Podcasts Archives - ArtsFwd Richard Evans

In this podcast, we explore the unique challenges facing arts service organizations, those important institutions working behind the scenes to help artists and arts organizations thrive. For arts services organizations, changes in the funding landscape in the last 15 years have made sustainability an ongoing challenge, not to mention the Catch-22 these organizations face in communicating their value without taking credit for the successes of those they serve. Despite these barriers, our two guests believe that there are ample opportunities for service organizations to reinvent themselves as hubs within their communities and beyond.

Host Karina Mangu-Ward talks with Jeffrey Lependorf of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses and Monica Valenzuela of Staten Island Arts about how these challenges and opportunities play out in their organizations, and gets an inside look at their ah-ha moments and struggles during recent retreat they participated in as a part of EmcArts’ New Pathways for Arts Development, New York City.  Monica and Jeffrey reflect on why getting out of the daily grind and question old assumptions is so important (and not always easy!). The full transcript of this podcast is below.

This podcast profiles the work of participants in EmcArts‘ program New Pathways for Arts Development, New York City. Learn more.

Featuring:

Jeffrey Lependorf, CLMP’s Executive Director, has over 20 years of experience in development, fundraising, corporate sponsorship, and strategic planning. He serves as a shared executive director for Small Press Distribution. His past work experience includes Development Director for the Creative Capital Foundation, Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project, the Poetry Society of America, and In the Life Media. He is also a professional musician and composer, a certified master of the shakuhachi (traditional Japanese bamboo flute), and serves as Director of Music Omi, an international music residency program in upstate New York. His Masterpieces of Western Music audiocourse is available through Barnes and Noble’s “Portable Professor” series.

 



Monica Valenzuela is a grantwriter, project manager and freelance photographer who specializes in storytelling, community-based project management, and documentary portraiture. As the Interim Executive Director at Staten Island Arts, she works closely with the diverse cultural ecosystem of Staten Island and values neighborhood-based cultural activities. She enjoys identifying alternative spaces for art and coordinates Staten Island Arts’ LUMEN festival, a cutting-edge video and performance art festival on Staten Island’s waterfront.









Audio Transcript: 

Karina Mangu-Ward:    Hi. I’m Karina Mangu-Ward of EmcArts. Here on the ArtsFwd Podcast we explore the challenges facing the arts sector right now to do things differently, to do things they’ve never done before. In each episode, we look at stories of experimentation and success from innovative arts organizations across the country. Today, we’re exploring the challenges and opportunities facing Arts Service Organizations. In the studio I’m joined by the leaders of two organizations participating in our New Pathways program for service organizations right here in New York City. I’m pleased to welcome Jeffrey Lependorf the Executive Director of The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses and Monica Valenzuela who’s the Interim Executive Director of Staten Island Arts.

In this podcast, we explore what it means to be a public theater. Guest host John Shibley talks with Raymond Bobgan of the Cleveland Public Theatre, which has recently celebrated a successful dramatic production featuring and created with members of the local Latino community. Now calling themselves Teatro Publico de Cleveland, this assembly of Latino cast members includes Blanca Salva, who also joins our discussion of how projects like this one can attract, and retain, the participation of untapped cultural communities. They explore what it means to engage new communities through artistic collaboration.

This podcast is part of a series that profiles the work of participants in EmcArts‘s Engaging the Future program in Cleveland. Learn more.

Featuring:

Raymond Bobgan, Executive Artistic Director of the Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT), has helmed the productions of 15 world premieres at CPT (9 by local artists), expanding its programs to support new work and achieving unprecedented national coverage. Bobgan specializes in creating new work through an ensemble process. He was the founding Artistic Director of Wishhounds (aka Theatre Labyrinth) and has directed and collaboratively conceived and created more than twenty new theatrical works. In 1994, he initiated the Student Theatre Enrichment Program, a job training program that engages at-risk youth in writing, producing and performing new plays. Bobgan was recently recognized by American Theatre Magazine as 1 of 25 national theatre artists that will shape the next 25 years of American theatre. Bobgan has been affiliated with CPT for over 20 years.

Blanca Iris Garcia Rivera Salva lives in the Stockyard neighborhood on Cleveland’s west side. She is the Executive Assistant for Cleveland City Councilman Matt Zone of Ward 15, and a board member for Neighborhood Family Practice and Lutheran Hospital Community Board. She is on the advisory committee of the Teatro Publico de Cleveland and recently enjoyed her premiere theatrical appearance in their debut, Cuando Cierras Your Eyes. Married, with two daughters and a granddaughter, Salva was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, raised in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and moved to Cleveland in 1988.

 

 

This month we explore the sociological and civic impact of what are called “cultural clusters,” where arts centers, business, and community organizations collaborate to spur neighborhood revitalization.

Guest host Karina Mangu-Ward talks with Mike Boberg from ArtsWave and Ellen Muse-Lindeman from Kennedy Heights Arts Center, two organizations that are working to achieve this in Cincinnati, Ohio, and they discuss the changes in livability and appearance that take place when and where cultural clusters take root.

This podcast is part of a series that profiles the work of participants in EmcArts’s New Pathways program in Cincinnati. Learn more.

