During this episode of Why Change? the co-hosts of the podcast - Ashraf Hasham, Rachael Jacobs, Madeleine McGirk, Jeff M. Poulin, and Karla Estela Rivera - re-introduce themselves and share their hopes and plans for Season 3. The co-hosts discuss their multi-hyphenated personal and professional identities, how they plan to use those in the coming season, and the ways we can bring more joy into our work.
In this episode you’ll learn:
A bit more about each co-host and their unique, diverse identities they bring to the discussion;
The questions and perspectives they hope to explore in Season 3; and
The ways they find joy in the hard work at the intersection of culture, education, and social change.
Please download the transcript here.
ABOUT OUR CO-HOSTS
You can find out more about each co-host on the Why Change? web page here.
This episode was produced by Jeff M. Poulin. The artwork is by Bridget Woodbury. The audio is edited by Katie Rainey. This podcasts’ theme music is by Distant Cousins. For more information on this episode and Creative Generation please visit the episode’s web page and follow us on social media @Campaign4GenC.
-
Jeff M. Poulin 00:02
This is why change the podcast for Creative Generation. We are your hosts. I'm Jeff. Oh, Hola. Hola, soy Carla. It's Rachel here. What's good, y'all. I'm Ashraf. And I'm Madeline. Why change is a podcast that brings listeners around the globe to learn how arts, culture and creativity, especially as applied by young people, can change the world, one community at a time. You're invited each week to learn and laugh while exploring the question. Why change? Alright, let's get started. Welcome to season three of the wide change podcast, Jeff here with the whole crew tuning in from around the world to kick off a fantastic third season of this little project that has had an impact all around the world. I'm Jeff M. Poulan. I'm the managing director of Creative Generation. I'm also the adjunct Adjunct Faculty of Arts Administration, and I'm a tap dance teaching artist. I'm based in Washington, DC, but my work takes me all around the world. So you'll often hear me tuning into this very podcast recording from hotels, or other coffee shops or spaces in communities all around the globe. On this podcast, though, I focus a lot on public policy and systems change, and often the research behind it all. Sometimes I'm a little bit of a nerd, but I like to demystify what's going on and bring it home so that we can figure out how to do things. Do those hard things all together. Ashraf over to you.
Ashraf Hasham 01:34
Hey, y'all Ostroff. He him pronouns here logging in from Seattle, Washington USA, the unseeded traditional lands of the Duwamish peoples. I am a camp pin correspondent here at regeneration working on this wide change Podcast. I'm also the partnerships educational Grants Manager at the Seattle office of arts and culture, bringing the perspective of the funder and largely just, quote the ecosystem, unquote, locally. And somebody who's genuinely interested in growing and supporting leaders and leadership as an art form in general, specifically,
Madeleine McGirk 02:13
New leaders and young people are certainly part of that too. Thank you. Hi, everyone. It's Madeleine McGirk, she and her pronouns. I'm calling in from Edinburgh in Scotland. It is also a lovely snowy day here, very Christmas carol votives. At the moment. I, theatre, rancor, filmmaker, teaching artists, and I am the managing director of the International teaching artists collaborative. So it's an international network of participatory artists all over the world. So the perspective I bring is trying to center those voices, the impact that practice can have in change making spaces and the way that community led and community centered approaches can lead to sustainable systems change. And so I cannot wait to share more of the amazing stories and work and profiles of some of those people with you.
Karla Estela Rivera 03:11
Hey, everybody, I am Karla Estela Rivera, I use she her pronouns, and I'm calling in from Chicago, Illinois. I was born in Puerto Rico, and here in Chicago. I'm a writer. I'm a performer and activist, and I'm the Executive Director of the arts administrators of color network, which is a national organization that supports and uplifts and works with artists of the global majority across the country. What am I excited to cover? And who am I excited to talk to you? I think, for the most part, a lot of the conversations that I love having most are conversations with folks that have really unconventional pathways to leadership and to advocacy and to places of power, often, seats that either weren't meant for us or you know, are systemically harder for people of a global majority to get so I'm excited to have more of those conversations, particularly in a time where we are in great change not only globally, but particularly in this country. As we're transitioning, and I use really heavy air quotes in this post COVID moment. I'm really looking forward to affirming folks advocating with folks and Amplifying Voices.
Rachael Jacobs 04:39
Hi, everyone, it's Rachel Jacobs, she her pronouns and I live on Gadigal land in the Eora nation where sovereignty was never seated. I'm a woman of color. I'm an artist. I'm a dance drama and music educator. I'm also a Bollywood dancer. And at the moment, I'm primarily working on racial justice programs through the arts, something I'm really excited to explore in 2023. Is the commonality of coming together in that world where we're just coming out of COVID? How can we commune together to really center minority voices and really embrace the joy and the liveness, that is able to create change. So that's what I'm really looking forward to.
