Highlights Archive

Bruce Springsteen: Finding America in Song • WXXI-TV

The thirty-minute special will be hosted by PBS News Hour co-anchor & co-managing editor Geoff Bennett and focuses on Bruce Springsteen’s storied career, his impact on American music, and the opening of the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music at Monmouth University.

Bruce Springsteen: Finding America in Song airs Sunday, July 5 at 6 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming live on the WXXI and PBS apps.

The special will include an extended look at Bennett’s recent interview with Springsteen that aired on PBS News Hour as well as conversations with Bob Sanelli, the former executive director of the Grammy Museum and founding executive director of the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music, and Jon Landau, Springsteen’s longtime manager and producer, on the role music plays in telling the American story as the country marks its 250th anniversary.

Photo Credit: Singersroom

National Treasure, America 250 screening • The Little Theatre

Historian and code-breaker Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) has been searching his whole life for a rumored treasure dating back to the creation of the United States.

America 250 l National Treasure screens at The Little Theatre on Thursday, July 2 at 7 p.m. in Theatre 1 (240 East Avenue).

Joining an expedition led by fellow treasure hunter Ian Howe (Sean Bean), Gates finds an ice-locked Colonial ship in the Arctic Circle that contains a clue linking the treasure to the Declaration of Independence. But when Howe betrays him, Gates has to race to get to the document ahead of his so-called colleague.

Click here to purchase tickets!

Rufus Wainright Does Kurt Weill • WXXI-TV

Singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright performs an evening dedicated to Kurt Weill’s iconic music, featuring classics including “Mack the Knife,” “The Saga of Jenny,” and “September Song.”

Rufus Wainright Does Kurt Weill airs Sunday, July 12 at 1 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming live on the WXXI and PBS apps.

Singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright’s fascination with German composer Kurt Weill’s music goes back decades. However, RUFUS WAINWRIGHT DOES KURT WEILL marks the first time he dedicated an entire evening to performing the songs of this legendary figure in musical theater. Filmed in Los Angeles with the Paciﬁc Jazz Orchestra, the concert features classics like “Mack the Knife,” “The Saga of Jenny” and “September Song.”

Photo Credit: APT

America 250 Radio Celebration • WXXI Classical

From July 1 through July 15 WXXI Classical hosts will focus on American composers, cultural heritage, and orchestral storytelling by presenting 250 pieces of American music. More details to come including an America 250 playlist link.

Click here to listen to WXXI Classical live.

America Made in Virginia: 250 Years Together • WXXI-TV

A star-filled tribute to America’s Semiquincentennial from revolutionary Colonial Williamsburg. Featuring live performance, historic interpretation, large-scale spectacle and fireworks. This is the place where the path to independence truly began.

America Made in Virginia: 250 Years Together airs Saturday, July 4 at 9:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming live on the WXXI and PBS apps.

A star-filled tribute to America’s Semiquincentennial set in the revolutionary capitol of Colonial Williamsburg. Blending live performance, music, historic interpretation, impactful narration and large-scale visual spectacle to create an inspiring national event that connects the nation’s founding directly to the present day, the broadcast is designed as both a celebration and a unifying national moment. It offers a heartfelt and powerful reflection that honors the past, engages the present, and inspires a season of civic renewal – all from the place where the path to independence truly began. From the first melodic sounds of a violin to the thunderous pyrotechnic finale, this is a program for all Americans to see themselves reflected in our nation’s continuing story.

Photo Credit: PBS

America 250 Series • WXXI News

WXXI News presents a series of stories that looks at America 250 through a complete lens.

Check them out here:

Aired 7/1: What’s fact and fiction in the area’s most legendary tale of Revolutionary valor. Click here to read or listen to the piece.

Aired 6/30: One of Mount Hope’s most interesting Revolutionary War vets is not who you think he is. Click here to read or listen to the piece.

Aired 6/29: Restored 1813 portrait of George Washington is back where it belongs at Capitol. Click here to read or listen to the piece.

Connect250, a Nationwide Storytelling Project

What happens when strangers sit down and truly listen to one another?

America’s story is made up of millions of individual stories. Through Connect250, StoryCorps, NPR’s Morning Edition, and WXXI are inviting people across the country to connect across differences and share meaningful conversations in honor of America’s 250th birthday. Record a conversation with someone from another community and contribute to a historic collection that will be preserved at the Library of Congress for future generations. To learn more and pre-register, visit connect250.org. Conversations start July 7.

Learn more.

Disability Pride Month Collection • On-Demand

Take time to honor Disability Pride Month observe the landmark anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26 and consider its wider impact and implications across culture and society.

Each year we honor Disability Pride Month which offers a time to observe the landmark anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26 and consider its wider impact and implications across culture and society. Our collection is grounded in this year’s theme, “The World Works Better With Us”, which promotes self-advocacy, support, education and advocacy for rights and inclusion across public spaces for all people living and thriving with disabilities. In this six-film suite, we share compelling stories that center intimate perspectives of lived experiences where self-love and acceptance are paramount, where fears and anxieties lead to profound moments of change, where community uplifts and finds power in collective action and shows how creativity provides pathways for communication.

In All Riders, a group of disabled NYC commuters rally together in their fight for accessibility on the MTA. Co-director Sam Habib documents his transition into adulthood in The Ride Ahead as he navigates his private and public life while living with a rare genetic disorder. I Didn’t See You There provides a personal and political perspective on the legacy of the spectacle of the Freak Show and the paradoxical nature of visibility and visibility for people with disabilities. Two stories foreground the isolating experience of disability; the director and protagonist in Is There Anybody Out There? searches for others who are like her while Pedro battles mental health issues as a young, blind undocumented immigrant in the award-winning film unseen. Finally, the communicative power of creative expression lights up the screen in The Beautiful Colors of Jeremy Sicile-Kira.

WXXI is proud to be a co-presenter of this collection as part of our Move to Include^TM initiative, which promotes disability inclusion, representation, and accessibility in public media. Built on the principle of “Nothing About Us Without Us”, Move to Include spotlights the lived experience of people with disabilities and highlights important issues around disability, including education, healthcare, housing, employment, and more – through television, radio, news, education, community events, and digital media.

Click here to access the Community Network!