Featuring:



Michael Boberg is the Director of Shared Services for ArtsWave, where he works with representatives from organizations spanning the entire arts and culture sector. Previously, he served as Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati and was Music Director and on-air host for WVXU-FM throughout the 1990s. Boberg served as co-chair of the Civic Pride/Community Engagement working group for the Agenda 360 Regional Planning process and is a graduate of the inaugural class of C-Change. He currently volunteers as a character coach for first graders through the Winners Walk Tall® program and serves on the advisory board for WVQC-LP 95.7 FM, a new lower-power radio station operated by Media Bridges. Boberg is a native Cincinnatian.

Ellen Muse-Lindeman became Kennedy Heights Arts Center‘s first Executive Director in January 2008. With more than 20 years experience in nonprofit leadership and management, Muse-Lindeman brings together her love of the arts and her passion for building community. Previously, she served as the Director of Development and Program Director for the Center for Great Neighborhoods in Covington, Kentucky. Her professional experience includes development of community arts programs, community-built public art projects and coordination of a district-wide community-school partnership.

 

In this podcast, host Richard Evans explores how to strengthen communities through cultural initiatives. He is joined by Frances Lucerna, Executive Director of El Puente, which is based in the South Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, and Caron Atlas, Co-Director of Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts. They discuss how to best support existing communities through grassroots organizing around local cultural commonalities.

This podcast is part of an ongoing series that profiles the work of the Rockefeller Foundation’s 2011 Cultural Innovation Fund grantees. Learn more.

Featuring:

Caron Atlas, Co-Director of NOCD-NY, is also Director of the Arts & Democracy Project, which supports the cross-pollination between arts and culture, participatory democracy, and social justice. She also teaches at Pratt Institute, and is a member of the Steering and District committees for Participatory Budgeting in New York. She is co-editor of two publications: Bridge Conversations and Critical Perspectives, and contributor to Towards a 21st Century City for All and Beyond Zuccotti Park. Atlas worked many years at Appalshop, the Appalachian media center, and was the founding director of the American Festival Project, a national coalition of activist artists.

Frances Lucerna, Co-Founder & Executive Director of El Puente, has been a pioneer of community arts and education for the past 30 years. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education and Dance from Hunter College and Masters of Arts, in Education and Supervision, from Bank Street College. She danced professionally for 10 years and in 1980 returned to her community of Williamsburg, Brooklyn and founded the Williamsburg Arts & Culture Council for Youth, a performing and visual arts program for adolescents. In 1982, Ms. Lucerna became co-founder of El Puente, a nationally recognized community/youth development organization nurturing holistic leadership for peace and social justice.

In this podcast, host Richard Evans explores two stories of artist residencies that are highly rewarding for the artist, the presenter, and the public. Jean Davidson of New York Live Arts discusses their new artist residency focused on mid-career artists. Marlène Ramírez-Cancio of Hemispheric Institute speaks about their residency for artists making political performance art that seeks to be a vehicle for social change.

This podcast is part of an ongoing series that profiles the work of the Rockefeller Foundation’s 2011 Cultural Innovation Fund grantees. Learn more.

Featuring:

Jean Davidson (Chief Executive Officer, New York Live Arts) was appointed Chief Executive Officer of New York Live Arts in 2011 after serving as the Executive Director of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company for six years. She was instrumental in leading the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company through its merger with Dance Theater Workshop to create New York Live Arts, a new model of artist-led, producing and presenting arts organization unique in the United States.



Marlène Ramírez-Cancio (Associate Director of Arts & Media, Hemispheric Institute) is an interdisciplinary artist from Puerto Rico who co-founded and co-directs Fulana, a Latina video collective based in New York City. The Hemispheric Institute is a multilingual, collaborative network of institutions, artists, scholars, activists and cultural creators from throughout the Americas who work at the intersection of art, scholarship and social change.

This month, we explore how to engage younger and more culturally diverse audiences in arts and culture organizations. Richard Evans is joined by Pamela Young, Executive Director of DANCECleveland, which now has an experimental initiative fueled by EmcArts‘s Engaging the Future program. Richard and Pam discuss how DANCECleveland has developed a team of social ambassadors who call themselves the DanceAdvance Team.

Duration: 9:24 min

Pamela Young (Executive Director, DANCECleveland) joined the organization in 2003. With a strong background in project management, development and non-profit organizational and transition management, she has brought focused leadership and experience to Cleveland’s premier and oldest dance presenting organization. Prior to joining DANCECleveland, Pam had over 20 years of experience working in the nonprofit arts arena with a number of arts organizations in the Greater Cleveland community, including: MOCA-Cleveland, Cleveland Public Art, Dancing Wheels/Professional Flair and Cleveland Ballet and has served in a variety of functions from Acting Executive Director, Development Director, and Earned Income Specialist. Prior to moving into the non-profit sector, Pam enjoyed a career in architecture and design. She received her Bachelor of Science in Design from the University of Cincinnati and Certificate of Non-Profit Management from CASE-Mandel Center for Non-Profit Management. She has been a life-long resident of Cleveland Heights and claims it is the best place in the world to live.