In this episode, we talk with Melody Vaccaro from Nebraskans Against Gun Violence (NAGV). NAGV strives to empower people with education and the tools of civic engagement. Their goal is to support evidence based firearm policy. Since 2014, Nebraskans working together have stopped all firearm deregulation in Nebraska. They have kept their focus on cultural change, partnerships, and a grassroots civic engagement model. NAGV is the Omaha Children’s Choir beneficiary for the 2020 Voices Creating Change concert.

Nebraskans Against Gun Violence

• Website
• Facebook Page
• Facebook Discussion Group

How the NRA Punked Nebraska's District 13

Resources to find gun violence data in your state:

• Violence Policy Center
• Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
• Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence

Book Recommendations:

• The Stationary Shop
• America and Its Guns: A Theological Exposé
• The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

Union for Contemporary Art - Redline

This American Life - The Problem We All Live With

• Part I
• Part II

Connect with Omaha Children’s Choir - OCC Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Omar Martinez - Instagram

Amanda Stevenson - Instagram, Twitter

Voices Creating Change presents stories of social change initiatives through the arts. Our conversations open possibilities beyond the limitations that underrepresented populations face daily, specifically in the arts. 

Hosted by Amanda Stevenson & Omar Martinez. New episodes release each Friday. Voices Creating Change is a production of Omaha Children’s Choir.

View show information at omahachildrenschoir.org/podcast.

In this episode, we talk with Gwenna Fairchild-Taylor about her work as an Opera Omaha Holland Community Opera Fellow and about community music making. Gwenna holds an M.M. in Opera (University of Toronto) and a B.M. in Voice Performance (Western University) and is a first year Holland Community Opera Fellow. She has spent time as a Musician In Residence at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and is a four-time recipient of Government of Nunavut Culture & Heritage Grants in support of her music and drama programs in communities in the Arctic. She also wrote the curriculum for “Learn English Through Song,” a program in Toronto that facilitates language learning and community building for newcomer women through singing. She has also worked as a teaching artist and consulted on curriculum development for education programming at the Canadian Opera Company.

To contact Gwenna:

Gwenna Fairchild-Taylor: Website, Instagram, Twitter

Opera Omaha - Holland Community Fellowship

Opera Omaha Creativity Prompts

Canadian Opera Company

Regent Park School of Music

LETS - Learn English Through Song

Crow Winter

Connect with Omaha Children’s Choir - OCC Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Omar Martinez - Instagram

Amanda Stevenson - Instagram, Twitter

Voices Creating Change presents stories of social change initiatives through the arts. Our conversations open possibilities beyond the limitations that underrepresented populations face daily, specifically in the arts. 

Hosted by Amanda Stevenson & Omar Martinez. New episodes release each Friday. Voices Creating Change is a production of Omaha Children’s Choir.

View show information at omahachildrenschoir.org/podcast.

This is part 2 of a 2 part series. In this episode series, we talk to Michael Bussewitz-Quarm. Michael is a composer and conductor and is the commissioning composer for the Omaha Children’s Choir Voices Creating Change commission this season. Michael’s works have been broadcast on Public Radio East, KMUZ, and WCPE, with performances by musica intima, the Gregg Smith Singers, the Duke University Chorale, the Esoterics, among other exceptional choral ensembles. Michael is also active in advocating for the transgender community. Michael says “It is my fervent wish to spread knowledge and understanding of the transgender community through guest speaking and by simply being present in the lives of the talented musicians and artists surrounding me.” Michael is actively commissioned by choral organizations around the country and enjoys working directly with choirs.

To contact Michael: https://www.mbqstudio.com/

Chorus America

Hugh Mangum Photography

Duke University - Where We Find Ourselves

Connect with Omaha Children’s Choir - OCC Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Omar Martinez - Instagram

Amanda Stevenson - Instagram, Twitter

Voices Creating Change presents stories of social change initiatives through the arts. Our conversations open possibilities beyond the limitations that underrepresented populations face daily, specifically in the arts. 

Hosted by Amanda Stevenson & Omar Martinez. New episodes release each Friday. Voices Creating Change is a production of Omaha Children’s Choir.

View show information at omahachildrenschoir.org/podcast.

This is part 1 of a 2 part series. In this episode series, we talk to Michael Bussewitz-Quarm. Michael is a composer and conductor and is the commissioning composer for the Omaha Children’s Choir Voices Creating Change commission this season. Michael’s works have been broadcast on Public Radio East, KMUZ, and WCPE, with performances by musica intima, the Gregg Smith Singers, the Duke University Chorale, the Esoterics, among other exceptional choral ensembles. Michael is also active in advocating for the transgender community. Michael says “It is my fervent wish to spread knowledge and understanding of the transgender community through guest speaking and by simply being present in the lives of the talented musicians and artists surrounding me.” Michael is actively commissioned by choral organizations around the country and enjoys working directly with choirs.

