Creative Extra – Where Creativity & Business Meet, with Andy Wallman

Madison is ranked number 10 in the country for most non-profits per captia. But COVID-19 has made it difficult to serve the many people who rely on their services. In this episode, Renee Moe, President and CEO of United Way of Dane County, shares stories of those who have come together and continued to provide the safety nets so many need right now.

In this episode, longtime WISC-TV and Madison Magazine Editorial Director Neil Heinen shares his insights on how his team is adjusting to sudden changes in broadcast news, and how they've reacted as a community connector. While he tells us the many positive stories about Madison, Neil also addresses where Madison needs to help out most as we continue to push through the realities of COVID-19. A Madison champion, Neil's views on our community have always tried to shown us the "right thing to do," which comes through loud and clear in this show.

What a great time to take a crack at feel better, right? In Cort Dahl’s timely interview, you'll learn how meditation can make you, your family and your workplace more focused and less stressed. It works. I do it. I'm all in on this stuff. That's why, in these times, I was excited to interview Cort, who is a Research Scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Healthy Minds and the Chief Contemplative Officer of Healthy Minds Innovations. They're one of the world's leaders in the science, research and practice of meditation. Cort explains why Madison is a global leader in meditation, how the world is in for some post-traumatic growth, the benefits of kids meditating and what happens if you take advice from the Dalai Lama. And you'll learn where to start if you haven't tried meditation, with a quick meditation we do together.

Give their great Healthy Minds Program app a try, and visit tryhealthyminds.org to see the science and tools that can help you meditate, and feel better.

How does he do it? He runs three restaurants, makes thousands of meals for homeless folks and front line health care workers and is raising a family. Yes, Chef Dave Heidi is an inspirational dynamo. Hear how he’s keeping his kitchens going during COVID-19, and how he connects people to do important, large scale projects that impact farmers, the supply chain and folks who need a helping hand. Hear this community champion's incredible stories of giving, and (somewhat surprising) take on how you can best help restaurants right now. Hey, we're doing this to try to help, so check out this interview with Chef Dave, and hopefully you too will be inspired to take action that helps others.

Necessity is the mother of invention, right?

Well right now, people need new, creative ideas to help them. And businesses, organizations and individuals are stepping up with innovative ideas to do exactly that during COVID-19.

In this episode, Andy interviews John Urban, a lifelong Madisonian. He’s a photographer/video director and the co-founder and Creative Director of Big Dreamers United, a business that gives free work to area non-profits. In this episode, John and Andy talk about area businesses, organizations and people who are doing extra smart, extra good things to help people right now.

How did the turbulence of Madison in the 1960s lead to it becoming a direct pipeline to the American comedy scene? What characters played a part in Madison’s extra creative history? 

This episode is like a living history book, with Stu Levitan’s encyclopedic knowledge of Madison’s history providing a fun and interesting look at some of the people things that define this city’s creative legacy. My research resulted in some errors in the interview, and hopefully fewer in future episodes.

Stu has been a mainstay of Madison media and government since 1975. An award-winning print and broadcast journalist, he is the author of two books on the history of Madison - Madison: The Illustrated Sesquicentennial History, Volume 1, 1856–1931, and Madison in the Sixties. Stu served in numerous elective, appointed and civil service local and state positions. He currently hosts the Madison in the Sixties podcast and the Madison BookBeat interview program on listener-sponsored community radio WORT-FM, where he is vice president of the board.

Jennifer Javornik’s two-brain career has been very unique. She brings an unusual amount of creativity and technical expertise to her job in educational gaming for Filament Games in Madison. 

In this episode of Creative Extra, Jennifer takes us through her career, challenges and successes with a look at creativity within the extra rich gaming industry in Madison. 

Jennifer is a technology executive who specializes in business development, partnership management, revenue growth, and entrepreneurship. She is the Vice President of Sales for Filament Games, a video game studio that specializes in digital games, simulations, VR and AR experiences for impact. She is also a founding member of the Wisconsin Games Alliance. For kicks, Jennifer authors children's books highlighting real-life working moms in STEM careers. Jennifer has a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.S. in Information Technology from Northwestern.

What’s it take to crank out hundreds of comedy videos? How do you make money at it? Is the Chad Vader suit hot? 

In this (funny) episode, Aaron Yonda gives us an inside look at how he and a band of merry creatives have made a career out of making us laugh. 

Aaron is a comedy writer/director/producer/performer. He has created multiple successful comedy series with views in the hundreds of millions via his YouTube channels Blame Society Films (with creative partner Matt Sloan) which resulted in the video series “Chad Vader, Day Shift Manager” which was nominated for YouTube's first award show. Aaron’s a co-creator of Game Society Pimps (with Emre Cihangir and Jason Stephens), and has a new series called “Hot Seat with Hal Thompson” in which he interviews musicians, authors, and comedians. Guests have included Dweezil Zappa, John Green, Hank Green, and The Melvins.

Madison is lucky. We have, generally, disposable income and education that allows us to attend, participate in, fund and enjoy the arts in ways that are unlike many other cities. 

Karin Wolf is at the center of how Madison's public art becomes reality. And as a lifelong fan of the arts and creativity, she brings a passion to her job that you can feel. In this episode, Karin explains how the public arts process works, and why it's good for business.

Karin is the Arts Program Administrator for the Madison Arts Commission in the Department of Planning and Community and Economic Development for the city of Madison. She manages the city’s arts grants, runs the gallery spaces, stewards the city’s permanent collection of art, supports the Poet Laureate and Make Music Madison and handles the administration of new public art projects.

Tom discusses his journey from journalism to running the Wisconsin Technology Council. His story is common in how he came to Madison, yet singular in the impact he's help create by promoting the exciting businesses and startups at the core of business and creativity across Wisconsin.

Tom is president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, the non-profit, bipartisan science and technology policy advisory board to the governor and the Legislature. And they run programs for entrepreneurs, investors, researchers and others with a stake in the tech-based economy, like the Tech Council Investor Networks, the Tech Council Innovation Network, the Governor’s Business Plan Contest.