Arts Educators Save the World

Broadway's reigning Tony-award winner for Best Actor, Jonathan Groff (Merrily We Roll Along, oh yeah, and Frozen, oh yeah, and Hamilton), and his elementary school music teacher, Linda Tough, talk about music-making, education, and their shared passion for "I Love Lucy."

Erica and Alek are back! And from now on, we're gonna be a semi-weekly podcast! New episodes start dropping Nov 14, with none other than Jonathan Groff! Follow the show on Twitter @artseducators, on IG @artseducatorspodcast, and learn more at www.ArtsEducatorsPodcast.com. Subscribe today to be inspired by how these educators and mentors changed the lives of the artists... that change our worlds.

So many first-time ingredients to spice up the episode we've whipped up this week: Our FIRST guest from the CULINARY arts... Our FIRST guest co-host who is also an artist in the art form o' the day... and our FIRST guest who has brought along his MOM! A melange of new flavors baked into this week's conversation with 2024 Top Chef-testant CHEF VALENTINE HOWELL, JR, and his mother, STEPHANIE JOACINE, at whose side Val first came to know and love the art and science of food. And because there are never truly too many cooks in the kitchen, we are thrilled to be joined by guest co-host LINDSAY CHRISTIANS, a full-time food editor and arts writer at The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin. Bon appetit! BIOS: Born and raised in Boston, VALENTINE HOWELL, JR. was drawn to the magic of hospitality and food as far back as he can remember. Officially starting his culinary education at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School and graduating from Newbury College with a B.S. in hotel, restaurant and hospitality management, he continues to be inspired by food, art, and his love for culture, travel and the people around him. With over two decades of experience working behind the line in some of Boston’s most notable kitchens, Valentine’s path has led to experiences working alongside culinary royalty such as Lydia Shire, shaping how he approaches cooking and expanding his culinary acumen. A James Beard Award finalist for Best Chef in the Northeast in 2023, every kitchen has imparted diverse knowledge to Valentine’s repertoire. Highlighting local produce and other various cultural and local ingredients, Valentine is currently focusing on hosting pop-ups to promote his international food concept, Black Cat Eatery, which consists of tacos, shared plates of Caribbean, Afro-Latin, and Latin street foods, and dishes with his creative take. Chef Val is currently the head chef at Lingo, the in-headquarter restaurant and bar at EF Education First in Cambridge, MA, which is enjoyed by EF employees and guests. Chef Valentine's official Instagram handle is: @_valentino_86 Bravo's Top Chef official Instagram handle is: @bravotopchef LINDSAY CHRISTIANS (she/hers) is a full-time food editor and arts writer at The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin. She is the host and producer of The Corner Table, a podcast about food and drink in Madison, and a monthly video series called Cooking with the Cap Times featuring local chefs. She is the author of “Madison Chefs: Stories of Food, Farms and People” (UW Press, 2021) and "The Osteria Papavero Cookbook" (Little Creek Press, 2023) with Francesco Mangano. Lindsay earned a BA in journalism from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in theatre research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She served as a judge for Wisconsin's high school musical theater awards program, The Jerry Awards, for 14 years. She also founded the Student Critics Program at Overture Center for the Arts and ran it every season from 2009-2020. Lindsay is a member of the American Theatre Critics and Journalists Association and the International Association of Culinary Professionals. lindsaychristians.com

We launched this podcast in Season One with a conversation between Lin-Manuel Miranda, Robert Lopez, and Ms. Barbara Ames, who was not only their mentor (and elementary school music teacher), but Erica's as well. We now end Season Two with Bradley Whitford, whose mentor (and university theater professor) was, in fact, Alek's as well. Bradley Whitford is, of course, a three-time Emmy Award-winner actor, known for his work on THE WEST WING, TRANSPARENT, and now, as the enigmatic Commander Joseph Lawrence on THE HANDMAID'S TALE. As Brad explains, he's "now at the age when his mentors are no longer... mentoring." So we are thrilled to have with us Paul Milisch, the producing director of theater at Madison East High School, where a certain Mr. Whitford was a student years ago. We bring Season Two to a close with this fantastic conversation about acting, directing, mentorship, arts education, and we confront Brad's fundamenal question about students' access to the arts: "Are we expanding opportunity, or are we preserving privilege?" Follow Bradley: X: @bradleywhitford IG: @bradleywhitford

