Anastasia Tsiloukas

Fall of Freedom includes more than 600 events across the U.S., ranging from performances of Les Miserables in Portland, Maine, to a zine-making workshop in Homer, Alaska.

Fall of Freedom is the brainchild of visual artist Dred Scott.

He told NPR that right now, many artists and cultural institutions are feeling paralyzed by political pressures and

He wanted to provide an open-ended framework for them to use their creativity to feel less isolated.

Marquee names participating include playwright Lynn Nottage, filmmaker Ava DuVernay, and musician John Legend.

Anastasia Tsiloukas on PR News New York.

Nearly a third of all Americans now listen to or watch podcasts every week, but more often than not, it's men's voices that they're hearing.

Researchers at the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative have found that in the 100 most popular podcasts of 2024, nearly two-thirds were hosted by men and nearly three-quarters of all guests were male, too.

The researchers say that's a far greater gender inequity than in similar research they've done in the movie, TV, and music industries.

Women are particularly underrepresented in business, tech, sports, fitness, and comedy podcasts.

The researchers also found that over 77% of the top 100 hosts were white, leaving a lot of communities out of the conversation.

Anastasia Tsiloukas, NPR News, New York.