About our Podcast Series:

WHBLE founder, award-winning writer, director and applied theatre educator, Ah-Keisha McCans, hosts conversations with educators, school leaders, parents, and students to discuss the state of education, and systemic problems facing youth in schools.

Education as Liberation Podcast season two’s theme is Time Capsule. Featuring interviews spanning the summer of 2020 until Fall of 2021, we reflect on education yester-year-today-future. How much has changed since the pandemic started? How much remains the same? Is education on the path towards liberation or must a new system be built up?

About Our Guest

Brian McAndrews taught visual art at Creative Arts Morgan Village Academy (CAMVA), a performing arts middle and high school located in Camden, New Jersey, for over six years. At CAMVA, Brian taught drawing, painting, art history and digital media. During the summer, he facilitated 2D art for Rutgers Future Scholars, a Rutgers Camden campus program for similarly aged students.

Brian spent time studying at University of the Arts (illustration) as well as numerous county colleges before finishing his painting degree at Rutgers Camden. It was there that he also received his teaching certificate for the state of New Jersey. As an artist, he has shown work at the Stedman Gallery, Student Works Gallery (Rutgers Camden), Mt Holly Arts, and the Nemours Children’s Hospital. His students’ work has been featured in many competitions and galleries, including the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia.

Brian’s passion for technology, as well as classical techniques, such as drawing, influenced his belief that any person, no matter their believed ability, can learn to create beautiful art!

Sadly, in January of 2022, Brian passed away. He is remembered fondly by his students because of the great impact that he made on their lives as their art teacher and mentor.

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Brian and to all who knew and loved him.

About WHBLE:

We make art. We are change makers. We activate change, inspire community connection, encourage individual/collective literacies & nurture a brave space to engage in dialogue around complex issues using literacy & theatre!

Learn more about WHBLE at:

http://www.wholebodyliteracy.com

Want to partner with us or schedule a community-healing workshop with WHBLE, check out some of our Testimonials at:

https://wholebodyliteracy.com/testimonials

Follow  us on Twitter @whble1 

Follow us on Instagram @whble_works

--

BECOME A SUPPORTER

Do you love our work? It's easy to become a supporter!

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Subscribe to our podcast by making a one-time or monthly donation.

Share our podcast with your community.

Schedule a series of workshops.

Send in a voice message of support: https://anchor.fm/whble/message

*

Tips are welcome and appreciated.

Leave a tip at Venmo: @whble

About our Podcast Series:

WHBLE founder, award-winning writer, director and applied theatre educator, Ah-Keisha McCans, hosts conversations with educators, school leaders, parents, and students to discuss the state of education, and systemic problems facing youth in schools.

Education as Liberation Podcast season two’s theme is Time Capsule. Featuring interviews spanning the summer of 2020 until Fall of 2021, we reflect on education yester-year-today-future. How much has changed since the pandemic started? How much remains the same? Is education on the path towards liberation or must a new system be built up?

About Our Guest

Ebony L. Ruffin is a native of Los Angeles, CA and earned her B.F.A. in Dance from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and an M.F.A. in Dance and Choreography from CalArts. She worked for nearly two decades in New York as a professional dancer, choreographer, teaching artist, and arts administrator. Ebony also has extensive experience working in K-12 education, with many dance and arts education organizations, including Ailey Arts in Education & Community Programs and Battery Dance Company. As an Arts Administrator, she has also worked in many facets for The Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation and currently works for The Music Center as the Manager of Professional Development in the Education Department.

About WHBLE:

We make art. We are change makers. We activate change, inspire community connection, encourage individual/collective literacies & nurture a brave space to engage in dialogue around complex issues using literacy & theatre!

Learn more about WHBLE at:

http://www.wholebodyliteracy.com

Want to partner with us or schedule a community-healing workshop with WHBLE, check out some of our Testimonials at:

https://wholebodyliteracy.com/testimonials

Follow  us on Twitter @whble1 

Follow us on Instagram @whble_works

--

BECOME A SUPPORTER

Do you love our work? It's easy to become a supporter!

