Tisidra Jones: is a poster child for cross-sector, hybrid creative community leadership. Trained in theater, and music, and as a lawyer, Tisidra has built a company that uses all of these assets in service to people and organizations working for change. BIOTisidra is a sought-after speaker, award-winning artist and lawyer who works at the intersection of inclusion, engagement and equal opportunity policies. Her methodology blends legal and policy research, sociological studies, and arts-based approaches to community and civic engagement. Tisidra's life, education, and professional experiences encompass rural communities, law, the arts, sociology, community engagement and multidisciplinary education. She has a B.A. in Music with a minor in the Sociology of Difference from George Mason University. She acquired her J.D. from the University of St. Thomas School of Law and is licensed to practice law in New York and Minnesota.Tisidra has worked with nonprofits in the arts or those serving communities of color primarily when new programs were being launched or designed. On the public-sector side, she has worked with local, state, federal and international government entities. She acquired expertise as it relates to small, minority-owned, and women-owned business inclusion policies and programs. Whether working for the government or a nonprofit, every position Tisidra has held required project management, program design, infrastructure creation and community engagement.Finding connections across sectors has been integral to the work that Tisidra has done. As a result, she has served on over 30 boards, advisory councils and community engagement committees across sectors. She has also curated cross-sector advisory committees for major initiatives. Notable MentionsStrong and Starlight Consulting:INNOVATION | We are a company of creative individuals. Innovative ideas are at the core of who we are. So, we love having the opportunity to work with you as thought partners and a sounding board as you generate ideas.INFRASTRUCTURE | To get from idea to implementation, you cannot get there without crossing the sturdy bridge of infrastructure. We help you design the infrastructure needed to ensure that your ideas, once implemented, have the support, tools, policies, procedures, and capacity to be sustained. IMPLEMENTATION | Once the infrastructure is completed, we leave you with the tools and recommendations to take you through a pilot period and beyond. We can also continue working with you through the pilot period and equipping the next team that will carry you beyond your launch.Creative Community Leadership Institute (CCLI) Established in 2002 CCLI was a community arts leadership development training program developed by Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis, MN. Over its 22 year history the program supported a network of creative change agents who continue to use arts and culture to help build caring, capable, and sustainable communities. When Intermedia closed its doors in 2017 the program was suspended. The program re-emerged in 2021 under the auspices of Springboard for the Arts in St. Paul Minnesota, and Racing Magpie in Rapid City, South Dakota. The program supports the development of strong leaders capable of challenging and disrupting oppressive systems in their communities by approaching their work with a critical lens and commitment to recognizing systems of oppression and normalizing conversations about race and colonialism. CCLI serves Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota artists.

In Episode 34 Henry Frank shared the story of his long trek from San Quentin as a lifer, to finding both freedom and a community eager to learn from him as an artist, teacher, and healer. Here are three amazing new chapters that that Henry shared about his continuing journey.BioI am a descendant of the great nations of the Yurok and Pomo Tribes. I am a returning resident, former Arts In Corrections participant/clerk, and currently working for the William James Association as the Communications Administrator and Teaching Artist at California Medical Facility (CMF), High Desert State Prison (HDSP), and California Correctional Center (CCC). I use my art to amplify the voices of people of color (specifically Native Americans), people who are currently experiencing incarceration, and returning residents (aka formerly incarcerated) to expose the mistreatment, dehumanization, and desolation. These people have voices, my contribution is to make sure it is heard beyond the reservations and prison walls. My connection and coexistence within the natural world, my heritage, my culture, and incarceration experience inspire and shapes my artistic expression. I draw from my childhood, my spiritual practice, my memories/treatment from my incarceration and living as a Native American in a colonized based society. Art has freed and expanded my scope of humanity and myself, it has been a tool for introspection, connection, and expression. "Art has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. It has let me express things within me that I could not ever put into words. It has given me healing, strength, insight, and patience. If it was not for artistic expression...I would not be the human being that I am today."Notable MentionsRed Tail Art: This is Henry Frank's artist website. Here is how he describes his practice: I enjoy bringing art into existence, I love the entire process, creating the backgrounds, finding the perfect image that fits the background, choosing the right colors to bring it to life, picking up the paintbrushes and mixing the colors and finally putting brush to canvas. It is very calming and relaxing, I go into a meditative state when I am the zone.The Museum of the American Indian: “Located in Marin County and situated on a site of an actual Miwok Village, the Museum is dedicated to providing the people of Northern California with programs and exhibits that deepen understanding and appreciation of Native American cultures.”Yurok People: “The mission of the Yurok Tribe is to exercise the aboriginal and sovereign rights of the Yurok People to continue forever our Tribal traditions of self-governance, cultural and spiritual preservation, stewardship of Yurok lands, waters and other natural endowments, balanced social and economic development, peace and reciprocity, and respect for the dignity and individual rights of all persons living within the jurisdiction of the Yurok Tribe, while honoring our Creator, our ancestors and our descendants.” Pomo People: “The Pomo are an indigenous people of California. The historical Pomo territory in Northern California was large, bordered by the

