Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. ET Thursday, August 25, 2022.

This program is made possible by The George and Julie Follansbee Family Fund

Raina Douris is an award-winning radio personality from Toronto, Ontario, who has been hosting the nationally syndicated “World Cafe" radio show since 2019. Produced at WXPN in Philadelphia, and distributed by NPR, “World Cafe" is a blend of in-depth artist interviews and live performances, aired five days a week. Featuring both established to emerging artists, “World Cafe" covers a wide spectrum of musical genres, including indie rock, folk, hard rock, singer-songwriter, alt-country, and world music — making it, for more than 30 years, the ground-zero of music discovery.

Douris, who is only the third host in the show’s history, joins the Chautauqua Lecture Series during a week dedicated to “A Vibrant Tapestry: Exploring Creativity, Culture, and Faith with Smithsonian Folklife Festival” to discuss “World Cafe," the emerging trends she and her colleagues are seeing in from the front row of folk music, and how that music is shaped by — and is shaping — our culture.

Before making the move to Philadelphia, WXPN, and “World Café," Douris was the host and writer for the daily national morning program on CBC Music at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She was also involved with Canada's highest music honors: hosting the Polaris Music Prize Gala from 2017 to 2019, as well as serving on the jury for both that award and the Juno Awards. Douris has also served as guest host and interviewer for various CBC Music and CBC Radio programs, and as red carpet host and interviewer for the Juno Awards and Canadian Country Music Association Awards.

Douris studied radio and television broadcasting at Ryerson University. While at Ryerson, she worked at CFNY-FM (102.1 The Edge) in Toronto, where she launched the station’s “Indie Online” feature, providing exposure on the station's website to local indie rock bands who had not yet graduated to rotation in the station's regular playlist. She later joined CBC Radio 3, and then Toronto’s CIND-FM (Indie 88), where she was named Best Local Radio Personality in NOW's annual “Best of Toronto” reader poll two years in a row.

About Chautauqua Institution: Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. As a community, we celebrate, encourage and study the arts and treat them as integral to all of learning, and we convene the critical conversations of the day to advance understanding through civil dialogue. CHQ Assembly is the online expression of Chautauqua Institution's mission.