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What happens when a lifetime of movement work becomes a legacy— not as a set of instructions, but as a story, a song, and a way of listening?This is Part Two of our conversation with singer, songwriter, educator, and cultural worker Jane Sapp. In Part One, we began tracing the experiences that shaped Jane’s life and practice. Here, the story widens: into her 53-year partnership with her husband Hubert; their work at the Highlander Center; Jane’s encounters with Appalachia, Penn Center, and the Free Southern Theater; and the lessons she is still exchanging with a new generation of young activists. Along the way, listen for three threads that run from the civil-rights era straight into the present: Listening as a movement practice — how Hubert Sapp’s gift for hearing people across conflict, and Jane’s own practice of turning lived experience into song, make being heard a source of dignity and connection.Solidarity across difference — what Jane and Hubert learned at Highlander by bringing Black communities from the Deep South together with working people in Appalachia and discovering the common forces beneath seemingly different struggles.Passing the work forward without prescribing the future — how Jane’s work with the Encampment for Citizenship helps young people turn story, music, theater, and visual art into tools for activism, while Jane learns from their courage, pressures, and hunger for community. Stay with us for a conversation about what survives across generations when people listen deeply, find common purpose, and make enough room for the next generation to create a movement that may not look anything like the one that came before it. Notable MentionsPeopleJane Sapp: Singer, songwriter, educator, and cultural worker whose music and community practice connect personal story, movement history, and collective action. Hubert Sapp: Jane’s husband and partner of 53 years; in the conversation she recalls his work with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., his gift for listening and conflict resolution, and his leadership at Highlander. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: Civil-rights leader mentioned in connection with Hubert Sapp’s earlier movement work and the wider history surrounding Highlander and Penn Center. Myles Horton: Co-founder of Highlander Folk School, remembered by Jane as a courageous fighter and an important conversation partner during her years at Highlander. John O’Neal: Actor, writer, organizer, and co-founder of the Free Southern Theater; Jane spent a summer working with him and the company in New Orleans. Zohran Mamdani: New York City political leader whose ability to excite young people comes up when Jane describes what Encampment participants look for in leaders who hear them and can help channel their energy. Organizations & InitiativesHighlander Research and Education Center: Movement school founded in 1932 that has connected labor, civil-rights, Appalachian, multiracial, and grassroots organizing. Jane and Hubert Sapp worked there, with Hubert serving as executive director and Jane in the cultural program. Västerbottens folkhögskola Produced the short documentary Myles Horton: Education for Social Change that is quoted in this podcast. iVästerbottens folkhögskola s a public folk high school in Västerbotten, the large, thinly populated county in northern Sweden whose main city is Umeå. It’s run by the regional government, Region Västerbotten. Encampment for Citizenship: Intergenerational civic and social-justice program founded in 1946. Jane works with 15–18-year-olds through story, music, visual art, theater, dialogue, and activist education. Penn Center: Historic St. Helena Island institution rooted in African American education, Gullah Geechee culture, community development, and civil-rights history. Jane directed a cultural program and oral-history project there. Free Southern Theater: Civil-rights-era theater founded by Doris Derby, John O’Neal, and Gilbert Moses as a cultural and educational extension of the movement; Jane recalls spending a formative summer with the company in New Orleans. Places, Movements & Historical ContextAppalachia: The region where Jane says her understanding of common struggle widened as Black communities from the Deep South met miners and working people confronting exploitation. St. Helena Island and the Sea Islands: South Carolina Sea Island setting of Penn Center and Jane’s oral-history work, with deep Gullah Geechee, Reconstruction, and civil-rights history. Jim Crow: The system of racial segregation and discrimination Jane discusses with younger activists, many of whom know only a small portion of civil-rights history. Civil Rights Movement: The broad movement history Jane carries into her work with young people through firsthand stories, music, and discussion. Music & Cultural Practice“There’s a Bright Side Somewhere”: Traditional freedom-song material Jane sings near the end of the interview, turning the episode toward persistence, love, and hope. The Encampment has documented Jane closing a program with a closely related version, “There’s a Bright Sun Somewhere.” Jane Sapp Legacy Project / New Song Cycle: Jane’s ongoing effort to preserve and share her cultural work while mentoring younger activists; her site also describes a new cycle of songs responding to the current moment. Story, Song, Theater & Visual Art at the Encampment: Arts-based practices used to help young people analyze experience, find a collective voice, and imagine the world they want to build. “Someone Sang for Me,” a documentary by Julie Akeret (2002): As budget cuts exacerbate an already deplorable situation in our inner-city schools, the arts are among the first to go. In Springfield, Massachusetts, one woman, educator, musician, and cultural activist Jane Sapp is doing all she can to stem the tide -- with remarkable success. ******* Art Is CHANGE is a podcast that chronicles the power of art and community transformation, providing a platform for activist artists to share their experiences and gain the skills and strategies they need to thrive as agents of social change. Through compelling conversations with artist activists, artivists, and cultural organizers, the podcast explores how art and activism intersect to fuel cultural transformation and drive meaningful change. Guests discuss the challenges and triumphs of community arts, socially engaged art, and creative placemaking, offering insights into artist mentorship, building credibility, and communicating impact. Episodes delve into the realities of artist isolation, burnout, and funding for artists, while celebrating the role of artists in residence and creative leadership in shaping a more just and inclusive world. Whether you’re an emerging or established artist for social justice, this podcast offers inspiration, practical advice, and a sense of solidarity in the journey toward art and social change.

"Have Match, Will Burn." That's what Jane Sapp's college classmates called her. Her maiden name was Wilburn, and the passion fit. Singer, songwriter, choir director and teacher, Jane has spent more than fifty years getting people to sing together. She learned why in the Black church of her Augusta, Georgia childhood: when people sing together, a power is created among them. In this conversation, Jane tells three stories: how Bernice Johnson Reagon insisted she write her first song; how she quit teaching for a semester to learn from the farmers, midwives and blues players of Greene County, Alabama; and what happens to a child's face when they hear their own words sung back. "You can just see them getting taller." Listen in, and then go sing with somebody. Links to Jane's music and everything we mention are below. About Jane Sapp Jane Wilburn Sapp is a performer, songwriter, recording artist and educator whose music draws on the blues, gospel and spiritual traditions of her Georgia childhood. She helped found the Black Belt Folk Roots Festival in Greene County, Alabama, led a youth creative and leadership group in Springfield, Massachusetts, and hosts the podcast Let's Make a Better World. janesapp.org Notable Mentions People Bernice Johnson Reagon (1942–2024): SNCC Freedom Singer, founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock, Jane's mentorJohn U. Monro: former Harvard dean who taught at Miles College and proposed the Greene County programProfessor Garrett: the door-to-door piano teacher who taught Jane her first notes Groups and organizations SNCC Freedom SingersHarambee Singers: Bernice Johnson Reagon's Atlanta groupSweet Honey in the RockMiles College, Birmingham, AlabamaThe African Ensemble: Jane's student group at Miles CollegeCalifornia Arts-in-CorrectionsCenter for the Study of Art and Community Places and history Augusta, Georgia: where Jane grew upGreene County, Alabama and Hadnott v. Amos (1969): the Supreme Court case behind the county's Black elected officialsBlack Belt Folk Roots Festival, Greene County Songs "This May Be the Last Time" (traditional)"This Joy I Have" / "The World Didn't Give It to Me" (traditional spiritual)"Lord, I Know There's Something Better" (Jane Sapp)"We Are an African People" (Jane Sapp), in Let's Make a Better World, Episode 2, at 4:43"What Does It Mean to Be Free?" (Jane Sapp) Listen and learn more Let's Make a Better World: Jane's podcast of stories and songsSomeone Sang for Me (2002): documentary by Julie AkeretHow Can I Keep From Singing? "Tradition and Creativity w/ Jane Sapp"Celebrating Jane Sapp: Singing Up Courage and Community, October 25, 2026, 7 Stages Theater, AtlantaJane Sapp Legacy Project Credits Art Is Change is produced by the Center for the Study of Art and Community. Host: Bill Cleveland. [Music credits to be added.]

