Audio

Podcast: Opening Doors and Creating Pathways

Audio August 6, 2019 Dawn Heinen Leave a comment

Alexandra Oliver-Dávila On the Mass Cultural Council’s podcast, Creative Minds Out Loud, we spoke with Alex Oliver-Dávila, Executive Director of Sociedad Latina, about the symbiotic relationship they have formed with numerous local colleges which allows their students to experience a pathway to higher education and bridges an institutional gap between higher education and community-based organizations.

Sociedad Latina is the oldest Latino youth organization in Boston. Its creative youth development program supports young people from middle-school into early college or career.

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Music, Podcast, Program Design

Podcast: Sonido Musica in Harmony

Audio May 22, 2019 Dawn Heinen Leave a comment

Eileen McCaffery and Julie Jaron On the Mass Cultural Council’s podcast, Creative Minds Out Loud, we spoke with Eileen McCaffery, Executive Director of Community Music School of Springfield, and Julie Jaron, Director of Visual and Performing Arts for the Springfield Public Schools, to discuss their work over five years on the Sonido Musica program, a partnership that aims to reduce Springfield’s high school drop-out rate through student engagement, leadership, and performance opportunities. What started with three public schools and 60 students has grown to 18 schools and nearly 1,000 student musicians! Now nearby Holyoke wants to replicate this model. Their goal was not to have the Community Music School replace music education in the public schools, but rather to help principals and administrators see the power of the arts working every day in their school.

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Podcast, Theater

Podcast: Out Youth Theater – Revelatory Experience for Performers and Audience

Audio March 26, 2019 Dawn Heinen Leave a comment

Evelyn Francis. Photo by Joel Benjamin. On the Mass Cultural Council’s podcast, Creative Minds Out Loud, we spoke with Evelyn Francis, Interim Artistic Director at The Theater Offensive.

She discusses their youth program – a national model for creative youth development – where young people not only create original work and share it back to the community, but are true partners in developing a range of expanded opportunities within the program.

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Humanities, Podcast

Podcast: Museum Apprenticeships Transform Lives of New Bedford Youth

Audio January 29, 2019 Dawn Heinen Leave a comment

Sarah Rose (left) and Christina Turner (right) On the Mass Cultural Council’s podcast, Creative Minds Out Loud, we spoke with New Bedford Whaling Museum’s Christina Turner and Sarah Rose.

The City of New Bedford wanted to increase its high school graduation rates. As their response, New Bedford Whaling Museum launched the High School Apprenticeship Program, which provides resources and support to students that deepen community engagement and cultivate college and career readiness. Director of Apprentices and Interns Christina Turner and then Vice President of Education and Programs Sarah Rose share how the apprenticeship program has grown into a nationally-recognized model for creative youth development – with a 100% graduation rate for its participants.

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Podcast, Visual Arts

Podcast: Rooted in Arts, Activism, and Social Justice

Audio July 3, 2018 Dawn Heinen Leave a comment

Vanessa Calderon-Rosado On the Mass Cultural Council’s podcast, Creative Minds Out Loud, we spoke with Vanessa Calderón-Rosado of IBA-Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción.

Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, Ph.D., is the CEO of IBA, a community development corporation dedicated to empowering individuals through education, workforce development, and arts programs. She shares IBA’s holistic approach to youth development and how the arts unleash the collective power and voice of the young people they serve.

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Juvenile Justice, Podcast, Theater

Podcast: Youth Community Built on Firsts

Audio May 16, 2018 Dawn Heinen Leave a comment

On the Mass Cultural Council’s podcast, Creative Minds Out Loud, we spoke with Julie Lichtenberg, Director of The Performance Project, and Artistic Director of First Generation Ensemble.

The Performance Project’s First Generation brings together young adults ages 14-23 for intensive artistic training, leadership development, and inter-generational mentoring. Forming an artistic ensemble, the First Generation youth create original multi-lingual physical theater performances based on their discoveries.

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Music, Podcast

Podcast: Creating Great Human Beings, One Song at a Time

Audio March 6, 2018 Dawn Heinen Leave a comment

On the Mass Cultural Council’s podcast, Creative Minds Out Loud, we spoke with Dr. Anthony Trecek-King about Boston Children’s Chorus (BCC).

At BCC music is a catalyst to create social change. BCC Artistic Director Dr. Anthony Trecek-King recounts how kids from over 120 different zip codes come to the Chorus to learn about music, and are also given time to discuss and learn about their differences and how they can work together to become a more creative and cohesive community.

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Civic Engagement, Pairing, Program Design

In Conversation: Lynn Stanley and Elizabeth Pickard

Audio January 31, 2018 Erik Holmgren Leave a comment

Lynn Stanley and Elizabeth Pickard

We invited Elizabeth Pickard from the Missouri History Museum and Lynn Stanley, Curator of Education for the Provincetown Art Association and Museum to discuss their respective institutions as a place for connecting the story of themselves, the story of their communities, and the story of now. Listen to how their own stories brought them into the museum field and how they strive to ‘lift the veil’ between their institutions and the lived experience of young people in their communities.

Hear the recording by selecting the player above, or read the transcript.

Job Training, Podcast, Visual Arts

Podcast: Pioneering Youth Entrepreneurship & Sustainability

Audio January 12, 2018 Dawn Heinen Leave a comment

On the Mass Cultural Council’s podcast, Creative Minds Out Loud, we spoke with Susan Rodgerson of Artists For Humanity (AFH).

AFH was founded 25 years ago by Susan Rodgerson with a seemingly simple idea: Engaging urban young people in collaborative art making gives them a voice in the arts – and business – community. Rodgerson describes the evolution of AFH’s creative jobs program, which now employs 300 kids annually and earned just under $1.5 million last year. Committed to a sustainable future, Rodgerson also shares expansion plans for the EpiCenter, AFH’s building and first Platinum LEED building in Boston.

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Dance, Podcast

Podcast: Ancient Dance Emboldens Youth’s Future

Audio August 25, 2017 Dawn Heinen Leave a comment

On the Mass Cultural Council’s podcast, Creative Minds Out Loud, we spoke with Linda Sou about Angkor Dance Troupe.

For 30 years, Angkor Dance Troupe has been a creative youth development leader in Lowell, MA, a city with the second-largest Cambodian population in the United States. Angkor connects families to what it means to be Khmer, gives young people opportunity, and shares beautiful stories of the Khmer people and their cultural heritage.

Linda Sou was there from day one. At the age of three, she began her training with Angkor Dance Troupe and would grow up to become its executive director. She shares what it means to preserve and share a nearly-lost art form.

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Ms. Sou was also a lead subject in the documentary film, “Monkey Dance” by Julie Mallozzi which has been screened throughout the United States to raise awareness on intergenerational challenges facing Cambodian youth:.