Arts and Cultural Management

What are the special challenges faced by those who run arts and cultural organizations? How are they coping with the world-wide economic downturn? As the 10th International Conference on Arts and Cultural Management wraps up today at SMU, we’ll talk with one of the organizers. Krista Farber Weinstein is a recent Visiting Assistant Professor in the Center for Arts Administration at SMU.

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Galileo and the Roman Inquisition

What was the 17th Century heresy trial of Galileo really like? We’ll find out this hour with author Dan Hofstadter, who examines the details of the trial and conviction in his new book “The Earth Moves: Galileo and the Roman Inquisition” (W.W. Norton and Co., 2009).

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Protests in Iran

What will become of the protesters in Iran and will they accomplish the change they so desperately want? We’ll explore the current situation and possible outcomes this hour with Dr. Mahmoud Sadri, Professor of Sociology at Texas Women’s University.

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Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today

It may seem unbelievable, but according to our guest this hour, slavery is alive and well – even in our country. We’ll talk with Kevin Bales, president of Free the Slaves in Washington, D.C and co-author with Ron Soodalter of the new book “The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today” (University of California, 2009).

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The Inside Story of Eradicating a Worldwide Killer

On October 26, 1976, the last case of Smallpox occurred, ending a ten-year struggle to eliminate a disease that had annually killed two million people or more. We’ll spend this hour with Dr. D.A. Henderson, the physician who led the campaign. He tells the story in a new book – “SMALLPOX – THE DEATH OF A DISEASE: The Inside Story of Eradicating a Worldwide Killer ” (Prometheus, 2009).

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The Web of Art and Politics in American Democracy

Controversy over the public funding of art is nothing new, but how will the current economic climate influence future funding and what does history tell us? We’ll talk this hour with David A. Smith, a Baylor University historian and author of the recent book “Money for Art: The Tangled Web of Art and Politics in American Democracy” (Ivan R, Dee, 2008).

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Growing Up in Africa

Can we really “know” a place without living there, breathing its air and feeling its earth? We’ll spend this hour with an author who first introduced readers to mid-seventies Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) with her 2001 national bestseller “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight” and revisited her roots in “Scribbling the Cat” in 2004. Alexandra Fuller is in town to speak at Arts and Letters Live at the Dallas Museum of Art tonight.

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