*

Subscribe to our podcast by making a one-time or monthly donation.

Share our podcast with your community.

Schedule a series of workshops.

Send in a voice message of support: https://anchor.fm/whble/message

*

Tips are welcome and appreciated.

Leave a tip at Venmo: @whble

About our Podcast Series:

WHBLE founder, award-winning writer, director and applied theatre educator, Ah-Keisha McCans, hosts conversations with educators, school leaders, parents, and students to discuss the state of education, and systemic problems facing youth in schools.

Education as Liberation Podcast season two’s theme is Time Capsule. Featuring interviews spanning the summer of 2020 until Fall of 2021, we reflect on education yester-year-today-future. How much has changed since the pandemic started? How much remains the same? Is education on the path towards liberation or must a new system be built up?

About Our Guest

James 'SoSoon' Gantt is a New York born emcee, producer, lecturer, scholar and Hip-Hop educator. The moniker SoSoon, an acronym for Sound Of Something Out Of Nothing, reflects the heart of Hip-Hop culture which was developed by people who lacked access to outlets for creative expression. SoSoon's music captures the diverse experiences of New York's working class who often play the background despite their significant contributions to “the city that never sleeps.”

Instagram: @SoSoon

Twitter: @SoSoonish

About WHBLE:

We make art. We are change makers. We activate change, inspire community connection, encourage individual/collective literacies & nurture a brave space to engage in dialogue around complex issues using literacy & theatre!

Learn more about WHBLE at:

http://www.wholebodyliteracy.com

Want to partner with us or schedule a community-healing workshop with WHBLE, check out some of our Testimonials at:

https://wholebodyliteracy.com/testimonials

Follow  us on Twitter @whble1 

Follow us on Instagram @whble_works

--

BECOME A SUPPORTER

Do you love our work? It's easy to become a supporter!

*

Subscribe to our podcast by making a one-time or monthly donation.

Share our podcast with your community.

Schedule a series of workshops.

Send in a voice message of support: https://anchor.fm/whble/message

*

Tips are welcome and appreciated.

Leave a tip at Venmo: @whble

About our Podcast Series:

WHBLE founder, award-winning writer, director and applied theatre educator, Ah-Keisha McCans, hosts conversations with educators, school leaders, parents, and students to discuss the state of education, and systemic problems facing youth in schools.

Education as Liberation Podcast season two’s theme is Time Capsule. Featuring interviews spanning the summer of 2020 until Fall of 2021, we reflect on education yester-year-today-future. How much has changed since the pandemic started? How much remains the same? Is education on the path towards liberation or must a new system be built up?

About Our Guest

Abdul-Qadir Islam is a brotha from Philadelphia on a mission to explore and expand Black Joy in Literacy Education. A career educator, Abdul -Qadir seeks to challenge the ways in which English educators aide in the processess of emotional and physical Literacies with Black males in particular. Through the arts, and in his work at a doctoral student at Teachers College, he hopes to further the continued flexx that is occurring in American Black Culture.

About WHBLE:

We make art. We are change makers. We activate change, inspire community connection, encourage individual/collective literacies & nurture a brave space to engage in dialogue around complex issues using literacy & theatre!

Learn more about WHBLE at:

http://www.wholebodyliteracy.com

Want to partner with us or schedule a community-healing workshop with WHBLE, check out some of our Testimonials at:

https://wholebodyliteracy.com/testimonials

Follow  us on Twitter @whble1 

Follow us on Instagram @whble_works

--

BECOME A SUPPORTER

Do you love our work? It's easy to become a supporter!

*

Subscribe to our podcast by making a one-time or monthly donation.

Share our podcast with your community.

Schedule a series of workshops.

