Podcasts about Puffin Foundation

"Dance Talk” ® with Joanne Carey and special guest film maker, Gabrielle Lansner In this episode of "Dance Talk” ® host Joanne Carey interviews choreographer and film maker, Gabrielle Lansner, who shares her unique journey from dance to filmmaking. Gabrielle discusses her early dance training, the influence of acting on her choreography, and her transition to creating dance films. She reflects on her creative process, the themes of loss in her work, and how the COVID-19 pandemic inspired her to explore new avenues in filmmaking. The conversation highlights the interconnectedness of dance, theater, and film, emphasizing the importance of storytelling through movement. In this conversation, Gabrielle Lansner discusses her creative journey during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on her film 'I Am Not Okay.' She shares insights into the challenges and processes of filmmaking, the themes of her work, and the emotional impact it aims to convey. Lansner also reflects on the recognition her film has received and her aspirations for educational outreach, emphasizing the importance of storytelling in the arts. Gabrielle Lansner is an award winning filmmaker, choreographer, and producer whose work is influenced by her background in choreography and performing.  Her films have screened at dozens of festivals worldwide and garnered multiple awards. For over 30 years, Lansner has explored artistic disciplines moving from pure dance works, to dance/theater, to film. She has always been interested in story and character: creating emotionally complex and layered works that delve into the heart and psyche. Since 1997, she has been the Artistic Director of gabrielle lansner & company, a critically acclaimed dance/theater company based in New York City. The works have been produced at The Peter Jay Sharp Theater, HERE, River to River Festival, P.S 122, The Joyce Soho, to name a few and have toured the US and Canada. The company has received support from The Dance Films Association, The Alvin & Louise Myerberg Foundation, The Harkness Foundation, The Puffin Foundation, Altria, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and The Field. The company's varied explorations include delving into the lives of Holocaust victims in the literary works of Bertolt Brecht and Cynthia Ozick, exploring adolescent yearning in Carson McCullers' “The Member of the Wedding”, examining the nature of forgiveness in a work inspired by the South African Truth & Reconciliation Commission, and celebrating the life of pop icon Tina Turner in their original musical RIVER DEEP. TURNING HEADS, FROCKS IN FLIGHT, a site-specific dance performed at Battery Park City, was produced by Sitelines 2009/LMCC as part of the River to River Festival Her latest short film, I AM NOT OK is an experimental dance film inspired by the words of Tiffiney Davis, the Executive Director of the Red Hook Art Project, in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The film has screened extensively at film festivals around the world and won Best Experimental Film at the Reel Sisters of the Diaspora FF in NYC and Best Cinedance at the Minneapolis St. Paul Int'l FF in MN.  Lansner has also choreographed episodes of Law & Order: SVU, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. She is a member of SAG, New York Women in Film and TV,  the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, is a former  Board Member  of the Dance Films Association/DFA, NYC  and was instrumental in developing PS 122 in NYC as a rehearsal and performance space. To learn more https://www.gabriellelansner.com/index  “Dance Talk” ® with Joanne Carey wherever you listen to your podcasts.  ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://dancetalkwithjoannecarey.com/⁠⁠ Follow Joanne on Instagram @westfieldschoolofdance YOUTUBE:  ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4NldYaDOdGWsVd2378IyBw⁠ Tune in. Follow. Like us. And Share.   Please leave us review about our podcast!   “Dance Talk” ® with Joanne Carey "Where the Dance World Connects, the Conversations Inspire, and Where We Are Keeping Them Real."

Beverly began her career at Chicago's PBS affiliate and has directed and produced content for PBS and cable since 1999. Beverly was field producer for the longitudinal documentary REBIRTH over its ten-year production (Sundance World Premiere 2011; Showtime broadcast; George Foster Peabody Award; screened at The White House, US Department of State film tour; permanent exhibition at National September 11 Memorial & Museum).Beverly's first documentary feature Learning to Swallow (2005) followed a charismatic artist with bipolar disorder as she struggles to rebuild her life after a suicide attempt destroys her digestive system. The film premiered in competition at Silverdocs, screened internationally, and traveled to rural communities on Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers. In March 2015 it was broadcast on America ReFramed, with an encore national broadcast in July 2017.Beverly's filmmaking, photography, and digital media work have received funding from The Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media, New York State Council for the Arts (NYSCA), The Puffin Foundation, The Chicago Cultural and Tourism Fund, The Center for Peacemaking, and The Diederich College Initiative on Communication Ethics, Values and Social Justice. Beverly has received a Flaherty Fellowship, a Mary L. Nohl Artists Fellowship for Established Artists, and a BAVC National MediaMaker Fellowship.

Olivia Daniels is a Canadian performer, director and producer. She holds a BFA in Drama from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where they studied at Playwrights Horizons Theatre School and The New Studio on Broadway. Olivia also holds a minor in Philosophy. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, they co-founded Artists in Residence, a theatrical platform supporting artists' mental health by providing opportunities for connection and social engagement.  Driven by a love of collaboration and community building, they worked to create spaces where artists feel supported, seen, and respected for their individuality. With every new project, striving to embody a spirit of openness, discovery, and joy!  Ilana Khanin is a director of experimental new plays and musicals. Her work has been developed and presented at Ars Nova ANT Fest, Prelude, HERE Arts Center, New Ohio, Judson, Governors Island, The Tank, The Brick, Primary Stages, Theaterlab, Dixon Place, Samuel French Festival, and the Center at West Park. Artist-in-residence at Montclair State University New Works Initiative (2019-2020), and the Baryshnikov Arts Center (2023). She has worked as an associate director for Lila Neugebauer, Annie-B Parson, and Lee Sunday Evans at venues including Playwrights Horizons, Playmakers Rep, Abrons Arts Centre, and Carolina Performing Arts. Associate Artist with Big Dance Theater (BAM, London's Old Vic, Berlin's Deutsches Theater, among other venues). Her work has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Toronto Arts Council, and the Puffin Foundation. BFA and MA: NYU. PhD candidate: University of Toronto. I Was Unbecoming Then In a high school music room in North Vancouver, twelve teenage girls assemble to practice and perfect their parts, desperate to please Bruce, the choir director.As with any group of girls -As with any choir -They are constantly listening to each otherTuning and re-tuningAdjusting to each other's movements, sounds, and rhythmsFinding dissonance and harmony.I Was Unbecoming Then is an intimate new musical mixing hormones and harmonies.

As you have likely noticed in this month's episodes, we have moved from the stars to the soil. We will spend the next several episodes exploring edges and ecotones - spaces rife with the very best type of tension. The tension that inspires growth, expansion and action. Today, I am talking with artist, edge-walker, and dear friend Perri Lynch Howard about her experiences in a variety of ecotonal landscapes.Perri is an artist dedicated to forging new narratives from the front lines of climate change. Working in the context of extreme environments is an essential aspect of Howard's practice, driving her curiosity to seek a deeper sense of place, beyond the dichotomy of near and far. Her artwork resides within the emerging genre of New Polar Aesthetics, expressed through painting, drawing, sculpture and sound.In this episode, Perri shares three of her unique, ecotonal field recordings with us as a way to explore the edges both within and without. We will hear the sounds of Vashon Island, the Great Basin Desert, and Svalbard and throughout we discuss:Non-judgement Listening for the truth of the momentThe relational words we use when discussing the land and ourselvesReciprocal relationship in the time of climate crisisThe first rule of field recording AND meditating (!!)At the end, there is a guided meditation experience of the Vashon Island soundscape as an opportunity for you to explore your own relationship with edges. Thank you to the residencies and agencies that provided the time, space, and resources for Perri to record these incredible landscapes - The Arctic Circle Residency, PLAYA Artist Residency, Vashon Artist Residency, The Puffin Foundation, Artist Trust, and Quiet Parks International.Finally, deep gratitude to Nick McMahan for editing and the sound design of this episode, and to Brianna Nielsen for production support.Learn more about: Perri Lynch Howard: https://www.perrilynchhoward.com/Nick McMahan: https://www.nickcmcmahan.com/Brianna Nielsen: https://www.instagram.com/brianna_podcastpro/Please sign up for my newsletter at merylarnett.substack.com to access these meditations as stand-alone audio files for your daily practice. Make a donation or learn more about my free offerings and live classes by visiting merylarnett.cominstagram.com/merylarnettyoutube.com/@themindfulminutepodcast

Sarita Covington is a social entrepreneur, the founder of Upper Manhattan Forest Kids, a multi-disciplinary artist, and a racial justice organizer from Harlem. She holds an MFA from Yale and co-founded ACRE (Artists Co-Creating Real Equity), an organizing body of artists and cultural workers committed to undoing racism within arts and culture work. In 2016, she launched Upper Manhattan Forest Kids, a business that leads outdoor classes based on the Danish Forest School model for children up to ten years old. She uses New York City's public parks as a classroom to learn about the world and build relationships with our natural ecosystems. The work intends to expand the culture of urban forest schooling through class curricula and related products that inspire urban families, and support the next generation to be thoughtful stewards of the Earth, living in the right relationship with nature. Her work has received support from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Open Meadows Foundation, The Puffin Foundation, and the Jerome Foundation. Sarita has taught and facilitated within various communities, including the inmates at the Fishkill Correctional Facility and Yale University. To learn more about Sarita Covington and Upper Manhattan Forest Kids: IG - https://www.instagram.com/uppermanhattanforestkids/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/uppermanhattanforestkids X (Twitter) - https://twitter.com/UMFK8/ Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/uppermanhattan

A Tony-honored, Obie, Rosetta LeNoire, JACL, and Asian American Arts Alliance award-winning writer, actor, director, filmmaker and advocate for inclusion. Christine's plays and libretti have been developed with the Roundabout Theatre Company, The O'Neill Theater Center, Prospect Theater Company, National Women's Theatre Festival, Village Theatre, Ars Nova, Greater Boston Stage Company, the Abingdon, Crossroads Theatre, Leviathan Lab, Diverse City Theatre Company, Barrow Group, Weston Playhouse, Gorilla Rep, CAP21 and are included in the Library of Congress Asian Pacific American Performing Arts Collection, and published by NoPassport Press, Smith & Kraus, Rowman & Littlefield, and Applause Books. In 2016, she won a fellowship in the Meryl Streep/IRIS Screenwriting Lab. As a performer, she has been breaking the color barrier in non-traditionally cast roles for over 30 years, and has been featured extensively on Broadway, off-Broadway, in regional theatres across the country, in film, television, and concerts worldwide. Christine serves as Treasurer of the Dramatists Guild and as chair of the Guild's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access committee. She is a founding steering committee member of AAPAC (Asian American Performers Action Coalition) and has received multiple grant awards in support of her work from The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (11), The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program (4), The Puffin Foundation (3), The Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance (3), Asian Women Giving Circle, The Open Meadows Foundation, and The Boomerang Fund for Artists. Christine is the host of The Dramatists Guild's podcast TALKBACK, distributed on the Broadway Podcast Network.

