Art Works Podcast

David Rodriguez is the Executive Vice President & Executive Producer of NJPAC (New Jersey Performing Arts Center)—it’s not only one of the largest performing arts centers in the country, it’s also one of the most diverse from its programming to its artists to its staff and its audiences. From its inception, NJPAC ‘s goal was to serve as a cultural anchor and help revitalize downtown Newark through the arts.  It does so in a number of ways from producing world-class events in one of its four theaters to programming free events throughout the city of Newark to offering a robust arts education program which reaches some 100,000 students & families annually. In this podcast, David Rodriguez discusses NJPAC’s place in the city of Newark, its commitment and responsibilities to the community, its programming during the pandemic, its ever-growing arts education programming, and his own background as a Newark-born musician turned producer, including his decade-long stint running the Apollo Theater.

Today, we revisit our interview with 2018 National Heritage Fellow and black ash basket maker Kelly Church. An Anishinaabe belonging to the Gun Lake Potawami Band, Church combines the centuries-old tradition of ash tree harvesting and processing, creating ribbons of ash she then weaves into stunningly original and colorful baskets. Tied to her artistry is a deep commitment to keep this tradition not just alive but vital. She’s taken on a task that’s become more difficult and urgent since the ash tree is being destroyed by an invasive species: the emerald ash borer. In this podcast, Kelly Church takes us on the journey of taking a living tree and recreating it as a basket, the significance of the black ash tree for the North East people, and the steps she’s taking to keep this traditional art intact for the next generations.

Arlo Iron Cloud (Oglala-Sioux) embraces and celebrates Lakota culture through his radio broadcasting, photography, filmmaking, language reclamation, and work in food sovereignty. He passionately embraces Lakota tradition and is deeply committed to its future. Iron Cloud is the station manager (and long time programmer) on KILI Radio—the radio station designed by and for the Lakota people on the Pine Ridge Reservation. In fact, he produced an episode of the NEA-funded podcast, Out of the Blocks from Pine Ridge. He works with his wife Lisa in the food sovereignty movement, which is focused on traditional foodways. And he documents every day life on Pine Ridge through his photographs. Iron Cloud is a dynamic guest, and once you hear his voice, you’ll know why he’s in radio.  In this podcast, Iron Cloud talks about Kili Radio, the weight and joy of language reclamation, and discovering with Lisa the traditional and sustainable foodways of the Lakota.

Today, Hill Country blues musician, songwriter, and 2021 National Heritage Fellow Cedric Burnside talks about bringing his musical roots to the 21st century.  Cedric Burnside has the blues in his bones: his father, uncles, and cousins all played. His grandfather was blues legend R.L. Burnside, known to Cedric as “Big Daddy.” Cedric essentially grew up in R.L.’s house, listening to the music, playing along at the regular house parties and at the local juke joint. Beginning his musical career as a drummer, by the age of 12 or so, he was backing R. L. on tours. A songwriter most of his life, he added guitar-playing to his musical repertoire and began a successful solo career. In this podcast, Burnside talks about his “really amazing, adrenaline-pumping little childhood,” his relationship with R.L., what makes Hill Country blues Hill Country blues, and his joy in bringing the music to the world.

Dr. Niyati Dhokai is Program Director of Veterans and the Arts Initiative at George Mason University’s Hylton Performing Arts Center.  The program has been supported, in part, by Creative Forces®: NEA Military Healing Arts Network-- an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.  Creative Forces places creative arts therapies at the core of patient-centered care at clinical sites throughout the country, including telehealth services. It also invests in increased access to community arts activities to promote health, well-being and quality of life for military service members, veterans, and their families and caregivers. That’s where Veterans and the Arts Initiative comes in—it’s an arts and community hub for people connected to the military. Since Veterans and the Arts initiative began in 2014, it has served over 10,000 people—developing robust workshops in music and art as well as performances and events for the community. In this podcast, Niyati Dhokai discusses the unique aspects of programming for veterans, service members, and their families, the very concrete ways art creates community, how the program continues to evolve, and the support and resources Veterans and the Arts has received from Creatives Forces.   

A further note: Applications for Creative Forces Community Engagement Grants—managed in partnership with Mid-America Arts Alliance—are available now to eligible organizations for emerging and established projects. You can find the guidelines at maaa.org/creativeforces.  Deadline for applications is December 15, 2021.