Jeff M. Poulin 05:26
So in season three, I know we all have our takes on the work and our different perspectives. And that's the alchemy. That is the beauty of this podcast. This year, I want to chat with scholars from all around the world, those both in the arts and outside, to bring these big, heavy, complex concepts that exist often in white papers or journal articles behind paywalls or on books that are hundreds of dollars, or even conference presentations, that we can never get to bring those concepts to the ground so that we can all learn more deeply and frankly, more easily, and get moving to combine our own lived experiences and reflections on our work with these insights of others to kind of create the chemistry that that makes things happen. So I'm curious for you, oh, what do you want to explore? What are your questions for the next season?
Karla Estela Rivera 06:27
It's funny, Jeff, that you talk about bringing in the scholars rather than these folks that are often inaccessible into our spaces, which I think is super valuable. And for me, I think my greatest comfort zone and where I have learned the bulk of my lessons has been on the ground with people who often aren't seen as scholarly types, who are often not seen as people who are carrying the wisdom and the kinds of lessons that folks around the world should take note of. And so for me, it is talking to those people who come from humble beginnings who have maybe learned in what folks would call the hard way or, you know, not in traditional pathways that students and folks are often encouraged to follow, which is not D legitimizing that at all whatsoever, but it is also uplifting these other ways that folks can lead and learn. And so I think, for me, I love like, those are the meaty stories for me, because it is often from those experiences that we see so much innovation on the ground.
Rachael Jacobs 07:40
So one of the first podcasts that is coming out is something that Ashraf and I are going to have a great debrief about which is Aster Jorgensen from couch choir, who has literally spread joy to 1000s. In this communal choir called public choir, held here in Australia, mostly in reaction, which is Brisbane, our northern capital has been absolutely transformative in people's lives, just for their community, but also their mental health. So I cannot wait to discuss that with you.
Ashraf Hasham 08:18
Totally, Rachel, I'm super stoked to have that conversation. And in general, I love that you're gonna be focusing on joy this next season. For me, I'm really stoked about continuing my journey in exploring the funding landscape and different parts of the landscape. We talked a little bit about Community Foundation's this year, as well as private foundations. I want to talk a little bit about corporate foundations, also family leave foundations, which are a little more opaque, harder to sort of understand how they work, they're also different. And then, of course, the public sector where I'm in talking to leaders, both here in the US, and using this amazing network of wide change audiences and listeners to connect me to some funders out there in the global sphere, funding their cultural communities, and the ways that they do so. Taking case studies examples and ways that we can show things are done differently, what how we take risks. How they show up in these, like you were saying, Jeff, these sort of institutional spaces, these spaces that are opaque largely to the world and showing that it's, it can be achievable, it can be understandable. It can be something that we wrap our minds and hearts around, and that at the end of the day, they're all led by people, people like you and me, who are full of what's the word multitudes. So tons and tons and tons of content. I'm excited to get into this year. And yeah, what about you Madeline?
Madeleine McGirk 09:58
I kind of like Carla, actually, I think I am really interested in shining lights and Amplifying Voices of those kinds of really underrecognized superheroes that exist in our communities that are doing this amazing work. And this really hands on grassroots change. But for whatever reason, struggle to get the recognition or aren't seen in the same contexts as others who are recognized more readily or celebrated more widely, and for change that often isn't as deep or isn't as penetrating and communities. And so I think I'm really interested in continuing to find those Rockstar teaching artists, because I meet so many of them every single day, and making sure that people get to hear about what they're doing, and that practice and all these different amazing creative ways that they are turning up and making things happen and shifting things step by step into better, more joyful norms. So yeah, I'm, I'm super excited to keep kind of figuring out who those people can be and bringing them into the space.
Jeff M. Poulin 11:18
Well, it certainly sounds like a really exciting journey that we will all be on. So we'll call it to a close for today. But we do look forward to all of these conversations and to engaging with our fantastic audience that's ever so engaged. So don't hesitate to reach out to us. Are you inspired by one of these ideas? Do you have someone that we should talk to? Maybe it's you? What would you like to learn in any of these concepts? Feel free to send us a note at Creative generation.org That's info at Creative generation.org Otherwise, we'll see you next time.
Ashraf Hasham 11:58
Season three you
Jeff M. Poulin 12:00
I hope you enjoyed today's episode of why change the podcast for Creative Generation. All sources discussed in this episode are located in the show notes. If you haven't already, be sure to follow us on social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Also, you can write to us at info at Creative generation.org We would love to hear your ideas, the topics you want to learn about and why change matters to you. This episode was produced by me, Jeff M pooling. Our artwork is by Bridget Woodbury. Our editor is Katie Rainey, the podcast theme music is by distant cousins. A special thanks to our contributors, co hosts and the team at Creative Generation for their support.