Born in 1969, Gina Herrera was raised in Chicago and currently resides in California. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Education from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In the course of her studies, she was deployed overseas in support of several war contingencies with the United States Army. While serving in Iraq, miles of mountainous trash heaps amidst the devastation of combat galvanized a life-long love of nature into an activist's calling. Her art practice evolved to lessen her environmental footprint, and to consciously channel Mother Earth in a spiritual and aesthetic ritual drawing from her personal affinity to nature as well as her Tesuque and Costa Rican heritage. Once her final tour was complete, she obtained her Master of Fine Arts from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Herrera has received fellowships and grants and residencies from The Harpo Foundation/Vermont Studio Center, Virginia Center for the Arts, Hambidge Center, Ox-Bow, Peripheral Arts Foundation, Ruth and Harold Chenven Foundation, Puffin Foundation, Kasini House Artist Lab in conjuction with 516 Arts and the Albuquerque Museum and Self Help Graphics In 2022, she participated in the Conversations in Practice Online Residency at Ox-bow, and received a grant from the Demil Art Fund for Veterans. In 2023, she was a National Endowment for the Humanities Veteran Fellow, participating in Surviving the Long Wars 2023 Veteran's Art Summit, where her work was on display at the Chicago Cultural Center. Most recently, she was awarded the California Arts Council Established Artists Grant. She is currently creating and exhibiting work in galleries around the country, as well as exploring avenues for creating larger scale permanent public art projects, to bring her message of environmental mindfulness to even more people. Her first temporary public art installation was in residence at the Valencia Town Center in Santa Clarita, CA for the first four months of 2016, and from 2017-2019 an installation was on display at the South Bend Museum in South Bend, Indiana. In 2022, her work was featured on an episode of Bel-Air on the Peacock Network. Herrera's dedication to service extends to all aspects of her professional life – from her almost 25 years in the United States Military to educating and inspiring the next generation as an art teacher at Arvin High School and adjunct professor at Bakersfield College. "As an artist of Native American (Tesuque Pueblo) and Costa Rican heritage, I embark on a spiritual journey of self-knowledge and reflection on the planet's uncertain future. Through my art, I utilize natural materials and organic forms, such as branches, rocks, cocoons, and nests, as a juxtaposition to industrialization and environmental damage, symbolizing the somatic process of creation. Drawing from my experiences during my 25 years in the Armed Forces, where I witnessed the long-term effects of conflict and war, including the large-scale abandonment of ruined machinery by the military, I question my own practices and environmental impact. My artistic practice is deeply informed by my passion for environmental justice and involves spiritual and aesthetic rituals to honor Mother Earth. I engineer unexpected assemblages using metals and found materials, repurposing salvaged materials like plastics, fabrics, jewelry, domestic tools, bottle caps, and military insignia. The resulting sculptures are human-like yet mysterious and fluid, reminiscent of calligraphy or hieroglyphics. Dark humor and violent beauty are juxtaposed with a post-apocalyptic industrial energy through techniques such as welding, powder-coating, and plasma cutting. Like a scavenger, I play an active role in removing garbage from the landscape, preventing further damage. My artistic process is intuitive, letting the forms reveal themselves. Through my art, I aim to awaken individual and societal consciousness, examining and healing our relationship with Mother Earth. Herrera's dedication to service extends to all aspects of her professional life – from her almost 25 years in the United States Military to educating and inspiring the next generation as an art teacher at Arvin High School and adjunct professor at Bakersfield College." LINKS:  www.ginaherrera.com www.instagram.com/ginaherreraart I Like Your Work Links: Free Goal Workshop Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program Join the Works Membership ! https://theworksmembership.com/ Watch our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ilikeyourworkpodcast Submit Your Work Check out our Catalogs! Exhibitions Studio Visit Artist Interviews I Like Your Work Podcast Say “hi” on Instagram

Eyal has spent his life thinking about the kind of dilemma we mostly seek to avoid. What is it like to work in a prison or a meat packing plant? How does this affect the way you relate to others? https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374140182/dirtywork https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/books/review/dirty-work-eyal-press.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/16/podcasts/the-daily/the-sunday-read-the-moral-crisis-of-americas-doctors.html Eyal Press is a writer and journalist who contributes to The New Yorker, The New York Times and other publications. He is also a sociologist with a PhD from New York University which along with his family background goes some way to explaining his deep sensitivity . He was born in Israel and grew up in Buffalo, which served as the backdrop of his first book, Absolute Convictions (2006). His second book, Beautiful Souls (2012), examined the nature of moral courage through the stories of individuals who risked their careers, and sometimes their lives, to defy unjust orders. His most recent book, Dirty Work (2021), examines the morally troubling jobs that society tacitly condones and the hidden class of workers who do them. A recipient of the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, he has received an Andrew Carnegie fellowship, a Cullman Center fellowship at the New York Public Library and a Puffin Foundation fellowship at Type Media Center. Eyal is also a Podcaster himself cou can see the link in the shownotes. We wanted to talk with Eyal because we have always intended our podcast to consider the deep moral, social and psychological reasons of why terrible things happen and what underlies the decisions people make when in such situations. Eyal's book, Dirty Work, argues that people are mainly pressured to do tasks which mostly the rest of us hold in disdain while being complicit in their continuation. The book studies three areas prison work in the USA, drone pilots in war situations and workers in meat and poultry factories. Each of these are shocking and deserving of a conversation of their own but in this conversation we shall mainly focus on prison work in the southern Unites States.

JD sits down with filmmaker Pallavi Somusetty to talk about identity, representation, consumerism, truth and filmmaking. Pallavi creates doc portraits that center BIPOC voices in the hope that we feel fully seen in the complexities of our identities and journeys, and that meaningful impact can result. Since 2020, she has been a series producer for A-Doc (including Emmy-nominated series Asian American Stories of Resilience and Beyond) and is a supervising producer for their 2024 shorts initiative in partnership with WORLD Channel. Pallavi's feature directorial debut in progress, COACH EMILY, is a 2023 DocLands DocPitch Industry Award recipient, and Athena's 2022 Works in Progress Pitch Forum participant. Pallavi is also producing CHIRAKU (Dir. Neelu Bhuman) about a young transman's dreams of becoming a commercial pilot. She is a 2023 Unlock Her Potential Mentee working with Linda Goldstein Knowlton, and a 2022 Center for Asian American Media Fellow with mentorship support from Marjan Safinia. Her award-winning short doc, Escaping Agra, which chronicles a young trans Indian American teen's experience of being illegally detained in Agra, India after their gender and sexual orientation are discovered, has screened in festivals across the world, and her work has been supported by The Puffin Foundation, Eddie Bauer, Studio IX Project, Center for Cultural Innovation, and more. Pallavi holds a documentary-focused Master in Journalism from UC Berkeley and a BA in Creative Writing from UC Santa Cruz. In her spare time, she climbs rocks with her kids and supports incarcerated pregnant people as a trained doula.What You Will Hear:Pallavi's backgroundGetting in to film makingFeature documentaryMoving to IndiaFilmsCoach EmilyQuotes:MentionedChandi Filmscoachemilyfilm.com

Working within the documentary tradition, Stacy Kranitz makes photographs that acknowledge the limits of photographic representation. Her images do not tell the “truth” but are honest about their inherent shortcomings, and thus reclaim these failures (exoticism, ambiguity, fetishization) as sympathetic equivalents in order to more forcefully convey the complexity and instability of the lives, places, and moments they depict.Stacy was born in Kentucky and currently lives in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Tennessee. She is a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow. Additional awards include the Michael P. Smith Fund for Documentary Photography (2017), a Southern Documentary Fund Research and Development grant (2020), a Puffin Foundation grant (2022), and a Center for Documentation Fellowship (2023). Her work was shortlisted for the Louis Roederer Discovery Award (2019). She has presented solo exhibitions of her photographs at the Diffusion Festival of Photography in Cardiff, Wales (2015), the Rencontres d'Arles in Arles, France, the Cortona on the Move festival in Cortona, Italy (2022) and the Tennessee Triennial (2023) Her photographs are in several public collections including the Harvard Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Art, Houston, and Duke Universities, Archive of Documentary Arts. Stacy works as an assignment photographer for such publications as Time, National Geographic, the New York Times, Vanity Fair, the Atlantic and Mother Jones. Her first monograph, As it Was Give(n) To Me, was published by Twin Palms in 2022 and was shortlisted for a Paris Photo - Aperture First Photobook Award. In episode 202, Stacy discusses, among other things:Her ‘awful' childhoodHer interest in the grey areasViolence as catharsisWhy she was dissatisfied with her early work……and what she did about itHow she ‘accidentally' ended up living in her car for 3.5 yearsBlurring her professional and personal livesHow she came to work in AppalachiaThe title of her book, As it Was Give(n) To MeThe mythology of Daniel BooneWhy she included self-portraits in the bookPlaying with stereotypes and representation in her imagesHer grant writing endeavoursHer next project in AppalachiaThe challenges of editing the bookThe long term nature of her projects Referenced:Harry CottleThe FSAJack Woody Website | Instagram“The camera for me is a connector. It connects me to people. And I always knew that if I hadn't been a photographer, especially an editorial photographer where you're sent out to all these different places, that I would be a very unhealthy hermit and I would just wither away. (Which isn't even logical, but that's how I felt). So the camera is a lifeline for me.”

Holly Wong lives and works in San Francisco, California. She was educated at the San Francisco Art Institute where she graduated with a Master of Fine Arts with a concentration in New Genres. Holly creates installations and assemblages, integrating non-traditional approaches with more traditional sewing techniques associated with the history of women. She has been awarded visual arts grants from the Integrity: Arts and Culture Association, Barbara Deming Memorial fund, the George Sugarman Foundation, the Puffin Foundation, and a Gerbode Foundation purchase award. She has had over 70 group exhibitions and 10 solo exhibitions. She is represented by SLATE Contemporary Gallery in Oakland, California, ELLIO Fine Art Gallery in Houston, TX, and is a member of A.I.R. Gallery in Brooklyn, New York. "My work reclaims the female body and bears witness to the spirit. I create fiber and drawing based installations, assemblages and works on paper to remember my mother whom I lost to alcoholism and domestic violence. These works range in size from intimate pieces to larger immersive works. I use a variety of fabric and flexible drawing surfaces as my medium, applying the skills passed down to me from my mother who was a talented seamstress. The sexual violence we both experienced in our lives led to a self-loathing of my body, cultivating the anorexia and mental illness I struggled with as a young woman. Now, I stitch and draw as a journey towards wholeness, both for myself and for my mother's memory. I started to work with fiber installation in 2017. I became attracted to working with light, reflective, transparent fabrics because it reminds me of the permeable separation between the living and the dead. In my recent series “quilt suspensions,” I use a flat felled seam technique with transparent fabric. I combine these ephemeral materials with LED strip lighting and diffusion film as a proxy for my mother's spirit. The layers of pieced fabric are suspended over this light-spirit as a shroud or mourning cloth. Inspired by Chinese funeral customs, the quilt layers become burial blankets that are offered by the children of the deceased and layered upon their loved ones. A major throughline in my work is the wound or scar and the power of taking back the night by healing the scar. Creating works of beauty in brokenness is my highest act of resistance."   Links: https://hollywongart.com/   Instagram: @hollywongart     Artist Shoutout:   Ed Love @edloveart Al Wong @alwongart. Christina Massey @cmasseyart. Laura Sallade @laura.sallade. Bonny Leibowitz. @bonnyleibowitz. Etty Yaniv @etty.yaniv. William Powhida @williampowhida. Will Hutnick @willhutnick. Mia Pearlman @mia_pearlman. Kira Dominguez Hultgren. @kiradominguezhultgren. Jutta Haeckel @juttahaeckel. Natalie Ball @natalie_m_ball. Rachel Hayes @rachelbhayes. Stephanie Syjuco @ssyjuco   I Like Your Work Links: Radiate and Repeat Exhibition  Join The Works Membership! https://theworksmembership.com/ Submit Your Work Check out our Catalogs! Exhibitions Studio Visit Artist Interviews I Like Your Work Podcast Say “hi” on Instagram

Latest up from Spoken Label (Author / Artist / Spoken Word Podcast) is the amazing, multi talented Christine Stoddard. Christine Stoddard is a Salvadoran-American writer, actor, director, and artist creating books, films, plays, murals, etc. She founded Quail Bell Magazine and Quail Bell Press & Productions. Her books include Heaven is a Photograph, Hello, New York: The Living And Dead, Naomi & The Reckoning, Desert Fox by the Sea, Belladonna Magic, and Water for the Cactus Woman, among others. In its review of Stoddard's work, Glassworks wrote that "[Stoddard] tells stories in magical and hauntingly beautiful ways." In a Poetry Foundation/Luna Luna Magazine feature, her hybrid poetry and photography book Water for the Cactus Woman was praised for its portrayal of "the fragmented nature of Latinidad." This same book placed in a university-wide competition across academic disciplines for work concerning families, winning the Nyman Family Award during Stoddard's time as an MFA candidate at The City College of New York. Old Dominion University invited her to be its 2021 Hispanic Heritage Month keynote speaker for her non-fiction book, Hispanic & Latino Heritage in Virginia. Supported by a 2020 Space Grant from 1708 Gallery, Stoddard premiered her first feature, Sirena's Gallery, an arthouse feature, after directing shorts such as Bottled, Virtual Caress, Butterflies, Drunken History, and Brooklyn Burial. In June 2022, she directed her nationally award-winning play, "Mi Abuela, Queen of Nightmares" at the Gene Frankel Theatre in New York City. Previously, she was the first-ever artist-in-residence at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House in Manhattan and served as an inaugural AnkhLave Arts Alliance artist fellow at the Queens Botanical Garden. She was part of the first cohort of resident artists at Woodlawn Plantation, originally part of George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate, and Brooklyn Public Library-Eastern Parkway Branch. The Puffin Foundation awarded her individual artist grants in photography and film. She is one of the subjects in the documentaries "Artists Unmasked" (dir. Dario Mohr) and "Poetry, New York" (dir. Patrick Pfister). Stoddard is a graduate of VCUarts and The City College of New York. She lives in Brooklyn, New York and regularly produces plays and showcases for the Broadway Comedy Club in Manhattan. Her website is: http://www.worldofchristinestoddard.com/

