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Curators and Curiosity: The many careers that bring art museums to life  March 25, 2026

 

Hello and welcome to the show. I'm Coy Wire. It is Wednesday, March 25th.

 

It is also Your Word Wednesday here on CNN 10. So listen up, see if the vocabulary word that you submitted helped us write today's show. Let's get to it.

 

We begin with the ongoing chaos at airport security lines across the United States this week, mostly a result of the partial government shutdown, which is now in its second month.

 

As of this taping, lawmakers are still working towards a funding deal to reopen the Department of Homeland Security. The issue at the center of the shutdown and it's causing extreme delays and frustration at some of the country's busiest airports.

 

At Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, travelers have faced long lines at all hours of the day with warnings that wait times could exceed four hours.

 

At Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, the busiest airport in the world by passenger volume, lines snake through baggage claim all the way outside. At times, officials stopped posting wait times because lines were too long for computer systems to track.

 

This is insane. We didn't think it was going to be this bad. I got there three hours early and I made it to my gate like 20 minutes before they were boarding. It was bad.

 

The delays are largely due to a growing number of Transportation Security Administration or TSA officers calling off. They haven't been paid in more than a month and many say they needed to find part-time jobs.

 

call off 临时请假、不来上班

 

DHS says more than 450 officers have quit since the shutdown began. Many have continued working without pay, some relying on things like food banks to get by.

 

My son usually goes to spring break camps and I can't afford that right now because I mean there's no money coming in and it's just I don't know what to do anymore.

 

There's no babysitter. I'm up to my last like almost $100.

 

On Monday, the federal government deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE agents to some of the hardest hit airports.

 

ICE agents are considered essential employees and are paid during shutdowns. Officials say more could be deployed this week to support TSA with things like crowd control.

 

This is about helping TSA do their mission and get the American public through that airport as quick as it can while adhering to all the security guidelines.

 

adher [əd'hɪr] v. 遵守

 

Some critics, including TSA workers, appear skeptical that the move will help improve an already untenable situation.

 

untenable [ʌn'tɛnəbl] adj. 不能维持的；支持不住的

 

I don't believe that they're trained in a way that they can help us. Since I've been here, I've seen them outside standing around.

 

I don't know if they are doing anything. I don't know.

 

I guess the question that now has to be asked is this going to be the new norm? You know, is every weekend, you know, going to be a five, six hour wait at the checkpoints to get on your flight if you can even make it?

 

I do say that I think they should just fund the Department of Homeland Security, pay those workers.

 

They're here for a reason. They protect us every day and I don't think ICE agents should really be up there just filling in the hole.

 

Pop quiz, hot shot.

 

Which layer of the atmosphere contains the oxygen and nitrogen humans and animals use to breathe? Troposphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, or stratosphere?

 

troposphere ['tropəsfɪr] n. 对流层

mesosphere [ˋmɛzə͵sfɪr] n.  [气] 中间层; 中气层

thermosphere [ˋθɝmə͵sfɪr] n. 热成层；热大气层；热电离层; 增温层

stratosphere [ˋstrætə͵sfɪr] n. 平流层；高层次

 

If you said troposphere, you're a breath of fresh air. The stratosphere protects our planet from harmful UV rays, but pollutants like vehicle emissions and burning fossil fuel can damage both layers of our atmosphere.

 

A newly released global studyis sounding the alarm on the global rise in air pollution in certain cities.

 

sound the alarm 发出警报; 拉响警报

 

The report from IQAir analyzes air pollution data from 9,500 cities in 143 countries with a 23% jump in unhealthy air particles.

 

The report ranks lonely India as the most polluted city on the planet, likely driven by dust storms, seasonal smog, industrial emissions, and crop burning. Only about 14% of cities worldwide met the World Health Organization's air quality guidelines in 2025, down from 17% the year before.

 

But the good news is there are plenty of cities and countries taking care of the air up there. According to NOAA and NASA, scientists say the hole in the ozone layer is shrinking. Last year it was the fifth smallest since 1992.

 

A survey of largely unexplored limestone cavesin northwestern Cambodia has just uncovered a range of new species.

 

unexplored [ˌʌnɪk'splɔrd] adj. 未勘查过的；未开拓的

range [rendʒ] n. 一系列

 

They include a turquoise pit viper, a flying snake, several geckos, two micro snails, and two millipedes.

 

turquoise ['tɜrkwɔɪz] adj. 青绿色的

pit viper 蝮蛇

gecko [ˋgɛko] n. 壁虎

millipede ['mɪləˌpid] n. 百足虫；马陆

 

The conservation charity Fauna and Flora surveyed the region between November of 2023 and July of 2025.

 

fauna [ˋfɔnə] n.（某地区或某时期的）所有动物

flora ['flɔrə] n. 植物群(指的是某一地區或特定時期內所有植物的總和)

 

It explored 64 different caves across 10 hills.

 

Our next musings take us to the museumwith a behind the scenes look at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Turns out there are a lot of career paths available to those of us with an interest in art.

 

We got to explore one exhibit that blends fashion, creativity, and innovation, and learn the different careers that bring big ideas from runways to museum floors. Check it out.

 

Here at the High Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, if you love art, did you ever think about making a career out of it? Creativity isn't just in the art we see, it's something some people do for a living.

 

From bold fashion exhibitions to hands-on learning programs, a whole team works behind the scenes to make art meaningful for visitors of all ages.

