The Charles F. Kettering Foundation is proud to be a supporter of a new PBS NewsHour series, “Art in Action: Exploring the Intersection of Art and Democracy.” The series is part of the NewsHour’s ongoing arts and culture coverage, Canvas, and is an initiative of the Kettering Foundation’s Democracy and the Arts focus area.

This multiplatform series will include ten long-form broadcast features, digital online articles, and high school lesson plans. The concept for this series was developed in collaboration with the NewsHour team and Kettering Foundation staff, and Kettering is supporting the research and production. The NewsHour Canvas team will determine the content, led by their long-time arts correspondent, Jeffrey Brown.

The first segment, “The Role of Art in Democracy,” was recently broadcast and can be viewed here. This segment focuses on an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s classic play An Enemy of the People as a way to explore and spark discussion of public health post-pandemic. How do we in a democracy make decisions about the common good when we don’t agree?

Kettering will continue to share about future segments, which will air through summer 2025—look for a new segment approximately once a month.