CALL TO ARTISTS: Share your story: 3 minutes from the fieldAlready doing arts-based work to support free and fair elections, or about to? Record a message of about 3 minutes on your phone and answer three questions: Who are you? Your name, where you are, and what you do.What are you up to? How you are using your creative skills and strategies to support and protect free and fair elections.How come? Why you are doing this. If others can join you, tell us how. Record and send it HERE We'll weave as many voices as we can into upcoming episodes. One-stop election protection directory by stateEvery opportunity in one place: who, what, where, when, and how to reach them. Start with Anywhere in the U.S., then find your state. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov 3, 2026. Entries are nonpartisan unless marked. For any Center for Artistic Activism project without its own link, write to Rachel Gita Karp, [email protected] — she connects volunteers to the local team. Anywhere in the U.S. Civic Culture Club (featured guest: Jiva Manske) — Artists and cultural workers as strategists for election protection, voter mobilization and civil resistance that lasts past Election Day. Host an Election Eve: Rebirth party tied to the organizers' live event in Brooklyn; build a crew with the Sustain the Movement! toolkit; join pre-election calls; share art organizers can use free (Create Joy). When: Election Eve, Nov 2; pre-election calls now. Contact: civiccultureclub.org/take-action (free toolkits, email sign-up); join: form.typeform.com/to/gm3AYc1RPower the Polls — Become a paid poll worker. Where: your county. When: apply now; most trainings close in October. Contact: powerthepolls.orgElection Protection (Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law) — Nonpartisan poll monitor or hotline volunteer. Where: your home state only. When: early voting through Nov 3. Contact: 866ourvote.org/volunteer; lawyers [email protected] hotlines to share — 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) · Spanish 888-VE-Y-VOTA (888-839-8682) · Asian languages 888-API-VOTE (888-274-8683)Center for Artistic Activism — Free office hours to plan your own creative voter project. When: doubled through October. Contact: c4aa.org/office-hours, [email protected], (646) 832-2454DJs at the Polls (founder Anton Moore) — Paid DJ sets at polling places. When: Nov 3. Contact: djsatthepolls.org/djsHeadCount — Register voters at concerts and festivals; see the show free. When: through Election Day. Contact: headcount.org/volunteerArt for Democracy (Lena Wolff & Hope Meng) — Free VOTE posters to print and post; never sold or altered. Contact: art-for-democracy.org/downloads; @lenawolffstudio, @hopemengdesignArtsVote (Americans for the Arts Action Fund) — Arts-sector voter campaign; toolkits and 501(c)(3) rules for arts organizations. Contact: artsvote.org, artsactionfund.org/artsvoteFall of Freedom (Dread Scott, Lynn Nottage, Hari Kunzru and others) — Network of artist-run anti-authoritarian events; 2026 weekend was Oct 2–4. Contact: falloffreedom.com, @falloffreedomResistance Revival Chorus — Guidance on starting your own protest chorus. Contact: resistancerevivalchorus.comFranciscan Action Network with Jewish Partnership for Democracy — Poll chaplains trained in de-escalation. Contact: America Magazine reportPostcards to Swing States (partisan, Democratic) — Write GOTV postcards from home. Contact: turnoutpac.org/postcardsA list of Your own deadlines: vote411.org By State Arizona Stop the Vote — Yana Landowne's satirical troupe Trillionaires for Trump stages mock campaigns to spur turnout. Where: AZ (also CA, NY, WA). When: through Nov 3. Contact: trillionairesfortrump.orgCounty poll workers — Maricopa, Pima and Yuma counties are hiring. Contact: Power the Polls or your county elections office (guide) California DEMOCRATIC SPACE — Polly García (Cosmovision LLC): alien-defector puppets register voters and offer mutual aid. Where: Lake Merritt, Oakland. When: through Nov 3. Contact: [email protected](N)ICE Officers Deployed at Polling Stations — Kristina Wong with director Jenessa Joffe: satirical video and public filming to counter ICE-related voter fear. Where: Koreatown, Los Angeles. Contact: [email protected]'RE WELCOME — L.M. Bogad: "oligarchs" take to streets and seas on California's ballot measures. Where: statewide, details to come. Contact: [email protected] the Vote — Trillionaires for Trump. Contact: trillionairesfortrump.orgArt for Democracy — Bay Area home base of the free-poster project. Contact: art-for-democracy.orgArtists 4 Democracy — LA artists and art educators: campus workshops, art sales, postcard parties, registration drives. Where: Los Angeles, California campuses, swing states. Contact: artists4democracy.com, @a4d_artistsfordemocracyCalifornia for the Arts — Create the Vote — Free 2026 Election Engagement Resource Guide. Contact: caforthearts.orgSan Diego County poll workers — Two-day training; up to 11 days of service before Election Day. Contact: sdvote.com District of Columbia Leaving the Party — Living-room theater and deep canvass by ashley sparks. When: dates to come. Contact: substack.com/@leavingtheparty Florida Baddies to the Ballot — Mel De Miami, Ibis Valdez, Nina Osoria Ahmadi, Bella Lavish: nightlife-scene "I Voted" selfie pop-ups; content in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole. Where: Miami-Dade. Contact: [email protected] Election Protection Coalition — Voting-rights legal monitors with a car. When: Nov 3, 6:30

Who decides There are lots of ways to censor an artist. You can ban the book, close the exhibition, cancel the performance. We know what those look like. But there's another way: you can make the artist wonder. Wonder whether a character will cost the theater a grant. Whether a festival celebrating queer artists is still fundable. Whether a nonbinary actor can play Faust. In this Freedom of Expression Weather Report, we follow a few sentences inserted into the federal arts funding system. We start with the three theaters and the national service organization that took the National Endowment for the Arts to court, and Judge William E. Smith's ruling that the NEA's "gender ideology" policy put an unconstitutional thumb on the scale. Then we listen in on the October 2026 arguments before the First Circuit. And we track how anti-DEI certifications and canceled grants have traveled downstream, from Providence to Boston, from New York to Gallup, New Mexico, where some arts groups signed, some refused, and neighbors passed the hat. If you've ever filled out a grant application and caught yourself editing the art to fit the form, this one's for you. Key ideas: The censor has moved upstream. Censorship doesn't need to storm the theater. It can show up as a checkbox, a vague criterion, or a question that makes artists cut the work before it's written.Negative weight is still a weight. The government doesn't have to ban an idea to suppress it. It only has to make that viewpoint count against you when the money is handed out.Follow the pipes. NEA dollars flow through state, regional, and local agencies, and the conditions attached to them flow along too, reaching organizations that never applied to Washington at all. Listen, then share it with someone who funds, makes, or cares about the art in your community. Notable Mentions PeopleMarta V. Martínez: Executive director of Rhode Island Latino Arts, oral historian, and lead plaintiff's voice in the NEA case.Lynette Labinger: Providence civil rights attorney and ACLU of Rhode Island cooperating counsel in Rhode Island Latino Arts v. NEA.Luis Hernández: Morning host at The Public's Radio in Rhode Island, who interviewed Martínez and Labinger.Judge William E. Smith: Senior U.S. District Judge in Rhode Island who ruled the NEA's "gender ideology" policy unconstitutional in September 2025.Donald J. Trump: President of the United States, whose January 2025 executive orders set the policies at the center of this story.Mary Anne Carter: Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, who also led the agency during Trump's first term.Andres Serrano: Photographer whose 1987 Piss Christ became a flashpoint