Premieres Friday, March 17 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV
Rochester’s own Renée Fleming makes her return to the Met in this new opera by from Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Kevin Puts, adapted from Michael Cunningham’s novel, inspired by Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway.” Also inspired by the 2002 Oscar-winning film, the opera follows three women from different eras who each grapple with inner demons and their roles in society. The opera also stars Tony winner Kelli O’Hara and opera star Joyce DiDonato. Phelim McDermott directs with Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting. Christine Baranski hosts.
PBS KIDS Celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage On-Demand
In the United States, May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. Many people use the month to honor the accomplishments of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States while celebrating their diverse heritages. Learn more with some of your friends from PBS KIDS! Asian Pacific American Heritage celebration started as a week in 1979 under the Carter administration but was extended to a full month on the first Bush administration.
All About Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month
39 Videos in a PBS KIDS Celebrate Asian-American Pacific Islander Month Playlist Watch Here:
PBSKIDS.org Asian-American, Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Month Playlist: Connect Here
A Good Life • On-Demand
Life is full of joys and challenges for us all — but the experiences of individuals living with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) is something that not everyone understands or appreciates.
A Good Life, a WXXI production, takes an intimate look into the lives of six adults living with I/DD and their families. The film shares the challenges and opportunities they face, while leading national experts and historians in the field offer insight.
The film’s producers were able to imbed themselves with these adults and their families, filming moments from their everyday lives. A Good Life provides the unique opportunity to share their stories from a first-person perspective. Viewers will see each family dealing with aging in a unique way that is specific to the time period and constructs they were born into.
The film also offers professional perspective and historical context from local and national experts including Dan Meyers, Al Sigl Community President Emeritus; Jeiri Flores, an advocacy specialist with the Strong Center for Developmental Disabilities; Professor Tamar Heller of the Insitute on Disability and Human Development; Dr. Allison Carey, Disability Activism Sociologist, Professor, and Author; Nicole VanGorder of Upstate Special Needs Planning; Professor Jorge Matos of City University of New York Center for the Humanities; and Dr. Stephen Sulkes of Strong Center for Developmental Disabilities.
Credit: WXXI
Produced by WXXI. A Good Life was produced in conjunction with Move to Include, a partnership between WXXI and the Golisano Foundation designed to build a more inclusive community by inspiring and motivating people to embrace different abilities and include all people in every aspect of community life. Move to Include grew out of WXXI and Al Sigl Community of Agencies initiative, Dialogue on Disability, which is an annual week-long programming event that encourages community dialogue about the lives and abilities of people with disabilities.
Watch The Trailer:
The U.S. and the Holocaust Educational Resources:
PBS LearningMedia Collection: U.S. & The Holocaust Video Clips and Lessons
PBS Website for U.S. & the Holocaust (See Extras and Specials)
THE U.S. AND THE HOLOCAUST: Combining the first-person accounts of Holocaust witnesses and survivors and interviews with leading historians and writers, THE U.S. AND THE HOLOCAUST dispels competing myths that Americans either were ignorant of the unspeakable persecution that Jews and other targeted minorities faced in Europe or that they looked on with callous indifference. The film tackles a range of questions that remain essential to our society today, including how racism influences policies related to immigration and refugees as well as how governments and people respond to the rise of authoritarian states that manipulate history and facts to consolidate power.
Local News Coverage and Survivor Stories from WXXI News
- Connections Podcast: Memoir Authors: Sam Rind and Jerry Elman on remarkable stories of surviving the Holocaust
- Connections Podcast: Holocaust survivor Lea Malek shares her story 9/20/2022
- Connections Podcast: Connections: Former White Supremicist Christian Picciolini On Disengaging From Extremist Movements
- A local Holocaust survivor says she’s haunted by images of the Russian invasion of Ukraine via WXXI News
- ‘RISE’: Rock musical honoring Jewish resistance fighters hopes to inspire today’s battle for democracy
- ‘State of Hate in Greater Rochester’ report shows majority of Jewish residents feel discrimination has increased
- More NPR & WXXI Issues Coverage Connected to the Holocaust
- Photo Essays: Local Survivors from MCC Holocaust, Genocide, & Human Rights Center
Specials: The Holocaust and Authoritarianism Today
Specials: The Holocaust and Refugees: Lessons for Today
Prelude: The Legacy of Garth Fagan Dance On-Demand
Explore the life and career of Tony award winning choreographer Garth Fagan and meet three of his long-time disciples, who are now tasked with bringing his technique and legacy to the next generation.
PRELUDE l The Legacy of Garth Fagan Dance takes you on a journey through the twists and turns of the Tony award-winning choreographer’s storied, collaborative, and prolific career. The WXXI production also looks at three of Mr. Fagan’s long-time disciples – William J. Ferguson II, Natalie Rogers-Cropper, and Norwood Pennewell – who are now tasked with bringing his technique and legacy to the next generation. Through an immersive, cutting-edge documentary film style, PRELUDE reveals the many facets of Garth Fagan.