Àmọ̀kẹ́ Kubat's work rises up in a dozen different overlapping directions. In North Minneapolis you'll likely hear her described as an organizer, a puppeteer, a healer, a priestess, a playwright, a counselor, a writer, a teacher, an actress, a curator, a storyteller, and more often than not, a provocateur. Bio: Amoke Kubat is an artist, weaver, sacred doll maker, and sometimes stand-up comedian, who uses her art to speak truth to power and hold a position of wellness in an America sick with inequality and inequity. In 2010, Amoke began developing her Art of Mothering workshops, which became the foundation of Yo Mama’s House: a cooperative for women who are artists, mothers, activists, and healers in North Minneapolis. Amoke used her residency to support the development of Yo Mama’s House by building relationships with researchers of African history, race studies, and other fields that might inform her work to reclaim Indigenous African sensibilities.Notable Mentions: Creative Community Leadership Institute (CCLI) Established in 2002 CCLI was a community arts leadership development training program developed by Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis, MN. Over its 22 year history the program supported a network of creative change agents who continue to use arts and culture to help build caring, capable, and sustainable communities. When Intermedia closed its doors in 2017 the program was suspended. The program re-emerged in 2021 under the auspices of Springboard for the Arts in St. Paul Minnesota, and Racing Magpie in Rapid City, South Dakota. The program supports the development of strong leaders capable of challenging and disrupting oppressive systems in their communities by approaching their work with a critical lens and commitment to recognizing systems of oppression and normalizing conversations about race and colonialism. CCLI serves Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota artists.North Minneapolis: Northside is one of Minneapolis’ most diverse neighborhood areas. Prince spent a few important formative, guitar-strumming, piano-tapping years in the area. The local businesses, events and entrepreneurs are bringing a new life and energy to the area with a focus on community-led growth. These changes include a thriving cultural presence, often seen through food and artistic expression. Paul Wellstone: (July 21, 1944 – October 25, 2002) was an American academic, author, and politician who represented Minnesota in the United States Senate from 1991 until he was killed in a plane crash near Eveleth, Minnesota, in 2002. Over the years, Wellstone worked with senators whose views were much more conservative than his, but he consistently championed the interests of the poor, the farmers, and the union workers against large banks, agribusiness, and multinational corporations.Yo Mama's House: Mission: Our philosophy and practice is to empower mothers by disrupting the devaluation of women’s invisible labor and increasing the recognition of the ART of Mothering. It is MOTHERS’ collective legacies of maternal wisdom and...

BioBarry Gillespie was introduced to meditation practice in 1978, through the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Ashram. In 2003 he began exploring Theravada Buddhist practice, sitting many long retreats at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA and Spirit Rock in Woodacre, CA. His principal teacher is Guy Armstrong. Barry is an affiliated teacher with the Insight Meditation Community of Colorado (IMCC). He teaches mainly in Boulder and at the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center.Contact Barry @https://www.barryhgillespie.com/buddha_dharma_talks.htmlNotable MentionsStoryStory: A book and a short movie by William Cleveland and Barry Marcus.Find the book @ https://issuu.com/williamcleveland/docs/story_story_full_issuu_pagesFind the movie @ https://youtu.be/pwI0GGW8zTs?si=qwfYhmJRET7-FGpsBuckhorn Center: An experimental therapeutic and cultural center, north of Toronto Canada that operated in the 1980’s.Swami Vishnu Devananda: Vishnudevananda Saraswati was an Indian yoga guru known for his teaching of asanas, a disciple of Sivananda Saraswati, and founder of the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres and Ashrams. He established the Sivananda Yoga Teachers' Training Course, possibly the first yoga teacher training programs in the West. WikipediaThe Experience of Insight by Joseph Goldstein: a modern classic of unusually clear, practical instruction for the practice of Buddhist meditation: sitting and walking meditation, how one relates with the breath, feelings, thought, sense perceptions, consciousness, and everyday activities. Basic Buddhist topics such as the nature of karma, the four noble truths, the factors of enlightenment, dependent origination, and devotion are discussed.Pali Canon: The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language.[1] It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon.[2]

Prison Truth Through FictionHow do you prepare artists to teach in the foggy upside down netherworld of prison? This episode tells how California's Arts in Corrections program answered that question with a twist. Excerpted from the recently published, The Book of Judith (New Village Press) and tells the amazing story of how poet/teacher Judith Tannenbaum's crafted the story of a fictional prison to reveal the often confounding reality of prison life. The Book of Judith: Opening Hearts Through PoetryEdited by Spoon Jackson, Mark Foss, and Sara PressAn homage to the life of poet, writer, and teaching artist Judith Tannenbaum (b. 1947 – d. 2019) and her impact on incarcerated and marginalized students. The book presents different aspects of Judith through a collection of original poetry, prose, essays, illustrations, and fiction from 33 contributors who knew her. Each piece of writing spotlights a voice that Judith’s teachings once touched, and these combined memories help form a clearer picture of her legacy.Five pencil drawings, inspired by those serving life sentences in prison without possibility of parole, separate the book into the following sections: Unfinished Conversations, After December, Looking and Listening, and Legacy. In Unfinished Conversations, contributors share their bond with Judith Tannenbaum through prose and excerpts from letters both real and imagined. In the second section, After December, poets reflect on the life, artistry, and legacy of Judith. The third section, Looking and Listening, focuses on the truth-seeking qualities that Judith brought to her work. The fourth section, Legacy, features work from winners of an award and a fellowship bestowed in her name.Click Here to Access 9 Stories Exploring the Work of Artists in Prison in our JUSTICE ARTS COLLECTION

