The WBUR Festival: Full Schedule

4:00pm EDT

A Perfect Pairing: Lessons in Leadership

Thursday May 29, 2025 4:00pm - 6:00pm EDT

A renowned chef and a world-class conductor share insights from their years leading creative talent. Refreshments to be served.

Doors at 4:00 p.m. Event at 5:00 p.m.

Separate ticket required.

Speakers

Tiziana Dearing

Host, Morning Edition, WBUR

Tiziana Dearing is the host of WBUR’s Morning Edition. Prior to helping listeners start the morning with news from around the corner and around the world, Tiziana hosted Radio Boston, WBUR’s daily local magazine, for five years.Tiziana came to journalism after a career that... Read More →

Eric Ripert

Chef & Co-Owner, Le Bernardin

Eric Ripert is the Chef and Co-Owner of the acclaimed restaurant Le Bernardin. It has been ranked among the best restaurants in the world and in 2023 ranked No.1 on the annual list of "La Liste". It holds the maximum ratings of four stars from The New York Times for over three decades... Read More →

Keith Lockhart

Conductor, The Boston Pops

On May 10, 1995, Keith Lockhart, the 20th Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, opened his very first Boston Pops season, leading a concert featuring guests Sylvia McNair, Mandy Patinkin, and Doc Severinsen, and repertoire ranging from Wagner to “Charlie on the MTA.” He was... Read More →

Thursday May 29, 2025 4:00pm - 6:00pm EDT
WBUR CitySpace 890 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Arts & Culture, Food & Drink

7:30pm EDT

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

Thursday May 29, 2025 7:30pm - 9:30pm EDT

Boch Center - Wang Theatre

Join a live taping of NPR's weekly quiz show.
Separate ticket required.

Speakers

Peter Sagal

Host, Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

Peter Sagal is, has been, and perhaps someday will be again, a husband, father, playwright, screenwriter, author, journalist, columnist, marathoner, Jeopardy contestant, dramaturg, podcast host, documentary host, foreign correspondent, wedding officiant, and magician's assistant.In... Read More →

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

Podcast, NPR

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is NPR's weekly hour-long quiz program. Each week on the radio you can test your knowledge against some of the best and brightest in the news and entertainment world while figuring out what's real news and what's made up. On the Web, you can play along... Read More →

Thursday May 29, 2025 7:30pm - 9:30pm EDT
Boch Center - Wang Theatre 270 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02116

Arts & Culture

11:30am EDT

Behind-the-Scenes of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

Friday May 30, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm EDT

Tsai Performance Center

The making of NPR’s weekly quiz show.

Sponsored by:

Speakers

Jennifer Mills

Senior Producer, Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

Jennifer Mills is a writer and producer for Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

Doug Berman

Producer, Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! & Car Talk

Two-time Peabody Award-winning producer Doug Berman is responsible for NPR's most successful entertainment programs, the hit comedies Car Talk and Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

Peter Sagal

Host, Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

Friday May 30, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm EDT
Tsai Performance Center 685 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Arts & Culture

2:30pm EDT

A Conversation with Roxane Gay

Friday May 30, 2025 2:30pm - 3:30pm EDT

Tsai Performance Center

The bestselling writer, editor and social commentator reflects on American life today.

Sponsored by:

Speakers

Roxane Gay

Writer, Editor & Professor

Roxane Gay is a widely published writer, editor and professor who works across many genres. She is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and the editor of an eponymous imprint at Grove Atlantic. She splits her time between New York and Los Angeles.

Friday May 30, 2025 2:30pm - 3:30pm EDT
Tsai Performance Center 685 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Arts & Culture

4:00pm EDT

Ina Garten in Conversation with Michael Barbaro

Friday May 30, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm EDT

Tsai Performance Center

The legendary cookbook author and television host swaps stories with the co-host of The Daily from The New York Times.

Sponsored by:

Speakers

Michael Barbaro

Host, The Daily, The NY Times

Michael Barbaro is an American journalist and co-host of The New York Times news podcast The Daily, one of the most popular podcasts in the United States.

Ina Garten

Cookbook Author & Television Host

Ina Garten, the celebrated specialty food store maven and bestselling cookbook author, was once a nuclear budget analyst at President Carter’s White House. Garten left Washington, DC in 1978 to buy a 400 sq. ft. store called Barefoot Contessa in the Hamptons – eighteen years... Read More →

Friday May 30, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm EDT
Tsai Performance Center 685 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Arts & Culture, Food & Drink

10:30am EDT

Art in Public

Saturday May 31, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am EDT

Dance Theatre

The head of the new Boston Triennial, a new media artist and WBUR Maker and a designer focused on social justice share their perspectives on the power of public art.

