Change the Story / Change the World

Bill Cleveland

Poets, dancers, and painters at war with white supremacy, COVID, criminal militias, and Milosevic? Muralists, musicians, and actors, making a difference in homeless shelters, planning departments, emergency rooms, and death row? Sound delusional? Yea, sure, but also true! And when creativity confronts destruction, and imagination faces fear, in places like Ferguson, Johannesburg, Belfast and San Quentin surprising things happen. Our stories help shape and sustain our beliefs and actions. Bill Cleveland believes that meeting the challenges of the 21st century will require a revolution of thought and deed— in essence, a new set of stories powerful enough to change beliefs and behaviors. Change the Story/ Change the World is a chronicle of art and community transformation across the globe. In each episode, Bill will introduce listeners to creative change agents working to re-imagine and recreate the social, political, and cultural narratives that define their communities. Join us read less
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Episodes

3 TRICKSTERS SERIES: Robert Farid Karimi - Witness of Wonder (WOW!)
6d ago
3 TRICKSTERS SERIES: Robert Farid Karimi - Witness of Wonder (WOW!)
Robert Farid KarimiThe "inbetween" is often ignored. It is also the juicy territory that this week’s guest, comedian, chef, poet, educator, and activist Robert Farid Karimi has been investigating over the last couple of decades. like many of our guests Robert, who is also known as Mero Cocinero, Farid Mercury, the Peoples Chef, and even in some quarters, Betty Crocker's radical heir apparent, Robert is not easily pegged. In the conversation that follows we explore some of the stories, ideas, and questions that animate his work. How can humor become a bridge in a conflict-ridden community? What is the role of the fool and gossip in the post truth era? What can community organizers learn from Mel Brooks and Cheech and Chong. Along the way we hear great stories and have a little fun.Delicious QuotesI feel for people who feel that they themselves are bridges because this, it's not easy work to hold, two sides of earth so that others can cross. A lot of times people they're not appreciating everything it took to keep everybody up.…we say in Spanish, "chesme", gossip. And talking about how immigrants, how we transmit the information, especially when you come from cultures, where the official news is being controlled like Iran and Guatemala, like gossip is powerful. Chesme is powerful. So, I became this bridge by valuing the words of others as truth,Humor to me was never about insulting or bringing others down. Humor for me was always, "How can you lift up the room? We've had a bad day. Why you gotta be a downer?" And I think growing up, that's why I valued it so much. That's why it became part of my toolkit.They brought me in to General Mills, …and had me cooking where the Betty Crocker kitchen ladies cook. They stayed. The women who had worked all day stayed because they wanted to have a good time and laugh. My mother still says that's my best gig I've ever had cause I'm at the home of freaking Betty Crocker.I changed Acting One so that it would incorporate play. I want them to start seeing their bodies as this thing, that's taking it all in and that they are not just actors. They are not just performers they are in the in-between. They are storytellers. And to make these stories, they need to understand their relationship to the system of life. And the final of the classes, they get to make fun of the class. They get to use all the skills to make fun of anything I've done, because the rationale is for me, humor is a great way to show that because you got to know what you know, to make fun of it.I couldn't just walk into a community and go, “I'm going to save you all because I'm a person of color. Who's funny.” No. I had to go back to the kid that was listening, ...to the folks in the community. ..Then I could see how I could be of service.Notable MentionsMero Cocinero, Farid Mercury, the Peoples Chef: Just three of Mr. Karimi's many alter egos.Change the Story / Change the World: This podcast, a Chronicle of Art & Community Transformation
3 TRICKSTERS SERIES: Salty Xi Jie Ng - Citizen Scholar of the Cosmos - Act 2
Mar 6 2024
3 TRICKSTERS SERIES: Salty Xi Jie Ng - Citizen Scholar of the Cosmos - Act 2
In this episode we continue down the path of the provocative and unexpected with Salty Xi Jie Ng. Along the way we will encounter the secret lives of art gallery security staff, a cooking show called Microwave Magic, bunion fetishes, and a very funny group of incarcerated artists. BE SURE TO LISTEN TO EPISODE 36 - CITIZEN SCHOLAR OF THE COSMOS - ACT 1BIOSalty Xi Jie Ng co-creates semi-fictional paradigms for the real and imagined lives of humans within the poetics of the intimate vernacular. Often playing with relational possibilities, her interdisciplinary work is manifested from fantasy scores for the present and future that propose a collective re-imagining through humor, care, subversion, play, discomfort, a celebration of the eccentric, and a commitment to the deeply personal. Her practice dances across forms such as brief encounter, collaborative space, variety