In our last conversation, (Episode 26) we shared Alice Lovelace's tumultuous history as a solo teaching artist and performer working with young writers all across the rural south. What follows is Alice's next chapter. In it she talks about building an extraordinary multi-disciplinary, cross-sector cultural institution that rises up from the funky detritus of the pandemic as a new beachhead of creative change in a small Georgia Community. BIOAlice Lovelace is a cultural worker, performance artist, teacher, poet, organizer, author, playwright, and arts administer. Since 1976 Atlanta has been her home of choice; a fertile ground for artistic growth and activism, and in 1978, she discovered the Neighborhood Arts Center and met Ebon Dooley (Leo Hale) and Toni Cade Bambara. Together, they organized poetry readings and classes while conducting meetings for the Southern Collective of African American Writers (SCAAW). In 1981, Ebon and Alice founded the nonprofit: Southeast Community Cultural Center located at the former Grant Park Elementary School and in 1984 opened the former school as The Arts Exchange – a studio space for artists, a theater, recording studio, two galleries, a dance studio, and home to the Atlanta Writers Resource Center. Between 1998 and 2000 Alice became executive director of Alternate ROOTS, an artists-led southern regional organization; and along with Dr. Lisa Delpit and actress Jane Fonda, she founded and stepped into the role of executive director of the Atlanta Partnership for Arts in Learning (APAL). Currently serving as the president of the board of ArtsXchange, Alice continues to serve the public need through programs implemented at the nonprofit’s newly renovate facility in East Point, GA. Notable Mentions:Change the Story/ Change the World  https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/change-the-story-change-the-world/id1687938227ArtsXchange | Community Cultural Center | East Point, Georgia Morehouse School of Medicine - MSM - AtlantaSipp Culture – Telling Our Story, Growing Our FutureMaynard Jackson, first Black Mayor of AtlantaNeighborhood Arts Center History - Community Art in Atlanta, 1977-1987 ...

Throughout his career, activist, organizer, educator, and author Harry Boyte. has asked a simple, but obviously challenging question: How can we make democracy an everyday practice for everyone? Given the warnings about the end of democracy, our discussion about role of culture in the labor and civil rights movements, and the inseparable nature of imagination and democracy is timely, to say the least. BIOHarry C. Boyte is a co-founder with Marie Ström of the Public Work Academy and Senior Scholar of Public Work Philosophy, both at Augsburg University. He also founded the international youth civic education initiative Public Achievement and the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the University of Minnesota, now merged into the Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship at Augsburg University. Boyte’s forthcoming book, Awakening Democracy through Public Work, Vanderbilt University Press 2018, recounts lessons from more than 25 years of revitalizing the civic purposes of K-12, higher education, professions, and other settings. In the 1960s, Boyte was a Field Secretary for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization headed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and subsequently was a community and labor organizer in the South. Boyte has authored ten other books on democracy, citizenship, and community organizing and his articles and essays have appeared in more than 150 publications including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Political Theory, Chronicle of Higher Education, Policy Review, Dissent, and the Nation. Notable MentionsPart One: Free SpacesPublic AchievementSabo Center for Democracy and CitizenshipAwakening Democracy Through Public Work, Harry Boyte Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)Judge William HastieSCLC - Citizenship SchoolsBrown V. Board of Education The Big Tomorrow: Hollywood and The Politics of The American Way, Larry MayCultural Front, Michael DenningNixon/Khrushchev Kitchen DebateInstitute for Public Life and WorkThird Way Civics: A Cultural Pluralist view of American Democracy and History Trygve Throntveit,Creative Community Leadership, UMass AmherstPart Two:...

Carlton Turner understands that when you can't feed yourself the imagination is the first thing to go And if you can't "see" a different future you can't make change. Sipp Culture is about feeding both the body and the mind's eye. BIOCarlton Turner is an artist, agriculturalist, researcher, and co-founder of the Mississippi Center for Cultural Production (Sipp Culture). Sipp Culture uses food and story to support rural community development in his hometown of Utica, Mississippi where his family has been for eight generations. He currently serves on the board of First Peoples Fund, Imagining America, Project South and the National Black Food and Justice Alliance. Carlton is a member of the We Shall Overcome Fund Advisory Committee at the Highlander Center for Research and Education and is the former Executive Director of Alternate ROOTS and is a founding partner of the Intercultural Leadership Institute.Carlton is a current Interdisciplinary Research Fellow with the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation and was named to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts YBCA100. He is also a former Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow and former Cultural Policy Fellow at the Creative Placemaking Institute at Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design in the Arts.Carlton Turner is also co-founder and co-artistic director, along with his brother Maurice Turner, of the group M.U.G.A.B.E.E. (Men Under Guidance Acting Before Early Extinction). M.U.G.A.B.E.E. is a Mississippi-based performing arts group that blends of jazz, hip-hop, spoken word poetry and soul music together with non-traditional storytelling. His current work is River Sols, a new play being developed in collaboration with Pangea World Theater that explores race, identity, class, faith, and difference across African American and South Asian communities through embodiment of a river.He is also a member of the Rural Wealth Lab at RUPRI (Rural Policy Research Institute) and an advisor to the Kresge Foundation’s FreshLo Initiative. In 2018, Carlton was awarded the Sidney Yates Award for Advocacy in the Performing Arts by the Association of Performing Arts Professionals. Carlton has also received the M. Edgar Rosenblum award for outstanding contribution to Ensemble Theater (2011) and the Otto René Castillo Awards for Political Theatre (2015).Notable MentionsSIPP Culture: The Mississippi Center for Cultural Production is an approach and resource for cultivating thriving communities. Based in the rural South, “Sipp Culture” is honoring the history and building the future of our own community of Utica, MS. Sipp Culture supports community development from the ground up through cultural production focused on self-determination and agency designed by us and for us. We believe that history, culture, and food affirm our individual and collective humanity. So, we are strengthening our local food system, advancing health equity, and supporting rural artistic voices – while activating the power of story – all to promote the legacy and vision of our hometown.Octavia Butler: OCTAVIA E. BUTLER was a renowned African American author who received a MacArthur “Genius” Grant and PEN West Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work. Born in Pasadena in 1947, she was raised by her mother and her grandmother. She was the author of several award-winning novels including PARABLE OF THE SOWER (1993), which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and PARABLE OF THE TALENTS (1995) winner of the Nebula Award for the best science fiction novel published that year. She was acclaimed for her lean prose, strong protagonists, and social observations in stories that range from the distant past to the...