Brief summary of episode:Kesha Bruce, Born and raised in Iowa, she completed a BFA from the University of Iowa before earning an MFA in painting from Hunter College in New York City. Kesha Bruce has been awarded fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), The Vermont Studio Center, The CAMAC Foundation and the Puffin Foundation. Her work is included in the collections of The Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture (14 pieces), The Amistad Center for Art and Culture, The University of Iowa Women's Center, The En Foco Photography Collection and MOMA's Franklin Furnace Artist Book Collection. She has been represented by Morton Fine Art since 2011.Morton Fine Art is pleased to announce Take Me to the Water, a solo exhibition of mixed-media paintings by artist Kesha Bruce. An intuitive combination of painting, collage and textile art, Bruce's work represents the culmination of a holistic creative practice developed by the artist over several decades. Her eighth exhibition with the gallery, Take Me to the Water will be on view from September 17 to October 11, 2022 at Morton's Washington, D.C. space. The wall works of Kesha Bruce are less discrete executions of a concerted vision than the steady accumulation of a long creative process. Referred to by the artist simply as paintings, these mixed-media compositions are in fact patchworks of painted fabric, individually selected from Bruce's vast archive and pasted directly onto the canvas in a textile collage that can sometimes resemble a quilt. The result of a slow and perpetual artistic method, each work represents hours of treatment, selection and juxtaposition until the whole becomes manifestly greater than its parts. Bruce's process ends with her titling of each work: a poetic articulation of what the work is at this point capable of expressing for itself.Much like water, the routine behind Bruce's artmaking is cyclical and in service to a greater equilibrium – a pointed contrast to many of the epitomic works that make up much of the traditional art histories of the past several centuries, and which tend to aggressively emphasize rupture, madness and unsustainability as the most fruitful mothers of invention. Bruce's process is distinctly different, and points to more a promising alternative for artmaking, in which creativity and lived experience are inseparably intertwined. For Bruce, this means that art can be not only a form of self-care but an act of self-discovery. Noting that her color palette has become markedly warmer since she moved to Arizona (where she currently serves as the Director of Artist's Programs for the state's Commission on the Arts), the artist delineates her method as a form of strategic openness – making room and taking time to allow the materials to guide her toward their final form, rather than the other way around.The show's title, Take Me to the Water, alludes to a 1969 rendition of the traditional gospel song by Nina Simone at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Bruce locates something transcendent in the recording of Simone's performance that encapsulates what any form of artmaking, at its best, can be: a conversation between oneself and the divine. Deftly aware of the elemental power of water as a force that follows its own paths and forms its own shapes, Bruce identifies her artistic process closely with this element, and notes how the transcendental effects which result from it can be as overwhelming and rhythmic as the ocean waves of Big Sur. As an exhibiting artist for over 25 years, Bruce has steadily oriented her craft toward capturing and encouraging the process of artmaking as an end in its own right – a way both of making something new and taking stock of oneself. As an administrator who oversees the creative programming for the entire state of Arizona, Bruce is intuitively attuned to the reciprocal relationship between transcendent acts of self-expression and the quotidian struggle to survive. In this role, she is a mentor and advocate for hundreds of other artists; the example she sets in her own artistic practice, with its emphasis on personal growth over commercial capitulation, thus becomes a form of potent political praxis. The Truth In This ArtThe Truth In This Art is a podcast interview series supporting vibrancy and development of Baltimore & beyond's arts and culture. Mentioned in this episode:Kesha BruceCome see Kesha Bruce's 8th exhibition with Morton Fine Art starting Sept. 17 To find more amazing stories from the artist and entrepreneurial scenes in & around Baltimore, check out my episode directory. Stay in TouchNewsletter sign-upSupport my podcastShareable link to episode ★ Support this podcast ★

Welcome to Episode 80 of the Adventures with Grammy Podcast. I am your host, Carolyn Berry. Sarah Beth Goncarova is today's guest. She is an American writer, composer and visual artist known for poetry, children's adventure novels, and writing for film and television. Her company, CLAY GROUSE KIDS, is a groundbreaking indie press and animation studio that specializes in creating books, read-aloud videos, and audiobooks that inspire creativity and curiosity. Its mission is to help all children, including emerging and reluctant readers, become better readers by creating books that kids want to read, see, and hear over and over again! Her webtoon series is "Adventures with Abba, and her children's chapter books are "The Secret Code of the Heartbeat Drum" and "The Curious Case of the Creepy Cave." Her children's picture book, "Super Sleuth," will be available for preorder next month. Her book "Harnessing Light" won the 2020 N.N. Light Award for Poetry. Sarah tells her books through her website and offers signed copies. As a visual artist, Sarah has been the grant recipient of the Puffin Foundation and Barbara Deming Memorial Fund. Her visual work can be found in the digital archines worldwide, including at Danube University in Austria, the Brooklyn Museum, and Rutgers University Special Collections. She has been a practicing visual artist for more 20 years. She graciously shared with us the audio version of her book: The Curious Case of the Creepy Cave, which we will broadcast for you today. Gather your grandchildren around. You are in for a delightful treat! Before I introduce you to Sarah, I invite you to visit my website, adventureswithgrammypodcast.com, and sign up for my newsletter. Thank you in advance. You need not take notes; you can find each link we mention in the podcast in the show notes! Let's give Sarah a hearty welcome! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK_vcjRI1K8 https://www.claygrousekids.com/ Film/TV: Upcoming Animated Series: https://claygrousekids.com Upcoming Film: https://motorcyclelightashortfilm.com Videos: @youtube: Read Aloud with Abba @tiktok: Just_call_me_Abba Books: @Amazon: The Curious Case of the Creepy Cave @Amazon: The Secret Code of the Heartbeat Drum @amazon: Harnessing Light @Blurb: A Yearlong Summer @Amazon: Sonia's Song Latest Interview: Abba on LitWorld.org **************************************************** Visit https://adventureswithgrammypodcast.com to learn more about the podcast and how to be a guest. Join our newsletter mailing list by texting GRAMMY to 22828 to get started, or visit https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/ih6vkmJ/grammy To learn about Carolyn's books, visit https://adventureswithgrammy.com/

The Your Bird Story team listened through our 2-year archive and selected three of our favorite segments to share with you to close out Season Two. You'll hear about deterring bird-airplane conflicts, Black people in the outdoors are not unicorns, making friends through bird watching, experiencing nature as a child, and the importance of caring for nature. Take a listen. +++ Season 2 of Your Bird Story is made possible with a Puffin Foundation grant. +++ Production Creator and Host: Georgia Silvera Seamans Nature Note Writer: Loyan Beausoleil Producer and Editor: Pod to the People +++ Support the production of this podcast with a gift of any amount. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/support

Large urban centers can be wonderful places to encounter nature. From LA to NYC, Melissa Breyer has experienced urban wildlife, and is keenly aware of threats to wildlife in cities, especially to migratory birds. She works with Project Safeflight to rescue and to collect data about collisions. While changing existing city architecture is a huge task, Melissa reminds us that there are also simple ways to help migratory birds in cities, such as turning off lights at night and keeping cats indoors. Learn more about Project Safeflight. Follow Melissa on Twitter @MelissaBreyer to see the work she does to help urban birds in NYC. +++ Season 2 of Your Bird Story is made possible with a Puffin Foundation grant! +++ Production Bird vocalizations were downloaded from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Creator and Host: Georgia Silvera Seamans Nature Note Writer: Loyan Beausoleil Producer and Editor: Pod to the People +++ Support the production of this podcast with a gift of any amount. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/support

It's knife training time in my martial arts class. I'm on the mat when Grandmaster says, “Master Kymberlee, I want you to be my partner for this demonstration.”  Oh boy. I know what this means. Usually, demonstrations with me as his partner don't turn out well… for me, that is. But I can't say no to Grandmaster, so up I go. I meet Grandmaster in front of the class, and he executes this flawless knife technique. During multiple demonstrations, no matter what I do, no matter how many counter-moves I try, it doesn't work against him! My turn. It's time to try the technique on someone else in class. Except I can't replicate what Grandmaster just did, either. Sensing my frustration, he comes over and tells me, “Make this your own Master Kymberlee. There's always a way.”  Aha! So I turn the knife over, reverse my direction, and come in with a completely different series of moves. And guess what - it works! There's always a way. And my special guest today has used that concept to change perspectives, outcomes, and even laws. As a writer and actor, Matthew-Lee Erlbach also advocates on behalf of the Arts and those who work in them. If you're curious to know: How do you help others view advocacy as on behalf of an industry instead of a cause so that it'll get economic and legislative priority? How did the sitcom Will & Grace influence the unfolding story of gay rights (while displaying an essential storytelling element)? Why are 1922 and 2022 synonymous, and how were Arts and Culture at the forefront of the aftermath of events 100 years ago? Then tune in as we discuss the power of influencing where the story goes and how doing so can make history! What you will learn in this episode: How personal stories of American workers have changed the country Why we as human beings crave stories so much What one thing you want to ensure you include in your story Who is Matthew-Lee? Matthew-Lee Erlbach is an actor, writer, and labor activist from Chicago and New York. He has written for Adam McKay's Kings of America, starring Amy Adams (Netflix); Masters of Sex (Showtime); Gypsy (Netflix); We Are the Champions (Netflix), for WWE, MTV, and Nickelodeon. As a playwright, his work has appeared Off-Bway, regionally, and at Steppenwolf, where he is currently under commission, and where his play The Doppelgänger (An International Farce) premiered.  He has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Laurents/Hatcher Foundation, Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, Puffin Foundation, and is a HUMANITAS New Voices recipient. Beyond his work with Habitat for Humanity and individuals who are houseless, he is a proponent of ethical AI and ethical transhumanism. A Co-Founder of Arts Workers United and their national Be An Arts Hero campaign, he has co-authored legislation, built national campaigns, and works with Congress to make Arts and Culture Workers an economic and legislative priority.  Links and Resources: Be An Arts Hero Matthew-Lee Erlbach @thismatthewlee on Instagram @thismatthewlee on Twitter @Matthew-LeeErlbach on Facebook Storytelling School Website @storytellingschool on Instagram @storytellingSchool on Facebook

Deborah Wasserman was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, she grew up in Tel Aviv, Israel, and is currently living and working in NYC. Wasserman is a graduate of the California Institute of the Arts, the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.  She has exhibited in the USA at The Queens Museum Of The Arts, The Bronx Museum Of The Arts, White Columns, Pierogi 2000, Socrates Sculpture Park, and A.I.R gallery. Internationally, Wasserman has shown in Brazil, the Netherlands, Germany, and Israel.    Wasserman is a grant recipient of the Experimental Television Center, Aljira Center for the Arts, the A.I.M. Program at the Bronx Museum and the America-Israel cultural foundation. She received an IAP Social Practice fellowship from NYFA in 2017, a grant from the Puffin Foundation in 2018, a grant from the Citizens committee for New York in 2019, and a Queens Council On The Arts New Work grant in 2020. Wasserman has been awarded a Su- Casa award from the New York State Department Of Cultural Affairs every year since 2015. In 2021 she was invited to attend Aunt Karen's Farm residency as well as the Skowhegan Alumni Residency. In addition, Wasserman is a Finalist for the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship 2020 in the category of Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts.     “Throughout my life, I've been a wander woman, a nomad, and a seeker. I paint landscapes as a way to deepen and extend my roots, ruminate on the places I've seen, and express my impressions of the landslides of the present day.   A person is a mold of the landform of their birth but also a creator of their own terrain. I wish to fuse my personal impressions of the Brazilian, “Indigenous” and lush lands, where I was born, and the war-torn coasts in the Middle East, where I was raised, with collective narratives of roaming on this shared terrain, at this landmark.    Not above, but below, the landscape is our body, a mother, a womb, origin, and destination. I paint the ground to hold and capture the world in a frame, to mold the pigments as a living, breathing clay, that shapes my native land.   My painting process entails multiple actions of layering, pouring, dripping, spilling, erasure and mark-making. Surfaces and images get erased as they emerge, painted over as they solidify, and then altered again, leaving behind the rich soil of the under-paint. My impulse to destroy is as fierce as my motive to create.I paint on the wall, floor, and table, mimicking the wanderer's frequent relocations, traveling on the canvas, North, South, East, and West, where the flow of image and gestures I've picked up along the way, spring up.    Applying layers of translucent paint from brightly colored grounds to nuanced earth tones I merge modernism with the traditional application of oil paint.Stained rags and torn clothes, ‘lowly,' and 'discarded,' aids in my humble labor, worn on my and my children's skin, get adhered to the surface, as ‘body,' as abandon, as an alchemical process, as recycled form and matter, as evidence of process, a woman's labor, unseen.   My paintings and drawings, realistic, abstract, and magical, depict inner and outer terrains that allude to the body, to the earth, to paths and physical quests. Flora, fauna, and the elements of fire, water, earth, and sky are all manifestations of inner vistas as much as outer typographies, rooted in meditations of life, cycles of time, and change.   The lands which I paint are often hybridized, conjuring multiple sources, climates and terrains, a synthesis, a migrant's mind. I weigh on the personal and collective narratives of wanderings on our life-giving earth, the grounds which are rapidly cracking under the heavy stomping of our feet.     With striking paint marks, suggestive and realistic imagery, I depict sunken houses, mountains speckled with tents, piles of stones, cut trees, and rings of smoke. I often meddle with perspective, merging the ‘horizon line' into a swirling tapestry of shifting forms, like our crumbling terrains.    Alongside these prophecies, are utopian vistas of another materiality, with fervent beauty, untouched and unburdened by our hardened reality. With paint and a brush, through colors, movement, and depth of emotion, I enter a doorway, away from relativity, where I'm in the perfection behind this duality. It's my passion, inspiration and striving to share this vista that sparks so brightly, an invitation to another actuality.”         LINKS:  https://www.facebook.com/deborah.wasserman1/ www.instagram.com/deborahwassermanart www.deborahwasserman.com     I Like Your Work Links:   Exhibitions Studio Visit Artists I Like Your Work Podcast Instagram Submit Work Observations on Applying to Juried Shows Studio Planner

