Shows
Black Market ReadsEpisode 94 - Pearl Cleage, The Nacirema SocietyIn this episode, Lissa Jones welcomes playright Pearl Cleage back to Black Market Reads as they talk about her play The Nacirema Society Requests the Honor of Your Presence at a Celebration of Their First 100 Years, playing at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis April 19-May 29, 2025. SYNOPSIS Grande dames Grace Dunbar and Catherine Green prepare for the Nacirema Society’s 1964 centennial cotillion — the event of the season in Montgomery, Alabama. The elegant African American debutantes include Grace’s granddaughter Gracie, escorted by Catherine’s grandson Bobby, and the two grandmothers hope the young couple will soon be engaged. But Gracie...2025-04-2140 minBlack Market ReadsEpisode 93 - Dr. Gail C. Christopher, Rx for Racial Healing: A Guide to Embracing Our HumanityIn this episode Lissa talks with Dr. Gail C. Christopher —a nationally recognized leader in health equity, a pioneer in integrative medicine, and the visionary architect behind the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation initiative (TRHT). Dr. Christopher has spent decades designing and leading national programs that advance racial healing, community well-being, and policy change—including her role as Senior Advisor and Vice President at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. She is also the Executive Director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity. She joins us today to discuss her new book, Rx Racial Healing: A Guide to Embracing Our Huma...2025-04-0233 minBlack Market ReadsEpisode 89 - Danez Smith, BLUFFIn this episode of Black Market Reads: On Health Lissa and Bukata talk with poet Danez Smith about his latest work, BLUFF. Written after two years of artistic silence, during which the world came to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Minneapolis became the epicenter of protest following the murder of George Floyd, Bluff is Danez Smith's powerful reckoning with their role and responsibility as a poet and with their hometown of the Twin Cities. This is a book of awakening out of violence, guilt, shame, and critical pessimism to wonder and imagine how we ca...2024-09-2041 minBlack Market ReadsEpisode 88 -Taiyon J. Coleman, Traveling Without Moving: Essays from a Black Woman Trying to Survive in America In this episode Lissa and Bukata talk with author Taiyon J. Coleman author of Traveling Without Moving: Essays from a Black Woman Trying to Survive in America ( University of Minnesota Press). In Traveling without Moving, Coleman shares intimate essays from her life: her childhood in Chicago—growing up in poverty with four siblings and a single mother. She writes about being the only Black student in a prestigious and predominantly White creative writing program, about institutional racism and implicit bias in writing instruction, about the violent legacies of racism in the U.S. hou...2024-08-0840 min
Black Market ReadsLinda Villarosa, UNDER THE SKIN: The Hidden Toll of Racism on Health in America In this inaugural episode of Black Market Reads: On Health, Lissa Jones introduces her series co-host Bukata Hayes, Vice President and Chief Equity Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota. Together they welcome their guest Linda Villarosa, a Pulitzer Prize Finalist and contributor to the NYT 1619 Project. There’s an alarming saying in medical circles that Black people in the US “live sicker and die quicker.” Linda Villarosa, explores this phenomenon in her book UNDER THE SKIN: The Hidden Toll of Racism on Health in America. Villarosa finds that erroneous beliefs about Black...2024-03-2533 min
KFAI's MinneCultureThe African American Cultural Center: A History of Collaboration and Connection in MinnesotaTa-Coumba Aiken and Seitu Jones are two Twin Cities based artists that have international reputations. Forty years ago, the two were part of the vibrant African American Cultural Center, a place where Black Art was being nurtured, rediscovered, and celebrated. In today's episode, Sheila Regan explores the Center's history and it's legacy.Support for MinneCulture on KFAI has been provided by the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund. Season 7 of the MinneCulture podcast is edited and executive produced by Julie Censullo and hosted by John Gebretatose. 2023-03-0216 min