Over the past four decades, this episode's guest, Cynthia Winton-Henry, and the worldwide community, she and her collaborator, Phil Porter, have helped to grow, have sparked a reconvening of the pre-historic circle of dance and song, and story that animated and nurtured the nascent human community. For more inspiring change maker stories also check out the Change the Story CollectionBIOCynthia Winton-Henry, M.Div, co-founded InterPlay (www.interplay.org) with Phil Porter in 1989. They mentor teachers around the world in best practices to build community and unlock the wisdom of the body using movement, story, stillness, and voice. Cynthia hosts weekly Online Dance Chapels at the Hidden Monastery at www.cynthiawinton-henry.com and teaches the initiations needed by gifted and sensitive bodies using her Self-Care Playbook in the Art of Ensoulment. She’s taught at Holy Names University’s Sophia Center and the University of Creation Spirituality in Oakland, and at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, where she received the Distinguished Alumni Award. Her books include Move: What the Body Wants by Woodlake Press, Chasing the Dance of Life published by Apocryphile Press and Dance: A Sacred Art by Skylight Press, and wrote the concluding essay "Grace Operatives: How Body Wisdom Changed the World" in Phenomonlogies of Grace edited by Marcus Bussey and Camilla Mozzini.Notable MentionsInterplay: InterPlay is an active, creative way to unlock the wisdom of the bodyPhil Porter: Phil is one of the founders of InterPlay. He is a teacher, performer, writer, and organizer. With Cynthia Winton-Henry he is the co-founder of WING IT! Performance Ensemble, and has written several books, some in collaboration with Cynthia, including Having It All: Body, Mind, Heart & Spirit Together Again at Last and The Slightly Mad Rantings of a Body Intellectual Part One. Phil is particularly interested in the use of InterPlay in organizational life and believes that InterPlay can be a powerful tool to create communities of diversity and peace.African Art in Motion: The exhibition was based on a concept of Robert Farris Thompson, associate professor of art history at Yale University, that African art can only be understood through a grasp of African dance and ritual and in the special language of body motion: implied, arrested, or expressed. TRuth St. Dennis: was an American pioneer of modern dance, introducing eastern ideas into the art and paving the way for other women in dance. She was inspired by the Delsarte advocate Genevieve Stebbins. St. Denis was the co-founder in 1915 of the American Denishawn...

Episode 76: Alice Lovelace: How to Thrive as a Creative Change Agent (Reprise)Lately, we have heard from many artists and arts organizations who are joining the creative change movement. In response, we are revisiting Alice's story of creativity, chutzpah, and courage as a peaceful disrupter making serious change across the deep south under the most challenging conditions. For more inspiring change maker stories also check out the Change the Story Collection: Threshold Questions & Delicious QuotesWhat is "This Poem" really about?This poem is a cultural hybrid Travelin' everywhereBelongin' nowhereIrresponsible, Irreverent And totally irrelevantWhat do you mean by Peaceful Disrupter?I am never happy with the status quo. So, I'm always looking for ways to disrupt the status quo and to move it in a more progressive [way] or [by] empowering those who I see are being left behind.And that has to happen a lot, they have to be those who make other people uncomfortable, so that in their discomfort they actually deeply contemplate change. Because when we are comfortable, we don't contemplate change.... I'm a peaceful disruptor. I don't get loud. I don't, I definitely look for opportunities to shift power and to shift the conversation...What does "asking permission" mean in a classroom?When I walk into a classroom, the first thing I say to my class is I asked permission to be there. And often the teachers don't understand that, but I will say to the students, “this is your community, and I am an interloper, and other adults have made a decision that I should be here, but the rightful decision-makers are you because you were the one who had the power to make this a success or to make it a failure”. So, I always ask their permission.How can you fight the power of the false narrative?I've never forgot the lesson of. Standing up to bullies, not getting into the stories people are telling about you, ...the moment that you try to speak to that story, all it's going to do is keep that story spinning. So, I would never address it.Music AttributionVariations on a theme 1 » The Rush (w/ drum) - Variations 1 (c) by PodcastACThis work is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.You should have received a copy of the license along with thiswork. If not, see