Shimona Quazi, a forester and researcher in Singapore, shares her childhood memories of unstructured and organic discoveries about nature. She recalls exposure to rural birds, caged birds, balcony birds, and family members who went hunting. Through her role as research projects manager, Shimona is knowledgeable about the important role birds play in forest ecosystems. Finally, she points to Singapore's commitment to a green, resilient city. +++ Season 2 of Your Bird Story is made possible with a Puffin Foundation grant! +++ Production Bird vocalizations were downloaded from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Creator and Host: Georgia Silvera Seamans Nature Note Writer: Loyan Beausoleil Producer and Editor: Pod to the People +++ Support the production of this podcast with a gift of any amount. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/support

In this episode, Akilah and Alyssa share their approaches to education and ethical birding. They also spotlight the human dimensions of biological diversity. As New Yorkers it's no surprise they praise the city, but it's no exaggeration! NYC provides opportunities for diverse people, plants, and animals to thrive together. Follow Alyssa on Instagram at alizurd and Akilah on Twitter at BirdingQueens. +++ Season 2 of Your Bird Story is made possible with a Puffin Foundation grant! +++ Production Bird vocalizations were downloaded from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Creator and Host: Georgia Silvera Seamans Nature Note Writer: Loyan Beausoleil Producer and Editor: Pod to the People +++ Support the production of this podcast with a gift of any amount. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/support

In this week's episode, Jennifer talks to Erica Hart about all things casting. Erica shares insider tips around the dos, don'ts, & myths of self-tapes, auditions, and social media. They talk about the importance of listening and doing your research, celebrating your firsts & small victories, as well as the importance of collaboration, genuine human connection, and shooting your shot.   About Erica: ERICA A. HART, CSA (Casting Director/ Producer) was born and raised in Washington, DC (the actual 202...not 301 or 703.) She graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied film and television. She has been casting for over a decade and has loved every minute of it. She started off in network and studio casting moving her way up to Casting Coordinator in the New York Office of ABC Primetime Casting. Erica has appeared in The Hollywood Reporter as a featured rising artist and has cast films that have screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, SXSW, Outfest, Cinequest, and the Cannes Film Festival. THE SURROGATE (a film she cast as well as associate produced) was in INDIEWIRE's Best Movies Eligible for a 2021 Oscar, was a VARIETY CRITICS PICK, and earned Erica her first Artios nomination and win in 2021. She has cast commercials for high-end brands such as Maybelline, Gillette, Hasbro, and Delta, to name a few, and cast H.E.R's music video for FIGHT FOR YOU which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Currently, she is the Casting Director for Season 2 of THAT DAMN MICHAEL CHE (HBO MAX) and JODIE produced by Tracee Ellis Ross and Grace Edwards. She cast the pilot BLACK DON'T CRACK (ABC) and season 1 of BUST DOWN (PEACOCK) coming out soon. In 2021 she made her Broadway debut casting two Broadway plays: CHICKEN AND BISCUITS and PASS OVER. She has cast theatrical productions for THE NATIONAL BLACK THEATRE and THE DRAMA LEAGUE. Erica has been the Casting Associate for shows like RAY DONOVAN (SHOWTIME), THE BOLD TYPE (FREEFORM), DEFENDING JACOB (APPLE+), and GODFATHER OF HARLEM (EPIX). She is on the Board of Governors for The Casting Society of America (CSA) and a member of the Television Academy. She also teaches TV auditioning techniques at colleges and universities around the country including Harvard University and NYU's Grad Acting Program. Outside of casting, she has received grants and awards from the Puffin Foundation, New York Television Festival and The Digital Bolex, and has developed series for BET and WeTV. Erica IG: @elove67 Want to coach with Jennifer? Schedule a session here! https://appt.link/jenniferapple Monologue Sourcing Promo Link! https://empoweredartistcollective.com/podcastpromo Learn more: https://www.empoweredartistcollective.com/podcast EAC IG: @EmpoweredArtistCollective  EAC TikTok: @EmpowerArtistCollective EAC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/empoweredartistcollective/ Check Out Our Merch! https://www.empoweredartistcollective.threadless.com/ Any thoughts you'd like to share? Email us at EmpoweredArtistCollective@gmail.com

Loyan Beausoleil, the Nature Notes writer for the podcast, joins us to talk about her bird life and the ways in which she has come to know birds and how she shares her knowledge about birds with others. +++ Season 2 of Your Bird Story is made possible with a Puffin Foundation grant! +++ Production White-throated Sparrow and Belted Kingfisher vocalizations were downloaded from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The Andean Cock-of-the-rock sound was downloaded from Xeno-Canto here. Creator and Host: Georgia Silvera Seamans Nature Note Writer: Loyan Beausoleil Producer and Editor: Pod to the People +++ Support the production of this podcast with a gift of any amount. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/support

Wambui Ippolito's storytelling is exquisite and vibrant. She takes on us a back-and-forth global journey of land, people, birds, and plants from East Africa to New York City and places in between. Wambui returns again and again to how her perspectives about land are grounded and guided by the deep time connections to her ancestral homeland. +++ Season 2 of Your Bird Story is made possible with a Puffin Foundation grant! +++ Production Bird vocalizations in this episode were downloaded from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The Black Cuckoo sound was recorded by A.R. Gregory and is available in the Sounds Collection at the British Library. Creator and Host: Georgia Silvera Seamans Nature Note Writer: Loyan Beausoleil Producer and Editor: Pod to the People +++ Support the production of this podcast with a gift of any amount. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/support

You might know the New Yorker in this episode for her work on our local NPR station. But radio producer Kate Hinds is also a bird watcher. Kate shares her beginnings in the bird world, her family's relationship with birds, and her favorite place to observe birds in NYC. Hint: it's an estuary, a wildlife refuge, and shares a name with a Caribbean island. +++ Season 2 of Your Bird Story is made possible with a Puffin Foundation grant! +++ Production Bird vocalizations in this episode were downloaded from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Creator and Host: Georgia Silvera Seamans Nature Note Writer: Loyan Beausoleil Producer and Editor: Pod to the People +++ Support the production of this podcast with a gift of any amount. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/support

In Part Two of the two-part Parent Birders series, we speak with Jen then Bryony about their pre- and post- parenthood birdwatching. We learn about birding in the moment and creating experiences where all members of the family can make connections with birds and the landscape. Both Jen and Bryony call out the work that agencies and institutions must do to make all aspects of birding--from board service to navigating a trail with a stroller--accessible. +++ Season 2 of Your Bird Story is made possible with a Puffin Foundation grant! +++ Production Bird vocalizations in this episode were downloaded from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Creator and Host: Georgia Silvera Seamans Nature Note Writer: Loyan Beausoleil Producer and Editor: Pod to the People +++ Support the production of this podcast with a gift of any amount. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/support

Join my conversation with Jean Marie KeevinsJean Marie Keevins is a NYC-based, multi-hyphenate creative and business expert. Known in the arts as an Emmy-nominated supervisor, award-winning producer, writer, puppet artist and designer she is most proud of her role as an all around cheerleader and coach for those who work outside of the box and are on a mission. At her production company, Jean Marie serves as chief creative visionary, business planner and team coach. She has gained a wealth of knowledge gained with companies such as Apple, Sesame Workshop, Disney and the like. However it is her work in the theater that still brings the largest creative pull. Jean Marie has produced award winning productions with Ibex Puppetry, James Godwin (Lunatic Cunning and The Flatiron Hex), Martin P. Robinson (All Hallows Eve) and so many more. Her personal and collaborative work has been supported by the Jim Henson Foundation, The Puffin Foundation, Space at Ryder Farm, the Orchard Project and more. Premiering works at Dixon Place, Art NY and beyond, Jean Marie finds her creative home at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center where she has served as the Associate Artistic Director of the National Puppetry Conference. When Jean Marie is not on set, on stage, in the rehearsal or the studio, Jean Marie can be found coaching creatives and executives alike. As a natural space holder, Jean Marie's coaching practice brings her equal joy to that in the arts. "There's nothing like helping someone craft their new narrative". Her new ebook, "52 Simple Weekly Meditations to Guide You Through Life's Transitions" is now available at ibooks and barnes&noble.comJeanMarieKeevins.com@JeanMarieNYSpecial thanks you to Marcus for podcast music Sunday Coffee. You can reach him at: https://linktr.ee/mrcxsIf you like to be a sponsor, send email request to:livingthelifepodcast2020@gmail.comSubscribe and share and like:IG: @livingthelifepodcastFB Page: Living the Life Podcast Twitter: LTLpodcast2020Website: https://living-the-life-podcast.square.Support the showNwanneka Tesy is the Host and Creator of Living the Life Podcast

Being a parent and watching birds. Can you and how do you do both at the same time? How do you weave birdwatching into the rituals you share with your child? When and where do you make space for solo birding? These and more questions are considered and reflected upon by five parents in a mini-series about parents who bird. In Part 1, Laurel and Ed, a couple with a preschool-aged child, and Stephanie, a parent of two elementary-aged children, share their bird lives before and with children. +++ Season 2 of Your Bird Story is made possible with a Puffin Foundation grant! +++ Production Bird vocalizations in this episode were downloaded from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Creator and Host: Georgia Silvera Seamans Nature Note Writer: Loyan Beausoleil Producer and Editor: Pod to the People +++ Support the production of this podcast with a gift of any amount. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/support

Listen to trailblazer Nikki Williams, artist, poet, playwright, a performance artist with host Danny Tisdale, on The Harlem World Magazine Show .Nikki Williams has been called Harlem's "Renaissance Woman," she is an award-winning photographer, poet, painter, author, playwright, and performance artist. She has had a long running weekly arts radio show “Artbeat of Harlem,” for WHCR. She has three coffee table books with selections of her art and poetry and in 2020, Williams received her third Puffin Foundation for her photography grant.Today is International Artist's Day, October 25th, 2021, honoring the artists and all the contributions they/we make. Also we want to celebrate the artists who have passed from Harlem to Harare.Subscribe to our podcasts from iHeartRadio, to Apple Podcasts, to Spotify, to Google Podcasts, to Stitcher, to TuneIn + Alexa and get the feed here.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/theharlemworldmagazinepodcast)

For today's episode, we spoke with Tatyana Soto, a biologist and plant ecologist, about her newfound passion, birding. Tatyana shares her spark moment and spark bird and talks about her patch and the community of birders at this birding hotspot. Plants get a mention!! Learn more about Tatyana's research here. Thank you to Nicole Callihan, poet, for permission to recite her poem, "The Origin of Birds." +++ Season 2 of Your Bird Story is made possible with a Puffin Foundation grant! +++ Production Bird vocalizations in this episode were downloaded from the Macauley Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Creator and Host: Georgia Silvera Seamans, Founder, Local Nature Lab Nature Note Writer: Loyan Beausoleil, Bird Program Manager, Washington Square Park Eco Projects Producer and Editor: Pod to the People +++ Support the podcast with a gift of any amount. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/support

Bizzy Coy is a freelance copywriter for arts and entertainment brands. She has published short humorous fiction in The New Yorker, McSweeney's and Vulture. Recent honors include a Fulbright scholarship, MacDowell fellowship and Puffin Foundation grant. She lives in upstate New York. You can get her monthly email newsletter at tinyletter.com/bizzycoy. Games:Over & Under First Date Secret Snack --- Follow Meryl on Twitter @MerylWilliams and Instagram @merylkwilliams.   Subscribe to the Sleeper Hit for more from Meryl! https://thesleeperhit.substack.com/ --- Theme song: "Sleeper Hold," by Saintseneca (@saintseneca) http://www.saintseneca.com/ Editing by Clawson Solutions Group LLC