in the culture-war fights over NEA funding.Robert Mapplethorpe: Photographer whose NEA-supported retrospective The Perfect Moment sparked national controversy in 1989.The NEA Four: Performance artists Karen Finley, John Fleck, Holly Hughes, and Tim Miller, whose vetoed grants in 1990 led to a landmark lawsuit.Rose Eason: Executive director of gallupARTS in Gallup, New Mexico, which declined NEA-derived funding rather than sign the anti-DEI assurance.April Chalay: Deputy director of 516 ARTS in Albuquerque, who signed the assurance and kept doing the work.Matthew Chase-Daniel: Artist and co-founder of Axle Contemporary, Santa Fe's mobile art gallery.Erin Harkey: President and CEO of Americans for the Arts.Nina Ozlu Tunceli: Recently departed Executive director of the Americans for the Arts Action Fund and the field's longtime voice on Capitol Hill. Organizations & InstitutionsCenter for the Study of Art and Community: Producer of Art is Change, building art-and-community partnerships since 1992.Charles F. Kettering Foundation: Democracy and the Arts: Foundation program exploring how the arts strengthen democratic life, and partner on the Art in Action series.National Endowment for the Arts: The independent federal agency created by Congress in 1965 to support artistic activity and broaden access to the arts.Rhode Island Latino Arts: Providence nonprofit supporting Latino visual art, music, and theater, and lead plaintiff in the NEA case.The Theater Offensive: Boston company creating theater by and for queer and trans people of color.National Queer Theater: New York company celebrating LGBTQ+ theater artists, and home of the Criminal Queerness Festival.Theatre Communications Group: The national service organization for the nonprofit theater field, and a plaintiff in the case.ACLU of Rhode Island: Brought the suit with the national ACLU and cooperating counsel. The case page has filings and updates.The Public's Radio: Rhode Island's public radio newsroom.U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit: Federal appeals court that heard the NEA's appeal on October 7, 2026.New Mexico Arts: New Mexico's state arts agency, which passes NEA partnership funds on to local organizations.KUNM: Public radio in Albuquerque, whose April 2026 report documented New Mexico groups forgoing NEA funds.gallupARTS: Arts council serving Gallup and McKinley County, New Mexico.516 ARTS: Albuquerque nonprofit contemporary art space.Axle Contemporary: Santa Fe mobile gallery and public art project housed in a converted step van.South Arts: Regional arts organization that administered ArtsHERE with the other U.S. regional arts organizations.Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts: Foundation that co-funded emergency support for organizations that lost NEA Challenge America grants.Helen Frankenthaler Foundation: Warhol's partner in that $800,000 relief effort.Americans for the Arts: National nonprofit advancing the arts and

What's So Funny? This episode's guest is Mark Kendall — comedian, filmmaker, and co-founder, alongside Bill Worley, of the Atlanta production company Cool Cool Cool Productions. Mark's path into comedy started almost by accident: a college kid at Northwestern who just wanted to hold a camera, until a summer program built by Chris Rock dropped him into the writers' rooms of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report — and he pitched a joke that Stephen Colbert said on air that night. What he brought home from that summer wasn't just a love of the craft. It was an understanding of how comedy actually works: that behind every laugh is a choice about how much tension to raise, and how much to let go. Mark has spent the years since putting that awareness to civic use — using comedy to talk Atlanta audiences into caring about affordable housing, gerrymandering, and public transit, one absurd, hyper-specific bit at a time. Listen in as we explore: Why Comedy isn't decoration on top of a serious messageThe simple but fragile secret behind every effective jokeHow a comedian's own values are what separates "jokes for jokes' sake" from comedy that moves people. Notable MentionsPeople Mark Kendall — Atlanta-based comedian, filmmaker, and educator; co-founder of Cool Cool Cool Productions and this episode's guest. Bill Worley — Co-founder, COO, and producer/director at Cool Cool Cool Productions alongside Mark Kendall. Chris Rock — Comedian who helped create the Comedy Central summer program that brought young writers of color, including Mark, into the network's development pipeline. Jon Stewart — Longtime host of The Daily Show, where Mark spent a week shadowing the writers' room as a college student. Stephen Colbert — Host of The Colbert Report; aired a joke Mark pitched as a young writer during his Comedy Central summer program. Dr. Lonnie Johnson — Atlanta-based inventor and former NASA engineer best known for creating the Super Soaker; featured in Mark's comedic "Black Sustainability History" video series for PBS's Independent Lens, where he discussed a new heat-to-electricity engine he's developing. Organizations & Institutions Cool Cool Cool Productions — Atlanta production company co-founded by Mark Kendall and Bill Worley, making comedic and non-fiction content on civic engagement, public health, and community issues. Northwestern University — Where Mark studied film and first got involved in sketch comedy, located near Chicago's improv scene. Atlanta Regional Commission — Regional planning agency covering metro Atlanta housing, transportation, and land use; current partner on a comedy-based community engagement fellowship with Mark focused on affordable housing. Fair Count — Atlanta-based civic engagement nonprofit (founded by Stacey Abrams) focused on census participation and fair redistricting; collaborated with Mark on a comedic Bob Ross-style video about Georgia's redistricting process. MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) — Atlanta's public transit system, the subject of a comedic sketch by Mark exploring NIMBY fears around transit expansion into Cobb County. Open Buffalo — Buffalo, New York-based organization focused on economic, racial, and ecological justice; collaborated with Cool Cool Cool Productions on video content. PBS's Independent Lens — PBS documentary strand for which Mark created short-form comedic content, including the "Black Sustainability History" series featuring Dr. Lonnie Johnson. Shows, Series & Productions The Daily Show with Jon Stewart — Comedy Central news-satire program where Mark shadowed the writers' room during his college summer program. The Colbert Report — Comedy Central satirical news program hosted by Stephen Colbert, where Mark pitched material as a young writer, including a joke that made it to air. The Magic Negro and Other Blackness — Mark's nationally touring solo sketch comedy show examining the depiction of Black men in media and the comedic tools used to unpack harmful stereotypes. Historical & Cultural Context Muscogee (Creek) Nation — Indigenous nation whose ancestral lands include present-day Atlanta, acknowledged by Mark at the top of the conversation. ******* Art Is CHANGE is a podcast that chronicles the power of art and community transformation, providing a platform for activist artists to share their experiences and gain the skills and strategies they need to thrive as agents of social change. Through compelling conversations with artist activists, artivists, and cultural organizers, the podcast explores how art and activism intersect to fuel cultural transformation and drive meaningful change. Guests discuss the challenges and triumphs of community arts, socially engaged art, and creative placemaking, offering insights into artist mentorship, building credibility, and communicating impact. Episodes delve into the realities of artist isolation, burnout, and funding for artists, while celebrating the role of artists in residence and creative leadership in shaping a more just and inclusive world. Whether you’re an emerging or established artist for social justice, this podcast offers inspiration, practical advice, and a sense of solidarity in the journey toward art and social change.