Spending time with the Breaking Ice theater based diversity, equity, and inclusion program gave rise to a question: How might new insights about how the brain works might help us better understand the how and why of our continuing struggle with difference? Here is what ensued. LISTEN TO Breaking Ice Chapter 1LISTEN TO Breaking Ice Chapter 2Change the Story / All Episodes Change the Story Collections - Our full catalogue of Episodes in 12 Collections: Justice Arts, Art & Healing, Cultural Organizing, Arts Ed./Children & Youth, Community Arts Training, Music for Change, Theater for Change, Change Making Media, Creative Climate Action, Art of the RuralNotable MentionsBreaking Ice is the award-winning program of Pillsbury House Theatre that for over 20 years has been “breaking the ice” for courageous and productive dialogue around issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. A diverse company of professional actors portrays real-life situations that are customized to meet the goals, needs and culture of each unique organization we serve.Pillsbury House and Theater is a groundbreaking “new model for human service work that recognizes the power of the arts and culture to stimulate community participation, investment and ownership.” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: was a Hungarian-American psychologist. He recognized and named the psychological concept of "flow", a highly focused mental state conducive to productivity.[1][2] He was the Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Management at Claremont Graduate University. He was also the former head of the department of psychology at the University of Chicago and of the department of sociology and anthropology at Lake Forest College.[3]SourcesQuestion 2: How does our environment what we think and believe? 1.Lobel, T. (2014) Sensations: The New Science of Physical Intelligence, Simon & Schuster.2 Eagleman, David. The Brain: The Story of You. Pg., 105, Vintage Books, 2017Question 4: Why are stories...

Breaking Ice - Chapter 2Fear of judgement, the courage of sharing pain, or guilt, or confusion, owning that not knowing is not an excuse for hurting, that humility is hard, that learning hard things is harder, and accepting responsibility is a daily struggle. This is the rocky relational landscape being explored by five BreakIng Ice performers on a bare stage at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. louis, Missouri in the winter of 2019.LISTEN TO Breaking Ice Chapter 1Change the Story / All Episodes Change the Story Collections - Our full catalogue of Episodes in 12 Collections: Justice Arts, Art & Healing, Cultural Organizing, Arts Ed./Children & Youth, Community Arts Training, Music for Change, Theater for Change, Change Making Media, Creative Climate Action, Art of the RuralBIO'sNoël Raymond holds an MFA in Acting from the University of Minnesota and a BFA from Ithaca College in New York. She currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the Multicultural Development Center and the Burning House Group Theatre Company which she co-founded in 1993. She is also a company member of Carlyle Brown and Company. She has taught acting classes and theatre movement in multiple settings to children, college students and adults with developmental disabilities. Noël is an Equity actor who has performed with Pillsbury House Theatre, the Burning House Group, the Guthrie Theater, Penumbra Theatre, Bryant Lake Bowl, and Minnesota Festival Theatres in Minnesota as well as the Hangar Theatre in New York. Noël’s directing credits include Underneath the Lintel, An Almost Holy Picture, Far Away, Angels in America: Parts I and II, and [sic] at Pillsbury House Theatre, From Shadows to Light at Theatre Mu, The BI Show with MaMa mOsAiC, and multiple staged readings and workshops through the Playwrights’ Center, among others. Noël has served on numerous panels including TCG/American Theatre, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Playwright’s Center and United Arts, to name a few.Kurt Kwan has been creating performances and facilitating dialogues around issues of Diversity and Inclusion with the Breaking Ice company since 2001. He also manages the Late Nite and Naked Stages programs. As an actor he has performed with Ten Thousand Things, The Walker, Childrens Theatre Company, Mu Performing Arts, New York Asian American Writers, The History Theatre, and Theatre La Homme Dieu.Notable MentionsDEI programs: Diversity, equity, and inclusion (usually abbreviated DEI) refers to organizational frameworks which seek to promote "the fair treatment and full participation of all people", particularly groups "who have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination" on the basis of

This episode and next will tell the story my time with Breaking Ice and share what I learned about the program's evolution and history, its impact, and its innovative approach helping workplaces large and small "cultivate courageous dialogue around issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. BIO'sNoël Raymond holds an MFA in Acting from the University of Minnesota and a BFA from Ithaca College in New York. She currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the Multicultural Development Center and the Burning House Group Theatre Company which she co-founded in 1993. She is also a company member of Carlyle Brown and Company. She has taught acting classes and theatre movement in multiple settings to children, college students and adults with developmental disabilities. Noël is an Equity actor who has performed with Pillsbury House Theatre, the Burning House Group, the Guthrie Theater, Penumbra Theatre, Bryant Lake Bowl, and Minnesota Festival Theatres in Minnesota as well as the Hangar Theatre in New York. Noël’s directing credits include Underneath the Lintel, An Almost Holy Picture, Far Away, Angels in America: Parts I and II, and [sic] at Pillsbury House Theatre, From Shadows to Light at Theatre Mu, The BI Show with MaMa mOsAiC, and multiple staged readings and workshops through the Playwrights’ Center, among others. Noël has served on numerous panels including TCG/American Theatre, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Playwright’s Center and United Arts, to name a few.Kurt Kwan has been creating performances and facilitating dialogues around issues of Diversity and Inclusion with the Breaking Ice company since 2001. He also manages the Late Nite and Naked Stages programs. As an actor he has performed with Ten Thousand Things, The Walker, Childrens Theatre Company, Mu Performing Arts, New York Asian American Writers, The History Theatre, and Theatre La Homme Dieu.Notable MentionsDEI programs: Diversity, equity, and inclusion (usually abbreviated DEI) refers to organizational frameworks which seek to promote "the fair treatment and full participation of all people", particularly groups "who have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination" on the basis of identity or disability.[1]Barnes Jewish Hospital is the largest hospital in the U.S. state of Missouri. Located in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, it is the adult teaching hospital for the

