By Youngmoo Kim & Melinda Steffy
5
11 ratings
The podcast currently has 11 episodes available.
In this episode, we speak to Christa Barfield, founder of FarmerJawn, about urban agriculture, local sourcing, food deserts, and sustainability.
This conversation was recorded in March 2022, and my apologies to Christa and our listeners that it’s taken so long to edit and post this episode!
Christa Barfield is an entrepreneur and founder of FarmerJawn, a community-supported agriculture (CSA) business, which follows regenerative farming practices that concentrate on soil health and increasing access to organic food to marginalized communities. She’s a lifelong Philadelphian and a graduate a George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science and St. Joseph’s University. After a decade in health-care administration she founded Viva Leaf Tea, dedicated to providing high quality, healthful tea with traceable and local origins. These efforts that have grown into a CSA with two greenhouses in Elkins Park and plots in Roxborough and a storefront, FarmerJawn Greenery in Mount Airy.
In this episode, we speak to Ellen Hwang, Philadelphia Director at the Knight Foundation, about how cities, media, the arts, and philanthropy have all evolved over the past few years in response to the pandemic.
Ellen Hwang is the Philadelphia Director at the Knight Foundation. Previously, she was with the City’s Office of Innovation and Technology, overseeing the creation of SmartCityPHL, a roadmap guiding the use of technology in serving the community and improving services. Ellen also directed programs at the Asian Arts Initiative, collaborating with artists, cultural organizations, and schools to develop and implement youth programs to engage them in arts and community development projects. She is a regular speaker on topics such as Smart Cities, community-driven technology planning and design, and engagement strategies for local government. She has presented at prominent events including SXSW, the Smart City New York Conference, and Tech Foundations for Congressional Staffers at the Georgetown University Law Center. Ellen grew up in Greater Philadelphia and has Bachelors and Masters degrees from Temple University.
In this episode, we speak to Rob Cottman, Executive Chef and Director of Food & Beverage at World Cafe Live, about how restaurants and food service have adapted to the challenges of the pandemic.
Chef Rob Cottman’s road to professional kitchens was driven by an entrepreneurial spirit when a unique opportunity presented itself to operate his own restaurant. After selling his first establishment, he decided to return to the basics and climb the ranks in established kitchens. Absorbing every ounce of knowledge around him, he accepted a position at World Cafe Live’s former location in his hometown of Wilmington, DE and spent years covering all aspects of the business from large scale a la carte service to formal catered dinners to specialty pairing menus. Now as the Executive Chef and Director of Food & Beverage at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, Rob is responsible for the dining experience of over 100,000 guests a year, overseeing service in two spaces daily and over 200 catered events annually while playing an integral role in the next stages of the organization’s development.
In this episode, we speak to Donald Nally, music director of The Crossing, Philadelphia’s Grammy-award winning chamber choir, about creating choral performances through the pandemic and the process of “musical journalism”, to capture and reflect our times.
Donald Nally collaborates with creative artists, leading orchestras, and art museums to make new works for choir that address social and environmental issues. He has commissioned over 125 works and, with his ensemble The Crossing, has produced over 25 recordings, with two Grammy Awards and six nominations. His 60-chapter series Rising w/ The Crossing, a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, gained national attention and was featured in The Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, The Washington Post, and NPR’s Performance Today; it has been archived by The Library of Congress as a cultural artifact as an “important part of this collection and the historical record.” Donald has served as chorus master at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Welsh National Opera, Opera Philadelphia, and the Spoleto Festival in Italy. Recent projects have taken him to London, Osaka, Cleveland, Boston, Edmonton, Houston, Helsinki, Haarlem, Riga, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. Donald is professor of conducting at Northwestern University.
There are some minor glitches and dropouts in this episode. Our apologies to Donald and our audience for the audio issues, but it’s still well worth a listen!
In this episode, we speak to Sarah Williams of Opera Philadelphia about creating and commissioning new work amidst the pandemic and developing what is essentially a new genre of short operatic films.
Sarah Williams is the Director of New Works & Creative Producer at Opera Philadelphia. Since 2014, she has cultivated 15 award-winning world premieres, numerous co-commissions and creative works, making the company an industry leader in producing new work for the physical and digital space. In continuing to expand artistic practice and celebrate the intersection of the arts, Sarah champions digital experiences including creating the digital commission series in which the New York Times said, “One of the great treasures of the pandemic has been Opera Philadelphia’s digital shorts.” She’s been widely recognized as a multidisciplinary leader and producer who in 2020 was named one of Philadelphia Business Journal’s Women of Distinction. In 2019 Sarah was named among the top 30 Professionals of the Year by Musical America. Sarah serves on the board of American Composers Forum and the executive board of Young Women Composers Camp, is a member of New Opera Dialogues, and a mentor for Utopia Arts.
