WPKN Music, Arts, and Culture Podcast

WPKN programmer Valerie Richardson speaks with artist Iyaba Ibo Mandingo about his exhibition Arwe Journey: Twentieth-Century Afri-Caribbean Migration, which will be on view at the Housatonic Museum of Art from Weds. Sept. 18, 2024, through Feb. 21, 2025. In the 61 paintings in this exhibition, the artist Iyaba Ibo Mandingo tells the story of the 20th-century Afri-Caribbean migration to Europe and North America. Arwe Journey takes its inspiration from Jacob Lawrence’s Great Migration series and August Wilson’s plays. The exhibition will be accompanied by many special programs including performances of poetry and storytelling by the artist himself. Also joining the conversation were co-curators Jennifer Reynolds-Kaye, director of the Housatonic Museum of Art, and Suzanne Kachmar, director of Bridgeport’s City Lights Gallery. On a side note, Valerie chose to end the interview segment with a snipper of the song Push Back Your Bam-Bam by the Calypso Antiguan artist King Short Shirt. Iyaba was delighted to hear this song and shared after the interview that his mother worked as a backup singer with King Short Shirt.

What is WPKN Music, Arts, and Culture Podcast?

The WPKN Music, Arts, and Culture Podcast features guest interviews hosted on WPKN broadcasts with our renowned DJs. Musicians, artists, producers, writers, movers and shakers - dig deeper into their philosophy and ethos.

Founded in 1963, WPKN is a 10,000-watt listener-supported community radio station broadcasting at 89.5 FM in Bridgeport, CT and streaming online at WPKN.org. WPKN’s terrestrial signal now reaches to a listenership of 1.5 million people in Connecticut, Long Island, parts of New York and Massachusetts. Operating 24/7 and largely run by volunteers, WPKN offers a unique and eclectic mix of live and recorded music, news, public affairs, spoken word, arts & culture and other free-form programming which defy genre.