Jennifer Vanasco

News Editor, WNYC News

Jennifer Vanasco is the News and Culture editor at WNYC, where she edits the daily news for air and arts features, and covers the arts and the economics of culture. 

She previously was the Minority Reports columnist for Columbia Journalism Review, where she analyzed how the mainstream media covered social minorities, and the editor in chief of MTV's LGBT news and politics website 365gay.com. Her nationally-syndicated, weekly newspaper column Common Life ran for 14 years and won the Peter Lisagor Award for opinion writing from the Society of Professional Journalists three times. She has also won the New York Radio Festivals Silver Award, the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association Excellence in Radio Award, the National Headline Award, plus other awards from the Associated Press, the New York State Broadcasters Association, the Webbys and others. She's published work in anthologies, and was a fellow at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and SPACE at Ryder Farm. She is an adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University, is on the faculty of the critic's program at the O'Neill, and was invited by the U.S. State Department to coach Iraqi journalists on media ethics at the United Nations. She graduated from Wellesley. You can follow her on Twitter @JenniferVanasco

Jennifer Vanasco appears in the following:

Whitney Biennial, a showcase of American contemporary arts, is returning to NYC

Friday, March 15, 2024

This year, the longest-running — and one of the most important — regular showcases of American art is not a survey, but a conversation.

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NPR staffers pick their favorite food books from the 2023 Books We Love list

Saturday, January 06, 2024

From NPR's Books We Love list, our staff recommends the cookbooks "Ed Mitchell's Barbeque," "Invitation to a Banquet," "The Secret of Cooking," "The Migrant Chef," and "Asada."

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An 'anti-World's Fair' makes its case: give land back to Native Americans

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

A new art installation asks people and institutions to go beyond land acknowledgements — and give property back to Indigenous tribes. (Story aired on All Things Considered on Oct. 9, 2023.)

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An 'anti-World's Fair' makes its case: give land back to Native Americans

Monday, October 09, 2023

A new art installation asks people and institutions to go beyond land acknowledgements - and give property back to Indigenous tribes.

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Free babysitting on Broadway? This nonprofit helps parents get to the theater

Saturday, September 23, 2023

Broadway tickets are expensive — add babysitting to that and the costs are often prohibitive. But a nonprofit is trying to bring free babysitting to theaters around the country.

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A new kids' space at an art museum is actually about science

Saturday, September 16, 2023

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is trying something new to introduce kids to the materials that make art.

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Emmy Awards rescheduled to Jan. 15 due to Hollywood strikes

Thursday, August 10, 2023

The 75th Emmy Awards have been rescheduled to broadcast on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024 — Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It's television's most prestigious awards show, but ratings have been dropping steadily.

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Pee-wee Herman was more than a boy who never grew up

Monday, July 31, 2023

Pee-wee's creator, Paul Reubens, died Sunday of cancer. He was 70. Pee-wee was a petulant man-child and a trickster spirit, a burst of joyous id that snuck his brand of anarchy into the mainstream.

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Vibrating haptic suits give deaf people a new way to feel live music

Monday, July 17, 2023

To celebrate Disability Pride Month, Music: Not Impossible brought vibrating haptic suits to a Lincoln Center dance party.

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A new free play at Federal Hall reveals the bumpy early days of the government

Tuesday, July 04, 2023

Democracy is messy. A new free play for visitors to the Federal Hall National Monument in New York shows just how messy the early days of the federal government were.

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6 takeaways from the 2023 Tony Awards

Monday, June 12, 2023

The theater was sweltering. There was no script. And yet it was a swift, entertaining show.

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Tony Awards 2023: Here's the list of major winners with photos

Sunday, June 11, 2023

History was made, as Alex Newell became the first nonbinary actor to win a Tony and J. Harrison Ghee the second. We'll be updating this winners list throughout the night.

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Where to watch Broadway's Tony Awards on Sunday night

Saturday, June 10, 2023

The 76th annual Tony Awards are Sunday, with performances from the top Broadway musicals.

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'This Is New York' exhibit is a gritty, stylish city celebration

Saturday, June 03, 2023

A new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York focuses on the Big Apple's impact on pop culture.

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Our 5 favorite exhibits from 'This Is New York' — a gritty, stylish city celebration

Thursday, June 01, 2023

The Museum of the City of New York is marking its centennial with an exhibition of NYC-inspired film, TV, music and fashion. But this is real New York, "not a love letter," says one of the curators.

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Watch Lin-Manuel Miranda, Josh Groban, cast of 'Hamilton' celebrate 'Sweeney Todd'

Friday, May 05, 2023

The casts of both shows joined together to sing a parody song penned by Miranda.

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'Some Like It Hot' leads with 13 Tony Award nominations

Tuesday, May 02, 2023

J. Harrison Ghee (Some Like It Hot) and Alex Newell (Shucked) are the first nonbinary actors to be nominated for Tonys, and today's announcement also highlighted three plays which have won Pulitzers.

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When people are less important than beaches: Puerto Rican artists at the Whitney

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Puerto Rican artists wrestle with what Hurricane Maria revealed about their country's flaws and strengths in an exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art. (Story aired on ATC on Jan. 7, 2023.)

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When people are less important than beaches: Puerto Rican artists at the Whitney

Saturday, January 07, 2023

The first major exhibit of Puerto Rican art on the mainland in 50 years wrestles with the question: Who is Puerto Rico for?

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This man's recordings spent years under a recliner — they've now found a new home

Thursday, January 05, 2023

More than a century ago, a Met librarian made some of the first live music recordings. Now, (with an assist from NPR) 16 of the Mapleson Cylinders are joining the New York Public Library collection.

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