In this episode, we speak to Lisa Nelson-Haynes about adapting Philadelphia Young Playwright’s creative education program to online learning and the ways young people have found to express themselves in response to the pandemic.
Lisa Nelson-Haynes is the Executive Director of Philadelphia Young Playwrights (PYP), where she helps young people discover their potential through the art of the play. PYP is currently in 43 schools, throughout Philadelphia, Delaware and Montgomery counties, and in 92 classrooms with students in grades 2 – 12. Lisa is an award-winning storyteller and teacher and has facilitated digital storytelling workshops for Storycenter for more than ten years. She is the executive producer of Mouthful, a Philly-based podcast that digs into the experiences and perspectives of young people to start conversations about big ideas and important issues.
In this episode, we speak to museum leader Sean Kelley about the challenges for cultural sites wrought by the pandemic, but also the opportunities for expanding audiences through mission-driven innovation.
Sean Kelley is Senior Vice President and Director of Interpretation at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site in Philadelphia. He produced the site’s award-winning audio tour, now heard by more than a million visitors, and has curated more than 100 site-specific artist installations in the building. He conceived and developed The Big Graph, a 16-foot infographic sculpture that illustrates the skyrocketing US Rate of Incarceration, and curated the companion exhibit Prisons Today: Questions in the Age of Mass Incarcerationwhich won the 2017 Overall Award for Excellence from the American Alliance of Museums. From 2017 to 2019 he oversaw “Hidden Lives Illuminated,” a project which resulted in 20 original films made by currently incarcerated individuals and projected them for a month onto Eastern State Penitentiary’s façade.
In this episode, we speak to science & technology writer and editor Michelle Sipics about changes in work culture, the challenge of communicating complex topics, and opportunities for mentoring Philadelphia youth.
Michelle Sipics is a science writer and editor with a focus on technology, its applications, and its implications across society. She started her career as an engineer and continues to bring an engineering mindset to her professional and personal pursuits. Michelle has also worked as a contributing editor for a professional mathematics society; content developer for the History of Vaccines website from the College of Physicians of Philadelphia; news director for Yale’s school of engineering and applied science; director of content for a privacy-focused startup; and shopping cart chaser for a grocery chain. She draws on these and all of her varied career experiences for perspective on a daily basis. Michelle has a particular interest in education in all its forms, and currently serves on the board of Philadelphia Futures, a non-profit that serves low income, first-generation-to-college students in Philadelphia. She is currently the editorial lead for Accenture Technology Innovation.
In this episode, we speak to Philly hip hop artist, educator, and activist Steve Tyson, Jr. (Ellect) about producing an album, music videos, and working on a dissertation within the constraints of the past year.
Ellect (b. Stephen Tyson Jr.) a musician, educator, and activist. He is the founder of JusListen Entertainment LLC, a multimedia arts company that promotes critical thinking and freedom of artistic expression through Hip-Hop culture. As an educator, Ellect has a strong passion for youth development with over 20 years of experience in the field. He currently serves as an adjunct professor at Arcadia University where he is also earning an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership. As a musician, he has earned over 1 million streams across digital service providers and has performed at legendary music venues throughout the northeast USA. In addition, Ellect has written and produced music for “StarTalk Radio” and was featured as a guest on “Sway In The Morning”, where he discussed his passion for hip-hop culture and performed live on-air.
Here’s a link to his latest album, Intellectual Property, available for streaming.
The music video for the single “Degrees” is available on YouTube.
In this bonus episode, we chat with renowned theater director and producer, David Bradley, about performing arts during the pandemic and where we go from here on the stage.
Our apologies, the audio for this episode is a bit uneven (it was one of our practice sessions, and we were still figuring out the best ways to record for the podcast).
David Bradley brings decades of experience as a producer, theater director, writer and arts educator. Throughout his career he has specialized in boundary-crossing artistic collaborations frequently exploring civic and community themes. He’s a long-time member of the resident ensemble at People’s Light, where he’s directed over 30 productions, including The Diary of Anne Frank, The Crucible, Young Lady from Rwanda, Doubt, and The Giver. He is the producing Director of Arts & Learning at World Cafe Live. David teaches at Arcadia University and is a graduate of Yale University, and in 2020 received a Leadership Award from the Arts + Business Council of Greater Philadelphia, which recognizes individuals who demonstrate remarkable leadership, exceptional innovation, and a commitment to the community in Philadelphia.
The podcast currently has 11 episodes available.