This weekend in the arts in San Diego: A new interactive children's exhibit celebrating Octavia Butler; theater about basketball; Mussorgsky; Barrio Art Crawl; poetry about grief; binational art; live music picks and more.

Our picks for theater, ballet and comedy to take advantage of ticket discounts during the month of March for San Diego Theatre Month, a program of the San Diego Performing Arts League.

Digital Gym Cinema opens a trio of award-worthy foreign films this weekend.

Wednesday, March 27, 2024 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV / Stream now with KPBS Passport. A visionary astronomer in West Africa attempts a high-stakes observation of a distant asteroid vital to a NASA mission. From prehistoric ruins to Islamic skywatchers, explore the heritage and future of African astronomy.

Monday, March 11, 2024 at 9 p.m. on KPBS 2 / Stream now with KPBS Passport! Hip Hop legends The Roots give an electrifying performance during their residency at the Kennedy Center. Beyond the stage, the band endeavors to inspire others and explore the depths of their creative potential.

Premieres Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024 at 8 p.m. on KPBS TV / PBS App. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. traces the roots of comedian Tracy Morgan and actor Anthony Ramos—two native New Yorkers whose roots stretch to surprising places and contain inspiring stories of survival.

Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024 at 2 p.m. on KPBS FM / Listen Now

Welcome to "House/Full of Black Women," a new hour-long special from The Kitchen Sisters, Ellen Sebastian Chang, Sital Muktari & PRX.

For some eight years now, 34 Black women from the Bay Area — artists, scholars, midwives, nurses, an architect, an ice cream maker, a donut maker, a theater director, a choreographer, musicians, educators, sex trafficking abolitionists and survivors have gathered monthly around a big dining room table in Oakland, California. Meeting, cooking, dancing, strategizing — grappling with the issues of eviction, gentrification, well-being and sex trafficking that are staring down their community, staring down Black women in America.

Across these years House/Full has created a series of performances and activations — street processions, street interventions, all-night song circles, historical narratives, parking lot ceremonies, rituals of resting and dreaming.

This "House/Full" radio special was inspired by the House/Full of BlackWomen project conceived and choreographed by Amara Tabor-Smith and co-directed by Ellen Sebastian Chang and an evolving collective of Black women artists and features interviews with sex trafficking abolitionists, personal stories of growing up in the Bay Area, music, Black women dreaming, resisting, insisting.

With Support From: The Creative Work Fund, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Kaleta Doolin Foundation, The Texas Women’s Foundation, Susan Sillins, listener contributions to The Kitchen Sisters Productions & PRX.

Feb. 4, 2024 at 2 p.m. on KPBS FM

A new special hour-long edition of Witness History from the BBC World Service, bringing together some incredible interviews looking at the African-American experience. Told by people who were there, we hear stories that are fascinating, harrowing, and inspiring.

Feb. 11, 2024 at 2 p.m. on KPBS FM

WNYC’s 18th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event is back live at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem hosted by Kai Wright of "Notes From America." This year's event will examine the history of the word "woke" in the context of Dr. King’s work to build awareness, action, and urgency around injustice and discrimination.

This annual event is a powerful reminder of the timeless wisdom of the traditional African proverb: "Not to know is bad; not to want to know is worse." The events focus on a renewed commitment to understanding the context, confronting the complexity, and elevating our collective consciousness in the face of injustice and discrimination. As we reflect on the legacy of the Inconvenient King, we embark on a journey to reclaim our "woke" status. It's a call to action, a plea to remain vigilant and engaged, and an invitation to be unwaveringly concerned about creating a more equitable and inclusive world for all.

February 18, 2024 at 2 p.m. on KPBS FM

HBCUs rose from the ashes of slavery and have been educating Black students for generations. Cheryl Mango says HBCUs are currently experiencing a renaissance, sparked from Black Lives Matter movement and the fight for racial justice. Plus: HBCU bands like the Trojan Explosion at Virginia State University play with power and energy. It’s an audio and visual display, with high-step marching and decked-out drum majors at the center of the performance. Taylor Whitehead says that HBCU sound and style is the pinnacle of Black musical excellence. Later in the Show: What does William Faulkner and a cool pair of sneakers have in common? More than you might think. Jemayne King is a sneakerhead and English professor at Virginia State University. He’s combined his two passions into the first ever college English course on sneaker culture.

