Topic: Art and Culture

During this Focus interview, Jeff Bossert talks with Steve James and Chaz Ebert about capturing the life of a critic on film.  

When Ryan Bartelmay published his debut novel, he based it in central Illinois. This hour on Focus, he talks with host Jim Meadows.

The team has no grandmaster, no local coach, little funding to speak of and no formal recruitment. Yet the U of I team has made it to the Final Four of competitive chess in the U.S. for the second consecutive year. 

The Oscars are the most-watched film award show; how do they influence the industry?

Do you have a sense of your own history? What stereotypes about the Midwest do you agree or disagree with? Today on Focus, Lisa Bralts talks with Diane Johnson about her new memoir “Flyover Lives.” 

After sifting through thousands of documents, Brian Dolinar finished a book started over 70 years ago. The work he helped to complete? "The Negro in Illinois: The WPA Papers."

Do you have an antique or a photo album that has been in your family for generations? How do you preserve those things to ensure they’ll last?

Have you ever taken a personality test to see what it says about you? Today on Focus, we find out what they actually measure and what we can and can’t learn from them.

What defines a super hero? This hour on Focus, host Jim Meadows talks with Bill Rosemann, editor at Marvel comics and Mark Hughes, film critic for Forbes, about the rise of the super hero on and off the page.

This hour on Focus, host Jim Meadows talks with Tim Yoder, the former host of PBS Create’s “Woodworking Workshop with Tim Yoder,” and Mike Van Pelt of the CU Woodshop.