Where do poetry and democracy intersect? In part two of our conversation with Dayton poet laureate, educator, activist, culture keeper, and Kettering Foundation Democracy and the Arts resident artist Sierra Leone, we follow the threads of memory and imagination from a gallery of story quilts in Hamilton, Ohio, to the Legacy Sites of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. Along the way, Sierra reads American Libation III: Weaving an Amendment for Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, her response to Carolyn Crump's quilt Lovely One. She takes us inside The Belonging Project, where the stories of more than 100 Dayton residents are being harvested and turned into theater. And she shares a new poem born of a week with fellow Democracy Defenders led by Kimberlé Crenshaw in partnership with, a poem about how ideas persist and how thorns of memory grow from the womb of subjugation. If you've ever wondered what poetry has to do with the work of self-government, or how a life of civic leadership actually begins, this one's for you. In this episode we explore: Poetry asks. Democracy asks too. A poem doesn't go looking for answers. It leaves something behind for others to grapple with, and each generation has to decide what democracy will be.The petals that fall to the ground. Every society chooses which stories rise to the surface. Poets pick up the parts that fall and put some wind under them.Belonging becomes theater. Verbatim stories from returning citizens, bankers, fathers, teachers, and teens become a stage for the hard conversations communities need to have. Notable MentionsPeople Sierra Leone: Dayton's first Poet Laureate, playwright, educator, and Kettering Foundation artist-in-residence.Willis "Bing" Davis: Dayton artist and educator, founder of EbonNia Gallery, honored in Sierra's American Libation: Homage to an Elder (part one).Ketanji Brown Jackson: Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court since 2022, the first Black woman to serve on the Court.Carolyn Crump: Houston-based quilt and multimedia artist whose quilt Ketanji Brown Jackson: Lovely One inspired Sierra's poem.Dr. Carolyn L. Mazloomi: Quilt artist, historian, curator, NEA National Heritage Fellow, and founder of the Women of Color Quilters Network.John Coltrane: Jazz saxophonist and composer. Sierra's poem closes on "a love supreme."Angela Siner: University of Toledo faculty member in Africana Studies and Sierra's mentor, who told her, "Choose your approach."Joni Doherty: Senior Program Officer for Democracy and the Arts at the Kettering Foundation. She invited Sierra to accompany her to Montgomery as a guest of the Foundation.Bryan Stevenson: Public-interest lawyer, author of Just Mercy, and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative.Kimberlé Crenshaw: Legal scholar who was instrumental in developing the concepts of critical race theory and "intersectionality" and co-founder and executive director of the African American Policy Forum.Augusto Boal: Brazilian theater artist and activist, creator of the Theatre of the Oppressed.Paul Laurence Dunbar: Dayton-born poet and novelist, one of the first Black American writers to gain national renown.Lucille Clifton: National Book Award–winning poet known for spare, luminous poems of family and resilience.Terrance Hayes: National Book Award–winning poet and MacArthur Fellow, author of Watch Your Language.Jericho Brown: Pulitzer Prize–winning poet (The Tradition) and co-editor of How We Do It.Nikki Giovanni: Poet, essayist, and leading voice of the Black Arts Movement (1943–2024).Sonia Sanchez: Poet, activist, Black Arts Movement pioneer, and Philadelphia's first poet laureate.Maya Angelou: Poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist, author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.Robert Hayden: Poet and the first African American Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.Gwendolyn Brooks: The first Black poet to win the Pulitzer Prize and a lifelong chronicler of Chicago's Bronzeville. Organizations & Institutions Center for the Study of Art and Community: Producer of Art is Change, building art-and-community partnerships since 1992.Charles F. Kettering Foundation: Democracy and the Arts: Foundation program exploring how the arts strengthen democratic life, and partner on the Art in Action series.Fitton Center for Creative Arts: Community arts center in Hamilton, Ohio, which organized the Soul of Black Folks: 250 Years of Creativity, Innovation and Leadership exhibition. The Fitton partnered with the Kettering Foundation to develop the Voices of Black Folks program.Women of Color Quilters Network: International network of Black quilt artists founded by Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi.The Human Race Theatre Company: Dayton professional theater and one of the partners on The Belonging Project.AmeriCorps Seniors: National service program for volunteers 55 and older, among the groups heard in The Belonging Project listening sessions.University of Dayton: Imagining Community Symposium: October 2026 symposium on civic hope and belonging, where The Belonging Project will be presented.Equal Justice Initiative: Montgomery-based human rights organization founded by Bryan Stevenson.African American Policy Forum: Think tank co-founded and led by Kimberlé Crenshaw. They host the annual Democracy Defenders Summit, which in 2026 involved a partnership with the Equal Justice Initiative.U.S. Sentencing Commission: Federal agency that sets sentencing guidelines. Justice Jackson served as its vice chair.University of Toledo: Where Sierra studied and met her mentor, Angela...

Sierra Leone Believes Poetry Is Essential Civic Infrastructure In this episode we meet Sierra Leone—a poet, educator, activist, and cultural organizer who reminds us that a poem is far more than words on a page. It can become a gathering place, a healing practice, and a way for a community to remember who it is. In this conversation, we explore three central ideas: Presence is a creative discipline. Art begins with showing up, listening deeply, and making space for what has not yet found words.Poetry can become civic infrastructure. A poem can live in a school, gallery, theatre, public square, or gathering of neighbors—not only on the printed page.Belonging is something we make together. Through performance, mentorship, and shared cultural memory, unfamiliar people and art forms can become part of the same nourishing gumbo. Listen for Sierra’s journey from “healing producer” to “creative catalyst” to “culture keeper”—and for her conviction that the artist’s responsibility is not simply to speak, but to build spaces in which a community can hear and learn from itself. Notable MentionsPeople Sierra Leone — Dayton poet, producer, educator, activist, and interdisciplinary artist; the Kettering Foundation’s inaugural artist-in-residence and Dayton’s first living poet laureate.[JD1]Sonia Sanchez — Poet, educator, and Black Arts Movement figure whose advice about making time to write opens the conversation.Gwendolyn Brooks — Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago poet, mentor, and civic literary leader.Amiri Baraka — Poet, playwright, activist, and central theorist of the Black Arts Movement.Haki R. Madhubuti — Poet, educator, Black Arts Movement architect, and founder of Third World Press.Robert Frost — Canonical American poet invoked while discussing narrow public ideas about poetry.Terrance Hayes — Poet cited by Sierra in explaining that a writer makes space for a poem instead of deciding it beforehand.Paul Laurence Dunbar — Dayton-born poet whose life and work remain central to the city’s cultural identity. He was posthumously recognized as Dayton’s first poet laureate.Willis “Bing” Davis — Dayton artist, educator, activist, and curator honored in Sierra’s poem.Kweku Larry Crowe — Dayton oral historian, visual artist, and community activist.Mama Nozipo Glenn — South African-born human-rights advocate and longtime Dayton community elder.Edwin C. Moses — Dayton-born Olympic hurdler and namesake of a prominent city boulevard.James H. McGee — Civil-rights attorney who became Dayton’s first Black mayor, and namesake of a prominent city boulevard.Faheem Curtis-Khidr — Historian and professor whose public scholarship addresses equity and Black history in Dayton.Martin Luther King Jr. — Civil-rights leader whose 1964 Dayton address inspired the Visual Voices project.Colin Kaepernick — Athlete and activist invoked in Sierra’s poem as a contemporary image of kneeling in protest.Joni Doherty — Charles F. Kettering Foundation senior program officer for Democracy and the Arts. Organizations and venues Center for the Study of Art and Community — Producer of ART IS CHANGE and a research and storytelling organization focused on arts-based community development.The Charles F. Kettering Foundation — The Charles F. Kettering Foundation, headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, operating foundation with a mission to advance inclusive democracies worldwide by fostering citizen engagement, promotinggovernment accountability, and countering authoritarianism.Democracy and the Arts — The Kettering Foundation’s focus area for integrating thepower of the arts into democratic life locally, nationally, and globally.Home of Urban Creative Arts — Dayton organization co-founded by Sierra to advance education, performance, healing, and community change.Third World Press Foundation — Chicago-based African-centered publisher founded by Haki R. Madhubuti.Dayton Early College Academy High — The school known as DECA High, where Sierra leads student-designed arts and Black History Month work.University of Dayton Theatre, Dance and Performance Technology — University program that helps DECA students prepare original work for the stage.Roger Glass Center for the Arts — University of Dayton arts center where a DECA production was presented.Levitt Pavilion Dayton — An outdoor nonprofit music venue described as Dayton’s “downtown living room.” The Levitt seeks to build community and social interaction among people of all ages and backgrounds through offering free concerts.Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center — Performing-arts complex that housed Signature performances in its Mathile Theatre.The Loft Theatre — Downtown Dayton theatre and longtime home of Sierra’s Signature series.EbonNia Gallery and Black Palette Art Gallery — West Dayton galleries that hosted Visual Voices and its poetry programming. Projects, events, and movements Black Arts Movement — The artistic and political movement Sierra identifies as a foundation of her practice.Black Writers Retreat — Third World Press gathering devoted to craft, audience, and cultural responsibility.DECA High Black History Month Production — Annual student-led program combining Black history with original poetry, theatre, movement, and visual art.Signature Levitt Music and Arts Camp — Free intensive camp in which Dayton teenagers create and mount a

An outside artist does not become effective by knowing everything about a place.Effectiveness begins with recognizing how much they do not know.That idea has followed us from our Building Blocks episode on outside artists, through Eric Gottesman’s journey from photographer to collaborator, and into the first part of our conversation with Liz Lerman. Liz calls us toward a more horizontal practice—one in which expertise matters, but does not automatically confer authority. In Part Two, that principle becomes even more urgent. Through her work Wicked Bodies, Liz asks why some knowledge is honored, some erased, and some declared dangerous. She explores witches, cultural humility, aesthetic equity, and the hidden systems that decide whose stories and bodies belong. In this episode, we will learn about: Wicked Bodies — and what witches reveal about power, fear, and whose knowledge counts.Cultural humility and aesthetic equity — practices for entering communities without assuming authority.No singular stories — why meaningful work is built through shared inquiry, relationship, and consent. Listen for what these ideas reveal about entering another community—not as its interpreter or savior, but as a curious, accountable partner.

