Helga

by WNYC Studios and Brown Arts Institute
122

Artist, performer, and host Helga Davis brings a soulful curiosity and love of people to the podcast Helga, where she talks about the intimate lives of creative people as they share the steps they’ve taken along their path. She draws listeners into these discussions with cultural change-makers, whether already famous or rising talents, whose sensibilities expand our imaginations as we explore what we think we know about each other. The new season of Helga is a co-production of WNYC Studios and the Brown Arts Institute at Brown University. WNYC Studios is a listener-supported producer of other leading podcasts including Radiolab, On the Media, and Death, Sex & Money. The Brown Arts Institute at Brown University is a new university-wide research enterprise and catalyst for the arts at Brown that creates new work and supports, amplifies, and adds new dimensions to the creative practices of Brown’s arts departments, faculty, students, and community.

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Recent Reviews
  • EF in Bklyn
    Helga — with Walter Mosley
    So glad I found out about this podcast. She is great host.
  • M.Shanti K
    grace and love as survival
    Each conversation is such a generous, full heart opening, deep communion with grace and love as survival. Thank you, Helga!
  • Renard J. S.
    The Solange episode
    Can it get more real, I don’t know and don’t care. My heart is full within this moment. I queued up this to be my introduction to the Helga podcast! This is pure radiance, intelligence, and unconditional sharing. It puts me in the mindset of the absolute best connections, conversationally or otherwise, that one can have with someone whose wellbeing you’ll root for and who simultaneously you know is honoring herself by representing her authenticity. If you want a podcast host who remains respectfully present throughout, you’re in the right place. Now, on to the Krista Tippett episode.
  • CoachSamuel
    One of his best
    Thank you for such a great program. As a Arthur Jafa addict, I must say it’s one of his best out of the hundreds circulating out there. It really touched me as I listened to my cousin who is like a brother recount his battles that bought him to this point in his life. We grew up together and many of the stories he describes about traveling back and forth to Tupelo, many times he stayed at my house. Although we are first cousins, he is still one of my hero’s has inspired me to no end to dive head first into things I had no idea I was capable of artistically. Great job.
  • Sibyl R.
    Love is the message
    Thank you for your love of sharing Black Stories. The conversation with Arthur Jaffa was so beautiful. The energy was palpable. Thank you ! Thank you !
  • Achef2u
    Thank you
    Welcome back Helga, what a great interview I’ve missed you, and I love you dearly. John-Conrad Thank you for “ for holding space for us”.. another great show. It was such an honor meeting you this with your nephew and uncle in Harlem. I love the show, I’ve listened to all the episodes. I love you John Conrad Ste Marthe
  • lkmweb
    Your poem about your mom’s illness
    Dear Helga, this last episode with Kevin Young was particularly easy to connect with, crowned by your in-progress poem about your mom’s illness. Having lost my mom to Alzheimer’s after over 10 years of losing her, it was really evocative and moving. Thank you. Fondly, Lydia
  • Hawlistic
    Gratitude
    I feel so grateful to have found this wonderful practice of conversation that Helga has, how she meets whoever she is talking with humor and clarity and how understanding emerges from the experience the two people have of one another, getting to the truth of whatever arises.
  • henrogthegreat
    Deep breathing
    I am so grateful for Helga’s pace, her beautiful questions and ideas, her inspiring guests. It brings me into myself
  • Cosmichoneybun18
    This is beyond a blessing to listen in on
    I can’t even begin to say how many of my stagnant perspectives went soaring/dancing/laughing/crying into the they sky of my own creative life - just from listening to one episode. I am beyond grateful this podcast was shared with me - and Helga … you’re a beautiful mirror to look into. Everyone interviewed is a beautiful compilation of experience from a perspective I don’t currently have . It’s such an expanding experience to listen in on, and I am deeply appreciative this body of work.
  • The Girl Listener
    I too LOVE this podcast
    It’s a slice of heaven to listen to these! Always interesting and for me uplifting! Thank you Helga
  • organic eater
    LOVE
    Extraordinary - wildly accomplished artists and makers in many genres in genuine peer-to-peer conversation. Thanks Helga, thanks WNYC! LOVE THE NEW SEASON. Nick Cave interview is THE BEST.
  • Ava UWS
    Like listening to an embrace
    Helga’s authenticity and warm nature come through so clearly on this podcast. She asks the questions I want to hear and it is so satisfying to listen to an interviewer “go there” with her subjects. When listening to this podcast I feel that I am at the table too, right in the moment watching this grand conversation unfold between two people. It’s a beautiful and hopeful podcast to listen to during this time in our nation.
  • Hannah Tyer
    Helga’s Presence
    I found this podcast through her episode with Krista Tippett. She brought out a side of Krista I had never heard before (and I had been a follower of hers for years). Helga is wise, present, and a phenomenal interviewer.
  • LacrosseMominCT
    I LOVE HELGA!
    I just discovered this podcast. Not only is Helga Davis an immensely gifted performance artist and singer, she’s a naturally gifted interviewer. It’s a joy to listen to her connect so naturally with her guests. Her genuine fondness for them, her personal connection to them and her willingness to share own vulnerability makes her interviews fascinating; deeply immersed in the subject yet providing more than a glimpse into their lives, motivations and psyches. I’m a fan. Can’t wait for more seasons!
  • TMT-DC
    Beautiful podcast
    In these difficult times, Helga’s conversations are a balm. Interesting, insightful, fun, meaningful. This is a wonderful podcast.
  • Sebastiansquid
    Cure for a Lonely Artist