In Episode 71, Dominic Campbell talked about the community building power of Caribbean Carnival and working with cutting edge brain science at the Global Brain Health Institute. In this episode, Dominic Campbell explores questions like: What roles can artists can play at the intersection of science, healthcare, and policymaking? What conditions support radical collaborative thinking and design? And how can artists help scientists communicate with the real world, or as Dominic puts it “lab to table.”BIODominic Campbell is the originator and co-leader of Creative Aging International. As Ireland's Bealtaine Festival’s Director he steered the festivals growth and expansion over eight years. Formerly an Artistic Director of Ireland’s national celebration, St Patrick’s Festival, he transformed its three shows into ninety within four years growing production and managerial teams alongside the financial support required. Dominic went on to design and produce national celebrations marking the expansion of European Union in 2004 and Centenary celebrations for James Joyce. For “The Day Of Welcomes” marking EU expansion, he devised and produced 12 simultaneous festivals pairing EU expansion countries with Irish towns and cities engaging 2,500 artists from 32 countries.He mentored festivals in Wales (Gwanwynn), Scotland (Luminate), and has developed projects with partners in Australia and The Netherlands. In 2012 he established the first global conference on Creativity In Older Age opened by Irish President Michael D Higgins. In 2016 he became an inaugural Atlantic Fellow for Equity and Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute a project between Trinity College Dublin and University College Southern California an ambitious worldwide program seeking social and public health solutions to reduce the scale and adverse impact of dementia.Recognized by The Irish Times as one of the top ten key cultural influencers in Ireland he seeks strategic and business partners to develop Creative Aging International.Notable MentionsChange the Story Collection: Creative Aging: In the rapidly growing creative care field, the arts are increasingly seen as a powerful and effective prescription for reducing isolation, healing, trauma, promoting vital and essential social connections, mitigating, and delaying the symptoms of dementia, and also changing the way we all think about aging. The artists in this collection are working communities, healthcare facilities, and laboratories to advance new insights and ideas about creative aging alongside neuroscientists, public health professionals, architects, journalists, economists, psychologists, educators, and other artistsGlobal Brain Health Institute: The Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) is dedicated to protecting the world’s aging populations from threats to brain health. “We strive to improve brain health for populations across the world, reaching into local communities and across our global network. GBHI brings together a powerful mix of disciplines, professions, backgrounds, skills, perspectives, and approaches to develop new science-based solutions. “The Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health: The Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health program at GBHI provides innovative training, networking, and support to emerging leaders focused on improving brain health and reducing the impact of dementia in their local communities and on a global scale. It is one of seven...

In this episode international arts and aging leader Dominic Campbell will share his thoughts about some intriguing questions: Can an active creative culture change the scary stories we tell ourselves about getting older? Can large scale festivals help communities find common ground in their work with older citizens? What is creative aging and why is it being embraced by gerontologists, and brain scientists across the planet?BIODominic Campbell is the originator and co-leader of Creative Aging International. As Ireland's Bealtaine Festival’s Director he steered the festivals growth and expansion over eight years. Formerly an Artistic Director of Ireland’s national celebration, St Patrick’s Festival, he transformed its three shows into ninety within four years growing production and managerial teams alongside the financial support required.Dominic went on to design and produce national celebrations marking the expansion of European Union in 2004 and Centenary celebrations for James Joyce. For “The Day Of Welcomes” marking EU expansion, he devised and produced 12 simultaneous festivals pairing EU expansion countries with Irish towns and cities engaging 2,500 artists from 32 countries.He mentored festivals in Wales (Gwanwynn), Scotland (Luminate), and has developed projects with partners in Australia and The Netherlands. In 2012 he established the first global conference on Creativity In Older Age opened by Irish President Michael D Higgins.In 2016 he became an inaugural Atlantic Fellow for Equity and Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute a project between Trinity College Dublin and University College Southern California an ambitious worldwide program seeking social and public health solutions to reduce the scale and adverse impact of dementia.Recognized by The Irish Times as one of the top ten key cultural influencers in Ireland he seeks strategic and business partners to develop Creative Aging International.Notable MentionsGlobal Brain Health Institute: The Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) is dedicated to protecting the world’s aging populations from threats to brain health. “We strive to improve brain health for populations across the world, reaching into local communities and across our global network. GBHI brings together a powerful mix of disciplines, professions, backgrounds, skills, perspectives, and approaches to develop new science-based solutions. “The Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health: The Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health program at GBHI provides innovative training, networking, and support to emerging leaders focused on improving brain health and reducing the impact of dementia in their local communities and on a global scale. It is one of seven global Atlantic Fellows programs to advance fairer, healthier, and more inclusive societies.Chuck Feeney is an American businessman and philanthropist who made his fortune as a co-founder of the Hong Kong based Duty Free Shoppers Group. He is the founder of The Atlantic Philanthropies, one of the largest private charitable foundations in the world. Feeney gave away his fortune in secret for many years, until a business dispute...