What is it about big birds? In this month's episode, we spoke with Dimple and Laura about their encounters with wild turkeys and mute swans, respectively. If you've got a "big bird" story to share, record a voice memo and email it to hello@wspecoprojects.org. We will share your tale in a future episode. --- Season 2 of Your Bird Story is made possible with a Puffin Foundation grant! --- Production Bird vocalizations in this episode were downloaded from the Macauley Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Creator and Host: Georgia Silvera Seamans, Director, Washington Square Park Eco Projects Nature Note Writer: Loyan Beausoleil, Bird Program Manager, Washington Square Park Eco Projects Producer and Editor: Pod to the People --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/support

In this episode of “Keen On”, Andrew is joined by Eyal Press, the author of “Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America”, to discuss the fundamental truths about the moral dimensions of work and the hidden costs of inequality in America, as well as to highlight how these burdens fall disproportionately on low-income workers, undocumented immigrants, women, and people of color. Eyal Press is a writer and journalist who contributes to The New Yorker, The New York Times and other publications. Since the spring of 2021, he is also a sociologist with a PhD from New York University. He grew up in Buffalo, which served as the backdrop of his first book, Absolute Convictions (2006). His second book, Beautiful Souls (2012), examined the nature of moral courage through the stories of individuals who risked their careers, and sometimes their lives, to defy unjust orders. A New York Times editors' choice, the book has been translated into numerous languages and selected as the common read at several universities, including Penn State and his alma mater, Brown University. His most recent book, Dirty Work (2021), examines the morally troubling jobs that society tacitly condones and the hidden class of workers who do them. A recipient of the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, he has received an Andrew Carnegie fellowship, a Cullman Center fellowship at the New York Public Library and a Puffin Foundation fellowship at Type Media Center. Visit our website: https://lithub.com/story-type/keen-on/ Email Andrew: a.keen@me.com Watch the show live on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ajkeen Watch the show live on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankeen/ Watch the show live on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lithub Watch the show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LiteraryHub/videos Subscribe to Andrew's newsletter: https://andrew2ec.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are back with Season 2 of Your Bird Story, made possible with a Puffin Foundation grant! Our guests in this episode, Adam Martinek (Inwood Hill Park Conservancy), Leslie Davol (Street Lab), and Heather Wolf have created ways and places for people in NYC to learn about birds through specifically developed bird programs. You don't have to be an "expert" to create high-quality bird programming. Knowing and loving a space, a desire to collaborate with others, and the drive to create a safe and welcoming community are recipes for wonderful bird education programs. We dedicate this episode to a NYC-resident Barred Owl who people called “Barry.” The young owl was recently killed in Central Park when she was struck by a maintenance vehicle. Barry delighted scores of Central Park visitors, beginning in October 2020 when outdoor spaces were the safest places to spend time together. Barry reminds us how special and moving encounters with birds can be. Barry will be missed. Production Bird vocalizations in this episode were downloaded from All About Birds. Creator and Host: Georgia Silvera Seamans, Director, Washington Square Park Eco Projects Nature Note Writer: Loyan Beausoleil, Bird Program Manager, Washington Square Park Eco Projects Producer and Editor: Pod to the People --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/support

We are excited to release "Bird Girls" as the Season 1 finale of the Your Bird Story podcast! In this episode, four girls -- Baker, Zoe, Fernanda, and Clara -- enthusiastically share their bird knowledge, how they approach wild birds, their bird lists, and bird watching tips for other girls. Let's celebrate the diversity of bird watchers! Finally, a thank you to Loyan Beausoleil for proposing the idea. We will be back in September 2021 with a new season funded by a Puffin Foundation grant. Production Bird vocalizations in this episode were downloaded from All About Birds. Creator and Host: Georgia Silvera Seamans, Director, Washington Square Park Eco Projects Nature Note Writer: Loyan Beausoleil, Bird Program Manager, Washington Square Park Eco Projects Producer and Editor: Pod to the People --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/yourbirdstory/support

photo by Jamie Carr Rebecca Bryant creates danceworks that combine movement with text, video, and objects. Originally trained in visual art, Bryant's dances emphasize improvisational methods and performative states, as well as non-hierarchical collaboration across disciplines.  Bryant has shown her work in 26 US states and in Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, Spain, Germany, Romania, Hungary, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. She worked extensively with the Lower Left Performance Collective for 13 years and is a co-founder of PMPD (dance/music/new media). Her projects have received support from residencies such as Djerassi Resident Artist Program (USA) and Guapamacátaro Art and Ecology Residency (Mexico), and a choreographic grant from the Puffin Foundation. Bryant has danced for renowned and emerging choreographers including Nina Martin, Wally Cardona, Victoria Marks, Kim Epifano, Shelley Senter, Lionel Popkin, and Marianne Kim. She has taught workshops in New York, Stockholm, Oslo, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Bogota, and at the Los Angeles Improvisational Dance Festival, West Coast Contact Improv Festival, Texas Dance Improvisation Festival, Contact Festival Freiburg, TransContact Festival, Kontakt Budapest Festival, and at numerous universities across the US.  She holds a BA in Visual Art and an MFA in Dance, and teaches dance improvisation, composition, somatics, and pedagogy at California State University, Long Beach. The book mentioned in the interview is The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman.

Intro - 0:00Tune called Planxty Sir Festus Burke | Randal Bays/fiddle, Chris Smith/tenor banjo, Roger Landes/bouzouki | composition by Turlough O'Carolan, from the album “Coyote Banjo” by Chris SmithPart I, Path through Dance/Theater - 01:31Relating to Tanya Calamoneri's experience in theater and dance that led her to Butoh dance theater, elaborating on what Butoh is and how it helped her develop her art and research.Dimitris Papaioannou  - BAMShige Moriya and Ximena Garnica, CAVEArts and now Leimay EnsemblePart II, Creating Art - 50:02Relating to Tanya Calamoneri's experience with her own work.“This Ain't No Swan Lake”Outro - 58:17Planxty Sir Festus Burke Dr. Tanya Calamoneri is a dancer, choreographer, and dance cultural studies scholar. Her primary area of research is butoh dance, a post-WWII Japanese performance form that uses imagery as its impetus and methodology for creating environment, state and movement. She also writes about issues concerning the migration of forms across cultural boundaries in a globalized world. Her writing has been published in Routledge's Theatre, Dance and Performance Training Journal, Dance Chronicle, Journal of Dance Education, and Movement Research Journal, as well as a chapter on butoh pedagogy in the Routledge Butoh Companion and a chapter in Routledge's Intercultural Actor and Performer Training. Her New York-based company, Company SoGoNo, received grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, New York Arts Foundation, American Music Center's Live Music for Dance and Puffin Foundation, and awards from the New York Innovative Theatre Awards.Previously in San Francisco, she was a member of Shinichi Koga's butoh-based inkBoat, co-directed violent dwarf performance collaborative, co-founded the Experimental Performance Institute at New College of California, and danced with Kim Epifano and Jess Curtis. To support her dance habit, she worked as an arts administrator, serving as the Executive Director of Dancers' Group in San Francisco, and in New York as Co-Executive Director of The Field and Project Manager of the State Department's cultural diplomacy program, DanceMotion USA, administrated by the Brooklyn Academy of Music.She is currently working on a book project about the history of butoh dance in the Americas, focusing on the United States and Mexico from 1970 to present. She was an invited scholar and performer at the 2019 Cuerpos en Revuelta butoh festival in Mexico City, and will present with one of her Mexican colleagues at the Butoh Next Symposium in New York City in November 2019.Calamoneri also collaborates on a telematic dance project with Drs. Pauline Brooks of the John Moores University in Liverpool, UK and Luke Kahlich (a TTU Alumn!) of Nova University in South Florida. Dancers in each location share the screen as one company in a live internet performance. The next performance will be during the Spring 2020 Semester.Degrees Held:  PhD in Dance, Temple University | MA in Dance, New York University | BA in International Studies, American University Full Playlist for EP 10VVMC: Friends & Voices, a Collaborative PlaylistVoices from the Vernacular Music Center

ERICA A. HART, CSA (Casting Professional / Producer) graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied film and television. She has been casting for over 10 years on many high profile projects. She started off in network and studio casting moving her way up to Casting Coordinator in the New York Office of ABC Primetime Casting. In 2014, Erica appeared in The Hollywood Reporter as a featured rising artist. She has cast projects that have screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, SXSW, Outfest, Cinequest, and the Cannes Film Festival and are streaming on Netflix and Amazon. THE SURROGATE (a film she cast as well as associate produced) was in INDIEWIRE's Best Movies Eligible for a 2021 Oscar and was a VARIETY CRITICS PICK. She has cast commercials for high-end brands such as Maybelline, Gillette, Hasbro, and Delta, to name a few. She has also collaborated with The National Black Theatre and has cast a handful of their productions. Erica has been the Casting Associate for shows like “Ray Donovan”, “The Bold Type”, “Defending Jacob", and “Godfather of Harlem” (Epix). She has recently cast the UNT. MICHAEL CHE SKETCH SHOW for HBO MAX, BLACK DON'T CRACK for ABC and currently co casting LOVE LIFE Season 2 for HBO MAX. Outside of casting, she has received grants and awards from the Puffin Foundation, New York Television Festival and The Digital Bolex, in addition to developing new serieses for BET and WeTV.

Gwen Laster is a Detroit violinist and awardee of the National Endowment for the Arts, Jubilation Foundation, Puffin Foundation, Arts Mid-Hudson, Lila Wallace, and Cognac Hennessey Jazz Search. Motor City's exciting urban and classical music culture influenced her improvising and composing. Her parents loved jazz, blues, soul, and classical music. She studied with inspiring music teachers in public school. After earning two music degrees from the University of Michigan, she relocated to New York, where she collaborated, performed, and recorded with Anthony Braxton, Nona Hendryx, Aretha Franklin, Wadada Leo Smith, William Parker, Danny Elfman, Sun Ra Arkestra, Tyler, the Creator, Gladys Knight, Emeline Michel, Andrea Bocelli, David Foster, Alicia Keys, Rhianna, Shaggy, Andrew Baba Lamb, Natalie Cole, Solange, Mark Anthony, J Lo and Shakira at President Obama’s Inaugural Neighborhood Ball. She played local jazz clubs and subbed on Broadway in Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast, Carousel, Wicked, Porgy and Bess, and The King and I. Laster led ensembles, orchestrating and composing string arrangements. She founded Creative Strings Improvisers Orchestra (CSIO), a music education ensemble teaching young strings players improvisation, composition, and global ensemble music. CSIO facilitated workshops at El Sistema Ravinia, Harlem School of the Arts, St. Ann's School, Blue Mountain Chamber Music Festival, Wappingers Schools, Poughkeepsie Day School, Interlochen Summer Institute, Sphinx Performance and Preparatory Academy, Eastman School of Music, Center for Creative Education, Howland Cultural Center, Bard College as an adjunct Jazz Violin professor, and Beacon CSIO online classes.  www.facebook.com/groups/creativestrings www.wijsf.org

Karen Fiorito is a vegan artist and activist residing in California. Her artwork has been exhibited internationally and featured in major publications such as Art in America, Hyperallergic, Art Forum and ArtNews. She has also been featured in such books as American Women Artists in Wartime, Paper Politics: Socially Engaged Printmaking Today and The Design of Dissent. Fiorito has received grants from Change, Inc., the Puffin Foundation, the Pollination Project, A Well Fed World and LUSH Cosmetics for her public art projects. Her current public billboard project, Got Drought? has been touring the United States since 2015. She is also noted for her controversial Trumpocalypse billboard in downtown Phoenix, which gained international media attention.