Our guests today, working at the highest levels of network television, are proof that the mentorship doesn't end at graduation. Craig Thomas is the co-creator of CBS's smash sitcom HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, which received 30 Emmy Award nominations in its nine-season run. His prose has been published in The Iowa Review, The Boston Globe, The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, and the Weekly Humorist. He joins us in conversation with Rob Greenberg, who, as a writer/producer on FRASIER, won three Emmys, and a Writers Guild Award. Rob was an executive producer for the pilot of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, where he remained as consulting producer -- and mentor to Craig and co-creator Carter Bays -- for the show's first six years. Currently, he and his partner, Bob Fisher, are writing, directing and producing the second season of ANIMAL CONTROL for Fox. Check out Craig online: Website: craigthomaswriter.com Instagram: instagram.com/craigtthomas/ Threads: threads.net/@craigtthomas And please learn more and consider donating to the invaluable work of Dr. Paul Grossfeld, whose unique research on Jacobsen's syndrome is helping people every day. And follow Rob: IG: @greenberg.rob

In Season One, we looked at the representation of arts educators on television with Christina Anthony (Episode 8, for those who want to give it a listen). This season, we are taking a look at a few arts educators from the big screen, and who better to speak with than Dana Stevens, Slate’s film critic since 2006 and a co-host of the Slate Culture Gabfest (the magazine's weekly culture podcast). She has also written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic and Bookforum. Her first book, Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century, was named one of the best books of 2022 by The New Yorker, NPR, and Publishers Weekly. Your homework, should you choose to accept it, is a rewatch of DEAD POETS SOCIETY, CAMP, and WHIPLASH. Check out more from Dana: Her (amazing) Buster Keaton book on Amazon: https://bit.ly/danastevensbusterkeaton Slate Culture Gabfest: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/culture-gabfest/id1482212953 IG: @thehighsign Century Tree; composed by Victoria Williams; performed by Aisha Dehaas, Idina Menzel, John Eric Parker; ℗ 2003 Universal Classics Group, a Division of UMG Recordings Inc.

We are back from the holidays and honored to have Chelsea Devantez in conversation with her "comedy mom", The Second City's Anne Libera, who is also the Director of Comedy Studies for the Theater Department at Columbia College Chicago. Chelsea is an Emmy-nominated TV writer, comedian, and filmmaker. She’s written on Peacock’s Girls5Eva, ABC’s Not Dead Yet, and was the Head Writer on The Problem with Jon Stewart on Apple TV+. She hosts the hit independent podcast Glamorous Trash with Chelsea Devantez covering celebrity memoirs, pop culture and all things Glamorous Trash. Anne Libera is the Director of Comedy Studies for The Second City and is an Associate Professor who coordinates the degree in Comedy Writing and Performance at Columbia College Chicago. She is a resident director for The Second City. Her book, Funnier: A Theory of Comedy with Practical Applications, will be published by Northwestern University press, who also published her first book, The Second City Almanac of Improvisation. For more on Chelsea: Get her book: https://www.chelsearosedevantez.com/the-book URL: www.chelsearosedevantez.com IG: @chelseadevantez Learn about Anne: URL: www.comedystudies.com IG: @anne.libera

When we say that arts educators save the world, we mean it! And these two superheroes are fierce advocates for the necessity of incorporating the arts into all aspects of education. Unsolicited advice: Don’t get in their way. We have RUSSELL GRANET, the President & CEO of New 42, a leading cultural nonprofit whose mission is to make extraordinary performing arts a vital part of everyone’s life from the earliest years onward. And we’ve got the unstoppable JODY GOTTFRIED ARNHOLD, the Founder of Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) at 92NY, a luminary in dance education, and an advocate for her mission, Dance for Every Child.  Find Russell online: Instagram: @newvictorytheater www.new42.org/ www.newvictory.org/ www.linkedin.com/in/russell-granet-9a6108b/ www.linkedin.com/company/the-new-42nd-street-inc./ And Jody: DEL Website: www.danceedlab.com DEL Instagram: @danceedlab/ DEL Facebook: www.facebook.com/DanceEducationLaboratory  NYT Article Celebrating Jody: https://nyti.ms/481DnSL PS Dance! Documentary: https://bit.ly/47Xti9t

On this episode we talk to an Emmy-award winning writer from “The Daily Show.” We talk to a writer from “How I Met Your Mother,” one from “Parks and Recreation,” one from “Veep,” and one from the deeply under appreciated “Bored to Death.” We also reconnect with a friend from our high school with the singing voice of an angel. And my word! It’s all the same person! We are thrilled to introduce you to the brilliant Rachel Axler, who has brought along her teacher from her days at Williams College, award-winning author, Jim Shepard.