Send in a voice message of support: https://anchor.fm/whble/message

*

Tips are welcome and appreciated.

Leave a tip at Venmo: @whble

About our Podcast Series:

WHBLE founder, award-winning writer, director and applied theatre educator, Ah-Keisha McCans, hosts conversations with educators, school leaders, parents, and students to discuss the state of education, and systemic problems facing youth in schools.

Education as Liberation Podcast season two’s theme is Time Capsule. Featuring interviews spanning the summer of 2020 until Fall of 2021, we reflect on education yester-year-today-future. How much has changed since the pandemic started? How much remains the same? Is education on the path towards liberation or must a new system be built up?

About Our Guest

The Journey Theatre Project works with non-profits, educational, and community organizations to create a brave space for courageous conversations. They challenge traditional power structures through theatre, games, data and dialogue. JTP is dedicated to fighting against white supremacy and the violence it has on Black and brown bodies.

The Journey Theatre Project was co-founded by Esther Triggs-Camacho, Chelsea Hanawalt, and Nicole Kontolefa

Follow JTP at www.thejourneytheatreproject.com

About WHBLE:

We make art. We are change makers. We activate change, inspire community connection, encourage individual/collective literacies & nurture a brave space to engage in dialogue around complex issues using literacy & theatre!

Learn more about WHBLE at:

http://www.wholebodyliteracy.com

Want to partner with us or schedule a community-healing workshop with WHBLE, check out some of our Testimonials at:

https://wholebodyliteracy.com/testimonials

Follow  us on Twitter @whble1 

Follow us on Instagram @whble_works

--

BECOME A SUPPORTER

Do you love our work? It's easy to become a supporter!

*

Subscribe to our podcast by making a one-time or monthly donation.

Share our podcast with your community.

Schedule a series of workshops.

Send in a voice message of support: https://anchor.fm/whble/message

*

Tips are welcome and appreciated.

Leave a tip at Venmo: @whble

About our Podcast Series:

WHBLE founder, award-winning writer, director and applied theatre educator, Ah-Keisha McCans, hosts conversations with educators, school leaders, parents, and students to discuss the state of education, and systemic problems facing youth in schools.

Education as Liberation Podcast season two’s theme is Time Capsule. Featuring interviews spanning the summer of 2020 until Fall of 2021, we reflect on education yester-year-today-future. How much has changed since the pandemic started? How much remains the same? Is education on the path towards liberation or must a new system be built up?

About Our Guest

Claro de los Reyes (he/him/his) is a NYC-based actor, playwright, educator, and social practice theatre artist. His theatre works aim to raise questions about transnational histories and its intimate influence on the present. He is the founder and director of Atlantic Pacific Theatre, a theater company committed to exploring cross cultural exchange and pluralism. 

Learn more at www.atlanticpacifictheatre.org.

About WHBLE:

We make art. We are change makers. We activate change, inspire community connection, encourage individual/collective literacies & nurture a brave space to engage in dialogue around complex issues using literacy & theatre!

Learn more about WHBLE at:

http://www.wholebodyliteracy.com

Want to partner with us or schedule a community-healing workshop with WHBLE, check out some of our Testimonials at:

https://wholebodyliteracy.com/testimonials

Follow  us on Twitter @whble1 

Follow us on Instagram @whble_works

--

BECOME A SUPPORTER

Do you love our work? It's easy to become a supporter!

*

Subscribe to our podcast by making a one-time or monthly donation.

Share our podcast with your community.

Schedule a series of workshops.

Send in a voice message of support: https://anchor.fm/whble/message

*

Tips are welcome and appreciated.

Leave a tip at Venmo: @whble

About our Podcast Series:

WHBLE founder, award-winning writer, director and applied theatre educator, Ah-Keisha McCans, hosts conversations with educators, school leaders, parents, and students to discuss the state of education, and systemic problems facing youth in schools.

