61 episodes

Artist, performer, and host Helga Davis brings a soulful curiosity and love of people to the podcast Helga, where she talks about the intimate lives of creative people as they share the steps they’ve taken along their path. She draws listeners into these discussions with cultural change-makers, whether already famous or rising talents, whose sensibilities expand our imaginations as we explore what we think we know about each other. The new season of Helga is a co-production of WNYC Studios and the Brown Arts Institute at Brown University. WNYC Studios is a listener-supported producer of other leading podcasts including Radiolab, On the Media, and Death, Sex & Money. The Brown Arts Institute at Brown University is a new university-wide research enterprise and catalyst for the arts at Brown that creates new work and supports, amplifies, and adds new dimensions to the creative practices of Brown’s arts departments, faculty, students, and community.

Helga WNYC Studios and Brown Arts Institute

    • Society & Culture
    • 4.8 • 162 Ratings

Artist, performer, and host Helga Davis brings a soulful curiosity and love of people to the podcast Helga, where she talks about the intimate lives of creative people as they share the steps they’ve taken along their path. She draws listeners into these discussions with cultural change-makers, whether already famous or rising talents, whose sensibilities expand our imaginations as we explore what we think we know about each other. The new season of Helga is a co-production of WNYC Studios and the Brown Arts Institute at Brown University. WNYC Studios is a listener-supported producer of other leading podcasts including Radiolab, On the Media, and Death, Sex & Money. The Brown Arts Institute at Brown University is a new university-wide research enterprise and catalyst for the arts at Brown that creates new work and supports, amplifies, and adds new dimensions to the creative practices of Brown’s arts departments, faculty, students, and community.

    Journalist Jenna Flanagan on Local Politics and Seeking Truth

    Journalist Jenna Flanagan on Local Politics and Seeking Truth

    Journalist Jenna Flanagan discusses the impact of local news, the legacy of Black women in media, and how to get a great story out of just about anyone.

    • 57 min
    Noliwe Rooks on Extending the Ethic of Care

    Noliwe Rooks on Extending the Ethic of Care

    Noliwe Rooks, author, education advocate, and Chair of Africana Studies at Brown University, shares her family’s experiences with education inequality and how community can foster success at school.

    • 58 min
    Singer-songwriter Sampha on Fatherhood and Intuition

    Singer-songwriter Sampha on Fatherhood and Intuition

    British singer-songwriter and producer Sampha talks about fatherhood, the images that inspired his album “Lahai,”and how he follows his intuition in art and life.

    • 46 min
    Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks on Self-Worth and Loving the Grind

    Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks on Self-Worth and Loving the Grind

    The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks talks storytelling, family, and creating a one-act play for each day of the year.

    • 55 min
    Scholar Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo on the Joys of Nerd Rap

    Scholar Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo on the Joys of Nerd Rap

    Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo is a music professor who also performs as the rapper and producer Sammus. Here, she talks about navigating childhood anxiety and showing up as a socially conscious artist.

    • 58 min
    Designer Tremaine Emory on Validation in Consumer Culture

    Designer Tremaine Emory on Validation in Consumer Culture

    Tremaine Emory, streetwear fashion designer, discusses self-validation in consumer culture, and what it means to try to reshape the world.

    • 59 min

Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5
162 Ratings

162 Ratings

M.Shanti K ,

grace and love as survival

Each conversation is such a generous, full heart opening, deep communion with grace and love as survival. Thank you, Helga!

Renard J. S. ,

The Solange episode

Can it get more real, I don’t know and don’t care. My heart is full within this moment. I queued up this to be my introduction to the Helga podcast! This is pure radiance, intelligence, and unconditional sharing.
It puts me in the mindset of the absolute best connections, conversationally or otherwise, that one can have with someone whose wellbeing you’ll root for and who simultaneously you know is honoring herself by representing her authenticity.
If you want a podcast host who remains respectfully present throughout, you’re in the right place.
Now, on to the Krista Tippett episode.

CoachSamuel ,

One of his best

Thank you for such a great program. As a Arthur Jafa addict, I must say it’s one of his best out of the hundreds circulating out there. It really touched me as I listened to my cousin who is like a brother recount his battles that bought him to this point in his life.
We grew up together and many of the stories he describes about traveling back and forth to Tupelo, many times he stayed at my house. Although we are first cousins, he is still one of my hero’s has inspired me to no end to dive head first into things I had no idea I was capable of artistically. Great job.

Top Podcasts In Society & Culture

Shawn Ryan Show
Shawn Ryan | Cumulus Podcast Network
Call It What It Is
iHeartPodcasts
Stuff You Should Know
iHeartPodcasts
Animal
The New York Times
Lights On with Carl Lentz
B-Side
This American Life
This American Life

You Might Also Like

London Review Bookshop Podcast
London Review Bookshop
Between The Covers : Conversations with Writers in Fiction, Nonfiction & Poetry
David Naimon, Tin House Books
The Great Women Artists
Katy Hessel
The Art World: What If...?!
Allan Schwartzman and Charlotte Burns
Time Sensitive
The Slowdown
A brush with...
The Art Newspaper

More by WQXR

Café Concerts
WQXR Radio
Meet the Composer
Q2 Music, WQXR
He Sang/She Sang
WQXR Radio
Around Broadway
WQXR
The Washington Report
WQXR
Conducting Business
WQXR Radio