 

One of their most eye-catching projects was the Victor and Rolf Fashion Exhibition, and we got to learn about the work behind the wow.

 

They create these designs that are sculpture, so they push the edge.

 

push the edge 挑戰極限; 突破極限

 

And they're very theatrical, they're very unexpected, upside down dresses and perforated things, and things that a lot of people say to me, that's impossible to wear.

 

theatrical [θi'ætrɪkl] adj. 剧场的；夸张的

perforated ['pɝfəretɪd] adj. 穿孔的；凿孔的

 

And I said, yeah, they want to challenge you to think about what fashion is and fashion as sculpture.

 

And that, I think, is a very big part of what we wanted to convey here at the High, is that, sure, fashion is art.

 

Absolutely. It's design, but it is also art. And when you walk through these galleries, we wanted you to feel it was almost like a theatrical production or an opera from vision to fruition.

 

fruition [fru'ɪʃn] n. 取得成果；成就；实现；完成

 

We immediately began working with our in-house exhibition designer and her team to envision what this is going to look like. What are the paint colors? Where is the music going to be playing? How do all of these sort of technological aspects, how are those integrated in the exhibition for our venue?

 

in-house 在组织内部的; 在机构内部的

 

Months of design, construction, and collaboration helped bring the international show from Munich to Atlanta. But exhibitions are only part of the museum's mission.

 

I work at our Learning and Civic Engagement Department, and it's my job to try to make us a more thought-provoking institution. So my job is to research, to learn more about our visitors.

 

civic engagement 公民參與

thought-provoking 發人深省的; 引人深思的

 

Her work focuses on how people, especially young visitors, connect with art.

 

I'm so wowed by the personal connections these young people make, you know, with these works of art. Because it's not so much about exactly what the artist wanted you to know, that intent, but it's what the artist made you feel. And young people are so open, and so they make amazing connections.

 

wow [waʊ] v. 使惊叹，使佩服

work of art 艺术品; 艺术作品; 美术品

intent [ɪn'tɛnt] n. 目的；意向；含义

 

I almost always learn something new when I talk to kids in front of art.

 

Just like these awesome students we ran into on a field trip. Museums rely on many careers, from educators to event planners to storytellers.

 

run into 撞上；遇到

 

It's a business, right? So we need a chief financial officer, we need accountants, right? We need people who are great at logistics and can help us manage a huge event, people who raise money, people who know how to tell a great story. We have a big PR and marketing department, that's an important part of our business. So there's a lot of different kinds of jobs at an art museum.

 

For chief curator Kevin Tucker, that career began with curiosity about how things are made. And even as technology evolves, Kevin says human creativity remains irreplaceable.

 

irreplaceable [ˌɪrɪ'plesəbl] adj. 不可替代的

 

AI is just another tool in the toolbox.

 

And I think it has to draw from existing bodies of creativity, existing bodies of work. But what I think is so very special about the individual's interaction with art and the creative process is just that. Individuality and the individual expression, I think, is always going to be conveyed by those works that are touched by individuals.

 

The museum's goal? To lead visitors inspired to see the world in a new way.

 

What's the one thing you hope people take away from this exhibit?

 

I'm going to say two. And that's excitement and curiosity.

 

And I think if you're curious, excitement follows. You know, that's one of those things because you're discovering new things as you walk through the galleries. And it's always been my hope that visitors walk away and go, you know what, I want more.

 

I want to know more about art. And I want to be involved in that. So if they walk away excited and curious, I'm happy.

 

Today's story, getting a 10 out of 10, a group of students from Bangor, Maine, reaching for the stars, literally.

 

reach for the stars 追求难以实现的东西; 要做比登天还难的事情; 心比天高

 

We're sending yeast to the stratosphere.

 

The science project called Yeast in the Stars will expose active baker's yeast to UV radiation and freezing temperatures, and then measure the changes back on Earth.

 

It's all part of NASA's TechRise Student Challenge, a nationwide competition where students design real experiments for flights from high altitude balloons to suborbital spacecraft. These students are one of 25 teams selected.

 

I was super-duper happy when I heard that our school won.

 

super-duper 特大的，超级大的; extremely large or serious

 

Students built the project themselves, learning skills like coating, soldering, and engineering along the way. We're learning how to solder. We're learning hands-on stuff.

 

soldering ['sɑldərɪŋ] n. 软焊；锡焊；低温焊接；热焊接

solder ['sɑldər] v. 焊接

 

Wiring, they're learning a lot too. And mounting is, it's amazing. The team presents its work to NASA in May, turning a classroom idea into a real mission in motion.

 

All right, superstars, we have a shout out going to Ms. Desjarnais at the Arts Bay School in Winston Salem, North Carolina. Thank you for making us part of your day. Rise up.

 

Thanks to everyone subscribing and commenting on our socials and our CNN 10 YouTube channel. You make this the best 10 minutes in news.

 

And we would be remiss if we did not give a huge congratulations to our Your Word winners, Mr. Gulati's class at Acadia Middle School in Clifton Park, New York for submitting untenable, an adjective meaning unable to be defended, maintained, or justified against criticism.

 

remiss [rɪ'mɪs] adj. 疏忽的；怠慢的；不留心的

 

Thank you for increasing our vocab today. I'll see you tomorrow, everyone. I'm Coy Wire and we are CNN 10.