There is a version of the arts world where everyone shows up for each other. Where young artists have a safe place to practice, make mistakes, and figure out who they are before the world decides for them. Where elders are integral to creative spaces because intergenerational connection is how culture moves forward. Where artists are protected emotionally, financially, physically, and creatively. Tish Jones has spent 20 years building that version.

Tish is a Saint Paul poet, MC, hip hop artist, and founder of TruArtSpeaks, a non-profit organization focused on literacy, leadership, and social justice through spoken word and hip hop culture.

We talked about:

• Seeing the world as a poet
• The three things that inspired Tish to found TruArtSpeaks in 2006
• What young artists need to be protected from
• Exploitation in creative industries
• The pressure to choose the "practical" path
• Early art champions and detractors 
• The emotional weight artists carry during collective grief and unrest
• Creative practice, the myth of the daily routine, and meeting the spark when it comes
• Creativity as ancestry, intuition, and spiritual practice

TruArtSpeaks is currently celebrating 20 years with a fundraiser punch card featuring 20 Twin Cities businesses and the Urgent Emergent Performance Art Series at Icehouse every third weekend of the month.

Connect with Tish: tishjonespoet.com

Learn more about TruArtSpeaks: truartspeaks.org

Support the show

• Subscribe at artisthenewwallstreet.com and on YouTube
• Learn more about host and producer, Morgan Short 
• Follow us on Tik Tok, Instagram, and Facebook
• Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts

Keep creating, keep making art. Your art is a gift to you and to the world.