Education as Liberation Podcast season two’s theme is Time Capsule. Featuring interviews spanning the summer of 2020 until Fall of 2021, we reflect on education yester-year-today-future. How much has changed since the pandemic started? How much remains the same? Is education on the path towards liberation or must a new system be built up?

About Our Guest

Keisa Parrish is a former Radio City Rockette, classically trained dancer, certified Yoga / Pilates / TRX instructor who holds a BFA from Fordham University and has been teaching for over 22 years. She is a single mom who’s been living in NYC for the past 20 years and Founder of Luebirta and Kaleonani Inc, a performing arts and wellness company.

Learn more at https://www.luekaleo.com/about

Follow Keisa on Instagram @ Luekaleo

About WHBLE:

We make art. We are change makers. We activate change, inspire community connection, encourage individual/collective literacies & nurture a brave space to engage in dialogue around complex issues using literacy & theatre!

Learn more about WHBLE at:

http://www.wholebodyliteracy.com

Want to partner with us or schedule a community-healing workshop with WHBLE, check out some of our Testimonials at:

https://wholebodyliteracy.com/testimonials

Follow  us on Twitter @whble1 

Follow us on Instagram @whble_works

--

BECOME A SUPPORTER

Do you love our work? It's easy to become a supporter!

*

Subscribe to our podcast by making a one-time or monthly donation.

Share our podcast with your community.

Schedule a series of workshops.

Send in a voice message of support: https://anchor.fm/whble/message

*

Tips are welcome and appreciated.

Leave a tip at Venmo: @whble

About our Podcast Series:

WHBLE founder, award-winning writer, director and applied theatre educator, Ah-Keisha McCans, hosts conversations with educators, school leaders, parents, and students to discuss the state of education, and systemic problems facing youth in schools.

Education as Liberation Podcast season two’s theme is Time Capsule. Featuring interviews spanning the summer of 2020 until Fall of 2021, we reflect on education yester-year-today-future. How much has changed since the pandemic started? How much remains the same? Is education on the path towards liberation or must a new system be built up?

About Our Guest

Priscilla Flores is a Queer, Latinx, New Yorker, actor / writer / director / educator / awakener.

As an "art-vist," I am passionate about community action, marginalized populations, and using performance art to explore social issues, connect bridges, and build networks of healing and collective empowerment. With over 17 years of programmatic and administrative experience in the arts and education field, I am deeply committed to addressing youth and community development through an Applied Theatre approach. In my current position as Director of the College and Adult Program at the CUNY Creative Arts Team, I develop programming for student and adult populations across New York City that allow participants to explore social and academic issues, social and emotional learning, and help build sustainable life skills.

Each year, I work to develop and supervise a highly skilled team of teaching artists who provide interactive, participant-centered applied theater workshops and residencies for a diverse range of contracts and communities, serving approximately 10,000 participants annually.

We make art. We are change makers. We activate change, inspire community connection, encourage individual/collective literacies & nurture a brave space to engage in dialogue around complex issues using literacy & theatre!

Learn more about WHBLE at:

http://www.wholebodyliteracy.com

Want to partner with us or schedule a community-healing workshop with WHBLE, check out some of our Testimonials at:

https://wholebodyliteracy.com/testimonials

Follow  us on Twitter @whble1 

Follow us on Instagram @whble_works

--

BECOME A SUPPORTER

Do you love our work? It's easy to become a supporter!

*

Subscribe to our podcast by making a one-time or monthly donation.

Share our podcast with your community.

Schedule a series of workshops.

Send in a voice message of support: https://anchor.fm/whble/message

*

Tips are welcome and appreciated.

Leave a tip at Venmo: @whble

About our Podcast Series:

WHBLE founder, award-winning writer, director and applied theatre educator, Ah-Keisha McCans, hosts conversations with educators, school leaders, parents, and students to discuss the state of education, and systemic problems facing youth in schools.

