Teaching Artistry with Courtney J. Boddie

Hello, TA PODience. When we posted Act 1 of Episode 52, we noted that we realize that there is a lot going on in the world and want to acknowledge the continued shared traumas we’re experiencing here and globally. Unfortunately, the same sentiment remains true as we post the second half of this two-part discussion. We truly hope that your takeaway from our newest installment is one of calm, joy and a celebration of the power of the arts.

In Act 2 of Episode 52: “Shattering the Box,” Courtney continues her conversation with Michelle Manzanales, Director of Ballet Hispánico’s School of Dance. If Act 1 was centered on treating this fraught pandemic time as a moment for reinventing, restructuring and reimagining, this one expands the conversation around impact to an even warmer, thoughtful discussion about intentional approaches to arts learning. At the heart of this chat is that, at its very core, engaging kids through the arts is about joy—access to joy—and how dance specifically can harness that. In one instance, Michelle notes that it’s magical to witness someone find the confidence, the courage, the strength to access their freedom and joy, and to be able to stand up straight, chest out and chin up through dance. They discuss further the impact not only on the self, the internal impact and external effects of engaging in the arts, but also how those positive, impactful moments can ripple out into the world, effecting positive change. So, how does this conversation conclude? You’ll have to listen to find out!

We thank you for listening. Take care of yourself and each other. Until next time, and with love and gratitude, the TA with CJB #PodSquad.

Hello, TA PODience. We realize that there is a lot going on in the world and want to acknowledge the continued shared traumas we’re experiencing here and globally. We hope that our newest episode, which is centered around the themes of creativity, self-expression and living one’s truth will bring some much-needed hope and joy into your spaces.

In our newest two-parter, Episode 52: “Shattering the Box,” Courtney sits down in a Zoom space with Michelle Manzanales, Director of Ballet Hispánico’s School of Dance since 2016. Courtney and Michelle’s thoughtful, feel-good conversation is one for the moment in which they discuss how this pandemic time, while fraught, has been a time of reinventing, restructuring and reimagining, particularly for arts organizations. Over the past two years we, as artists and arts administrators, have expanded the ways in which we can do our work, create art and collaborate (e.g., remote work means the potential for finding new creative spaces like parks, the street and even subways). They also discuss the emotional impact of the arts on kids, noting the visual inspiration that comes from being present in the magical spaces in which kids are seeing live performing arts, like change in posture and the glimmer in a child’s eye. They then draw direct connections to their own childhoods asking: What might it have been like if the programming we now work in existed when we were younger? Where would we be?

The conversation segues into one that is quite personal and poignant, especially in today’s world—a conversation about racism and societal assimilation vs. cultural appreciation and what it means to have a true understanding of one’s culture and standing in it with pride and conviction. So, how does this conversation thread all of those thoughts together? You’ve gotta listen to find out!

We are back with the second part of Episode 51: “Name, Listen, Witness,” in which Courtney continues her conversation with Rabab Ghazoul, a “socially-engaged visual artist whose work explores points of contact between systems of power and individual agency, voices that are yet to speak, spaces of in-between-ness, and the body politic.” Rabab speaks very eloquently about the responsibility we have, as artists and changemakers, to be co-conspirators, advocate and make a case not just to “do the work,” but to be truly mindful of others’ past traumas—to avoid perpetuating harm to communities. In their discussion, Courtney and Rabab also chat about the societal and cultural shifts occurring all around us, including the collapse of oppressive systems like colonialism and the historical legacies of racism that are embedded in our daily lives. Rabab points out the need to see the ultimate grinding down of these systems or the work of extracting them from people and communities will need to continue. Courtney also asks Rabab to talk about being nominated for the prestigious Turner Prize, an award recognizing a British artist’s work of visual art. As a reminder, Ghazoul works with gentle/radical, an organization laser-focused on addressing the gaps in mainstream cultural practice, provision and thinking. It’s an organization that is focused on “people working in the context of people,” and they center their work through the philosophy of perpetual outreach, which aims not just to draw people in and hook them, but to physically, interpersonally sustain and nurture relationships, while also searching for the intersection of their audiences and mining for the parts of the interpersonal connections made that might just lead to art-making.

Questions and themes that arise in this episode are: As a long-term commitment to place and nurturing relationships with communities, what happens when you remain in one place over decades and drill down to what the possibilities are? What shapes does decolonization work take depending on community and place? What shapes might meaningful community engagement and connection through the arts take? How does “creative justice” work like this exist outside of the arts and arts education? Listen to this brand new episode to hear and learn more!

Greetings, TA PODience! We are back with an incredible two-part episode. In Episode 51: “Name, Listen, Witness,” Courtney speaks with the inspiring Rabab Ghazoul. This amazing human identifies artistically as a “socially-engaged visual artist whose work explores points of contact between systems of power and individual agency, voices that are yet to speak, spaces of in-between-ness, and the body politic” whose creative practice “is consistently drawn back to spaces of interaction and activation, with a focus largely beyond galleries or exhibiting regimes as final destinations.” In the first part of the episode, Ghazoul discusses her work with the artist-run project gentle/radical, which is laser-focused on addressing the gaps in mainstream cultural practice, provision and thinking. As Ghazoul puts it, it’s an organization that is focused on “people working in the context of people,” and they ground the work through the philosophy of perpetual outreach, which aims not just to draw people in and hook them, but to physically, interpersonally sustain and nurture relationships, while also searching for the intersection of their audiences and mining for the parts of the interpersonal connections made that might just lead to art-making. Just a few of the questions that arise in this episode are: What does decolonizing look like in this work? What shapes might community engagement and connection through the arts take? What does art as a process look like during a worldwide pandemic lockdown? So how were these answered and what other questions came up? Listen to find out!