    I have enjoyed every episode of this podcast. I listen while I create my art. Helga, and each creative spirit she is in conversation with, keep my soul company. Helga asks questions that intrigue and inspire. This podcast is a gift. I urge anyone to listen!
  • mindful painting
    Helga has helped heal my heart
    Listening to Helga interviews has allowed me to regain my footing as an artist during COVID quarantine. Helga has enabled me to heal, and to find my beloved, imaginative, and vibrant people again in New York City.
  • melonyinjp
    Helga is home
    Helga feels like kindred. Her deep, resonant voice and perceptive sensibility about how we abide—in our body and in the world—bring me home to myself, in quietude, honesty, inner recognition, and joy. The intimate, vulnerable exchanges she shares with her guests are a lively gift.
  • DCUnityMe7
    Yes!
    So enjoy your shows. So much better than an interview. The conversation I’d like to have with your guest. Don’t go away.
  • #mbhave
    dream scape
    helga, love listening to your voice...i follow along & discover a new world w each guest . thanku !
  • AbyWolfMPLS
    Thank you for this, Helga.
    I just started listening to Helga just a few days ago while painting my garage in quarantine, and I’ve had these wonderful conversations in my ears while I’m up and down ladders, minding every horizontal slat of weathered wood with a brand new coat of paint. What a BEAUTIFUL offering in the midst of the news cycle. Helga, you’re as bright as the sun, patient, curious, kind-hearted, fun— the tender moments and the unexpected moments working to understand another’s perspective... omg I absolutely LOVE it. Exploring each person’s path, story, and practice. This is just soul nourishing, straight up. Thank you!
  • DylanFoley
    Helga ia a podcast goddess
    I love Helga Davis' podcast. She often interviews people she is close to or has admired for years. When she interviewed Jacqueline Woodson last season, it was like two old friends talking. One of my favorite ones was very difficult. Helga confronted her old friend, the playwright Kenneth Lonergan, on an incident in the early 1980's at her now-defunct private Manhattan high school. He and the actor Matthew Broderick appeared at a school play rehearsal in blackface. Helga was shocked and offended, bursting into tears and running out of the room. (She was one of a few black students at the school, Walden.) The incident was handled badly. In the podcast, Helga pursued the incident firmly but without malice. Lonergan was contrite and explained himself. I believe he apologized. For Helga, it was an amazing podcast moment. I am so overjoyed that Helga is back after a long hiatus. Thanks for the great work you do, Helga. Dylan Foley, Brooklyn
  • MP1731984
    Fantastic podcast!
    This is a wonderful podcast! Helga’s casual yet thought-provoking interview style gives prominent public figures the familiarity of old friends. Her warm nature and approachability shines through in every interview she does. I highly recommend listening!
  • MellyMae82
    More please!!
    I have been craving honest conversations and thoughtful perspectives on life, art and humanity that Helga Davis brings to the podcast table. So thrilled to have stumbled upon this meal that always leaves me hungry for more!!
  • Ric_MD
    I Love Helga!
    I was first introduced to Helga when she was part of The Takeaway, and was heartbroken when she left that show. From time to time I’ve tried to find out what’s her next gig. I’m OVER THE MOON to stumble across her podcast today & ecstatic to her her voice and thoughts once again!
  • Doolah Knorl
    Helga
    Looking for Indivisible and saw Helga's face - yes!!! I'm an ongoing supporter of WNYC and this is why. This is a voice I need to hear - on the radio - a public discourse in which I am engaged.
  • Nickanees
    Something I Needed
    What a show. I'm a young artist and I've been feeling pretty adrift, and this show came along at a time when I really needed it as a source of encouragement and mentorship to help me make sense of the creative life and keep going forward. And I feel like I'm learning not only about how to be an artist, but about how to be. It's also just a straight up pleasure to listen to a full show of Helga's voice. Her voice is the sonic equivalent of a memory foam bed. Can't wait to share this with others.
  • ♫♩
    Superb
    an extraordinary mind and artist, I adore this so much! Keep doin what you're doing!
  • John Sor
    Wonderful!
    Helga has the most wonderful voice in the world. I love this show and could listen for days!!! Can't wait for more.
  • downloadster
    Please bring us in!
    I want to love this podcast but I am so frustrated by it. In the Jennifer Koh interview, for example, we never even hear what instrument she plays to cause those injuries. With Shara Nova, she and Helga were getting down and dirty with musical terms that I don't know. Just play a few measures of what you mean. Play a sample from "Einstein on the Beach" to illustrate what you're talking about. I want to understand! But as it is, the conversations are so inside-baseball that I lose interest. Please know that not all your listeners know so much about these musicians and even if they do, a few seconds of foundation and illustration wouldn't hurt. It's a very easy fix. Thank you.
  • Flyinguntilidance
    Yes, please! More
    This is DOOOOPEEEE! So needed! I love it as an artist and I love it as a thinker. I am hungry for deep artis conversation that is deep life conversation. Thank you! So inspired. Also, I want to make love to Helga's voice!
  • Gity Razaz
    Helga!
    Great podcasts and enlightening conversations. love it!
  • SBridgforth
    The best podcast ever!!
    The raw beauty...the intimacy...the vibrancy of these conversations...the deep sharing these Brilliant artists offer is truly a gift. Now more than ever I find that I need THIS/this Inspiration-this guidance-this reminder of how beautiful humanity is. THANK YOU Helga Davis. THANK YOU WQXR and all involved.
  • Nevsky46
    Driven to connect!
    I've been a fan of Helga's music and stage presence for a while now. Her empathy sings out, in gestures small and large, as if from an inner anthem that we so desperately need to hear and share. Her credo is informed by openness and a recognition of the transformative magic that artists wield. So looking forward to these conversations!
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