Kelli Russell Agodon was born in Seattle, Washington, in 1969. She received a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington and an M.F.A. from the Rainier Writers Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University. She is the author of Small Knots, finalist for the 2004 Cherry Grove Poetry Prize and Geography, winner of the Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Award. She is the recipient of two Washington State Artist Trust GAP grants, a Puffin Foundation grant, The James Hearst Poetry Prize, the William Stafford Award, the Lohmann Prize, and the Carlin Aden Award for formal verse. Agodon edited the Poetry Broadside Series: The Making of Peace, which was displayed internationally throughout National Poetry Month in 2006. She also worked as the Regional Coordinator for Poets for Peace organizing the Poets for Peace: Mission 911 readings for Washington State raising money for the American Red Cross after the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. Her work has been featured on NPR's "The Writer's Almanac" with Garrison Keillor and in numerous literary journals and anthologies including Poets Against the War edited by Sam Hamill and Good Poems for Hard Times edited by Garrison Keillor. She lives in a small seaside community with her husband and daughter in the Northwest. Her website is: www.agodon.com Marco Rafalà is a first-generation Sicilian American novelist, musician, and writer for award-winning tabletop role-playing games. He earned his MFA in Fiction from The New School and is a co-curator of the Guerrilla Lit Reading Series in New York City. Born in Middletown, Connecticut, he now lives in Brooklyn, New York. His fiction and non-fiction have appeared in the Bellevue Literary Review and Literary Hub. His debut novel, How Fires End, won the honorable mention in fiction for the 2020 Connecticut Book Awards. Justin Johnson has been hailed by Guitar World as a "must-see act", dubbed "The Wizard" for his mastery of stringed instruments, and recognized as Slidestock International Slide Guitar Champion. In 2014, Justin Johnson recorded his debut double album, "Smoke & Mirrors," a celebration of the art, history, and traditions behind handmade roots instruments. Along with 18 modern-built roots instruments representing builders from all over the world, the album resurrects the voices of 8 of the oldest cigar box guitars and banjos known to exist. Having never previously been recorded, these fragile relics emanate voices on the album that would otherwise have been lost to time. "Smoke & Mirrors" saw it's official release in March of 2014, as Johnson took the stage to present his "2014/2015 Smoke & Mirrors World Tour," which spanned mainland Australia and Tasmania, North America, Europe, and the United Kingdom. In response to worldwide demand for his educational offerings, Justin Johnson founded "Roots Music School" in Nashville, TN. Under this umbrella, he has released an Instructional Series consisting of DVDs and books on Roots Music technique and theory. As Roots Music School founder, Justin Johnson has partnered with educators across the country to develop Roots Music curriculum for schools. Please show your support to: Autism Speaks: https://www.autismspeaks.org/ Mostly Mutts: https://www.mostlymutts.org/ If you're in the Richmond, Virginia area, please check out Linden Row Inn for a history stay that's nothing short of epic: https://www.lindenrowinn.com/

To say that today's guest's latest album is making a statement about social justice and climate change would be an understatement. Tales from the earth incorporated is a concept album about greed and the havoc it spreads around the globe, while also telling the stories of people whose lives are affected by others' greed. My guests music has been broadcast on over 200 radio stations in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. He has toured the U.S., U.K. and Ireland and if all of that is not enough to pique your interest in what he has to say, he has won awards and grants from ASCAP, the Puffin Foundation, and the Center for Peace, Justice and Reconciliation as well as opened up for legendary acts like the Meat Puppets and Courtney Love and has performed and recorded with members of Pearl Jam, Yes, and the Doors. It is my honor to introduce today's guest, Dan Sheehan.

Josephine shares New Year's memories from her childhood in Haiti.Howdy, this is Jessica, the creator of "Soup Joumou." This piece was originally recorded in 2015 for Di Mwen, a podcast series funded by the Puffin Foundation. "Di mwen" means "tell me" in Haitian Creole.  I was a podcast novice back then so the mixing and mastering is a little janky. But I love hearing my mother speak about her time in Haiti. Hopefully, you will too! For more stories from Di Mwen, check out https://soundcloud.com/dimwenhaiti/sets/di-mwen-in-english. I recommend the episode "The Citadel: A Monument to Freedom" to learn more about January 1, Haitian Independence Day.

Playwright, actor, and activist Matthew-Lee Erlbach joins Half Hour to share insights from the ongoing advocacy movement, Be An #ArtsHero. In this conversation with ensemble member Audrey Francis, Erlbach relates data and stories about the vitality of the arts in American life, speaks to the struggle facing the Arts and Culture field during the COVID Crisis, and suggests how we can reshape our American society to place a higher value on art—and the workers who make art possible. Interview begins at 4:38Matthew-Lee Erlbach is a Co-Organizer of Be An #ArtsHero, a national labor movement of Arts Workers urging Congress for an extension of FPUC, a 100% COBRA subsidy, and the passage of the DAWN Act, the nation’s only comprehensive arts worker relief bill. Playwright credits include THE DOPPELGÄNGER (an international farce), starring Rainn Wilson and directed by Tina Landau (Steppenwolf); his solo-play HANDBOOK FOR AN AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY (Gym at Judson/Tony Speciale.); EAGER TO LOSE: A BURLESQUE FARCE IN RHYMING VERSE (Ars Nova/ Wes Grantom/Portia Krieger); SEX OF THE BABY (Access/Michelle Bossy); and his work has been developed/produced with The New Group, Steppenwolf, Vineyard, Ars Nova, MCC, Williamstown, NYTW, Gym at Judson the Orchard Project, and SPACE on Ryder Farm, among others. He has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Laurents/Hatcher Foundation, Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, Puffin Foundation, was a member of Ars Nova's Play Group, MVMNT Theatre’s Play Group, and is a HUMANITAS New Voices recipient. TV, credits include MASTERS OF SEX/Showtime, GYPSY/Netflix, WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS/ Netflix, and WWE, MTV, and Nickelodeon. He is currently writing an UNTITLED FEATURE with Rainn Wilson and has TV projects set up with SONY, Killer Films, Cavalry, and Mermade/Merman; he is also the writer/director of HUMAN INTEREST which won “Best Digital Short Series” at SeriesFest. A proud graduate of the public school system from K-College, his civic work includes a writing program for single mothers transitioning out of homelessness and prison, building shelters with Habitat for Humanity, and working with labor on economic justice issues. BE AN #ARTS HERO is a national, non-partisan grassroots movement that emphasizes Arts & Culture’s contribution to the economy, urging Congress for immediate relief. We are a united, intersectional, sector-wide coalition calling for an extension of FPUC, a 100% COBRA subsidy, and the passage of the DAWN ACT, the only comprehensive arts worker relief bill which would authorize $43.85B to the NEA, NEH, IMLS, CPB, and SBA to make grants to the operators, employees, and artists of live venues, recording venues, cultural spaces, and related businesses to address the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on all Arts Workers across the national Arts Economy. Be An #ArtsHero has appeared on Morning Joe, TODAY, GMA, Late Night w/Seth Meyers and the viral Open Letter to the US Senate has been signed over 13K times by the leaders of every major Arts Org; Pulitzer, Oscar, Tony, and Emmy winners; and countless high-profile names across the Arts. More info at www.BeAnArtsHero.com. Learn more at steppenwolf.org.Want to get in touch? Email halfhour@steppenwolf.org. You can find a transcript of this podcast here:https://www.steppenwolf.org/globalassets/half-hour-podcast/half-hour-ep10-transcript.pdf

Palast, a Puffin Foundation fellow in investigative reporting, is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits and The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. His investigative reports can be seen on BBC Television Newsnight. Palast, a Puffin Foundation fellow in investigative reporting, is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, including The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. He is known for his reports in the Guardian, Rolling Stone and on BBC television. “Greg Palast is one of those inconveniently stubborn journalists who gets his teeth into a story and shakes it bloody right there in the middle of the parlor, dreadfully inconveniencing the pampered swells of the elite political press, and revolting the serious thinkers who get to go on PBS and moan about the genuine crisis of American political civility. Palast has been on the voter-caging story ever since people like Pastor Whiting got screwed 14 years ago. Palast [has] dropped a bomb into the elections that has left credibility shrapnel all over the democratic process, if anyone cares to look for it.” - Charles Pierce, Esquire "Greg Palast, America’s wittiest (and wickedest) muckraker. An award-winning Guardian investigative journalist, he is causing crooked election officials all over the country to shiver in their shoes as they wait for a knock on their door from the FBI – thanks to his explosive exposes." - Pacifica Radio Network

Palast, a Puffin Foundation fellow in investigative reporting, is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits and The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. His investigative reports can be seen on BBC Television Newsnight. Palast, a Puffin Foundation fellow in investigative reporting, is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, including The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. He is known for his reports in the Guardian, Rolling Stone and on BBC television. “Greg Palast is one of those inconveniently stubborn journalists who gets his teeth into a story and shakes it bloody right there in the middle of the parlor, dreadfully inconveniencing the pampered swells of the elite political press, and revolting the serious thinkers who get to go on PBS and moan about the genuine crisis of American political civility. Palast has been on the voter-caging story ever since people like Pastor Whiting got screwed 14 years ago. Palast [has] dropped a bomb into the elections that has left credibility shrapnel all over the democratic process, if anyone cares to look for it.” - Charles Pierce, Esquire "Greg Palast, America’s wittiest (and wickedest) muckraker. An award-winning Guardian investigative journalist, he is causing crooked election officials all over the country to shiver in their shoes as they wait for a knock on their door from the FBI – thanks to his explosive exposes." - Pacifica Radio Network

Free visual and performing arts classes are offered on Saturday mornings at the American Labor Museum for 3rd through 5th grade students. Funding is provided by the Puffin Foundation.

Rachel Frank grew up near Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, the birthplace of American paleontology, where large mammoth and other megafauna fossils were found, altering Western views on extinction and evolution. Her work uses sculpture, video, and performance to explore the tensions between the natural world and the manmade, the animal and the political, and the past and the present. Rachel Frank received her BFA from The Kansas City Art Institute and her MFA from The University of Pennsylvania. Frank is the recipient of grants from The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, The Puffin Foundation, and The Franklin Furnace Archive. She has attended residencies at Yaddo, The Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation, The Museum of Arts and Design, Sculpture Space, The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and most recently at the MOCA in Tucson, AZ. Recent solo exhibitions include the SPRING/BREAK Art Show, Thomas Hunter Projects at Hunter College and at Standard Space in Sharon, CT. Most recently, her work was shown in “The Sentinels,” a two-person exhibition with Heidi Lau at Geary Contemporary. Her performance pieces have been shown at HERE, Socrates Sculpture Park, The Select Fair, and The Bushwick Starr in New York City, The Marran Theater at Lesley University, and most recently at The Watermill Center in collaboration with Robert Wilson. Her work will be included in an upcoming exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tucson, AZ and in a Triennial at the KMAC Museum in Louisville, KY, both in 2019. She currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. All images courtesy of the artist 00:00 - Introduction 00:38 - Rachel Frank 02:36 - Kentucky - Hippo Campus 06:39 - Research on Rewilding 17:15 - Research into Art 24:19 - Exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tuscon 36:38 - For You - Joanna Sternberg 38:42 - Outro 39:05 - Finish

Rafael Soldi in his exhibit 'Imagined Futures' Rafael Soldi is a Peruvian­-born, Seattle-based artist and curator. He holds a BFA in Photography & Curatorial Studies from the Maryland Institute College of Art. He has exhibited internationally at the Frye Art Museum, American University Museum, Griffin Museum of Photography, ClampArt, The Print Center, G. Gibson Gallery, Connersmith, Filter Space, and Burrard Arts Foundation, among others. Rafael is a 2012 Magenta Foundation Award Winner, and recipient of the 2014 Puffin Foundation grant, 2015 Portable Works Cultural Perspectives Purchase Grant, 2016 smART Ventures grant, 2016 Jini Dellaccio GAP grant, 2017 CityArtist Projects Grant, and a 2017 4Culture Arts Projects Grant. He has been awarded residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, PICTURE BERLIN, Oxbow Space, and The Bogliasco Foundation. His work is in the permanent collections of the Tacoma Art Museum, Frye Art Museum, and the King County Public Art Collection. He has been published in PDN, Dwell, Hello Mr, Metropolis, GRAY, LUXE, Lagom, among others. His work has been reviewed on ARTFORUM, The Seattle Times, The Boston Globe, ArtNexus, Photograph Magazine, Lensculture, and PDN. Rafael is the co-founder of FOUND, a space for contemporary art in Seattle, and the Strange Fire Collective, a project dedicated to highlighting work made by women, people of color, and queer and trans artists. 'Imagined Futures,' Fifty Gelatin silver photo booth portraits, 2 x 1.5 inches each. Each unique. Installation view at Oxbow Seattle 'Imagined Futures (detail),' Fifty Gelatin silver photo booth portraits, 2 x 1.5 inches each. Each unique. Installation view at Oxbow Seattle.

