Teaching Artistry with Courtney J. Boddie

Justice—climate justice—and art as a catalyst for real effective change are at the very center of our newest episode, part of the Works Alliance for Arts Education, hosted by Creative Generation. Episode 47, "Collectively Moving Toward Justice," features a powerful conversation with Rachael Jacobs, whose career spans three decades, with her artistry contributing to arts in schools, teacher education, the community arts sector and arts activism. Rachael's current project in Australia, "Chill the Heat," was commissioned by ITAC as part of its ITAC IMPACT: Climate project. In this episode, Rachael speaks about how she chooses to invite artists to become artistic visionaries and take the sharp turn toward justice through art; to work as a collective and tap into new ways of thinking as a way forward—a way to turn creativity into creative justice. Some big questions that come up in this episode are: How can the arts influence conversations around climate justice and change the minds of people in positions of power? How can we finally remove capitalist funding structures from the work of art makers? How can we as artists broaden our thinking as an arts collective in order to exact change? And just what are the answers? You'll have to listen to our newest episode to find out!

In Episode 46, Act 2: "Warrior Work," Courtney continues her conversation, grounded in equitable and responsive practices for Teaching Artists, with Tina LaPadula, a warrior for equitable arts education, co-founder of Seattle-based Arts Corps and current Arts Education Manager at the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. In the first half of this two-part episode, the tone was set when Tina admitted that she, like many of us at this moment, is feeling "a little janky...a little raw." After this exchange, Courtney thanked Tina for bringing this truth into the space, opening a door to a very honest, thoughtful conversation. In the second half, Courtney and Tina continue to examine themes of social justice, challenging the status quo, letting go of ego in service of artistry and disrupting oppressive practices by way of high-quality liberatory arts practices and continued learning. This conversation continues to take place at the intersection of creativity, love and justice.

In Episode 46, Act 1: "Warrior Work," Courtney has a very real, very grounded conversation with Tina LaPadula, a warrior for equitable arts education, co-founder of Seattle-based Arts Corps and current Arts Education Manager at the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. At the very beginning of the chat, the tone is set when Tina admits that she, like many of us at this moment, is feeling "a little janky...a little raw." After this exchange, Courtney thanks Tina for bringing this truth into the space, opening a door to a very honest, thoughtful conversation. In this episode, Courtney and Tina make their way through a conversation that examines their personal connection to the word "artistry," tackles themes of social justice, challenging the status quo and disrupting oppressive practices by way of high-quality liberatory arts practices. This conversation takes place at the intersection of creativity, love and justice, and you won't want to miss it!

We're back with a brand new episode and we can't wait for you to hear it. In Episode 45: "Pursuing Authentic Action," Courtney sits down with Kemy Joseph, CEO and Co-Founder of F.E.A.R.S. Advantage, who aims to help purpose-driven business executives leverage equity as a pathway to prosperity to effectively lead their diverse teams through conflicts involving race, politics, and privilege. Together, Courtney and Kemy navigate a thoughtful conversation around the collective traumas of the past year and a half, how that trauma affects the brain's development and the overall effects of the shared experience of being retraumatized (almost daily) without a chance to process and move forward.

The conversation settles into one about how we as artists can help create environments in which people can slow down, calm down and allow themselves to reset. In this discussion, Kemy notes that, as our anxiety increases, our empathy decreases. Thus, when it comes to creating the right environment(s) needed for DEI work, we must create more empathy and reduce anxiety so that we can better connect with one another. The second half of their conversation takes a dive into Kemy's inciting incident—the moment of rejection and failure that set his journey on its track from conflicted youth to where and who he is now. This portion of the episode asks, "What if rejection is an invitation to love yourself more and a moment to separate your true self from the things you produce and offer to the world?" Well, what if...? Listen to hear all of this fascinating conversation!

We're back with the second part of Episode 44: "Oxygen in the Bloodstream." If you listened to Act 1, you'll know that this episode features a truly thoughtful conversation between Courtney and Dennie Palmer Wolf, a researcher with cross-disciplinary consulting firm, WolfBrown. If Act 1 focused on teaching artists and advocacy for the field of arts education, Act 2 builds on that with a focus on the potential power the arts can wield and takes a personal turn for both participants in the conversation. For Dennie, we get a more in-depth examination of how and why she became a researcher and arts advocate. Courtney talks about her very personal connection to the arts and how music brought her parents together. The heartbeat of this conversation can be heard when the two discuss the role of the arts as a disruptive force and change-maker in dismantling deeply oppressive systemic issues in the ways we approach education in this country. Dennie hits the nail on the head when she states that education can help us “talk about the world that needs to be created, not the world as it is,” inspiring Courtney to dive into the concept of imagination justice, a term coined by Wolf, which Dennie says should be the aim not only for arts education, but for all disciplines.

As a reminder to our PODience, Ms. Wolf is a recent recipient of the Teaching Artist Ally Award, which was given to her by the Association of Teaching Artists (ATA) for her work in the field.