Keepin' On (presented by Walker|West)"MUSIC SPARKS CREATIVITY" - S2 Episode 1 (part 2)Continuing from Part 1. Music gives flight to the imagination. It can make you want to tap your foot, sing or dance, paint or write, think and do.Guests Ta-Coumba Aiken, Robin Hickman Winfield, and T. Mychael Rambo discuss how music inspires creativity in their respective art forms.Support the showAll Episodes available now. Keepin' On, hosted by Vanne Owens Hayes is presented by Walker|West. To support programming like this visit us online. ...Mission: Walker|West creates a music learning community rooted in the African-American cultural...2022-11-0823 min
Keepin' On (presented by Walker|West)"MUSIC SPARKS CREATIVITY" - S2 Episode 1 (part 1)Music gives flight to the imagination. It can make you want to tap your foot, sing or dance, paint or write, think and do. Guests Ta-Coumba Aiken, Robin Hickman Winfield, and T. Mychael Rambo discuss how music inspires creativity in their respective art forms.Support the showAll Episodes available now. Keepin' On, hosted by Vanne Owens Hayes is presented by Walker|West. To support programming like this visit us online. ...Mission: Walker|West creates a music learning community rooted in the African-American cultural experience, where people...2022-11-0835 min
Ujamaa Place: A Black Man’s SketchS2, E2: Juneteenth Commemorative EpisodeA celebration of African American history, music, art and literature, featuring a special tribute to George Floyd and Philando Castile by Ta-coumba T. Aiken and Seitu Jones. Juneteenth Commemoration 2022 is in partnership with The City of St. Paul, Saint Paul Public Library, MN Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, Ujamaa Place and OMG Studios.
Learn more at: https://ujamaaplace.org/juneteenth-2022/
An OMG Studios production. All rights reserved.
2022-06-1934 min
Inclusivi-TEA PodcastInclusivi-TALKS an Interview with Ta-coumba AikenIn this episode of Inclusivi-TALKS, Ta-coumba Aiken talks about his creative inspirations and his goals for the future, shares advice for younger artists, and works on his entry for Artists Who Share: An Auction Supporting Coronavirus Recovery.
Connect with Ta-coumba Here
https://www.ta-coumba.com/
http://instagram.com/tyronetaiken
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoohsEjA-4pCywL9DcMvy-Q for this episode as well as many others! Also, make sure to stop by our store and pre-order your very own "Shareables" Jacket & Bag HERE https...2020-05-281h 09
Synapse PodcastSynapse: Think Tank of the Air, E8 - 8-10-18What is art? In this episode we picked the brains of two local artists, Natalia Berglund and Ta-coumba Aiken. Originally from Belarus, Berglund will be holding her first solo exhibition, Faces of Change, at the Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis, beginning August 25. Aiken is a well-known public artist in the Twin Cities, whose works can be found at the Walker Art Center and the Minnesota Museum of Modern Art.2018-08-1057 minBlack Market ReadsBlues Vision Book ClubThis edition of BMR features a book club style exploration of Blues Vision with special guests Lisa Brimmer and Valérie Déus. Blues Vision is a stunning anthology of essays co-edited by Alex Pate, Pam Fletcher, and J. Otis Powell ?!, with cover art by Ta-coumba Aiken, and co-published by Minnesota Humanities Center and Minnesota Historical Society Press. Blues Vision features writing by Minnesota luminaries Tish Jones, Rohan Preston, Mary Moore Easter, E.G Bailey, Frank B. Wilderson III, Sha Cage, Andrea Jenkins, Shannon Gibney, Kim Hines, Carolyn Holbrook, Arleta Little, Clarence White, Angela Shannon and more. Cul...2015-12-2940 min
Nigel Parry/PoRPocket of Resistance, "Funk", featuring Ta-coumba Aiken live at Golden's, October 31, 2014Golden's Lowertown, October 31, 2014
Learn more about Pocket of Resistance at http://pocketofresistance.net2014-11-1211 min