Co-founder, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter for the band Los Lobos, named 2021 National Heritage Fellows, Louie Pérez is one of the great storytellers. For more than 40 years, he’s written songs from the Chicano experience that speak to the joys, struggles, challenges, and hopes of everyday life.  Los Lobos is an East LA band who came together almost 50 years ago, and, miraculously, it still consists of the same four founding members; Pérez, David Hidalgo, Cesar Rosas, and Conrad Lozano (Steve Berlin—the new kid—came on board in 1984).

Los Lobos began as rockers who came to appreciate the traditional Mexican music of their parents—so much so that they devoted themselves to it for ten years. They played (and play) authentic music, but they approached it with the energy of rockers. Their big breakthrough came when they contributed music to the soundtrack of La Bamba, including the title song which became a mega-hit. As Pérez says, “a little band from East LA, that had a number one record of a traditional Mexican song. The name of the band was Los Lobos. That’s quite a statement.  Another snapshot of Chicano culture as it moves forward.” 

Their entire discography can be seen as snapshots of Chicano culture as they moved through and with different musics from rock to traditional to zydeco to R&B but always referring back to their Chicano roots. In this musical podcast, Pérez takes us through the formation of Los Lobos, their love of traditional Mexican music, their lifelong commitment to bring that music and culture to the world, the extraordinary journey of “La Bamba,” their roots in East Los Angeles, and the brotherhood the band shares.

This week, we turn our attention to the newly published report Disability Design, commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts. First, a conversation with the report’s researcher—designer, teacher, and disability advocate Joshua Halstead. He gives us an overview of report’s findings, the challenges disability design faces, the opportunities it presents for all of us, and some recommendations for moving forward. Then we take a look (or a listen) to disability design in action with Grace Jun. She’s a designer, professor, and CEO of Open Style Lab—an innovative hub committed to inclusive design and, just as importantly, an inclusive design process. Both are fascinating conversations about this exciting and promising design field.

Snehal Desai is the producing artistic director of East West Players (EWP). One of the longest running theaters of color, EWP is now the nation’s leading Asian American theater company. For half a century, EWP has been raising the visibility of Asian Americans and inspiring and advocating for a world free of racism and discrimination through transformative theater. In this podcast, Desai talks about programming with and for the diverse communities of Asian Americans, how EWP navigates the intersection of social justice and art, the importance of theater in combatting racist stereotypes, leading an Asian American theater company at this particular moment in time, and his own journey as an artist of color.

And be sure to check out our issue of American Artscape, Showing Strength through Creativity: Equity and Access in the Arts for Asian American/Pacific Islander Communities. 

With her second novel The Taste of Sugar,  Marisel Vera has created an epic tale with an intimate heart. Her two protagonists Valentina and Vicente are small coffee farmers in late 19th century Puerto Rico whose lives had been shaped by Spanish colonialism. Then in 1898, Puerto Rico was invaded by the United States which assumed control of the island, devaluing the peso and levying property taxes. This was followed in 1899 by the devastating hurricane San Ciriaco which left thousands dead and a quarter of a million people without food and shelter.  Losing their farm to these “twin catastrophes,” Vicente and Valentina join 5,000 other Puerto Ricans on an arduous journey to Hawaii to work on the sugar plantations. Lured by the promise of good wages in exchange for hard work, they find themselves instead captive laborers in a strange land.  It is a powerful and moving story, deserving of all its considerable praise. But while this is a saga, it’s also a close look at family: we see this young couple grow and mature-- seizing whatever agency they can in the face of hardship. In this podcast, Vera talks about her need to write a book that explored the history of Puerto Rico—a history most people don’t know—her determination to get that history right, and the deep impact of colonization on the island. She also discusses her own struggle to find herself in books when she was growing up in Chicago, her sense that she was always living in two worlds, in two languages, and how writing helps her to bring these together and create something new.

Two-time Newbery Award winner and the 2014-15 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Kate DiCamillo writes stories that matter. From the fantastical like The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (which author Ann Patchett calls a “perfect novel”)  to the more realistic Raymie Nightingale series, DiCamillo always finds the balance between humor and heart. First and foremost a storyteller, her immensely popular books are beloved by kids, parents, teachers and critics. Kate DiCamillo’s most recent book is The Beatryce Prophecy. Published by Candlewick Press and beautifully illustrated by Sophie Blackall, The Beatryce Prophecy is a compelling tale that opens our eyes to the sheer power of reading and storytelling to crack open the world. In this podcast, DiCamillo talks about how storytelling and reading both factor into her life, her writing process, why animals figure so prominently in her work, and her time as National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. Funny and thoughtful, Kate DiCamillo is as delightful to speak with as she is to read.