Live with Wyclef Jean

In a show recorded live before an audience at WNYC Radio’s state-of-the art Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, Majora Carter, host of The Promised Land, sits down with Grammy Award-winning musician Wyclef Jean for a lively conversation on his work as an artist, activist, and humanitarian.

Available now on Content Depot and PRX.

“There were many people before us. There will be many people after us.
In the middle there’s a little gap, and that’s where we can influence.”
— Wyclef Jean

The most recent special from public radio’s The Promised Land is a fitting programming choice for the holiday season. It is available now through January 31, 2010 (adding a month to the original broadcast window). Don’t miss the latest in the series that has engaged listeners coast to coast.

In a show recorded live before an audience at WNYC Radio’s state-of-the art Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, Majora Carter, host of The Promised Land, sat down with Grammy Award-winning musician Wyclef Jean for a lively conversation on his work as artist, activist, and humanitarian.

The two discussed how Jean has created awareness of the needs of Haiti, his native country — a nation of crushing poverty and limited access to education, a country where destitution leads to deforestation, which leads to flooding, which leads to even more misery.

Jean’s commitment to Haiti’s long-term progress is evident. He has lobbied the U.S. Congress for passage of a Haiti-favorable trade bill, and he accompanied former President Bill Clinton and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to Haiti in order to raise awareness of the plight of the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation.

His foundation, Yéle Haiti, has created small-scale, manageable, and replicable projects that are making a difference. In the broadcast, he tells about the childhood that led him to this work and sings the song that gave his foundation its name.

The Promised Land features visionaries from around the world and around the corner with innovative ideas about changing lives and transforming communities.

“Wyclef Jean definitely fits the description,” says the program’s executive producer, Marge Ostroushko. As hip-hop’s unofficial multicultural conscience, Jean supports projects that address education, health, environment, and community development in Haiti. The primary objective of Yéle Haiti is to “restore pride and a reason to hope.”

This one-hour edition of The Promised Land is from Launch Minneapolis, winner of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Talent Quest. It is produced by Emily Botein with Mary Beth Kirchner. The executive producer is Marge Ostroushko.

The host of The Promised Land is Majora Carter, environmentalist, humanitarian, and founder of Sustainable South Bronx. Her work has garnered numerous awards and accolades, including a MacArthur “genius” Fellowship.

This Promised Land special is available on Content Depot and PRX. It is free to stations. No affiliation is necessary. It is available now through January 31, 2010 (adding a month to the original broadcast window).

You can learn more about The Promised Land and host Majora Carter at http://www.thepromisedland.org

In 2007, Launch was chosen by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to participate in CPB's Public Radio Talent Quest, a yearlong initiative to develop new public radio stars.

Host Majora Carter is founder of Sustainable South Bronx (SSBx), a community organization established to advance the environmental and economic rebirth of her hometown. Her honors include the NYU Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award and the Lewis Rudin Award for Public Service. In 2005, she was awarded the MacArthur "genius" grant. Carter, a sought-after speaker, was named one of Essence magazine's "25 most influential African-Americans" and one of Newsweek's "25 to Watch."

Producer Marge Ostroushko has lent her talents to A Prairie Home Companion, Speaking of Faith, and Mississippi: River of Song, for which she won a Peabody Award. During her 10-year stint at PRI, she oversaw new program development on shows including The Miles Davis Radio Project, Rabbit Ears Radio, Radio Kronos, The Writer's Almanac, and Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth. She also worked with Ira Glass, launching This American Life as a national show.