Can an artist who comes from outside a community become an effective partner in creating change? That was the question we explored in an earlier episode of our Building Blocks of Effective Community Arts Practice series. And in our recent conversation with Eric Gottesman, we heard one compelling answer. His experiences in Ethiopia—and later with For Freedoms—taught him to stop acting as the sole author and begin making work with communities through questions, shared authority, and collective storytelling. Our next guest, choreographer and community artist Liz Lerman, takes that conversation further. Through what she calls “the horizontal,” she shows us how artists can bring their knowledge into a community without placing it above everyone else’s. In this episode, we explore: The Horizontal — how leadership and expertise can be shared without disappearing.Critical Response — a feedback practice built around curiosity, consent, and respect.The Heretic’s Path — how artists can challenge established systems while staying in relationship with them. So, as you listen, consider what becomes possible when expertise is joined by humility, curiosity, and a willingness to share power. Notable MentionsDance Exchange: (Previously, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange) Fueled by generosity and curiosity, Dance Exchange expands who gets to dance, where dance happens, what dance is about, and why dance matters. Dance Exchange harnesses the power of creativity and inquiry through dance to connect communities, to deepen our understanding of ourselves and to foster a more embodied, resilient and just world. Critical Response Process: Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process is a method for giving and getting feedback on work in progress, designed to leave the maker eager and motivated to get back to work. is Creative Pee-Posh (Maricopa): The Maricopa people were small bands living along the lower Gila and Colorado rivers. Each of these bands migrated eastward at different times. The Xalychidom (Maricopa of Lehi), left around 1825-1830. The last of these bands is said to have left the Colorado River in the late 1830’s. Eventually these bands came together and became collectively known as the Maricopa. As they migrated eastward, they came upon the Pima tribe and established a relationship. Both tribes provided protection against the Yuman and Apache tribes. Tohono O’odham: The Tohono O’odham Nation is comparable in size to the state of Connecticut. Its four non-contiguous segments total more than 2.8 million acres at an elevation of 2,674 feet. Within its land the Nation has established an Industrial Park that is located near Tucson. Tenants of the Industrial Park include Caterpillar, the maker of heavy equipment; the Desert Diamond Casino, an enterprise of the Nation; and, an 23 acre foreign trade zone. of Wisconsin with a sociologist named Pearlman. Freedom Schools: The Freedom Schools of the 1960s were part of a long line of efforts to liberate people from oppression using the tool of popular education, including secret schools in the 18th and 19th centuries for enslaved Africans; labor schools during the early 20th century; and the Citizenship Schools formed by Septima Clark and others in the 1950s. Anna Halprin: was an American choreographer and dancer. She helped redefine dance in postwar America and pioneer the experimental art form known as postmodern dance and referred to herself as a breaker of the rules of modern dance.[4] In the 1950s, she established the San Francisco Dancers' Workshop to give artists like her a place to practice their art. Exploring the capabilities of her own body, she created a systematic way of moving using kinesthetic awareness.[5 Florence West, dance Milwaukee: Modern dance in Milwaukee begins with Florence West (1912-1994). West left Milwaukee at seventeen to dance in a Broadway road show, quit when she discovered ballet during a tour stop in Detroit, and found her way into the corps of the Chicago Civic Opera ballet. A Milwaukee opera producer asked her to come home to add choreography to a local production of Carmen. She soon became the go-to dance person for Milwaukee dance, theater, and opera companies. Amira de la Garza: After spending a year in Mexico as a Fulbright Scholar, her experiences with the everyday talk and life around her led her to develop methods to integrate the arts, spirituality, and personal reflection into the study of culture. She works with many border-related projects, and has had students from around the world travel with her to many places to learn the methods she teaches.Professor de la Garza reports her research using creative writing, poetry, fiction, and has often shared her research through staged performances. The California State Summer School for the Arts is a rigorous, preprofessional, month-long training program in the visual and performing arts, creative writing, animation and film for talented artists of high school age. CSSSA provides a supportive environment in which students hone acquired skills and explore new techniques and ideas for an intense and exciting learning experience. Ethel Butler, one of Liz’s teachers: From 1933 through 1945, Ethel Butler was a member of the Martha Graham Dance Company. She went on to become a well-known teacher of the Graham Technique, counting among her students Paul Taylor and Dan Wagoner. Sandy Spring Friends School: Sandy Spring Friends School is a progressive, coeducational, college preparatory Quaker school serving students from preschool through 12th grade. SSFS offers an optional 5- and 7- day boarding program in the Middle School and Upper School. Art in Other Places, William Cleveland, Artists have established a remarkable record of innovation and success in institutional settings. Their work with hospital patients, prisoners, the elderly, the disabled, the mentally ill, and others has shown that the arts can have a significant positive impact on the lives of these people. This book recounts the histories of 22 institutional and community arts programs across the country pioneering this approach through activities such as creative writing and the performing and visual arts.Rabbi, Danny Zemel. Wicked Bodies: Inspired by powerful and grotesque images of women’s bodies over multiple historic periods, Liz Lerman’s Wicked Bodies, is an intimate spectacle, brings together several consistent themes of my choreographic output: – the invisible ways and means of feminine thinking and action which have been celebrated, erased, or criminalized; – legal systems that attempt but often fail to bend our actions towards a fairer and more just world; and – how we as a group of intergenerational artists bring our personal lives to the stage within characters that are imagining futures Anand Giridharadas, The Persuaders is a stunning insider account of activists, politicians, educators, and everyday citizens who are on the ground working to change minds, bridge divisions, and fight for democracy. Anat Shanker Osorio: Host of the a href="https://wordstowinby-pod.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

What happens an artist realizes that they can never be the only one with questions?From that reckoning, artist Eric Gottesman spent the next twenty-five years rethinking what an artist with a camera, or a big idea is actually for. In this conversation with Bill Cleveland, Gottesman traces his path from documentary photographer to collaborative image-maker in Addis Ababa's AIDS-affected communities, and eventually to co-founding For Freedoms, the artist-led initiative that has turned billboards, town halls, and even a Super PAC into tools for civic discourse. This is a conversation about authorship, collectivity, and the culture of inquiry at the heart of both artmaking and a thriving democracy. In this episode we explore: How asking the right question often matters more than delivering the right answer.Why Eric Gottesman says he has never made art alone. And why he thinks that's true for everyone.A “composite nation:” Drawing on Frederick Douglass, Gottesman is now developing projects that imagine an American identity built from multiplicity and complexity rather than a single official story. Notable MentionsPeople Eric Gottesman — Artist, educator, writer, and organizer whose collaborative work addresses nationalism, migration, structural violence, history, and civic life. He is a co-founder of For Freedoms. Wendy Ewald — Photographer and one of Gottesman’s mentors. Her decades of co-authored photography projects challenge conventional divisions between photographer, subject, observer, and author. Hank Willis Thomas — Conceptual artist and For Freedoms co-founder whose work examines identity, history, media, popular culture, and representation. Claudia L. Peña — Executive director of For Freedoms, UCLA law lecturer, and practitioner of transformative and restorative justice. She appears with Gottesman and Thomas in the episode’s Skoll World Forum excerpt. Baalu Girma — Influential Ethiopian journalist and novelist who disappeared after publishing Oromay, his critique of the Derg regime and its military campaign in Eritrea. Emily Shur — Photographer who worked with Hank Willis Thomas, Eric Gottesman, and Wyatt Gallery to create contemporary photographic versions of Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms. Wyatt Gallery — Photographer, For Freedoms co-founder, and producer of the contemporary Four Freedoms project. Marc Bamuthi Joseph — Spoken-word artist, writer, librettist, and cultural strategist who developed the six questions at the heart of America, the Beautiful. aja monet — Poet, recording artist, storyteller, and organizer appearing in the October 3, 2026, America(!) the Beautiful(?) performance, which is part of For Freedom’s America, the Beautiful project. Derek Goldman — Director, playwright, educator, and co-founder of Georgetown University’s Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics. Gottesman and Cleveland cite his emphasis on care in cultural work. Ariel Fristoe — Founder and artistic director of Out of Hand Theater, whose work brings theater, social justice, and civic engagement together. Organizations, Institutions, and Places For Freedoms — Artist-led civic organization founded in 2016. It uses public art, billboards, exhibitions, town halls, and artist commissions to encourage listening, inquiry, belonging, and civic participation. Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University — The center at Duke University where Gottesman began his work in Ethiopia in partnership with Save the Children. Save the Children — International humanitarian organization that sent Gottesman to photograph the effects of drought in Ethiopia shortly after his graduation from Duke. The Charles F. Kettering Foundation — The Charles F. Kettering Foundation, headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, operating foundation with a mission to advance inclusive democracies worldwide by fostering citizen engagement, promoting government accountability, and countering authoritarianism. Democracy and the Arts — The Kettering Foundation’s focus area for integrating the power of the arts into democratic life locally, nationally, and globally. Corcoran School of the Arts & Design — George Washington University school where Gottesman serves as the W.W. Corcoran Visiting Professor in Community Engagement and where For Freedoms has been in residence. Future Currents — Organization that helps movement leaders prepare for uncertain conditions and collaboratively imagine more inclusive, just, and democratic futures. U.S. Agency for International Development — Federal agency to which evidence of the Ethiopian drought was submitted to help prompt an international aid response. The episode conversation takes note of the agency’s dismantling and changed status. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — The city in which Gottesman began collaborating with people living with HIV and with children whose parents had died of AIDS. Somali Region, Ethiopia — The drought-affected eastern region where Gottesman first confronted the power imbalances and ethical contradictions of humanitarian photography. Sheshatshiu, Labrador, Canada — Innu community where Gottesman later collaborated with Wendy Ewald and young residents on a cross-generational photographic and community-curated project. Projects, Artworks, and Events For Freedoms at the 2024 Skoll World Forum — The episode includes an excerpt from this presentation by Eric Gottesman, Hank Willis Thomas, and Claudia Peña about art, interdependence, democracy, and social change. The forum took place in Oxford (not London as stated in the podcast). Contemporary Four Freedoms — For Freedoms’ expansive reimagining of Rockwell’s four paintings. More than 100 participants created 82 images representing a broader range of American identities; its Freedom of Worship appeared on the cover of TIME. Question Bridge: Black Males — Collaborative project...

What can happen when art carries people across boundaries they rarely cross? in 2019, a remarkable theater project brought together two very different communities: rural largely white Brussels, Illinois, and the predominantly Black St. Louis-area communities of Normandy and Pagedale, Missouri. Separated by the Mississippi River—and by race, geography, and very different assumptions about one another—they became collaborators in a new version of Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Under the direction of artist/activist/educator Kathi Bentley students, teachers, residents, artists, and audiences traveled by bus and ferry between the two communities. Along the way, strangers became castmates, hosts, guests, and friends. This reprise show is the first in a four-episode journey exploring what can happen when artists enter communities, cross into unfamiliar territory, and create the conditions for people to hear and change one another’s stories. Threshold Questions and Juicy Quotes:Can collective creation change settled world views? I mean, there are a couple of Mexican families in Brussels. They're no black folks. So, I would always kid that I was like, you know, that's a cute little house, and if I bought that, I'd be okay. Like, yeah. You know, for some of those students, this was prayerfully life changing in how they see folks and communities that are different than them and for our students from Normandy.Can we build lasting bridges between communities separated by race and culture? You’ve got to have people love each other. You’ve got to have people like, "Can't wait to see you at rehearsal."... because then on stage, I got your back ... that experience it was so affirming to me about the power of just having people just talk to each other, you know, so they fell in love with each other. I fell in love with them. What kind of leadership grows community ownership and accountability? I'm humbled by the whole experience. You know, because often people don't know or really care who the director is, and that's okay. That's my goal. So, it's nice to just be on the ferry and nobody know what my roll was in it and hear people like, this is so cool. Oh my gosh, I can't believe we're doing this.Notable MentionsBlackberry Productions St. Louis Shakespeare Festival: Shakespeare, in the Streets Art and Upheaval, Wedding Community Play. CHIPS Health: Community Health-In-Partnership Services (d/b/a CHIPS Health and Wellness Center) is the place where uninsured and underserved people in the St. Louis metropolitan area can receive free primary and preventive health care services. Bread and Roses Missouri An organization with the mission of organizing arts and humanities projects about workers and their families.

Tricia Rose Burt spent nearly fifteen years doing everything right — director of corporate communications, a career built inside Fidelity Investments and Harvard Business School, the whole stable, predictable life she was raised to want. Then a career counselor told her she needed freedom and art, and within a year she'd quit the job, sold the car, ended the marriage, and moved to an artist's studio in Ireland for what was supposed to be six months. She stayed four. Now she's a Moth storyteller, a TEDx speaker, and the host of No Time to Be Timid — a podcast built entirely around one idea: the riskiest thing you can do is play it safe. In this conversation, Tricia and Bill dig into what it actually costs to become someone else on purpose — and why fear, boredom, and failure aren't obstacles to the creative life, they're the price of admission. Three reasons to listen: The week she blew up her old life. Job, car, marriage — gone in seven days, on the strength of one priest's line: "Everyone will tell you the cost of going. No one will tell you the cost of staying."Even the pros get scared. Why a 22-time Grammy winner joining the Eagles and a Nashville hitmaker turned wheelchair-tech founder both told Tricia, on record, that fear never actually goes away — you just get better at using it.A 10-point manifesto for getting unstuck. From "practicality is overrated" to "constraints are opportunities" — the field-tested rules Tricia now hands to everyone from artists to executives. Notable MentionsNo Time to Be Timid — Tricia Rose Burt People Tricia Rose Burt — Speaker, storyteller, and podcast host who left a corporate career at Fidelity Investments and Harvard Business School to become an artist; host of No Time to Be Timid and a longtime storyteller and instructor for The Moth. Vince Gill — Grammy-winning country musician who joined the Eagles in 2017 following Glenn Frey's death; discussed on No Time to Be Timid the fear he still feels performing, including tackling the Beach Boys' notoriously difficult "Surf's Up." Barry Dean — Nashville hit songwriter ("Heartache Medication," "Pontoon") who co-founded the smart wheelchair technology company LUCI with his brother Jered after his daughter Katherine was born with cerebral palsy. Devin Finigan — Self-taught chef-owner of Aragosta at Goose Cove in Deer Isle, Maine, trained through stints at Per Se, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, and The French Laundry; her restaurant was named among Food & Wine's top U.S. dining destinations in 2024 and 2025. Laura Wilson — American documentary photographer inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 2019, known for her decade-plus access to photograph Montana's Hutterite communities; mother of actors Owen, Luke, and Andrew Wilson. Nell Painter — Princeton historian who, in her mid-60s, left academia to earn a BFA and MFA in painting, chronicled in her memoir Old in Art School; she is a past guest on Tricia's own podcast. The War and Treaty (Michael & Tanya Trotter) — Husband-and-wife Americana duo; Michael, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, found his voice singing at the funerals of fellow soldiers before he and Tanya began performing together. Amy Grant — Six-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and friend of Tricia's; discussed anticipating the excitement rather than the anxiety of returning to the stage after a decade away from releasing new music. Organizations & Institutions The Moth — Global nonprofit dedicated to live, unscripted personal storytelling; Tricia is a longtime storyteller and instructor for the organization. Fidelity Investments — Boston-based financial services firm where Tricia worked in corporate communications before her career pivot into the arts. Harvard Business School — Part of Tricia's original corporate career track before she left the business world for art school in Ireland. Aragosta at Goose Cove — Devin Finigan's destination restaurant and inn on Deer Isle, Maine, ranked among Food & Wine's top U.S. culinary destinations. LUCI Mobility — Smart technology company founded by songwriter Barry Dean and his brother Jered, building collision- and tip-prevention sensors for power wheelchairs. Books, Talks & Media No Time to Be Timid — Tricia's award-winning podcast (a Signal Award winner in Arts & Culture) featuring artists, entrepreneurs, and everyday people who made a bold creative leap. The No Time to Be Timid Manifesto — Tricia's 10-point guide to living more creatively, including principles like "the riskiest thing you can do is play it safe" and "constraints are opportunities." Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over — Nell Painter's memoir of leaving a celebrated academic career to earn a BFA and MFA in her 60s; a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. "How I Redeemed 35 Years of Regret" — Tricia's TEDxPortsmouth talk built around the idea that the biggest risk in life is playing it safe. Acknowledgements (FreeSound.org) Sounds from the forest by GirlWithSoundRecorder -- https://freesound.org/s/636921/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 Horses Whinnying.wav by LeandiViljoen -- https://freesound.org/s/502084/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 3.0 Pulse Breath with Bells_version 1.wav by phylobates -- https://freesound.org/s/493559/ -- License: Creative Commons *******Art Is CHANGE is a podcast that chronicles the power of art and community transformation, providing a platform for activist artists to share their experiences and gain the skills and strategies they need to thrive as agents of social change. Through compelling conversations with artist activists, artivists, and cultural organizers, the podcast explores how art and activism intersect to fuel cultural transformation and drive meaningful change. Guests discuss the challenges and triumphs of community arts, socially engaged art, and creative placemaking, offering insights into artist mentorship, building credibility, and communicating impact. Episodes delve into the realities of artist isolation, burnout, and funding for artists, while celebrating the role of artists in residence and creative leadership in shaping a more just and inclusive world. Whether you’re an emerging or established artist for social justice, this podcast offers inspiration, practical advice, and a sense of solidarity in the journey toward art and social change.

What happens when a government decides that one of the greatest threats to its future isn't an armed force — but a cultural institution?On July 4th, America's 250th birthday, the White House Domestic Policy Council released a 162-page report accusing the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History of "ideological capture." Twenty days later, the President signed a second executive order directing federal agencies to force the museum to change how it tells the country's story. Host Bill Cleveland lays out the specifics: the named exhibits, the named staff, the quiet stall in confirming new members of the Smithsonian's governing board — and asks what it means when a nation stops trusting itself to hold a complicated history. Drawing on decades of work with artists in Serbia, Cambodia, Northern Ireland, and Watts, California, and revisiting labor leader Ken Grossinger's conversation about Bryan Stevenson's Legacy Sites in Montgomery Alabama, Cleveland makes the case that culture is never a side issue. Authoritarian movements go after artists first, not for their political power, but because artists shape imagination itself. This episode is about why museums, memorials, and community art aren't warehouses of old objects, but living civic spaces where democracy is practiced, one story at a time. In this episode we explore: How an government report, an executive order, and a quiet stall in board appointments aren't three separate stories, they're one strategy for defining and controlling America's history moving through official channels.Why authoritarian movements attack culture first because stories shape what people believe is possible, before governments can control people, they go for the imagination.Democracy isn't only a system to defend; it's a creative practice — rehearsed in murals, story circles, museums, and neighborhood theater as much as in legislatures. If this show sparks your curiosity we invite you to visit this ART IS CHANGE Collection: Art In Action: Stories of Artists Making a Difference in These Tumultuous Times Notable Mentions People • Lonnie G. Bunch III — 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; responded to the White House report by defending the museum's commitment to "scholarship, accuracy" and telling the fullness of America's story. • Bryan Stevenson — Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative; led the creation of the Legacy Museum, National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, and Montgomery Square in Montgomery, Alabama. • Ken Grossinger — Labor and social-justice strategist, author of Art Works: How Organizers and Artists Are Creating a Better World Together, and guest on a prior Art Is Change episode discussing the EJI Legacy Sites. • Alice Lovelace — Atlanta-based poet, performer, and cultural organizer; a recurring voice on the podcast, quoted here on how every generation believes it's living through unprecedented times. Organizations & Institutions • The Charles F. Kettering Foundation — The Charles F. Kettering Foundation, headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, operating foundation with a mission to advance inclusive democracies worldwide by fostering citizen engagement, promoting government accountability, and countering authoritarianism. • Democracy and the Arts — The Kettering Foundation’s focus area for integrating the power of the arts into democratic life locally, nationally, and globally. • Center for the Study of Art and Community — The producing organization behind Art Is Change, founded by Bill Cleveland in 1991 to build partnerships between artists and communities. • Smithsonian Institution / National Museum of American History — The federal museum complex, and specifically the history museum, at the center of the report and executive orders discussed in this episode. • Smithsonian Board of Regents — The 17-member body that governs the Smithsonian, including the Vice President and the Chief Justice; currently has unfilled seats amid an unusually slow confirmation process. • White House Domestic Policy Council — The office that produced the "Saving America's Story" report and is directed, under the July 24 order, to help enforce its recommendations. • Charles F. Kettering Foundation — Nonpartisan foundation whose Democracy and the Arts program partnered with Art Is Change to produce this Art in Action series. • Equal Justice Initiative — Montgomery, Alabama-based human rights organization founded by Bryan Stevenson; operates the Legacy Sites referenced in Part Two. Publications, Exhibits & Curricula • "Saving America's Story: How Ideological Capture at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History Erases Our Heritage" — The 162-page White House Domestic Policy Council report released July 4, 2026, that touched off the events discussed in this episode. • Executive Order 14253, "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History" — Signed March 27, 2025; ordered the review of the Smithsonian that produced the July 2026 report. • "Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution" — The second executive order, signed July 24, 2026, directing federal agencies to act on the report's findings. • "Many Voices, One Nation" — Permanent NMAH exhibition exploring how many communities have shaped the nation; named in the White House report as an example of the museum's approach. • "Upending 1620: Where Do We Begin?" — NMAH exhibit examining early encounters between Wampanoag peoples and English colonists, also cited in the report. • "American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith" — NMAH exhibition on the evolving American experiment in self-government. • "Becoming US" — NMAH's national education curriculum teaching U.S. history through the lens of migration; criticized in the White House report. • "Block Bridge Build: Stories of Activist Artists and Cultural Organizers Making a Difference in These Tumultuous Times" — A collection of ART IS CHANGE episodes that explore how arts activism and cultural organizing function as pro-democracy infrastructure. Historical Events & Movements • The Milošević era in Serbia (1989–2000) — The period of authoritarian rule in Serbia during which Cleveland worked with Belgrade theater artists engaged in public, improvisational protest. • a...

