Writer and historian Jane Gerhard takes us on a journey—exploring how the Aurea Ensemble’s blending of poetry and music weaves together a whole new kind of concert experience—asking audience members to suspend the urge to know, “what they are supposed to think,” in favor of enjoying the experience as a method for reflection and connection. “This is no mere sound collage or sentimental voice over,” Gerhard says. “The juxtaposition is far more dynamic than that.”

This month the Humanities Council joined forces with the Providence Athenaeum’s Salon Series to bring us writer Akiko Busch to share her thoughts on the 21st century essay and how it offers a form by which to link personal experience and observation with larger, more universal stories. Watch this space for a forthcoming podcast with the author.