Hello, PODience. If you haven’t heard, we’ve hit a big milestone for our podcast and for our team: we’ve just reached our 50th episode and we’re so excited to share Act 2 of that episode with you! Precious Blake, a guest with heart and a focus on community and togetherness through art and interpersonal connection, is featured in Episode 50: “Speed of Trust.” A visual journalist and archivist who moonlights as an illustrator and collagist, Blake is also the Senior Operations Manager at the Village of Arts and Humanities, and organization in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that strives for equitable revitalization of community through art activation. In Act 1 of this episode, Precious spoke about her creative work, her process and how her personal emotions fuel her art-making and artist hand, making her emotional state very present in her creative work. The questions from Act 1—What does care look like? If we were to think of building a world that leads with a care sensibility, what could we create? How do we, as artists, cultivate a sustainable existence in which we can thrive?—are still present, but this conversation takes a deeper dive into more nuanced issues like: How have the last two years shaped our brain space and creative approach? As arts administrators, just how much do we center Teaching Artists’ voices? What role do Teaching Artists play in reshaping the landscape of arts and cultural organizations? What does it look and feel like to “move” complex emotion out of our body? Listen to this thoughtful conversation to find out the answers!

Hello, PODience. This is a big milestone for our podcast and for our team: we’ve just reached our 50th episode and we’re so excited to share it with you! Precious Blake, a guest with heart and a focus on community and togetherness through art and interpersonal connection, is featured in Episode 50: “Speed of Trust.” A visual journalist and archivist who moonlights as an illustrator and collagist, Blake is also the Senior Operations Manager at the Village of Arts and Humanities, and organization in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that strives for equitable revitalization of community through art activation. In their chat, Courtney asks Precious to talk about her creative work, her process, which, Blake states, always “begins with a burning question” and is enhanced and augmented by research and personal interviews. Precious also talks about how her personal emotions fuel her art-making and how her artist hand, which she calls the third act of every piece she makes, really affects the product, making her emotional state very present in her creative work. Blake leads with people and emotions first and makes it part of her mission to manifest a better world through compassion and art, striving to trend away from the indoctrination and absorption of white supremacist practices ingrained in our daily lives. Questions asked in this episode: What does care look like? If we were to think of building a world that leads with a care sensibility, what could we create? How do we, as artists, cultivate a sustainable existence in which we can thrive? You’ll have to listen to this thoughtful conversation to find out the answers!

Hello, PODience! We're back with Episode 49, Act 2: "Reframe Around Repair," featuring Mauricio Salgado. Our guest plays many roles and holds myriad positions as an artist and changemaker and, as he says, is in pursuit of justice and healing through a decolonial framework—seeing, naming and analyzing power structures in order to upset the intrinsic imbalance. In this continuation of Salgado's conversation with Courtney, their chat turns from the "I" to the "we"—the collective. They talk about how, in order to grow as a society, we need to reframe the ways in which we think about one another and the words we use to speak to and about the people with whom we share space. To do that, Salgado suggests that we need to liberate ourselves from the "epoch of disposability" and create new systems that welcome collective growth. One talking point of Salgado's that stands out to us as one of this conversation's lightbulb moments: "Histories haunt. As much as empires try to erase them, histories haunt us. And folks are lifting stories back up, animating spirits to haunt us into action." How does this conversation conclude? You're gonna have to listen to find out!

Hello, PODience! We have a brand new episode and we can't wait for you to hear it. We are gushing over our newest guest, Mauricio Salgado, featured in Episode 49: Reframe Around Repair. Salgado, who plays many roles and holds myriad positions as an artist and changemaker, notes that he is in pursuit of justice and healing through a decolonial framework—seeing, naming and analyzing power structures in order to upset the intrinsic imbalance. In his conversation with Courtney, Salgado tells us that, through the ways in which he was brought up by his parents, he realized from a young age that justice is a lens through which one can view the world; that the scales of power are always off balance and the pursuit of balancing that power became his objective. And he has held true to that objective by working within and alongside organizations that create and nurture sustainable relationships within their ecosystems and engaging in reparative work to redistribute wealth and power. What else does he do and hope to accomplish through artistry and otherwise? Well, you'll have to listen to this amazing conversation to find out!

“Justice is the GPS” continues the feel-good, wellness-focused conversation between Courtney and Ashraf, Youth Arts Manager for the City of Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture. This part of the episode turns the focus to Ashraf's childhood, his journey from Pakistan to the United States as a baby and his personal trajectory with an emphasis on his discovery of the arts. In the episode, Courtney and Ashraf consider the questions: What does justice mean in the context of the arts world? How can we shift systemic and personal patterns and processes so that they lean toward justice and equity? How can we control our environment when we can't control the environment in which you find ourselves? How do you recharge when you lose your magic? How does this poignant two-part episode conclude? Listen and find out!

Episode 48, Act 1: “Justice is the GPS” features a feel-good conversation between Courtney and Ashraf, Youth Arts Manager for the City of Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture. This episode is just what you need right now. It’s all about wellness, self-care and really ruminating in the feelings—all of them—that come up in any given circumstance…you know, like in a pandemic. Our newest episode considers the questions: Where were you when the pandemic began? How did your personal patterns and processes shift? What did you do to control your environment when you couldn’t control the environment around you? In what ways are you helping yourself and how do you recharge when you lose your magic? So, how do Ashraf and Courtney answer these questions? No spoilers! You’ve got to listen to find out!