Sponsored by

Speakers

Caleb Hawkins

Design Director, MASARY Studios

Caleb Hawkins is an interdisciplinary designer and creative leader at the intersection of art, technology, and architecture. As Design Director at MASARY Studios, he synthesizes cutting-edge technologies, architectural principles, and artistic vision to create immersive public art... Read More →

Kenneth Bailey

Co-founder, Design Studio for Social Intervention

Kenneth Bailey is the co-founder of the Design Studio for Social Intervention. His interests focus on the research and development of design tools for marginalized communities to address complex social issues. With over three decades of experience in community practice, Bailey brings... Read More →

Kate Gilbert

Artist & Cultural Worker

Kate Gilbert cultivates the critical role the arts and artists play in transforming our cities, our relationships, and ourselves. These investigations manifest in artwork, a curatorial practice, and dedication to expanding the field of public art. As an artist and cultural worker... Read More →

Saturday May 31, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am EDT
Dance Theatre 915 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Arts & Culture

11:30am EDT

Backing Black Arts in Boston

Saturday May 31, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm EDT

Booth Theatre

Local arts and culture luminaries discuss moving Black arts from the margins to the center in Boston.

Sponsored by:

Speakers

Arielle Gray

Reporter, WBUR

Arielle Gray is a storyteller and artist currently based in Boston. She is a reporter at WBUR, where she reports on Black and brown communities through the lens of art and culture. She joined WBUR in 2018 as a reporting fellow before being hired full-time. Her work examines the liminal... Read More →

Dawn Simmons

Co-Producing Artistic Director, The Front Porch Arts Collective

Dawn Simmons is the Co-Producing Artistic Director of The Front Porch Arts Collective and an award-winning director, producer, playwright, administrator, cultural consultant, and educator. Over the last decade Dawn has used her own artistic practice to push the New England theatre... Read More →

Catherine Morris

Director, Arts & Cultue, The Boston Foundation

Over the last 20 years, Catherine Morris has spent her career supporting BIPOC artists by producing shows, creating platforms as well as mobilizing and engaging local audiences to experience the arts from a Black perspective. In her new role, she will oversee the Foundation’s multifaceted... Read More →

Ty-Juana L. Flores

Arts Administrator

Ty-Juana L. Flores is an arts administrator and impact driven leader who is passionate about building an equitable arts and culture ecosystem for her hometown Boston. As a thought partner and change agent, she has held various roles in fashion manufacturing, design, higher education... Read More →

Saturday May 31, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm EDT
Booth Theatre 820 Commonwealth Ave, Brookline, MA 02446, USA

Arts & Culture

12:00pm EDT

Behind-the-Scenes of Car Talk

Saturday May 31, 2025 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT

Tsai Performance Center

Talking shop with America’s funniest mechanic and the geniuses who made this iconic NPR show happen.

Sponsored by

Speakers

Doug Berman

Producer, Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! & Car Talk

Two-time Peabody Award-winning producer Doug Berman is responsible for NPR's most successful entertainment programs, the hit comedies Car Talk and Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

Ray Magliozzi

Fmr. Host, Car Talk, WBUR

“Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers”, Tom and Ray Magliozzi brought personality and humor to public broadcasting through their award-winning NPR radio show Car Talk. They grew up in East Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Ray would often watch Tom take dilapidated cars apart and... Read More →

Robert Siegel

Former Co-Host, All Things Considered, NPR

Prior to his retirement, Robert Siegel was the senior host of NPR's award-winning evening newsmagazine All Things Considered. With 40 years of experience working in radio news, Siegel hosted the country's most-listened-to, afternoon-drive-time news radio program and reported on stories... Read More →

Saturday May 31, 2025 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT
Tsai Performance Center 685 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Arts & Culture

1:00pm EDT

Sandwiches of History

Saturday May 31, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT

Booth Theatre

From TikTok to the table, bite into a delectable session that’s the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Sponsored by

Speakers

Barry Enderwick

Barry W. Enderwick has passion for food, cooking, culture, and of course, eating. In 2018, he came across The Up-To-Date Sandwich Book published in 1909 and decided to try some of the recipes on social media. Today, Barry makes sandwiches from old recipes as written, then plusses... Read More →

Saturday May 31, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
Booth Theatre 820 Commonwealth Ave, Brookline, MA 02446, USA

Arts & Culture, Food & Drink

3:00pm EDT

Please Pack Your Knives and Go: A Conversation with Kristen Kish

Saturday May 31, 2025 3:00pm - 4:00pm EDT

Tsai Performance Center

Enter the kitchen as the Top Chef winner and host talks with a fellow James Beard award-winning chef about growing up, her time in Boston, and building an empire in the cutthroat culinary industry.

Attendees of this session will receive a copy of “Accidentally On Purpose.”