Education as Liberation Podcast season two’s theme is Time Capsule. Featuring interviews spanning the summer of 2020 until Fall of 2021, we reflect on education yester-year-today-future. How much has changed since the pandemic started? How much remains the same? Is education on the path towards liberation or must a new system be built up?

About Our Guest

Krystal Dillard grew up attending public school in Los Angeles, where her family chose to lie about their home address to give her access to a better school. Since earning her Masters degree in Education from Marymount University and Bachelor's in English from Howard University, Krystal has taught in a variety of different school settings—public and private, regional and international—all of which placed special emphasis on literacy, inquiry based education, and democratic approach.

She was deeply influenced by her time at Children’s Community School in Van Nuys, CA where she developed her understanding of progressive education, equity, inclusion, and what we call descriptive practices. She is a sitting member of the board of The Institute on Descriptive Inquiry.

Krystal is a lover of children’s literature and poetry, hiking, and exploring. She meditates, practices yoga regularly, and has kept a writing journal since she was eight years old, which she says helped her survive her traumatic and chaotic childhood. Krystal is married to Marc, a Philadelphia native with a passion for comics, art, and storyboarding. They are both excited to become Germantown residents and dive into the community, history, and culture of the neighborhood.

About WHBLE:

We make art. We are change makers. We activate change, inspire community connection, encourage individual/collective literacies & nurture a brave space to engage in dialogue around complex issues using literacy & theatre!

Learn more about WHBLE at:

http://www.wholebodyliteracy.com

Want to partner with us or schedule a community-healing workshop with WHBLE, check out some of our Testimonials at:

https://wholebodyliteracy.com/testimonials

Follow  us on Twitter @whble1 

Follow us on Instagram @whble_works

--

BECOME A SUPPORTER

Do you love our work? It's easy to become a supporter!

*

Subscribe to our podcast by making a one-time or monthly donation.

Share our podcast with your community.

Schedule a series of workshops.

Book WHBLE founder, Ah-Keisha McCans to speak at your event.

Send in a voice message of support: https://anchor.fm/whble/message

*

Tips are welcome and appreciated.

Leave a tip at Venmo: @whble

About our Podcast Series:

WHBLE founder, award-winning writer, director and applied theatre educator, Ah-Keisha McCans, hosts conversations with educators, school leaders, parents, and students to discuss the state of education, and systemic problems facing youth in schools.

Education as Liberation Podcast season two’s theme is Time Capsule. Featuring interviews spanning the summer of 2020 until Fall of 2021, we reflect on education yester-year-today-future. How much has changed since the pandemic started? How much remains the same? Is education on the path towards liberation or must a new system be built up?

About Our Guest

Anthony Smith is a West Philly based organizer, artist and Social Studies teacher. Anthony has been organizing primarily around addressing police violence and building independent political power for black and brown community members through direct action. He has worked with and contributed to organizations such as Philly for REAL Justice, the Black Philly Radical Collective, Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal, and Food not Bombs Solidarity, who move to make Philly the place black and brown people deserve.

About WHBLE:

We make art. We are change makers. We activate change, inspire community connection, encourage individual/collective literacies & nurture a brave space to engage in dialogue around complex issues using literacy & theatre!

Learn more about WHBLE at:

http://www.wholebodyliteracy.com

Want to partner with us or schedule a community-healing workshop with WHBLE, check out some of our Testimonials at:

https://wholebodyliteracy.com/testimonials

Follow  us on Twitter @whble1 

Follow us on Instagram @whble_works

--

BECOME A SUPPORTER

Do you love our work? It's easy to become a supporter!

*

Subscribe to our podcast by making a one-time or monthly donation.

Share our podcast with your community.

Schedule a series of workshops.

Book WHBLE founder, Ah-Keisha McCans to speak at your event.

Send in a voice message of support: https://anchor.fm/whble/message

*

Tips are welcome and appreciated.

Leave a tip at Venmo: @whble