Steve Mencher
Hello. As a musician and journalist, I've been working in the arts for more than 50 years. I've been a radio producer at Carnegie Hall, an editor and producer for NPR, and a radio, podcast and television director, writer and producer. Instead of retiring, I'm committed to continuing to write about and follow the arts and politics of our fraught moment.
Before too many people were talking about neuroarts, I wrote and produced a podcast series for the Library of Congress on Music and the Brain, interviewing the top scientists and practitioners in the field. Find it today at the LOC.
For several years, I created content for OVATION - The Arts Network, co-founded by J. Carter Brown, including a documentary about Bill Gates and Leonardo da Vinci that's still available to watch on YouTube. Another interest of mine is religion and spirituality. I envisioned and led a project in Kansas City, embedded with progressive religious leaders there, which resulted in an Emmy-nominated documentary called Beyond Belief.
I'm a pianist, I've played in bands performing all kinds of music, especially jazz.
I collaborated with Theodore Roszak on a musical version of his groundbreaking study The Making of a Counter Culture. The show, called Pontifex, was produced by the Berkeley Stage Company.