A special hour-long edition of Witness History from the BBC World Service, bringing together some incredible interviews looking at the African-American experience. Told by people who were there, we hear stories that are fascinating, harrowing, and inspiring.

This special is on demand

Whether it's the way we talk,  the music we hear, or the clothes we wear- many Black people at some point were made to feel 'not Black enough’, including Leila and Hana. In this special from The Stoop podcast, Leila explores with TV host Joshua Johnson what it means to be told she ‘talks white’, Hana talks to a psychologist as she wonders if she has to like everything Black to avoid getting called out, and we go deep with comedian W. Kamau Bell who's felt awkward in Black circles and in front of Black audiences. What does it really mean to be ‘Black enough’?

Justin Holland was a Black guitar virtuoso, educator, and activist in the 19th century who did intricate transcriptions of popular operas, songs, and compositions of his own. Holland was born free and worked to help other enslaved Black people on the Underground Railroad. In this special, Professor Ernie Jackson, a Holland expert, talks about his experience as a guitar student and how Holland’s music gave him hope and inspiration.

Encore from 2022

Saxophone player, flutist and vocalist Karl Denson tours regularly with The Rolling Stones, has collaborated with Lenny Kravitz, has album credits with The Allman Brothers and is well known for his many solo projects. Then, Sure Fire Soul Ensemble share their new album of jazz, funk, and soul.

A special hour-long edition of Witness History from the BBC World Service, bringing together some incredible interviews looking at the African-American experience. Segments include: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, American new pioneer Dorothy Butler Gilliam, Nelson Mandela in Detroit, Nasa's pioneering black women, The "Godfather of Gospel Music" and what the Confederate flag represents in America's battle over race.

What's CODE SWITCH? It's the fearless conversations about race that you've been waiting for. Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race with empathy and humor. We explore how race affects every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, food and everything in between. This podcast makes all of us part of the conversation — because we're all part of the story. Code Switch was named Apple Podcasts' first-ever Show of the Year in 2020.

On this episode, Farai Chideya talks with Rep. Underwood about how the federal government can tackle the Black maternal health crisis.

Dr. Rachel Hardeman of the Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity explains why she focuses on the impact of racism on health. And we learn about Dr. Justina Ford, a Black doctor in the 1900s who served patients of color in Denver.

On Sippin’ the Political Tea, Farai and Errin Haines of the 19th welcome journalist Fernanda Santos to talk about the state of things at the U.S.-Mexico border, and the possibilities of immigration reform under the Biden-Harris administration.

A new Kitchen Sisters and PRX exclusive, "Can Do: Stories of Black Visionaries, Seekers, and Entrepreneurs," is hosted by Alfre Woodard, Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actress. These stories come from The Kitchen Sisters collection -- stories of black pioneers, self-made men and self-taught women, neighborhood heroes and visionaries. People who said "yes we can" and then did.

From American Public Media, part of the American RadioWorks: Black History series. New! "Say It Loud" traces the last 50 years of black history through stirring, historically important speeches by African Americans from across the political spectrum. With recordings unearthed from libraries and sound archives, and made widely available here for the first time, "Say It Loud" includes landmark speeches by Malcolm X, Lorraine Hansberry, Angela Davis, Martin Luther King Jr., Henry Louis Gates, and many others.

From American Public Media, part of the American RadioWorks: Black History series.

New! Mississippi occupies a distinct and dramatic place in the history of America’s civil rights movement. No state in the South was more resistant to the struggle for black equality. No place was more violent. Drawing on newly discovered archival audio and groundbreaking research on the civil rights era, "State of Siege" brings to light the extraordinary tactics whites in Mississippi used to battle integration and the lasting impact of that battle in American politics today.

A special hour-long edition of "Witness History" from the BBC World Service, bringing together some incredible interviews looking at the African-American experience. Told by people who were there, we hear stories that are fascinating, harrowing, and inspiring. Segments include: NASA's pioneering black women, When Nelson Mandela went to Detroit, African Americans and the "Three Strikes Law", The last survivor of the transatlantic slave trade and Ann Lowe - African American Fashion Designer.