A while back we shared the story of how Breaking Ice, a theater company working out of an arts based social service agency called Pillsbury House and Theater in Minneapolis, joined up with a large health care system in St. Louis to provide a powerful boost to their diversity, equity and inclusion program. That led to a and exploration of what neuroscience can contribute to understanding and dealing with the human struggle with difference. Dopamine, synapses, and the prefrontal cortex might sound like a science fair project gone wild, but trust me, they're crucial when we dive into the colorful world of art and social change! In this episode, we’re unpacking how the brain's wiring and our creative expressions are intertwined, and how that connection can help us tackle the ever-pressing issues of diversity and social justice. We’ll explore the magic of storytelling and empathy, revealing how art can literally change the way our brains perceive and react to the world around us. Buckle up, because we’re taking a wild ride through neuroscience, creativity, and the transformative power of community art—a journey that’s not just enlightening but also a whole lot of fun. So grab your thinking caps and get ready to dance with some brainy ideas! In this episode we explore: The intersection of neuroscience and creativity can help us understand the human struggle with difference.Empathy is not just a buzzword; it’s a fundamental part of our humanity that artists can harness to create impactful work that can change the way people think about each other.Art is not just about aesthetics; it’s a powerful tool for social change that can rewire how we think about ourselves and each other, ultimately driving cooperation. 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 1 LISTEN TO Breaking Ice Chapter 2 ART IS CHANGE / All Episodes ART IS CHANGE 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 Rural Notable 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 influence 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, 2017 Question 4: Why are stories important? 3.Hamlin, JK, Wynn, K & Bloom, P (2007) “Social evaluation by preverbal infants.” Nature, 450(7169), 557-59. Question 5: What is empathy and what does it have to do with artmaking? 4 Eagleman, David. The Brain: The Story of You. Pg., 143, Vintage Books, 2017 5 Ibid. Question 11: If human cooperation and connection are so important, why do we struggle so with difference? 6. How do children develop a sense of self? - The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/how-do-children- develop-a-sense-of-self-5611 7. Toddler | Preschool & Daycare | The Montessori Centre St Lucia. http://www.themontessoricentre.com/toddlers/ 8. Eagleman, David. The Brain: The Story of You. Pg., 143, Vintage Books, 2017 Question 13: Why is play so important to human development? 9 Asma, Steven The History of Imagination, pg., 84, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2017 10 Asma, Stephen, The Evolution of Imagination, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2017 Question 15: How Can human creativity help us out of this mess? 11 Boyd, Brian, On the Origin of Stories, Harvard University Press, Boston, 2010 ******* Change the Story / Change the World is a podcast that chronicles the power of art and community transformation, providing a platform for activist artists to share their experiences and gain the skills and strategies they need to thrive as agents of social change. Through compelling conversations with artist activists, artivists, and cultural organizers, the podcast explores how art and activism intersect to fuel cultural transformation and drive meaningful change. Guests discuss the challenges and triumphs of community arts, socially engaged art, and creative placemaking, offering insights into artist mentorship, building credibility, and communicating impact. Episodes delve into the realities of artist isolation, burnout, and funding for artists, while celebrating the role of artists in residence and creative leadership in shaping a more just and inclusive world. Whether you’re an emerging or established artist for social justice, this podcast offers inspiration, practical advice, and a sense of solidarity in the journey toward art and social change.

Can an artist from outside a community become an effective force for change—or does arriving with good intentions risk repeating the very patterns the work is meant to challenge? Bill Cleveland joins Alice Lovelace and Barbara Schaffer Bacon to examine one of community arts practice’s most persistent questions: when outsiders enter a community, what allows their work to take root, and what turns a promising intervention into a brief visit—or even a source of harm? Through stories from Serbia, Atlanta, Ohio, and rural Georgia, the conversation moves beyond simple answers and into the practical ethics of entering another community’s living room. Listen for three ideas that can change how artists, hosts, and funders approach community-based work: Why local knowledge and leadership must shape the work from the beginning—not merely approve it afterward.How an outside artist can sometimes become a catalyst, witness, or lightning rod when local people cannot safely raise a difficult issue themselves.Why the deepest measure of success is not the artwork left behind, but the relationships, skills, confidence, and community power that remain after the artist leaves. Join us for a candid exploration of what it means to enter with humility, listen for the truth of a place, share leadership, and leave a community more able to tell—and act upon—its own story. Notable MentionsPeople Alice Lovelace: Poet, educator, performer, and Executive Director of ArtsXchange whose decades of community-based practice inform the episode’s most vivid stories about the opportunities and risks faced by visiting artists.Barbara Schaffer Bacon: Cultural policy leader and co-founder of Animating Democracy, known for advancing ethical, reciprocal, and civically engaged arts practice.Bill Cleveland: Host of ART IS CHANGE and longtime community arts practitioner whose book Art and Upheaval examined artists working amid war, oppression, displacement, and social crisis.Dijana Milošević: Serbian theater director, activist, and co-founder of DAH Theatre, cited for describing artists resisting tyranny as citizens acting inside their own community.Slobodan Milošević: Serbian and Yugoslav political leader whose authoritarian rule and the wars surrounding Yugoslavia’s breakup form the historical setting for the discussion of DAH Theatre.John O’Neal: Civil rights activist, playwright, co-founder of the Free Southern Theater, and a major developer of story-circle practice in community cultural work.Liz Lerman: Choreographer, educator, and civic arts pioneer whose residencies model inquiry, participation, and shared creative leadership.Michael Rohd: Theater-maker, facilitator, and civic-practice leader whose community residencies use creative process to support public dialogue and local problem-solving. Organizations & Initiatives Center for the Study of Art & Community: Producer of ART IS CHANGE and a resource for arts-based community development and cultural organizing.ArtsXchange: Atlanta-area interdisciplinary arts center connecting artistic practice, community development, environmental work, and social justice.DAH Theatre Research Center: Belgrade-based theater laboratory founded during the breakup of Yugoslavia, using performance as a form of resistance, memory, and civic engagement.Urban Bush Women: Black women-led dance company and social-change organization that combines performance, artist development, education, and deep community engagement.Animating Democracy: National initiative documenting and strengthening the role of arts and culture in civic dialogue, community change, and democracy.Appalshop: Appalachian media, arts, and education organization dedicated to telling stories from within the region and challenging stereotypes through locally rooted cultural work.CETA Arts Legacy Project: Project preserving the history of federally supported artist employment under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, referenced through artists who worked in communities with unusually open-ended assignments. Events & Programs Hurricane Katrina: The devastating 2005 Gulf Coast hurricane whose aftermath prompted many artists to seek ways to enter affected communities and help—raising difficult questions about urgency, expertise, and the impulse to parachute in.Story Circle: A structured method for sharing personal experience, discovering common ground, and grounding community work in local voices; used in the Lima, Ohio residencies discussed in the episode. (See also, John O'Neal above)Building Blocks of Effective Community Arts Practice: ART IS CHANGE conversation series examining the skills, ethics, and strategies required for effective arts-based community work.Alice Lovelace — Episode 23: Earlier podcast conversation in which Lovelace recounts in greater depth the controversy, community response, and lasting impact of her work as an outside artist in Georgia. Publications & Learning Resources Art and Upheaval: Artists on the World’s Frontlines: Bill Cleveland’s examination of artists responding to war, oppression, cultural dislocation, and community crisis in places including Serbia and Cambodia.Literature Is History: The course Alice Lovelace created for young people in rural Georgia, grounding literature in lived experience and restoring the history, skills, and cultural gifts of enslaved Africans to the community narrative.Story Circle Facilitation: A Quick Guide: Practical guide to the community story-circle method developed through Roadside Theater and Junebug Productions. Places & Institutions Atlanta, Georgia: Home ground for Alice Lovelace’s community arts practice and a central reference point for considering the difference between working inside one’s own community and entering another.Evans, Georgia: Community associated with one of Lovelace’s experiences of becoming a politically targeted outside artist whose resistance helped provoke local solidarity and institutional change.Lima, Ohio: Site of artist residencies where story-circle skills remained available to the community and were reactivated years later during a local crisis.Serbia: Major case study in Cleveland’s work on artists responding from within communities experiencing authoritarianism and war.Cambodia: Referenced as another setting where local artists’ long-term...