show, poem, conversation, meal, publication, film, performance.As a citizen scholar of the cosmos, Xi Jie explores aging, intimacy, food, lineage, identity, ritual and power, while questioning who artists are and what gets to be called art. Her research of everyday as performance bears fruit as tender presentations somewhere between art and life. Centering the body and its histories, she constructs portrayals of self and space that are ambiguous, raw, dream-like, absurd, mundane. At heart she is a cosmic clown, floating at the intersections of wonder and melancholy, existential meditation and devotional nonsense.Notable MentionsGrandma Reporter: We are a space for intimate exchange about: style, isolation, and adventure; aging bodies, wrinkles, bunions, caregiving, and death; considering the struggles of growing old in a young, technology-focused world; swimming as a magical way to keep fit in spite of on-land mobility challenges; food, genes, and other things passed through generations; lost loves, longings, and sex that evolves with age. Presenting perspectives that are tender, poignant, moving and humorous, we are energetically connecting our contributors, collaborators, and readers in a senior women’s culture movement.Salty Xi Jie Ng: The Cosmos Wait for You: Salty’s web site.The Inside Show: is a variety show produced at Columbia River Creative Initiatives, an artist-led creative platform in Columbia River Correctional Institution, a minimum security prison in Portland, Oregon. The show is produced in prison, where inmates take on roles of host, performer, writer, and cameraperson. This robust collaboration of eccentric possibilities challenges perceptions of incarcerated individuals and what happens ‘on the inside’. The show’s content includes Microwave Magic— a cooking segment where inmates showcase genius ways of making gourmet meals with minimal ingredients and a microwave; comedy sketches; a goofy sports roundtable; art segments; poignant discussions; braiding demos; musical acts and more.Change the Story / Change the World: A chronicle of art and community transformation.Bunion2Bunion: An artistic inquiry into our relationships with our bodies,​inheritance, beauty, ugliness, defect measurement and DIY self-healing
3 TRICKSTERS SERIES: Salty Xi Jie Ng - Citizen Scholar of the Cosmos - ACT 1
Feb 28 2024
3 TRICKSTERS SERIES: Salty Xi Jie Ng - Citizen Scholar of the Cosmos - ACT 1
EpisodePull back the curtain on one of Salty's works and there's no telling what you will find -- a film, a party, an intimate discussion, a festival, a newspaper, a concert, a feast, and more often than, not an invitation to decide whether you want to participate as an audience member. or as part of the show.BIOSalty Xi Jie Ng co-creates semi-fictional paradigms for the real and imagined lives of humans within the poetics of the intimate vernacular. Often playing with relational possibilities, her interdisciplinary work is manifested from fantasy scores for the present and future that propose a collective re-imagining through humor, care, subversion, play, discomfort, a celebration of the eccentric, and a commitment to the deeply personal. Her practice dances across forms such as brief encounter, collaborative space, variety show, poem, conversation, meal, publication, film, performance. As a citizen scholar of the cosmos, Xi Jie explores aging, intimacy, food, lineage, identity, ritual and power, while questioning who artists are and what gets to be called art. Her research of everyday as performance bears fruit as tender presentations somewhere between art and life. Centering the body and its histories, she constructs portrayals of self and space that are ambiguous, raw, dream-like, absurd, mundane. At heart she is a cosmic clown, floating at the intersections of wonder and melancholy, existential meditation and devotional nonsense.Notable MentionsColumbia River Correctional Institution, Creative Initiatives: Columbia River Creative Initiatives is a series of artist run programs and classes held at the Columbia River Correctional Institution, a minimum security prison in Northeast Portland, Oregon.Fred Armisen: is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He is best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2002 until 2013.[3] With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, Armisen was the co-creator and co-star of the IFC sketch comedy series Portlandia.The Inside Show: is a variety show produced at Columbia River Creative Initiatives, an artist-led creative platform in Columbia River Correctional Institution, a minimum security prison in Portland, Oregon. The show is produced in prison, where inmates take on roles of host, performer, writer, and cameraperson. This robust collaboration of eccentric possibilities challenges perceptions of incarcerated individuals and what happens ‘on the inside’. The show’s content includes Microwave Magic— a cooking segment where inmates showcase genius ways of making gourmet meals with minimal ingredients and a microwave; comedy sketches; a goofy sports roundtable; art segments; poignant discussions; braiding demos; musical acts and more.Salty Xi Jie Ng: The Cosmos Wait for You: Salty’s web site. ArtsWok Collaborative (Singapore): We are an arts-based community...
