TRANSCRIPT OF EPISODE 21, PART 1 This winter’s warm embrace of sea shanties on TikTok and other social media has delighted us here at PEM. Founded in 1799 by the members of the East India Marine Society, the sea shanty craze never ends here. For this episode of the PEMcast, we speak with David Coffin, a master shanty man, Artist-in-Residence

by Dinah Cardinfrom the Peabody Essex Museum Here in Salem, people are cautious, paranoid. They avoid other people and are fearful about a thing they can’t see or touch. Rumors fly. Science is questioned. Communities are divided. There’s tension in the air. It’s September 2020. But it might as well be the year 1692. Join me and Chip Van Dyke,

From The Peabody Essex MuseumImage Credit – Nick Cave with one of his Soundsuits at PEM in 2013. Photo by Allison White/PEM Creativity and crisis are no strangers. In the ‘90s, artist Nick Cave responded to the police beating of Rodney King by building a suit made of sticks that would act as protective armor. Later, when the Boston Marathon

A message from PEM in the EIMH windows, “Hope anchors the soul.” Photo by Paige Besse/PEM. From the Peabody Essex Museum While confined to our homes and spring in bloom all around, many of us are trying to find solace in creativity. How many times has this perfectly apt Toni Morrison quote been shared lately? This is precisely the time

From PEM.org In her book, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times, Pema Chödrön writes: “Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.” The truth — about how viruses spread, about how long our country will be shut down, about so many things — seems to be shifting. The truth is elusive. But fear feels very close