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Alan Goffinski

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(Alan Goffinski)

Alan Goffinski (he/him), is an arts administrator, songwriter, and producer from Charlottesville VA. He is the former Executive Director of The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative and the Charlottesville Mural Project—two city-wide organizations that utilize art and culture as a way for people to better understand themselves, each other, and the world around them. He is also a founding member of the Indianapolis-based whimsical performing arts collective Know No Stranger which has been described as “Sesame Street but for adults... but also for kids.” He produced the experimental music radio program Telemetry in partnership with the University of Virginia. Early in his career, Alan spent years making music in a nationally touring indie-punk band (signed to Victory Records) prior to becoming a social worker specializing in early childhood development. He began making kid’s music under the moniker Little Skunks as a fun way to be a part of the day-to-day lives of his nieces and nephew.

Alan Goffinski appears in the following:

The Fuzzy Ruckus: The Power of Lichen

Wednesday, April 02, 2025

How discovering lichen quietly changed the course of a life.

The Bullseye: Treasure Hunt to Recursive Islands

Wednesday, April 02, 2025

Join us on a wild recursive island adventure.

An Ocean in Space

Wednesday, April 02, 2025

A poem to represent all of humanity.

The Sea Troll: An Everlasting Shark?

Wednesday, April 02, 2025

How to survive for centuries.

The Crystal Ball: Giant Honeybees Who Predict the Future

Wednesday, April 02, 2025

How to save all the honey bees in the world.

The Snowball: Extreme Squirrels in the Arctic

Wednesday, April 02, 2025

We learn about the arctic ground squirrel — the only mammal that can survive in a braindead state for weeks.

The Stumpisode: The Wild World of Tree Stumps!

Wednesday, April 02, 2025

How dead trees sustain the living.

An illustration of a tree stump, alone in a dark forest.

Terrestrials: Stumpisode

Friday, October 04, 2024

As dead as they seem, tree stumps are hubs of life and relationships.

An illustration of a solar eclipse.

The Moon Itself

Friday, April 05, 2024

There’s a total solar eclipse coming. On Monday, April 8, for a large swath of North America, the sun will disappear, in the middle of the day. Everywhere you look, people are talking...

A woman walking across a mirrored dessert.

Short Cuts: Drawn Onward

Tuesday, April 02, 2024

As a treat for the first palindrome date of the calendar year 2024, 4/2/24, (for those who use U.S. formatting of dates anyway), we are releasing a special audio palindrome. A piece t...

A cross section silhouette of a human form in a dunce cap.

Our Little Stupid Bodies

Friday, January 12, 2024

A series of energetically uneasy investigations into the temple of our souls.

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The largest musical instrument in the world is underground in a Virginia cave

Tuesday, November 07, 2023

NPR

By Alan Goffinski

Luray Caverns in Northern Virginia is celebrating 50 years of being a National Natural Landmark. It's also the place that holds the largest musical instrument in the world.

The world's largest musical instrument is in the mountains of Virginia

Sunday, November 05, 2023

NPR

By Alan Goffinski

Luray caverns in Virginia have been a natural landmark for 50 years. They also hold the world's largest musical instrument, a Stalacpipe organ.

A textured illustration of Osmin holding his chains is surrounded by ornate, turkish architecture.

Every Voice with Terrance McKnight: Abduction from the Seraglio

Thursday, July 06, 2023

In this final episode of the four-part radio series, host Terrance McKnight goes in search of opera’s future with composers, musicians, and thinkers of today.

Princess Aida is centered, surrounded by black, red, green, and gold pyramids and royal structures. Above her head is a regally placed gold scarab.

Every Voice with Terrance McKnight: Aida

Monday, July 03, 2023

WQXR

Terrance McKnight digs into the musical, historical, and social environment that gave rise to Verdi's Aida.

A collage of the character of Monostatos is bordered by vibrant green and yellow white mosaic.

Every Voice with Terrance McKnight: The Magic Flute

Monday, June 19, 2023

In this episode of Every Voice, get to know the character of Monostatos, the enslaved overseer of the wizard Sarastro’s temple.

Abduction from the Seraglio: A Dream Interrupted

Thursday, May 18, 2023

In the prime of his illustrious career, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ran in the realm of prominent, Black visionaries, composed the radical (unfinished) opera “Zaide” depicting a slave rev...

Abduction from the Seraglio: Freedom and Justice for Some

Thursday, May 11, 2023

All too often, characters of African descent in operas written during the 18th and 19th centuries are defined as the institution of slavery and the idea of inferiority. But today’s c...

Aida: America’s Confederates in Egypt

Thursday, May 04, 2023

When “Aida” premiered in Egypt in 1871, it delivered some not-so-subtle messaging in the dramatization of light-skinned Egyptians dominating dark-skinned Ethopians. Within two years, ...

Aida: 100% Egyptian Cotton

Thursday, April 27, 2023

“Opera has always been not just adjacent to colonial conquest, but perhaps … quite a large part of it.” Pranathi Diwakar, Every Voice with Terrance McKnight researcher. When the US an...

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