In celebration of 50 years of Garth Fagan Dance, the hour-long documentary explores the experiences that make up this Jamaican-American dance treasure and his work. Through Mr. Fagan’s own words, PRELUDE sheds light on how he was able to build a multi-cultural dance company that incorporates African-American, Jamaican, and American dance styles into a whole new dance technique.
Mr. Fagan’s choreography was launched into the spotlight in 1997 in Julie Taymor’s Broadway production of The Lion King, and PRELUDE reflects on what that experience meant to the choreographer and his close collaborators. Using archival video of rehearsals, performances, and interviews shot throughout the last 50 years, the film looks at the evolution of the virtuoso and his company of dancers who shared his vision and mastered his technique.
Interviews with The Lion King director Julie Taymor, Kennedy Center award-winning dancer Judith Jameson, SUNY Brockport Dancer Professor Emeritus Jacquie Davis, and many others provide a multifaceted view of all stages of Fagan’s illustrious career and a look at the next generation of Garth Fagan Dance.
Produced by WXXI and distributed by American Public Television
Credit: Jason Milton
Cultural Expressions: Kwanzaa On-Demand
Honoring the heritage, unity, culture, and rich contributions of African Americans, Kwanzaa is more than just a celebration; it’s a way of life. Cultural Expressions: Kwanzaa explores the seven principles that are the foundation of Kwanzaa by sharing seven real-life stories of impact. These stories reveal how each principle plays a role in the Black community, illustrated through cultural elements of dance, storytelling, music, and spoken word. Cultural Expressions: Kwanzaa explores the seven principles that are the foundation of Kwanzaa by sharing seven real-life stories of impact.
Cultural Expressions: Kwanzaa features interviews with Dr. David A. Anderson/Sankofa, Rochester Kwanzaa Coalition; Ms. Melba Ayco, Artistic Director and Owner, Northwest Tap Connection; Delores Jackson Radney, Rochester Kwanzaa Coalition; Melanie Funchess, Principal & CEO, Ubuntu Village Works LLC; Reenah Golden, Founder and Artistic Director, Avenue Blackbox Theatre; Anthony and Zakiya King, Owners of Cerebral Kingdom Bookstore; Dr. Shaun Nelms, EPO Superintendent, East High School; Shawn Dunwoody, Digital Designer Dunwoodē Designs; Terrie Ajile Axam, Founder Artistic Director, Total Dance/Dancical Productions Inc., and Terry Chaka, Rochester Kwanzaa Coalition.
Cultural Expressions: Kwanzaa is a WXXI Public Media production from 2022. The production team includes: Teej Jenkins-Routier, producer/director; Joanne V. Gordon, editor/producer; and Rhonda Austin, associate producer.
Dream Land: Little Rock’s West 9th Street On-Demand
Little Rock, Arkansas’s, West 9th Street was once a vibrant, African-American business and entertainment district. Taborian Hall is the only remaining historic structure on West 9th Street and stands as a living witness of the street’s former glory days.
Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World Education Resources
Watch The Series Clips On-Demand in the PBS LearningMedia Media Gallery
Music as a Tool for Empowerment | Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World:
Hip hop music is a staple of music lovers around the world. With its strong, rhythmic beat and lyrical rap vocal tracks, the genre that originated in New York City after the Civil Rights Movement has grown into one of the most popular styles of music in the world.
In this lesson, students will learn about hip hop as a tool for empowerment and critically analyze its place in American history as they read, analyze, and respond to film clips and lyrics from select songs. Through the discussion questions and activities, students will question the historical complexities and come up with their own interpretation of how music can be a tool for empowerment.
Watch The Series on PBS Passport On-Demand: The 4-part series is an incredible narrative of struggle, triumph and resistance that brings to life through the lens of an art form that has chronicled the emotions, experiences, and expressions of Black and Brown communities: Hip Hop.
Authored by Public Enemy’s Chuck D, who famously labeled Hip Hop as “the Black CNN” for bringing the stories of the street to the mainstream, Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World include personal testimonies of the MCs, DJs, graffiti artists, filmmakers, politicians and opinion formers who created and shaped its direction as it grew from an underground movement in the Bronx to the most popular music genre in the U.S. and the fastest growing genre in the world today.
Featuring interviews from A-list talent like Killer Mike, Will.i.am, Monie Love, Ice-T, Roxanne Shante, MC Lyte and many more, the series will paint a portrait of the unique relationship between Hip Hop and the political history of the U.S.
The Foundation:Discover the factors that led to the birth of Hip Hop and its first socially conscious hit The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five in 1982.
Under SeigeExplore the 1980s and the birth of Hip Hop as social commentary in the Reagan Era with the emergence of artists like Public Enemy, KRS-One, Ice-T, and NWA.
Culture WarsExperience the 1990s during the Clinton years and the unstoppable rise in popularity of Hip Hop, which becomes a force that is attacked by all sides of the political establishment.
Still FightingFollow the evolution of Hip Hop as its artists turn into multimillionaires and successful entrepreneurs. As a cultural phenomenon, Hip Hop continues to change history and is adopted as the voice of protest around the world.