3 TRICKSTER SERIES: Normando Ismay - A Loving Trickster
Feb 14 2024
3 TRICKSTER SERIES: Normando Ismay - A Loving Trickster
Normando Ismay – A Loving TricksterNormando Ismay was born in the city of All the Saints of the New Rioja in northwest Argentina. As a young adult, he came to the United States, settling in Atlanta to pursue a career as a visual artist. Since then, he has worked in a variety of media including metal, painting, sculpture and installation art.He built a barn-like structure in his backyard and began the operation of the Little Beirut Art Space, a gallery/performance venue for visual art exhibits, poetry readings, storytelling, film, music and dance.At this time, he also began an integration of visual and performing art, combining Andean flutes, drums and stories of magical realism into large- and small-scale performances and performance installations. Normando creates work in Spanish, English and in a bilingual blending. Some of his works include “The Last Inca”, about Pedro de Bohorquez who passes as an Inca and controls northwest Argentina; “Contralabias”, about a North American smuggler, the invention of lipstick and the birth of Argentina.  Normando’s large-scale performance installations accommodate other performing artists and combine paintings, signage, sculptures, video projections, masks, seating, lighting and a stage. Café Bizzoso, Café Cultural de Chamblee, The Condor’s Next Hotel, Bannaland, The Mattress Factory Lounge and Dumpsite, to name a few. Normando’s work has been presented throughout Atlanta and the southeast, as well as in New York, Argentina and Europe. The New York Times, High Performance, the Atlanta Constitution, Art Papers, Mundo Hispanico, and other publications have written about his work. He has received grants from the City of Atlanta Bureau of Cultural Affairs, Fulton County Arts Council, Georgia Council for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1991 he received the Paul Robeson award in Cultural Democracy.Threshold Questions and Delicious QuotesWhat is Cafe Bezzoso?Well, Cafe Bizzoso, it was a traveling performance space, an art installation specific to the site where I was creating it. Bizzoso came out of a proposal that I made to the Arts Festival of Atlanta. They had invited me to perform in this huge stage. … And it's like me and my solo storytelling act and my public is like twenty feet away from me like no intimacy possible because of that. So, I made him a proposal to build a small performance venue for storyteller’s poets. and like that, and they liked the ideaWas the Crack Attack an art exhibition?And then two or three nights after that, Steve Seaberg hanging with me, and he was like uh, "We have to do something." You know, and we started making art about it. And we started filling up the lot and between my house and the crack house with art. And we kept working empty lot, and we'd turn it into a, do an art show. We called it the Crack Attack Show.Who was the Last Inca?Oh it's, it's, an amazing story straight out of history. And The Last Inca is the story of a Spanish soldier who ends up in Peru and he gets in trouble with the Viceroy and they banish him and to, send to a fort Copiapo in Chile, that they know, is about to fall to the indigenous people from there. And this young man goes there, and he builds a cannon out of wood. That was only good for like a couple of explosions. And then the Canon fell apart, but it wasn't enough to signal to...