In this episode Veronica Rojas talks about working to advance new insights and ideas about creative aging alongside neurologists, architects, journalists, economists, psychologists, educators, and other artists as a Fellow at the Global Brain Health Institute at the University of California, San Francisco. It's quite an adventure. BIOVeronica Rojas: Veronica Rojas (b. Mexico City, 1973) was born into a multi-cultural family; her father is Mexican and her mother Swedish. Veronica grew up in Mexico City where she was exposed from very early on to the art of Remedios Varo, Leonora Carrington and Frida Kahlo. These artists have ever since remained a big influence in Veronica’s artwork. In 1995 she came to San Francisco, USA, to get a BFA at the San Francisco Art Institute and later an MFA at the California College of the Arts. She currently lives in Oakland, California. Veronica has shown her work nationally and internationally. She has been a Visual Aid Grant recipient and has been nominated to The Eureka Fellowship Grant and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant. In 2011 Veronica got the Jerome Caja Terrible Beauty Award. Veronicas’ paintings have been reviewed in Artweek Magazine, Bay Area Express, Metro Active and the TV program Latin Eyes. Currently, Veronica is an Atlantic Fellow for Brain Health and Equity at the Global Brain Health Institute.Notable MentionsGlobal Brain Health Institute: The Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) is dedicated to protecting the world’s aging populations from threats to brain health. We strive to improve brain health for populations across the world, reaching into local communities and across our global network. GBHI brings together a powerful mix of disciplines, professions, backgrounds, skills, perspectives, and approaches to develop new science-based solutions. The Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health: program provides innovative training, networking, and support to emerging leaders focused on improving brain health and reducing the impact of dementia.Creative Growth Center:  Founded in 1974, Creative Growth is a leader in the field of arts and disabilities, establishing a model for a creative community guided by the principle that art is fundamental to human expression and that all people are entitled to its tools of communication. From the first day Creative Growth started in the East Bay home of Elias Katz and Florence Ludins-Katz, the vision was clear. Art would be the path forward for people with disabilities to express themselves and a professional gallery would exhibit their work.Art With Elders: Founded in 1991, AWE engages older adults in fine arts classes and shares their work and life experience through public exhibits. Through classes and exhibits, the AWE program provides older adults with a vehicle for self-expression, social connection, and a presence in the larger community. Classes are taught in person and online by professional artists and are available in 5 languages. Exhibits engage artists and audiences through the power of creativity, deepening connection between cultures and generations.Creative Minds UCSF: Established in 2020, Creative Minds is a community arts for brain health initiative in San Francisco. This unique...

ANNE BASTING's work at the crossroads of Arts and Aging has allowed her to pioneer new approaches to the challenges faced by our aging population. In this episode we learn how her efforts have helped advance the creative aging approach as a powerful and effective prescription for reducing isolation, promoting social connections, and mitigating a the symptoms of dementia. BIOAnne Basting is a writer, artist and advocate for the power of creativity to transform our lives. She is Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and Founder of the award-winning non-profit TimeSlips.org, which trains, inspires, and supports caregivers to infuse creativity into care. Her writing and large-scale public performances have helped shape an international movement to extend creative and meaningful expression from childhood, where it is expected, through to late life, where it has been too long withheld.Her books include Creative Care: A Revolutionary Approach to Elder and Dementia Care (Harper), Penelope: An Arts-based Odyssey to Transform Eldercare (U of Iowa), and Forget Memory: Creating Better Lives for People with Dementia (Johns Hopkins). Internationally recognized for her speaking and her innovative work, Anne is the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, and numerous major awards and grants. She believes that creative engagement can and should be infused into every aging care system and has trained/consulted with Meals on Wheels, libraries, home care companies, senior centers, memory cafes, museums, adult day programs, and every level of long-term care.In 2019, Anne collaborated with a team of artists, elders, and caregivers on her largest project yet – a reimagining of the story of Peter Pan with 12 rural Kentucky nursing homes. She is currently obsessed with growing the memory cafe infrastructure across the United States. Change the Story Collections: Connecting the DotsArts-based community development comes in many flavors: dancers, and painters working with children and youth; poets and potters collaborating with incarcerated artists: cultural organizers in service to communities addressing racial injustice, and in this episode related to arts and aging.Many of our listeners have told us they would like to dig deeper into art and change stories that focus on specific issues, constituencies, or disciplines. For anyone who is interested here are links to other Change the Story Episode episodes related to this episode’s subject. Change the Story Collection: Arts and HealingEpisode 63 and Episode 64: A Conversation with Liz LermanNotable MentionsThe following are links to more information about notable programs, people, and...