To contact Michael: https://www.mbqstudio.com/

Avielle Foundation - Preventing Violence & Building Compassion

Adrian Dunn - Composer

Connect with Omaha Children’s Choir - OCC Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Omar Martinez - Instagram

Amanda Stevenson - Instagram, Twitter

Voices Creating Change presents stories of social change initiatives through the arts. Our conversations open possibilities beyond the limitations that underrepresented populations face daily, specifically in the arts. 

Hosted by Amanda Stevenson & Omar Martinez. New episodes release each Friday. Voices Creating Change is a production of Omaha Children’s Choir.

View show information at omahachildrenschoir.org/podcast.

This is part 2 of a 2 part episode series. In this episode, we continue our discussion with OCC staff on how we create spaces that are meaningful, inclusive, equitable and drive our singers and audiences to create social change. 

Justice Choir Songbook

Institute for Composer Diversity

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You by Lin-Manuel Miranda

Invitation to the Party: Building Bridges to the Arts, Culture and Community by Donna Walker-Kuhne

Omar Martinez - Instagram

Susie Gibbons - Instagram

Amanda Stevenson - Instagram, Twitter

Omaha Children’s Choir Website

Omaha Children’s Choir - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Voices Creating Change presents stories of social change initiatives through the arts. Our conversations open possibilities beyond the limitations that underrepresented populations face daily, specifically in the arts. 

Hosted by Amanda Stevenson & Omar Martinez. New episodes release each Friday. Voices Creating Change is a production of Omaha Children’s Choir.

View show information at omahachildrenschoir.org/podcast.

This is part 1 of a 2 part series. In this episode series, we introduce the Omaha Children’s Choir staff and discuss how we create spaces that are meaningful, inclusive, equitable and drive our singers and audiences to create social change. 

Justice Choir Songbook
Institute for Composer Diversity

Omar Martinez - Instagram
Susie Gibbons - Instagram
Amanda Stevenson - Instagram, Twitter

Omaha Children’s Choir Website
Omaha Children’s Choir - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Voices Creating Change presents stories of social change initiatives through the arts. Our conversations open possibilities beyond the limitations that underrepresented populations face daily, specifically in the arts. 

Hosted by Amanda Stevenson & Omar Martinez. New episodes release each Friday. Voices Creating Change is a production of Omaha Children’s Choir.

View show information at omahachildrenschoir.org/podcast.

The Voices Creating Change podcast is re-launching as a production of Omaha Children's Choir. Join hosts Amanda Stevenson and Omar Martinez for a sneak peak at what the Voices Creating Change podcast has in store for the future!

Stacey Waite joins me on this episode. Stacey is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln and has published four collections of poems: Choke (winner of the 2004 Frank O’Hara Prize), Love Poem to Androgyny(winner of the 2006 Main Street Rag Chapbook Competition), the lake has no saint (winner of the 2008 Snowbound Prize from Tupelo Press), and Butch Geography (Tupelo Press, 2013). Waite’s poems have been published most recently in The Cream City Review, Bloom, Indiana Review, and Black Warrior Review. Stacey is a coach and coordinator for the Nebraska Writers Collective Louder Than A Bomb program.

Stacey and I had a great time talking about her poetry, Nebraska Writers Collective, and gender issues. We talked in depth about how students lives are changed through the Nebraska Writers Collective Louder Than A Bomb program. Stacey also performs one of her poems at the end of the episode.

Stacey Waite

Stacey Waite

Stacey Waite - UNL

Butch Geography by Stacey Waite

Follow Nebraska Writers Collective

Facebook

Twitter

Website

Louder Than A Bomb

Facebook

Kate Bornstein

Rachel Wooledge -  LTAB Final Performance

Nebraska Writers Collective

Make A Wish Foundation

Follow Amanda Stevenson

Amanda on Instagram

Amanda on Twitter

Voices Creating Change on Facebook

Voices Creating Change on Twitter

Support the show on Patreon

An update about the Voices Creating Change podcast

Matt Mason joins me on this episode. Matt Mason is Executive Director of the Nebraska Writers Collective. Matt Mason has a Pushcart Prize and two Nebraska Book Awards. He was a finalist for the position of Nebraska State Poet and organizes and runs poetry programming for the State Department, working in Nepal, Romania, Botswana, and Belarus. He has over 200 publications in magazines and anthologies, including Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry. His most recent book, The Baby That Ate Cincinnati, was released in 2013. Matt lives in Omaha with his wife, the poet Sarah McKinstry-Brown and Daughters Sophia and Lucia.

Matt and I had a wonderful time talking about the Nebraska Writers Collective. We talked in depth about two of their programs - Louder than a Bomb Great Plains, a high school poetry slam program and Writer’s Block, a therapeutic writing program in prisons and juvenile facilities in Nebraska.

Follow Nebraska Writers Collective

Facebook

Twitter

Website

Louder Than A Bomb

Facebook

Louder Than A Bomb - Chicago

Louder Than A Bomb Film

Dallas Street Choir

Patricia Smith

They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us - Hanif Abdurraqib

Follow Amanda Stevenson

Amanda on Instagram

Amanda on Twitter

Voices Creating Change on Facebook

Voices Creating Change on Twitter

Support the show on Patreon