We've got an incredibly special and thoughtful episode of the podcast for you this week. Episode 44, Act 1: "Oxygen in the Bloodstream," features an insightful conversation between Courtney and Dennie Palmer Wolf, a researcher with WolfBrown, a cross-disciplinary consulting firm that believes "every human being has a unique creative voice of intrinsic worth and that every community has a responsibility to awaken, nurture, and sustain its cultural capital." Ms. Wolf, an artist in her own right (but don’t tell her we told you that), is a recent recipient of the Teaching Artist Ally Award, which was given to her by the Association of Teaching Artists (ATA) for her work in the field. In their conversation, Courtney and Dennie talk through a wide range of topics, from personal connection to art, to embracing one’s past and living in the present, to arts education and the COVID-19 pandemic. But the conversation really lands in the sweet spot of teaching artist advocacy and how seemingly caring and highly-regarded institutions turned their backs on teaching artists and at the start of the pandemic instead of working with them to innovate and elevate their programs through their workforce’s artistry and expertise.

In Episode 43, Act 2: "Tears on the Drum," we delve deeper into Kwame's past. In doing so, Kwame offers two wise thoughts that really set the tone for this conversation: "Your wounds are your blessings" and "If you can't change the wind, adjust the sail." This leads to a powerful conversation about Kwame's childhood, the trauma he experienced as a result of how he saw Black humans represented on television, and how Black humans were treated by society. And this conversation ultimately moves to how he found and embraced his life's calling and his artistry.

Through his artistry and educational background, Kwame aims to create and inspire through poignant metaphor and quotation. Mr. Scruggs is the founder and director of Alchemy, a non-profit organization that uses storytelling—primarily myth and fairy tales—and the djembe drum to work with male youth in order to promote personal development and growth, teaching life lessons through objective means. In their conversation, Courtney and Kwame talk about the need for the arts as a tool to connect with young people, especially during a pandemic, and how patience is key to making and keeping those connections. The big questions that are born out of this conversation are: Are we doing enough? What is the intersection between education, art-making and kids' lived experiences, and are we doing enough to meet in the middle? How does this conversation conclude? You've gotta listen to find out!

This episode begins with a brief conversation with returning guest Quanice Floyd, who you may remember from our episode "Shaking Foundations for a New Paradigm." This time around, she's back to talk about her brand new podcast, "Black Arts Admin Bitch," a title she came to in order to embrace the b-word, reclaim it, turn it into a positive and be purely unapologetic about her viewpoints. Her podcast is meant to shed light on stories from arts administrators who are black, indigenous and people of color and to be a liberating space that offers calls to action.

The second half of the episode begins by asking simply: How're you doing? What is your artistry? Those are the small questions that launch a truly complex discussion between Courtney and Kwame Scruggs, who aims to create and inspire through poignant metaphor and quotation. Kwame is the founder and director of Alchemy, a non-profit organization that uses storytelling—primarily myth and fairy tales—and the djembe drum to work with male youth in order to promote personal development and growth, teaching life lessons through objective means. In their conversation, Courtney and Kwame talk about the need for the arts as a tool to connect with young people, especially during a pandemic, and how patience is key to making and keeping those connections. The big questions that are born out of this conversation are: Are we doing enough? What is the intersection between education, art-making and kids' lived experiences, and are we doing enough to meet in the middle?

What is happening in the world around us? What is affecting us socially and politically? What does justice look like? These are just a few of the big questions that frame the inspiring conversation between Courtney and Asian-American choreographer, dancer and dance educator Nai-Ni Chen in Episode 42: "Building and Strengthening Bridges." In their chat, Nai-Ni Chen, of Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, talks with Courtney about the importance of dance in her own life and how the arts can be a conduit for connecting humans to their own humanity, particularly in these turbulent times. Nai-Ni also describes her diverse dance company, which has brought arts and cultural programming to audiences across the country, as one with a unique aesthetic style—formed in part by the realization that the United States offers students a narrow, Euro-centric, patriarchal curriculum, often omitting the immigrant story—as having a strong focus on celebrating culture and humanity. In their conversation, Nai-Ni also notes that, by working with dancers from other cultural backgrounds who also have a passion for the arts and arts education, she has become a better person with a much broader worldview. What else do Courtney and Nai-Ni discuss? You'll have to listen to the episode to find out!

As educators, how do we decenter our ego? How do we decenter our authority? How do we give up the practice of regurgitating information to our students, demanding of them our definition of "success," and, instead, ally and co-conspire with them? These are the essential questions that frame Episode 41: "Dear Reader: In Solidarity, Felicia," featuring Felicia Rose Chavez, who is the Creativity and Innovation Scholar-in-Residence at Colorado College. Felicia is the author of the book "The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom," which is the basis of this episode's discussion. In their chat, co-produced by the Denver area's BookBar, it becomes clear that Felicia's commitment to this work offers thought-provoking, inspiring and innovative ways to restructure what creative expression looks and feels like. She advocates for the centering of students' artistry and the decentering of traditional authority, specifically that which perpetuates white supremacist power structures, including white orientation, narrative and dominance. Throughout the episode, Felicia offers up excerpts from her book, highlighting segments with titles like "A Safe Space for Creative Concentration" and "Academic Freedom," and notes that she, too, wanted not only to write this book, but to do this important anti-racist work herself. Felicia also draws connections to her own creative work—which she admits IS her life—in which she aims to be anti-racist and support students through their own personal artistic preferences and story sharing, not only as a creative exercise but as a part of a movement toward social justice, urging students to want, need, and insist their stories are heard. What else do Courtney and Felicia discuss? You'll have to listen to find out. You won't want to miss this fascinating episode!