Tasha Golden & Jill Sonke: Arts on Prescription
Jan 24 2024
Tasha Golden & Jill Sonke: Arts on Prescription
Arts On Prescription: What if your doctor prescribed an arts-based treatment for what ails you and your health insurance paid for it. YEAH RIGHT! Actually, Yeah, right, and REALLY! In this episode we learn all about it in Arts on Prescription: A Field Guide for U. S. CommunitiesARTS ON PRESCRIPTION WEBINAR OPP: Looking for an opportunity to reimagine what health is and how we create it? TUNE IN HERE ON February 13th at 4pm (EST) for a transformative 45-minute webinar exploring the new resource, 'Arts on Prescription: A Field Guide for US Communities'.BIO'sDr. Tasha Golden directs research for the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins Medicine. As a national leader in arts + public health, Dr. Golden studies the impacts of arts & culture, music, aesthetics, and social norms on well-being, health research, and professional practice. She has authored many publications related to arts and health, served as an advisor on several national health initiatives, and is adjunct faculty for the University of Florida’s Center for Arts in Medicine.In addition to her research, Golden is a career artist and entrepreneur. As singer-songwriter for the critically acclaimed band Ellery, she toured full-time in the U.S. and abroad, and her songs appear in feature films and TV dramas (ABC, SHOWTIME, FOX, NETFLIX, etc). She is also a published poet and has taught university courses in public health as well as in writing, rhetoric, and literature. Holding a Ph.D. in Public Health Sciences, Dr. Golden draws on her diverse background to develop innovative, interdisciplinary presentations and partnerships that advance health, health equity, creativity, and well-being.Dr. Golden is also the founder of Project Uncaged: an arts-based health intervention for incarcerated teen women that amplifies their voices in community and policy discourses. These young folx are among her greatest teachers.Jill Sonke, PhD, is director of research initiatives in the Center for Arts in Medicine at the University of Florida (UF), director of national research and impact for the One Nation/One Project initiative, and co-director of the EpiArts Lab, a National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab. She is an affiliated faculty member in the UF School of Theatre & Dance, the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases, the Center for African Studies, the STEM Translational Communication Center, and the One Health Center, and is an editorial board member for Health Promotion Practice journal. She served in the pandemic as a senior advisor to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vaccine Confidence and Demand Team on the COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Task Force and currently serves on the steering committee of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, established by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Steinhardt School at New York University, Community Jameel, and CULTURUNNERS. With 28 years of experience and leadership in the field of arts in health and a PhD in arts in public health from Ulster University in Northern Ireland, Jill is active in research and policy advocacy nationally and internationally. She is an artist and a mixed methods researcher with a current focus on population-level health outcomes associated with arts and cultural participation, arts in public health, and the arts in health communication. Notable MentionsNotable Mentions
Scott Rankin: BIGhART - BIGsTORY Chapter 2
Jan 10 2024
Scott Rankin: BIGhART - BIGsTORY Chapter 2
BIGhART is Australia's leading arts and social change organization.We make art, we build communities, we drive change. 30 years in operation, 62 communities engaged, 47 awards won, 550 artists contributed, 9, 500 people participated, 2. 6 million audience members. BIOScott Rankin co-founded Big hART with friend John Bakes in 1992. As CEO and Creative Director, Scott leads the overarching vision for all Big hART projects – from pilot through to legacy. A leader and teacher in the field of social and cultural innovation, Scott provides daily mentorship and knowledge transfer to all Big hART staff so that they can in turn lead our projects with confidence.An award winning writer and director in his own right, Scott’s works have been included many times in major arts festivals. His reputation is built on a quarter of a century of work, creating, funding and directing large-scale projects in diverse communities with high needs, in isolated settings.Big hART is Scott’s passionate contribution to the arts and society.Notable Mentions: BIGhART: Ngapartji Ngapartji: Big hART designed the Ngapartji Ngapartji project to raise awareness of Indigenous language loss, and the lack of an national Indigenous languages policy. Tasmania is an island state of Australia.[15] It is located 240 kilometres (150 miles) to the south of the Australian mainland, separated from it by the Bass Strait, with the archipelago containing the southernmost point of the country.Vaslav Nijinsky was a Russian[4] ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish ancestry.[5] He is regarded as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century.