Sponsored by

Speakers

Karen Akunowicz

James Beard Award Winner, TV Personality & Host, Best-Selling Author

Chef Karen Akunowicz is a best-selling author & James Beard Award winner (Best Chef: Northeast) of Top Chef S13 fame. The Chef/Owner of Fox & the Knife Enoteca, Bar Volpe Ristorante, Fox & Flight, and Fox Pasta Company, Chef Karen has been touted as “Boston’s Queen of Pasta... Read More →

Kristen Kish

Author & Host, Top Chef

Kristen Kish is the chef/partner of Arlo Grey in Austin, Texas, the host of Bravo's Emmy Award-winning "Top Chef" and the host/producer of "Restaurants at the End of the World" on National Geographic/Disney+. She has recently been named to TIME 100's Next, AdWeek's Creative 100 and... Read More →

Saturday May 31, 2025 3:00pm - 4:00pm EDT
Tsai Performance Center 685 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Arts & Culture, Food & Drink

4:00pm EDT

Why Museums Matter

Saturday May 31, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm EDT

Booth Theatre

The heads of the Peabody Essex Museum, MassArt, and ReMuseum, reflect on why museums matter and what they can offer their communities.

Sponsored by

Speakers

Lisa Tung

Executive Director, MassArt Museum

Lisa Tung is the Executive Director at The MassArt Museum.

Stephen Reily

Founding Director, Remuseum

An art collector and arts patron, Stephen Riley answered a call in 2017 to serve as Director of the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, and for more than four years he led the institution under a new mission to “invite everyone to celebrate art forever.” Under Reily’s leadership... Read More →

Lynda Roscoe Hartigan

Director & CEO, Peabody Essex Museum

As a curator, scholar and museum executive, Lynda Roscoe Hartigan brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to PEM. During her time as Chief Curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, she led an internationally recognized acquisition initiative to build collections of works... Read More →

Saturday May 31, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm EDT
Booth Theatre 820 Commonwealth Ave, Brookline, MA 02446, USA

Arts & Culture

5:30pm EDT

Boston Comedy Showcase

Saturday May 31, 2025 5:30pm - 6:30pm EDT

Booth Theatre

Discover the next Mindy Kaling or Bill Burr at this must-see showcase of local stand-up talent.

Sponsored by

In partnership with

Speakers

Bethany Van Delft

Comedian

Bethany Van Delft is an award winning stand up comedian, and regular host and storyteller for The Moth, the critically acclaimed storytelling show. When she is not on stage, or tending to her family, you can find her incessantly decluttering.

Saturday May 31, 2025 5:30pm - 6:30pm EDT
Booth Theatre 820 Commonwealth Ave, Brookline, MA 02446, USA

Arts & Culture, Live performance

5:30pm EDT

Inside the Creative Process

Saturday May 31, 2025 5:30pm - 6:30pm EDT

CFA Concert Hall

Three Boston creatives — an NPR Tiny Desk winner, the former Boston Poet Laureate, and a hit making WBUR podcast host — circle up to unpack the creative process, ending with live performances from Amador and Olayiwola.

Sponsored by

Speakers

Amory Sivertson

Host & Senior Producer, WBUR Podcasts

Amory Sivertson is the host/reporter of Beyond All Repair and the co-host and senior producer of Endless Thread. She's one of the founding producers of Modern Love: The Podcast and the former producer of Dear Sugar Radio (now called Dear Sugars).Previously, Amory was the studio... Read More →

Alisa Amador

Singer & Songwriter

Praised by NPR’s Bob Boilen as a “powerful voice whose tender performance commands attention and fosters connection,” Alisa Amador made history in 2022 with the first-ever Spanish language song to win the prestigious Tiny Desk Contest. Now, two years later, the bilingual singer/songwriter... Read More →

Porsha Olayiwola

Fmr. Poet Laureate, City of Boston

Porsha Olayiwola is a native of Chicago who writes, lives and loves in Boston. Olayiwola is a writer, performer, educator and curator who uses afro-futurism and surrealism to examine historical and current issues in the Black, woman, and queer diasporas. She is an Individual World... Read More →

Saturday May 31, 2025 5:30pm - 6:30pm EDT
CFA Concert Hall 855 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA, USA

Arts & Culture, Live performance

6:00pm EDT

A Conversation with Ira Glass

Saturday May 31, 2025 6:00pm - 7:00pm EDT

FitRec

As This American Life celebrates its 30th anniversary, the show’s host and producer reflects on his career and the evolution of public radio.

Sponsored by

Speakers

Ira Glass

Host, This American Life, NPR

Ira Glass is an American public radio personality. He is the host and producer of the radio and television series This American Life and has participated in other NPR programs, including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Talk of the Nation.

Saturday May 31, 2025 6:00pm - 7:00pm EDT
FitRec 915 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Arts & Culture