vision Thru Art is a weekly sculpture class for blind and visually-impaired artists that has been running at Allens Lane Art Center for more than 30 years. Our dedicated faculty, staff and volunteers help the students express their inner vision through a variety of media including clay, wood, mosaic, stone and other mixed materials. The students are encouraged to work at their own pace while enjoying the easy-going social atmosphere of the class. In 2014, Allens Lane Art Center made the class completely free for all the students including free art supplies each year. Location: The Fluhr Studio - (downstairs back studio accessible by rear entrance). Many of the students use Para-transit to get to the class. Service dogs are of course welcome. Day/Time:  Wednesday, 10:30 am – 12:30pm and Friday 10:30 am – 12:30pm. Fees: There are no fees for this class. Registration: Contact by phone (215-248-0546) or by https://allenslane.org/vision-thru-art/   Women Healed For a Purpose 2023 Conference! Our member Lyvette Bird is hosting her 2nd Annual Women Healed For a Purpose Conference under her business, For the Birds Consulting, LLC. The mission of the conference is to equip and restore the community through a faith-based initiative that we hope will strengthen women holistically; mind, body, and spirit. We are women Living Interdependently in support of Family, Friends, and our Fellow neighbors to Educate and Empower our community. The event will be on Saturday, October 28, 2023.  There will be guest speakers, and live entertainment. There will be an in-person option as well as a Zoom option. For more information or to register, please visit the For The Birds Consulting website.   NFB Pledge I pledge to participate actively in the efforts of the National Federation of the Blind; to achieve equality, opportunity, and security for the blind; to support the policies and programs of the Federation; and to abide by its constitution.   NFB Message The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams.   Many thanks to everybody for all they do within the Federation!   Thanks! the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania team www.nfbp.org

  On Thursday's show: The Texas Education Agency has unveiled the new Houston ISD Superintendent and the nine members of the TEA appointed Board of Managers who will oversee the state's largest public school district. We check in with News 88.7 reporter Dominic Anthony Walsh for details. Also today: Hurricane season is here. NOAA's lead hurricane forecaster joins us to discuss what to expect this year, and we get a refresher on what you need to know and prepare for ahead of a tropical storm or hurricane. Then, we learn what it takes for immigrant students to become Americans. That's the subject of Making Americans, a book by teacher Jessica Lander. We talk with her and with Dr. Marie Moreno, former director of Las Americas Newcomer School here in Houston, which is featured in the book. And we check out the Houston Museum of Natural Science's new shark exhibit.

  On Thursday's show: Two bills filed this week seek to return management of elections to elected officials but only in counties with populations greater than a million. We learn more about these and other election-related bills under consideration in the legislature from News 88.7 reporter Andrew Schneider. Also this hour: We learn how researchers at the University of Houston plan to help small-scale farmers increase crop output while decreasing their carbon footprint. Then, the STAAR test is going online this year. We discuss the pros and cons and learn what concerns educators have about that development. And Pink Floyd's seminal album Dark Side of the Moon was released 50 years ago. In the decades since, it's been used as the backdrop for planetarium light shows, and synced up with The Wizard of Oz for a fairly shockingly well-timed “Dark Side of the Rainbow” experience. The Houston Museum of Natural Science is one of the organizations that's embraced the Dark Side/planetarium shows. We visit their planetarium and discuss why the music meshes so well with planetarium shows.

The gang chooses their favorite callers to win a cockroach at the Houston Museum of Natural Science!

If you didn't know - the Houston Museum of Natural Science has a location in Sugar Land that's an absolute gem! And there will be a flyover before the Big Game this Sunday honoring 50 years of women in Naval Aviation

Yes, Houston has two MLK parades at the same time. The City Cast crew elaborates — and offers other ways to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and enjoy a three-day weekend. 45th Annual Original MLK Jr. Parade in Downtown Houston. MLK Festival at Houston City Hall. 29th Annual MLK Grande Parade in Midtown. Rothko Chapel. The Houston Museum of African American Culture. Dreams, Art & Freedom: Martin Luther King Celebration at La Centerra. Black Heritage Society Gala at Embassy Suites by Hilton Houston West - Katy. The Marriage of Figaro at The Houston Grand Opera. Riots & Scandals Festival at The Houston Symphony. New Jack City: Live on Stage at the Hobby Center. Jay Pharoah at The Improv. If you want more! subscribe to our daily newsletter, Hey Houston! To keep up with us during the long weekend follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook! And if you just want to tell us what you're up to this weekend, text us or leave us a voicemail at +1 713-489-6972 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In episode 245 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on the centenarian photographer, when the sitter takes control and learning photography not facts. Plus this week, photographer John R.J.Taylor takes on the challenge of supplying Grant with an audio file no longer than 5 minutes in length in which he answer's the question ‘What Does Photography Mean to You?' John R. J. Taylor was born in Scotland in 1958 and studied art and photography at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Scotland and photography at the Royal College of Art in London. His book Ideal Home was first published over thirty years ago in 1989 and quickly began to influence photographers and students as to what was a suitable subject for an image, opening up the possibilities of exploring the ordinary, everyday objects of life in a new way. Once a cult book, it is now considered a ‘modern classic'. Ideal Home is an almost forensic photographic record of his sister's north London suburban house. Working his way methodically around the house, Taylor documented the rooms, table tops, ornaments, interiors of fridges, cupboards, garden – as many aspects of the domestic interior of the home as possible. Taylor has continued to work on numerous projects ever since and his images have been collected by the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Museum of London and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Texas, USA, exhibited throughout Europe and once in the USA. www.johnrjtaylorphotography.com Dr. Grant Scott is the founder/curator of United Nations of Photography, a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, a working photographer, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was first screened in 2018 www.donotbendfilm.com. He is the presenter of the A Photographic Life and In Search of Bill Jay podcasts. © Grant Scott 2023

