57 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 • 160 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.

    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.

    • 57 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 reshape the world into a place different than it was before.

    • 58 min
    Director Whitney White on Depth and the Magic of Theater

    Director Whitney White on Depth and the Magic of Theater

    Whitney White, Obie Award-winning theater director, talks about how powerful moments on stage originate in the body, and how she preserves her inner self amid the demands of large-scale productions.

    • 1 hr 4 min
    Singer Brittany Howard on Creative Rebirth and Spirituality

    Singer Brittany Howard on Creative Rebirth and Spirituality

    Singer-songwriter Brittany Howard discusses her early experiences with grief and its impact on her creative awakening, her stages of self-discovery, and her understanding of passion and authenticity.

    • 1 hr 2 min
    Helga Returns For A Sixth Season!

    Helga Returns For A Sixth Season!

    Helga Davis’s fearless conversations with artists and thinkers of all kinds returns for another season. Listen to new episodes every Tuesday!

    • 1 min
    Video artist Arthur Jafa on actualizing Black potential, part 2

    Video artist Arthur Jafa on actualizing Black potential, part 2

    Black people know this: There’s a difference between what you say and what you mean. It’s been a matter of survival for us.


    For over 30 years, American visual artist and cinematographer Arthur Jafa has captured the histories and experiences of Black Americans with projects that exemplify both the universal and particular facets of Black life.
    In the second part of this masterclass in Black thought, Jafa continues his free-from improvisation through his breadth of knowledge and understanding of visual culture — embedded with all the references, rhetorics, and personal reflections of someone who has spent a lifetime dedicated to centralizing the varied experiences of Black Being. 

    • 34 min

Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5
160 Ratings

160 Ratings

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.

Sibyl R. ,

Love is the message

Thank you for your love of sharing Black Stories. The conversation with Arthur Jaffa was so beautiful. The energy was palpable. Thank you ! Thank you !

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