"A beautifully and unobtrusively observed homage to the power and melancholy of solitude." - Matt Holzman, KCRW's The Document "Hauntingly beautiful...Matlow's patient, unobtrusive camera and Ford's magnetism as a subject makes Woodsrider one of the most intimate docs you'll see this year." - Walker Macmurdo, Willamette Week 2017 Portland Film Festival 2017 Santa Cruz Film Festival (World Premiere) - WINNER, Best Experimental Feature 2016 Northwest Filmmakers Festival, local preview 2016 Eastern Oregon Film Festival, secret WIP screening 2016 Visions du Reel, Market Library Tenacious, 19 year-old Sadie Ford operates within the poetic persona of a searching pioneer. Her footsteps track over the town of Government Camp's mountain landscape, her dog Scooter her only constant companion. Deep among the Douglas firs Sadie snowshoes to build her nestled tent site, a place she feels more at ease than anywhere with four walls. Riding sessions and house parties in town provide breaths of social interaction and connection, but otherwise she chooses to spend time in solitude. Sadie's simple quest for joy is tempered by melancholy when increasingly warm temperatures on the mountain cause rain to replace snow, and the winter season grows shorter. Striking a youthful yet elegiac tone, WOODSRIDER is a meditative film about identity, home, and the way that human experience echoes that of the natural world. WOODSRIDER was written, directed and edited by Cambria Matlow and produced by Matlow, Janique Robillard, and Richard Beer. Uncork'd Entertainment will release the film digitally on March 12 (iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, Google Play, Fandango Now, Xbox and local Cable Providers). The film has a running time of 83 minutes and will not be rated by the MPAA. To view the trailer, go to: https://vimeo.com/306102229/93c9d94f59 Cambria Matlow is an Oregon-based film director, producer, and editor whose work seeks meaning in charged moments of stillness and values the emotional experiences created from atmosphere and mood. In her films, intimate interactions and environmental realities reveal hard-to-name personal and political truths. Her latest film, WOODSRIDER (2017), an immersive portrait of a female snowboarder on Mt Hood, recently premiered at the Santa Cruz Film Festival, where it was awarded Best Experimental Feature. BURNING IN THE SUN (2010), about a young man who starts a local solar energy business in Mali, West Africa, was her directorial debut. The film was selected for IFP’s Documentary Lab and Independent Film Week, broadcast on Al Jazeera and PBS, and seen in festivals worldwide, including Rooftop Films, FICMA Barcelona, New York African Film Festival and Addis Int’l Film Festival, eventually winning the Cinema for Peace International Green Film Award in Berlin. Her work has been awarded grants and residencies from LEF Foundation, Brooklyn Arts Council, Experimental Television Center, the Puffin Foundation, NW Documentary, and Playa/Oregon Film. Cambria holds a Certificate in Film Production from Burlington College in Vermont and a B.A. in Hispanic Studies from Columbia University. Her current projects include MATRESCENCE, a short essay film made in conjunction with NW Documentary’s anthology project ‘Canopy Stories’; a new personal documentary about her sister’s conflicted relationship with a long-lost Ecuadorian father; and a narrative feature-length script for an environmental fable about Mexican women set in the high desert of 1855 in South Central Oregon. She is an instructor with NW Documentary and Open Signal, and a leader for the Portland, OR chapter of Film Fatales.

Anita Felicelli is the guest. She is the author of the debut story collection LOVE SONGS FOR A LOST CONTINENT (Stillhouse Press), winner of the 2016 Mary Roberts Rinehart Award. Felicelli's stories have appeared in The Normal School, Joyland, The Rumpus, Kweli Journal, Eckleburg, and elsewhere. Her essays, reviews, and criticism have appeared or are forthcoming in the New York Times (Modern Love), Slate, Salon, SF Chronicle, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Babble, Romper, and Electric Literature. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Berkeley School of Law, a member of the National Book Critics Circle, and a Voices of Our Nations alum. Her work has placed as a finalist in multiple Glimmer Train contests and received a Puffin Foundation grant, two Greater Bay Area Journalism awards, and Pushcart Prize nominations. She lives in the Bay Area with her family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Playwright Jack Gilhooley has been awarded two National Endowment for the Arts grants (Individual Playwright and International to Centaur Theatre, Montreal), four Florida Arts Council Playwriting grants, two Fulbright Guest Artist Awards (to Spain and Ireland), a Eugene O’Neill conference playwright residency, two Puffin Foundation awards and a New York Foundation for the arts grant. His plays have been produced with five Ford Foundation development subsidies. He was awarded the very first John Ringling Fund Artistic Fellowship. His myriad productions have been throughout the US, including on the Asolo mainstage, as well as in England, Scotland, Ireland, France and Australia. He’s an alumnus of the famed New Dramatists in New York.

Playwright Jack Gilhooley has been awarded two National Endowment for the Arts grants (Individual Playwright and International to Centaur Theatre, Montreal), four Florida Arts Council Playwriting grants, two Fulbright Guest Artist Awards (to Spain and Ireland), a Eugene O’Neill conference playwright residency, two Puffin Foundation awards and a New York Foundation for the arts grant. His plays have been produced with five Ford Foundation development subsidies. He was awarded the very first John Ringling Fund Artistic Fellowship. His myriad productions have been throughout the US, including on the Asolo mainstage, as well as in England, Scotland, Ireland, France and Australia. He’s an alumnus of the famed New Dramatists in New York.

Palast, a Puffin Foundation fellow in investigative reporting, is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits and The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. His investigative reports can be seen on BBC Television Newsnight. “Greg Palast is one of those inconveniently stubborn journalists -- much like Glenn Greenwald and the late Gary Webb -- who gets his teeth into a story and shakes it bloody right there in the middle of the parlor, dreadfully inconveniencing the pampered swells of the elite political press, and revolting the serious thinkers who get to go on PBS and moan about the genuine crisis of American political civility. Palast has been on the voter-caging story ever since people like Pastor Whiting got screwed 14 years ago. Palast [has] dropped a bomb into the elections that has left credibility shrapnel all over the democratic process, if anyone cares to look for it.” Charles Pierce, Esquire

Watie White joins me on today’s show. This is part 2 of my interview with Watie White. Working as a painter, printmaker and public artist, Watie has been based in Omaha since 2006. Watie’s work has been shown nationally and internationally including at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Telfair Museums, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Frist Center for the Arts, The Mint Museum, and Joslyn Art Museum. Watie White’s site-specific social practice has led to large-scale public art projects with Omaha area nonprofits: Habitat For Humanity-Omaha, InCOMMON Community Development, Justice For Our Neighbors-NE, Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance and Omaha Public Schools. Watie has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards including the Puffin Foundation, Nebraska Arts Council, Humanities Nebraska, and the Mid-America Arts Alliance. In this part of the interview, Watie and I talk about his 100 People project. Part 1 Interview - Episode 003 100 People Project GalleriesProject Project Gallery 72 Benson Petshop Gallery Darger HQ Gallery   OrganizationsBenson Theatre Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts Omaha Creative Institute Omaha Creative Institute - Artist INC Artists Jave Yoshimoto Angie Seykora - Website Angie Seykora - Instagram William Kentridge Kerry James Marshall Andy Goldsworthy Follow Watie WhiteWebsite Facebook Instagram Follow Amanda StevensonAmanda on Instagram Amanda on Twitter Voices Creating Change on Facebook Voices Creating Change on Twitter Support the show on Patreon

Watie White joins me on today’s show. This is part 1 of a 2 part series with Watie White. Working as a painter, printmaker and public artist, Watie has been based in Omaha since 2006. Watie’s work has been shown nationally and internationally including at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Telfair Museums, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Frist Center for the Arts, The Mint Museum, and Joslyn Art Museum.   Watie White’s site-specific social practice has led to large-scale public art projects with Omaha area nonprofits: Habitat For Humanity-Omaha, InCOMMON Community Development, Justice For Our Neighbors-NE, Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance and Omaha Public Schools. Watie has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards including the Puffin Foundation, Nebraska Arts Council, Humanities Nebraska, and the Mid-America Arts Alliance.   In this first part of the interview, Watie and I talk about his background and about his Lead Stories project with Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance.   Stockyard Institute Jim Duignan Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance   Follow Watie White Website Facebook Instagram   Follow Amanda Stevenson Amanda on Instagram Amanda on Twitter Voices Creating Change on Facebook Voices Creating Change on Twitter   Support the show on Patreon

Since 2003 a rash of proposals have surfaced in communities throughout the Northwest to export vast amounts of fossil fuels to Asian markets via Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. If these plans go through the Northwest would become home to the largest oil terminal in North America, the largest coal export facility in North America, and the largest methanol refinery in the world.] This week we present Part One of Sacrifice Zones (encore edition). It's the first in a two-part series on the pressure to transform a region of iconic landscapes and environmental stewardship into a global center for shipping fossil fuels. Bernstein investigates how proposals for petrochemical development in the Pacific Northwest threatens the region's core cultural, social, and environmental values. Credits:  Sacrifice Zones was written, narrated and produced by Barbara Bernstein. Sacrifice Zones was funded by the Regional Arts and Culture Council and the Puffin Foundation. Original music was composed and performed by Barbara Bernstein and Floating Glass Balls.  Special thanks to Dan Serres, Eric de Place, Carol Newman, Peter Seigel, Steve Early, KMUN Coast Community Radio, Melissa Marsland, Jerry Mayer, Jan Zuckerman and Bill Bigelow. Making Contact Host: Monica Lopez Staff Producers: Anita Johnson, Marie Choi, Monica Lopez, R.J. Lozada Executive Director: Lisa Rudman Audience Engagement Director: Sabine Blaizin Development Associate: Vera Tykulsker For More information: Sightline Institute  http://www.sightline.org/ 350.org Seattle  http://350seattle.org/ 350.org PDX  https://350pdx.org/ Audubon Society of Portland http://audubonportland.org/ Audubon Washington http://wa.audubon.org/ Climate Solutions  https://www.climatesolutions.org/ Columbia Riverkeeper  http://columbiariverkeeper.org/ Earthjustice http://earthjustice.org/ Friends of the Columbia Gorge https://gorgefriends.org/ Friends of the Earth http://www.foe.org/ Friends of the San Juans  http://sanjuans.org/ The Lands Council https://landscouncil.org/ Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility  http://www.oregonpsr.org/ Sierra Club Washington State Chapter  http://www.sierraclub.org/washington Sierra Club Oregon Chapter  http://oregon2.sierraclub.org/chapter Washington Conservation Voters https://wcvoters.org/ Washington Environmental Council  https://wecprotects.org/ Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility https://www.facebook.com/WashingtonPSR/ The post Sacrifice Zones – Part 1 (Encore) appeared first on KPFA.

Since 2003 a rash of proposals have surfaced in communities throughout the Northwest to export vast amounts of fossil fuels to Asian markets via Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. If these plans go through the Northwest would become home to the largest oil terminal in North America, the largest coal export facility in North America, and the largest methanol refinery in the world. As the fossil fuel industry turns up its pressure to turn the Pacific Northwest into a fossil fuel export hub, a Thin Green Line stands in its way. This week we present Part Two of Sacrifice Zones by Barbara Bernstein. It's the last episode in a two-part series on the pressure to transform a region of iconic landscapes and environmental stewardship into a global center for shipping fossil fuels. Bernstein investigates how proposals for petrochemical development in the Pacific Northwest threatens the region's core cultural, social, and environmental values. Credits:  Sacrifice Zones was written, narrated and produced by Barbara Bernstein. Sacrifice Zones was funded by the Regional Arts and Culture Council and the Puffin Foundation. Original music was composed and performed by Barbara Bernstein, Floating Glass Balls, and Anna Fritz.  Special thanks to Dan Serres, Eric de Place, Carol Newman, Peter Seigel, Steve Early, KMUN Coast Community Radio, Melissa Marsland, Jerry Mayer, Jan Zuckerman and Bill Bigelow. Making Contact Host: Monica Lopez Staff Producers: Anita Johnson, Marie Choi, Monica Lopez, R.J. Lozada Executive Director: Lisa Rudman Audience Engagement Director: Sabine Blaizin Development Associate: Vera Tykulsker   For More information: Sightline Institute  350.org Seattle  350.org PDX  Audubon Society of Portland Audubon Washington Climate Solutions  Columbia Riverkeeper  Earthjustice Friends of the Columbia Gorge Friends of the Earth Friends of the San Juans  The Lands Council Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility  Sierra Club Washington State Chapter  Sierra Club Oregon Chapter  Washington Conservation Voters Washington Environmental Council  Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility The post Sacrifice Zones – Part 2 appeared first on KPFA.

Since 2003 a rash of proposals have surfaced in communities throughout the Northwest to export vast amounts of fossil fuels to Asian markets via Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. If these plans go through the Northwest would become home to the largest oil terminal in North America, the largest coal export facility in North America, and the largest methanol refinery in the world. This week we present Part One of Sacrifice Zones by Barbara Bernstein. It's the first in a two-part series on the pressure to transform a region of iconic landscapes and environmental stewardship into a global center for shipping fossil fuels. Bernstein investigates how proposals for petrochemical development in the Pacific Northwest threatens the region's core cultural, social, and environmental values. Credits:  Sacrifice Zones was written, narrated and produced by Barbara Bernstein. Sacrifice Zones was funded by the Regional Arts and Culture Council and the Puffin Foundation. Original music was composed and performed by Barbara Bernstein and Floating Glass Balls.  Special thanks to Dan Serres, Eric de Place, Carol Newman, Peter Seigel, Steve Early, KMUN Coast Community Radio, Melissa Marsland, Jerry Mayer, Jan Zuckerman and Bill Bigelow. Making Contact Host: Monica Lopez Staff Producers: Anita Johnson, Marie Choi, Monica Lopez, R.J. Lozada Executive Director: Lisa Rudman Audience Engagement Director: Sabine Blaizin Development Associate: Vera Tykulsker For More information: Sightline Institute  350.org Seattle  350.org PDX  Audubon Society of Portland Audubon Washington Climate Solutions  Columbia Riverkeeper  Earthjustice Friends of the Columbia Gorge Friends of the Earth Friends of the San Juans The Lands Council Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility  Sierra Club Washington State Chapter  Sierra Club Oregon Chapter  Washington Conservation Voters Washington Environmental Council  Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility The post Sacrifice Zones – Part 1 appeared first on KPFA.