This episode is Art in a Democracy: Selected Plays of Roadside Theater. Our conversation with editor Ben Fink and contributor Arnaldo J. Lopez. explores Roadside's 50-year history of creative collaboration percolating at the crossroads of art, community, and America's struggle to craft an authentic living democracy. BIO’sBen Fink: Ben Fink worked with the Roadside ensemble from 2015 through 2020, as a member of the Betsy! Scholars’ Circle, as the founding organizer of the Letcher County Culture Hub and the Performing Our Future coalition, and as the cofounder of the cross-partisan dialogue project Hands Across the Hills. He has also served as dramaturg on the German premieres of  two Broadway musicals, made theater with Turkish and Arab high school students, and chaired a Lutheran faith community in Minnesota. His work in theater, organizing, pedagogy, and economic development has been featured by Salon.com, the Brookings Institution, TDR/The Drama Review, Harvard Law School, Americans for the Arts, PolicyLink, and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2020, Ben was recognized by Time magazine as one of “27 People Bridging Divides Across America.” He is the general editor of Art in a Democracy. Arnaldo J Lopez: is a cultural worker with a Ph.D. in Latin/o American Literatures and Cultures from New York University. He first joined Pregones Theater when the company set out to transform a South Bronx warehouse into a vibrant performing arts center, and later helped engineer a merger with the historic Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in Manhattan. Versed in a broad set of creative, community, and nonprofit topics, he works with artists in mapping paths toward joyful and sustainable practice. His background also includes ten years in letterpress and graphic design.Notable MentionsArt in a Democracy, the selected plays of Roadside Theater, volumes 1 and 2: This two-volume anthology tells the story of Roadside Theater’s first 45 years and includes nine award-winning original play scripts; ten essays by authors from different disciplines and generations, which explore the plays’ social, economic, and political circumstances; and a critical recounting of the theater’s history from 1975 through 2020. ArtinAdemocracy.org: The official Art in a Democracy website. New Village Press is Art in a Democracy's publisher. The mission of New Village Press is to promote and enrich public discussion and understanding of issues vital to the development of healthy, creative, and socially just communities. To that end, New Village publishes transdisciplinary books that animate emerging movements in societal transformation. In conjunction, the Press also sponsors lectures, forums, and exhibitions for the public, especially for those communities that are underserved.Junebug Productions emerged from the Free Southern Theater in 1980 with a mission to create and support artistic works that question and confront inequitable conditions that have historically impacted the Black community. "Through interrogation, we challenge ourselves and those aligned with the organization to make greater and deeper contributions towards a just society."John...

This episode's guest is artist, educator, and global cultural leader, Eric Booth. Eric’s passion is activating the artistry of others to foster wellness, create thriving communities and change behaviors for the better. Eric has written seven books, taught at Juilliard, Stanford, Lincoln Center, and consulted on arts, learning, teaching, and innovation across the globe.BIOIn 2015 Eric Booth was given the nation’s highest award in arts education (the first artist to receive it). He began as a Broadway actor, and became a businessman (his company became the largest of its kind in the U.S. in 7 years), and author of seven books, including the bestseller The Everyday Work of Art, Playing for Their Lives (the only book about music for social change programs around the world) and Tending the Perennials, and over 30 published articles. He has been on the faculty of Juilliard (12 years), Tanglewood (5 years), The Kennedy Center (20 years), and Lincoln Center Education (for 41 years). He serves as a consultant for many arts organizations (including seven of the ten largest U.S. orchestras), cities, states and businesses around the U.S., and in 11 other countries. He has founded and led teaching artist training programs around the world. A frequent keynote speaker, he gave the closing keynote to UNESCO's first world arts education conference, and founded the International Teaching Artist Collaborative. Website : ericbooth.netNotable MentionsAnton Checkhov:  29 January 1860[note 2] – 15 July 1904[note 3]) was a Russian[3] playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics.[The Bear: A Joke in One Act, or The Boor (Russian: Медведь: Шутка в одном действии, tr. Medved': Shutka v odnom deystvii, 1888), is a one-act comedic play written by Russian author Anton Chekhov. The play was originally dedicated to Nikolai Nikolaevich Solovtsov, Chekhov's boyhood friend and director/actor who first played the character Smirnov.Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi:  29 September 1934 – 20 October 2021) was a Hungarian-American psychologist. He recognized and named the psychological concept of "flow", a highly focused mental state conducive to productivity.

Arlene GoldbardIn this episode we talk to author, visual artist, educator, and activist Arlene Goldbard about her new book. In the Camp of Angels of Freedom: What Does it Mean to be Educated. In it she explores her life's journey along with a camp of 11 angels that include James Baldwin, Nina Simone, Paolo Freire, Doris Lessing, and Jane Jacobs.  BioArlene Goldbard (www.arlenegoldbard.com) is a New Mexico-based writer, speaker, consultant, cultural activist, and visual artist whose focus is the intersection of culture, politics and spirituality. Her books include The Wave, The Culture of Possibility: Art, Artists & The Future; New Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development, Community, Culture and Globalization, Crossroads: Reflections on the Politics of Culture, and Clarity. Her new book, In The Camp of Angels of Freedom: What Does It Mean to Be Educated? was published by New Village Press in January 2023. Her essays have been widely published. She has addressed academic and community audiences in the U.S. and Europe and provided advice to community-based organizations, independent media groups, institutions of higher education, and public and private funders and policymakers. Along with François Matarasso, she co-hosts “A Culture of Possibility,” a podcast produced by miaaw.net. From 2012 to 2019, she served as Chief Policy Wonk of the USDAC (usdac.us). From 2008-2019, she served as President of the Board of Directors of The Shalom Center. Notable MentionsChange the Story / Change the World: A Chronicle of art and community transformation across the globe.Change the Story Collection: Many of our listeners have told us they would like to dig deeper into art and change stories that focus on specific issues, constituencies, or disciplines. Others have shared that they are using the podcast as a learning resource and would appreciate categories and cross-references for our stories. In response we have curated episode collections in 11 arenas: Justice Arts, Children and Youth, Racial Reckoning, Creative Climate Action, Cultural Organizing, Creative Community Leadership Development, Arts and Healing, Art of the Rural, Theater for Change, Music and Transformation, Change Media. In the Camp of Angels of Freedom: What Does it Mean to be Educated: An autodidact explores issues of education itself through essays and personal portraits of the key minds who influenced her. What does it mean to be...