Tom Huck - Evil Prints http://www.evilprints.com/EVIL PRINTS @SPIDERHOLE STUDIO, PO BOX 666, PARK HILLS, MO 63601, UNITED STATES EVILHEADCREW@GMAIL.COMTom Hück (born 1971) is an American printmaker best known for his large-scale satirical woodcuts. He lives and works in Park Hills, Missouri, 60miles south of St. Louis, where he runs his own press Evil Prints @ Spiderhole Studio. His work is influenced by Albrecht Dürer, José Guadalupe Posada, R. Crumb, and Honoré Daumier.  Huck's woodcut prints are included in numerous public and private collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Library of Congress, Spencer Museum of Art, Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Saint Louis Art Museum, Milwaukee Art Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Baltimore Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, Fogg Art Museum, Michael C. Carlos Museum, and The New York Public Library. Huck has been represented by David Krut Art Projects in New York, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri, and Duane Reed Gallery in St. Louis, Missouri.  Beginning in October 2017 Huck's gallery representation is C. G. Boerner in New York.Huck's illustrations have appeared in publications such as The Village Voice, The Riverfront Times, and the Minneapolis City Pages.  Hück has also worked with many music acts over the years most notably The Roots “Phrenology” album cover art, as well as t shirt and poster designs for Motörhead, A Perfect Circle, TILTS, and many others.As of Spring 2021 The Saint Louis Art Museum has become the complete official archive of all of Tom Hück's work dating from 1995 to the present. This episode is sponsored by www.betterhelp.com/TheBarn and presented to you by The Barn Media Group.

In today's conversation I'm joined by the Executive Director of California Lawyers for the Arts, Alma Robinson. Alma beautifully details the comprehensive work that California Lawyers for the Arts is involved in, from programs like their pilot program Designing Creative Futures to their Youth Mediator programs held in 14 different schools in the Sacramento area. Alma shares from The Impact of Prison Arts Programs on Inmate Attitudes and Behavior the positive impact arts programs have had on the lives of incarcerated men and how the arts can serve a a deterrent for kids falling victim to the school-to-prison pipeline. She also talks on the impact of a recent film screening, A Woman on the Outside, hosted with Houston Museum of African American Cultures. To find ways to donate to California Lawyers for the Arts please visit their website here. Follow them on Instagram to stay updated on all the work that they are doing. Make sure to also check out the second chapter in Bell Hook's All About Love and the eighth chapter in James Kilgore's Understanding Mass Incarceration to learn more about the school-to-prison pipeline. Website Instagram --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

  On Thursday's show: We learn how Houstonians are gearing up to help those in Florida affected by Hurricane Ian. Also this hour: We explore how long COVID is affecting children and members of the local workforce from News 88.7 reporter Sara Willa Ernst, who's been following those stories. Then, in this month's installment of The Bigger Picture, we examine Olivia Wilde's new film Don't Worry Darling, the off-screen drama surrounding it, and why we seem to care about the details of celebrities' lives so much. And we learn about the Houston Museum of Natural Science's new HoloTheater, a multimedia holographic cinema experience.

Elinor Carucci is an Israeli-American Fine Art Photographer based in New York City. Her photographs are included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art New York, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Houston Museum of Fine Art, among others. Her work has been published in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, W, Aperture, and many other publications. She has published four monographs: Closer, Diary of a Dancer, MOTHER and Midlife.In this episode we chat about her wonderful book Midlife and the gifts of getting older. We also discuss long term projects, and the nuances of moving between cultures and existing in two languages. This episode was audio produced by Katie McMurran. Music is by Madisen Ward.

A visual artist and designer that plants his flag at the center of art, nature & science.  Christopher works with reclaimed organisms and natural elements to create breathtaking museum exhibits by transforming exotic insects and tropical sea creatures into astounding works of art.  Marley's artwork has been exhibited in hundreds of galleries worldwide. His solo exhibitions have been featured at The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, The Beaty Biodiversity Museum in Vancouver B.C., The Houston Museum of Natural Science, The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the Stamford Art Museum, Los Angeles Museum of Art, WMODA and the Queens Museum. Many of the world's most exclusive retailers such as Bergdorf Goodman, Saks 5th Avenue (NYC), Gumps (San Francisco), Barney's (NYC) and La Galerie du Bon Marche (Paris) have also hosted solo exhibitions. His first book Pheromone, The Insect Art of Christopher Marley (Pomegranate, 2008) was named one of the Best Books of 2008 by The Times (UK) and his second book, Biophilia (Abrams, 2015) is a New York Times Bestseller.  He maintains design studios in Willamette Valley, Oregon and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. On this episode Christopher shares what it was like to grow up with his dad's dead birds in the freezer next to the popsicles, what he now keeps in his many freezers around the world and how important lighting is to displaying elements of nature.