In the 4th episode of art Work, we are privileged and excited to have Sarita Covington guest host in honor of Black History Month! Together with her guests, Ebony Noelle Golden and Paloma McGregor, the trio talk about art, resistance, and liberation. Are you just joining the party? Are you chasing the thing? What IS Liberation? This conversation will lead you through art-making, lessons in collectivity, visions of resistance... ultimately, to be FREE. Learn more about Sarita, Ebony, and Paloma below. Many thanks once again to Nova Mandarke for sharing his music. Sarita Covington is a multi-disciplinary artist/ activist from Harlem. She holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. She is co-founder of Company Cypher, an arts organization dedicated to transforming the conversation about race and skin tone prejudice by using theatre and hip-hop education to build community. She co-founded ACRE (Artists Co-Creating Real Equity), an organizing body that works closely with grassroots community organizers the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond to provide Understanding & Undoing Racism/ Community Organizing Workshops for artists and cultural workers. She is also a collaborating artist with social impact organization B3W Performance Group, who are currently working on an international project called Forgiveness.rn rnHer work has received support from Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Open Meadows Foundation, Puffin Foundation, Jerome Foundation. and BAX (Brooklyn Arts Exchange). Sarita has facilitated workshops for Fishkill Correctional Facility, Yale Schools of Divinity and Drama, Artspace’s City Wide Open Studios, NYC Public Schools, Philadelphia Charter School students, Danish High School students, Mexican youth in a Tijuana orphanage and the 59th Street Project.Website: www.saritacovington.comCypher: www.facebook.com/CompanyCypher Ebony Noelle Golden, native of Houston, Texas currently residing in the Bronx, serves as principal engagement strategist at Betty’s Daughter Arts Collaborative and the artistic director of Body Ecology Womanist Performance Project. BDAC is a cultural arts direct action group that works to inspire, instigate, and incite transformation, radical expressiveness, and progressive social change through community-designed, culturally-relevant, engagement initiatives, and creative projects. rnrnAs a strategist, Golden consults, co-creates, designs, implements, and evaluates impact-driven projects and initiatives that push for social transformation. As an artist-scholar, Golden stages site-specific rituals + live art productions that profoundly explore the complexities of freedom in the time of now. In 2016, she developed a seminar course, served as a lecturer of Womanist and Black Feminist performance art at The New School, and co-edited an anthology of experimental womanist writing published by Obsidian Journal of Literature and Arts. rnrnGolden is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics at NYU where she is developing125th and Freedom, a performance art installation of ten choreopoetic rituals along 125th street between the Hudson and Harlem Rivers. The work explores home, migration, displacement, and the eradication of black space due to cultural, spiritual, and political gentrification.Website: www.bettysdaughterarts.com

Listen in as Susan Newman (aka Suzy Brandtastic) interviews Michelle Vitale (aka woolpunk), American Artist and Founder of Gimme Shelter Stitch In Friday, March 20, 2013 at 3pm EST. About Michelle: Michelle Vitale (aka woolpunk) is an American artist, born in Summit, NJ in 1971. Inspired by an immigrant seamstress grandmother, who sewed American flags, she machine knits fiber installations and embroiders on photos of urban sprawl. She has created large-scale site specific forms for a variety of institutions including St John's Cathedral, NYC; Hunterdon Museum, NJ; Lion Brand Yarn Studio, NYC; Casaterra Residency, Italy; and the Object and Thought Gallery, CO. Vitale has been included in numerous exhibitions including the New Jersey Arts Annual; the Arts and Crafts Museum, Itami, Japan; Grey Lock Arts, North Adams, MA, ABC No Rio, NYC; and Galerie Kurt I'm Hirsch, Berlin, Germany. Her work has been included in several publications and she has received numerous grants from the Puffin Foundation, Goldman Sachs and the Fine Arts Work Center, among others.

Police officers and prison guards hold tremendous political sway.  Their unions support or opposition can make or break a campaign for office.  And their advocacy for better pay, more power, and more jobs has been a major factor in the expansion of the prison industrial complex.  For decades, they've helped build America's build America's criminal justice system. Now that system is changing.  Can law enforcement unions change as well? The program was produced with support from The Puffin Foundation. Featuring: Patrick Lynch, NYC Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President; Chuck Alexander, California Correctional Peace Officers Association Vice president; Pat Quinn, Governor of Illinois; Jerry Brown, Governor of California; Dan Macallair, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice executive director; Darius Charney, Center for Constitutional Rights staff attorney; Rick Hilliard, Southern Illinois Central Labor Council business manager; Alex Friedmann, Prison Legal News Associate Editor; Leroy Gadsen, New York NAACP Legal Redress Committee Esq. Chair; Eric Adams, New York State Senator; Elizabeth Crowley, NYC City Council member and former Congressional candidate; Howard Wooldridge, Citizens Opposing Prohibition lobbyist; Carlton Berkeley, Retired NYPD Detective; Jonathan Simon, University of California at Berkeley Law Professor; Harriet Salarno, Crime Victims United president and founder; Kirk Dutton, AFSCME Local 31 Vice President. For More Information: Prison Legal News https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/default.aspx Private Corrections Working Group http://privateci.org/ 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care http://blacksnlaw.tripod.com/ Ramarley's Call: The official Website to remember Ramarley Graham http://ramarleyscall.org/ Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice http://www.cjcj.org/ CCPOA California Correctional Peace Officers Association www.ccpoa.org/ CCA- Corrections Corporation of America http://www.cca.com/ The GEO Group http://thegeogroupinc.com/ NYC Patrolmen's Benevolent Association http://www.nycpba.org Crime Victims United http://www.crimevictimsunited.com/ Center for Constitutional Rights http://ccrjustice.org/ Citizens Opposing Prohibition http://www.citizensopposingprohibition.org/ Jonathan Simon http://blogs.berkeley.edu/author/jsimon/ Law Enforcement Against Prohibition http://www.leap.cc/ Southern Illinois Central Labor Council http://il.aflcio.org/siclc/ NAACP New York State Conference http://www.nysnaacp.org/ Ney York Police Department http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/home/home.shtml Jerry Brown http://www.jerrybrown.org/ Human Rights Defense Center http://humanrightsdefensecenter.org/ Articles, Reports, Photos, Videos: Gaming the System: How the Political Strategies of Private Prison Companies Promote Ineffective Incarceration Policies. http://www.justicepolicy.org/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/gaming_the_system.pdf Banking on Bondage: Private Prisons and Mass Incarceration http://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/banking-bondage-private-prisons-and-mass-incarceration Unholy Alliance-How the private prison industry is corrupting our democracy and promoting mass incarceration http://publicampaign.org/reports/unholyalliance Unionizing Prison Guards in an Age of Mass Incarceration by Brian Tierney http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/06/04/unionizing-prison-guards-in-an-age-of-mass-incarceration/ Correcting the Guards-Why the shaky relationship between organized labor and correctional officers is doubly harmful to the American left.    By Adam Doster http://prospect.org/article/correcting-guards Ex-Con Shareholder Goes After World's Biggest Prison Corporation http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/05/ex-con-alex-friedmann-cca-private-prison-rape Officials rally to fight prison closures in Illinois http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci-ZUTlPZ6g Marchers Demand Justice for Ramarley Graham http://www.thenation.com/article/169104/marchers-demand-justice-ramarley-graham# Armed Security Guard The post Making Contact – Undue Influence: the Power of Police and Prison Guards' Unions appeared first on KPFA.

Choreographer Makeda Thomas (of Roots and Wings Movement!) called from Trinidad to speak with me about the tragic killing of her colleague, Augusto Cuvilas, one of Mozambique's most celebrated dance artists. Although the sound quality of this phone interview is not ideal, the information she presents is very important, and time is of the essence. Makeda has been invited to join with South African choreographer Boyzie Cekwana to complete a project that the three were working on at the time of Cuvilas's death. For more information on how you can help, visit Makeda's site at www.makedathomas.org. Makeda Thomas is from Trinidad & Tobago and has presented work at HARLEM Stage/Aaron Davis Hall, Dance Theater Workshop, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Chicago Women's Performance Arts Festival, Maputo's Teatro Africa, Caribbean Contemporary Arts (CCA7), and as a Cultural Envoy for the U.S. Department of State. Her choreography has been commissioned by 651 ARTS Black Dance: Tradition & Transformation (2007) and received awards from the United States Embassy (2006 & 2005), Puffin Foundation (2005), New York State Council on the Arts (2005), Bossak-Heilbron Charitable Foundation (2005), Arts International (2003), Yellowfox Foundation (2006), and the National AIDS Council of Moçambique (2005). In 2004, during its 25th Anniversary season, she was named Resident Choreographer of Companhia Nacional De Canto e Dança. Graça Machel (Former First Lady of South Africa and Moçambique) serves as the Honorary Patron of her internationally acclaimed work, "A Sense of Place" (2005), on which she presented at the 1st Conference on New Perspectives in African Performing & Visual Arts. In 2007, she became a featured choreographer in ‘This Woman’s Work: Choreographic Development Project Representing Women of Color’ - joining Camille A. Brown, Bridget Moore, Shani Collins, Princess Mhoon Cooper, Francine Ott, & Ursula Payne. As a dancer, Makeda Thomas has toured internationally in the companies of Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, URBAN BUSH WOMEN, and Rennie Harris/ Puremovement, and independently with Robin Becker Dance, Lula Washington Dance Theater, and Stephen Koplowitz. She began her study in Brooklyn, New York with Michael Goring, continuing on scholarship at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, The Paul Taylor School and Hofstra University where she earned a B.A. in Dance and English. Ms. Thomas has conducted research projects in South Africa and The Netherlands, artistic residencies in Hawaii and Florida; and arts in education projects with The Dalton School, Arts in Ed. Institute of Western NY, and NYC Dept. of Education. She continues to create dance works and perform internationally, while living in New York City & Port of Spain. Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa This material may not be reproduced in any way, either in part or in its entirety, without the expressed written permission of Eva Yaa Asantewaa.

Choreographer Makeda Thomas (of Roots and Wings Movement!) called from Trinidad to speak with me about the tragic killing of her colleague, Augusto Cuvilas, one of Mozambique's most celebrated dance artists. Although the sound quality of this phone interview is not ideal, the information she presents is very important, and time is of the essence. Makeda has been invited to join with South African choreographer Boyzie Cekwana to complete a project that the three were working on at the time of Cuvilas's death. For more information on how you can help, visit Makeda's site at www.makedathomas.org. Makeda Thomas is from Trinidad & Tobago and has presented work at HARLEM Stage/Aaron Davis Hall, Dance Theater Workshop, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Chicago Women's Performance Arts Festival, Maputo's Teatro Africa, Caribbean Contemporary Arts (CCA7), and as a Cultural Envoy for the U.S. Department of State. Her choreography has been commissioned by 651 ARTS Black Dance: Tradition & Transformation (2007) and received awards from the United States Embassy (2006 & 2005), Puffin Foundation (2005), New York State Council on the Arts (2005), Bossak-Heilbron Charitable Foundation (2005), Arts International (2003), Yellowfox Foundation (2006), and the National AIDS Council of Moçambique (2005). In 2004, during its 25th Anniversary season, she was named Resident Choreographer of Companhia Nacional De Canto e Dança. Graça Machel (Former First Lady of South Africa and Moçambique) serves as the Honorary Patron of her internationally acclaimed work, "A Sense of Place" (2005), on which she presented at the 1st Conference on New Perspectives in African Performing & Visual Arts. In 2007, she became a featured choreographer in ‘This Woman’s Work: Choreographic Development Project Representing Women of Color’ - joining Camille A. Brown, Bridget Moore, Shani Collins, Princess Mhoon Cooper, Francine Ott, & Ursula Payne. As a dancer, Makeda Thomas has toured internationally in the companies of Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, URBAN BUSH WOMEN, and Rennie Harris/ Puremovement, and independently with Robin Becker Dance, Lula Washington Dance Theater, and Stephen Koplowitz. She began her study in Brooklyn, New York with Michael Goring, continuing on scholarship at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, The Paul Taylor School and Hofstra University where she earned a B.A. in Dance and English. Ms. Thomas has conducted research projects in South Africa and The Netherlands, artistic residencies in Hawaii and Florida; and arts in education projects with The Dalton School, Arts in Ed. Institute of Western NY, and NYC Dept. of Education. She continues to create dance works and perform internationally, while living in New York City & Port of Spain. Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa This material may not be reproduced in any way, either in part or in its entirety, without the expressed written permission of Eva Yaa Asantewaa.