As part of the Wisconsin Arts Integration Symposium, we bring you our first LIVE episode! Erica and guest host Dr. Yorel Lashley bring on emcee and educator Sheikia Purple Norris, who has invited her long time "guide, teacher, sister, peer" Toni Blackman to the pod. Toni is an author, poet, educator, public speaker, cultural representative, and advocate "representing the divine feminine for women and girls rocking the mic with authenticity," as well as the creator and founder of the I Rhyme Like a Girl Collective. Follow Sheikia Purple Norris: IG @4purppeople Check out Toni Blackman: www.toniblackman.com IG @toniblackman Learn more about the Wisconsin Arts Integration Symposium https://place.education.wisc.edu/k12-programs/wisconsin-arts-integration-symposium/

Speaking of mentoring, today we speak with artists of the spoken word, rapper and teacher Rich Robbins, along with actor, writer, and comedian Langston Kerman, who together speak highly of their spoken word teacher, poet and educator Peter Kahn from Oak Park and River Forest High School. We'll let the rest speak for itself.  Follow Rich Robbins: Instagram: @richrobbins Twitter: @richr0bbins Website: Spotify: Rich Robbins  Check out Langston Kerman: Instagram: @langstonkerman My Mama Told Me - The Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-momma-told-me/id1523712290  Learn more about Peter Kahn: https://www.poet-educatorpeterkahn.org

A great addition to the Arts Pod, mathematician and author Jordan Ellenberg calculates the multiplicity of areas covered by his mentor, Peggy Pfeiffer, who combined various factors to create a writers salon in their high school. We can only discuss a fraction of their infinite knowledge, but we divide and conquer hosting duties with Dr. Erica Litke, associate professor of mathematics education in the College of Education & Human Development at the University of Delaware. JORDAN ELLENBERG is the John D. MacArthur Professor of Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research centers on number theory and arithmetic geometry. He is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers How Not To Be Wrong and Shape, the decidedly non-bestselling novel The Grasshopper King, and articles on mathematical topics for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and many other newspapers and magazines. Learn more about Jordan: Website: www.jordanellenberg.com/ Amazon Book Page: www.amazon.com/stores/Jordan-Ellenberg/author/B001K8IUCG DR. ERICA LITKE is an associate professor specializing in mathematics education in the School of Education at the University of Delaware. Her research focuses on understanding and improving instructional quality in mathematics for students in the elementary and secondary grades. Her research has described and analyzed instructional practice in mathematics using observation instruments, connected instructional quality in mathematics to broader policy-related issues in education, and focused on teacher knowledge and professional development. Follow Erica: Twitter @ericalitke Bluesky: @ericalitke.bsky.social

We launch our second season with actress, model, and disability activist Jillian Mercado in conversation with two of her mentors from National Dance Institute: Artistic Director Kay Gayner, who is responsible for the direction of NDI’s In-School Program, which currently serves approximately 6,500 children in New York City schools; and Agnes McConlogue Ferro, a pediatric clinical specialist in physical therapy who, with Ms. Gayner, co-created and co-directs the NDI DREAM Project (Dancers Realize Excellence through Arts and Movement): an inclusion-based movement program focusing on collaboration and participation. Follow Jillian Mercado: IG @jillianmercado Follow National Dance Institute: IG @nationaldanceinstitute X @nationaldance www.nationaldance.org

Erica and Alek look back on the first (and definitely not the last) season of Arts Educators Save The World. They answer some listener mail, remember their own mentors, and look ahead to Season 2.

Erica checks in to let everyone know how amazing this first season has been and how excited we are about the movement we're starting. She also drops a little hint about the guest we're hoping to bring on for the season one finale.

The incomparable Cecily Strong, fresh off her search for signs of intelligent life, soon to once again be live from New York, sits in conversation with Mary Lou Rosato, her CalArts acting teacher – the kind of acting teacher every artist dreams of having. As they talk sonnets, Lady Macbeth, and sketch comedy, you'll be very glad we started this conversation with her at our party.

In a break from our core curriculum, this elective episode brings Erica together with actress and teaching artist Christina Anthony to discuss representations of arts educators on television. While there are no prerequisites for the course, we recommend checking out the 1982 pilot of FAME (iTunes, $1.99 - worth it!), GLEE Season 3 Episode 12 (Disney+), and ABBOTT ELEMENTARY Season 1 Episode 7 (Hulu).

This week we are joined by Tony-nominated broadway actress and singer Kate Baldwin, who has performed with just about every city symphony, in every theater, along with several presidentially-named Centers (Kennedy and Lincoln, to name a couple). Also joining us is Kate’s friend and mentor: musician, choreographer, and teacher since his teenage years, Craig Kienzle. Kate and Craig talk about the importance of their formative work together, and discuss the person whom they both credit with building the school program that changed their lives, along with generations of other students and artists.

Erica checks in to let everyone know that we're taking a week off to catch our breath, and she previews the second half of Season 1 with guest announcements and more!

Faisal Abdu’Allah is the Chazen Family Distinguished Chair in Art at the University of Wisconsin, and a barber. (Not a typo.) Fraser James is a prolific television actor who happened, one day, years ago, to get his hair cut by the Chazen Family Distinguished Chair in Art at the University of Wisconsin. This week on the podcast, a new take on mentorship reveals how these two Black British artists have influenced each other across the years in their art and activism.