Scott Rankin: BIGhART - BIGsTORY
Dec 13 2023
Scott Rankin: BIGhART - BIGsTORY
Scott Rankin: When I describe BIGhART to folks in the US they accuse me of making it up. In this episode Scott Rankin, BIGhART’s founder, describes how this expansive, constantly morphing, multi-disciplinary, thirty-year long enterprise became one of the world's leading arts and social change organizations.BIOScott co-founded Big hART with friend John Bakes in 1992. As CEO and Creative Director, Scott leads the overarching vision for all Big hART projects – from pilot through to legacy. A leader and teacher in the field of social and cultural innovation, Scott provides daily mentorship and knowledge transfer to all Big hART staff so that they can in turn lead our projects with confidence.An award winning writer and director in his own right, Scott’s works have been included many times in major arts festivals. His reputation is built on a quarter of a century of work, creating, funding and directing large-scale projects in diverse communities with high needs, in isolated settings.Big hART is Scott’s passionate contribution to the arts and society.Notable MentionsBIGhART: Authentic, high-quality art made with communities.Big hART brings virtuosic artists into communities to collaborate and create authentic stories which illuminate local injustice. We present these stories to mainstream audiences to help raise awareness. This builds public support for change and helps to protect vulnerable people.Everyone, everywhere has the right to thrive.Big hART works with communities experiencing high levels of need. Rather than focusing on the problem, our unique non-welfare projects build on community assets, strengthening vulnerable individuals, and creating long term attitudinal shifts. Our hope is for all communities to flourish.Positive, generational change begins as a cultural shift.Big hART designs and delivers transformative projects to address complex social issues. Our cultural approaches are evaluated and acknowledged as best practice. Decision makers seeking better solutions can use our award winning projects to help develop new and better policy. We aim to drive generational change.Ngapartji Ngapartji: Big hART designed the Ngapartji Ngapartji project to raise awareness of Indigenous language loss, and the lack of an national Indigenous languages policy. In order to create visibility around these issues, we launched a language and culture teaching portal, offered audiences the chance to learn Pitjantjatjara through a small teaching show, created short teaching films, as well as music and CDs with a Pitjantjatjara choir. We made a high profile documentary, and finally, a large award winning touring show for national festivals. By creating this range of art products, we attracted exceptional media and gained high level political interest in the issue. This assisted in driving a new Indigenous language policy and increased funding to help prevent language loss.Trevor Jamieson is a veteran of stage and screen with over 25 years of experience in the entertainment industry, and a long time creative partner with BIGhART.   He is known as an Actor, Dancer, Musician and Storyteller and his portrait, taken by Brett Canet-Gibson, took out the People’s Choice award for the 2017 National Portrait gallery exhibition in Canberra.Trevor is not only an accomplished actor but is also known for his ability on the guitar and didgeridoo. Trevor has also...
Tisidra Jones: Strong and Starlike
Nov 29 2023
Tisidra Jones: Strong and Starlike
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.
Henry Frank 2.0: Further Adventures of a Free Artist
Nov 15 2023
Henry Frank 2.0: Further Adventures of a Free Artist
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
Amoke Kubat: YO MAMA is in the House
Nov 1 2023
Amoke Kubat: YO MAMA is in the House
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...
Barry Gillespie: Is There a Place for Joy and Compassion?
Oct 18 2023
Barry Gillespie: Is There a Place for Joy and Compassion?
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]
The Book of Judith: Prison Truth Through Fiction
Sep 27 2023
The Book of Judith: Prison Truth Through Fiction
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
Alice Lovelace 2.0: This  Poem IS Going Somewhere!
Sep 13 2023
Alice Lovelace 2.0: This Poem IS Going Somewhere!
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 ...
Harry Boyte: Democracy & Imagination
Aug 30 2023
Harry Boyte: Democracy & Imagination
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: SIPP Culture Rising -Reprise-
Aug 16 2023
Carlton Turner: SIPP Culture Rising -Reprise-
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...
Cynthia Winton-Henry: INTERPLAY - ART - BODY - SOUL
Aug 2 2023
Cynthia Winton-Henry: INTERPLAY - ART - BODY - SOUL
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...
Alice Lovelace: How to thrive as a creative change agent.
Jul 19 2023
Alice Lovelace: How to thrive as a creative change agent.
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
Brain Dance for Breaking Ice:  Art, Neuroscience, & Racial Reckoning
Jul 5 2023
Brain Dance for Breaking Ice: Art, Neuroscience, & Racial Reckoning
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 is Changing DEI Work one Performance at a Time - Chapter 2
Jun 21 2023
Breaking Ice is Changing DEI Work one Performance at a Time - Chapter 2
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