Arts Educators Save the World

The incomparable Cecily Strong, fresh off her search for signs of intelligent life, soon to once again be live from New York, sits in conversation with Mary Lou Rosato, her CalArts acting teacher – the kind of acting teacher every artist dreams of having. As they talk sonnets, Lady Macbeth, and sketch comedy, you'll be very glad we started this conversation with her at our party.

In a break from our core curriculum, this elective episode brings Erica together with actress and teaching artist Christina Anthony to discuss representations of arts educators on television. While there are no prerequisites for the course, we recommend checking out the 1982 pilot of FAME (iTunes, $1.99 - worth it!), GLEE Season 3 Episode 12 (Disney+), and ABBOTT ELEMENTARY Season 1 Episode 7 (Hulu).

This week we are joined by Tony-nominated broadway actress and singer Kate Baldwin, who has performed with just about every city symphony, in every theater, along with several presidentially-named Centers (Kennedy and Lincoln, to name a couple). Also joining us is Kate’s friend and mentor: musician, choreographer, and teacher since his teenage years, Craig Kienzle. Kate and Craig talk about the importance of their formative work together, and discuss the person whom they both credit with building the school program that changed their lives, along with generations of other students and artists.

Erica checks in to let everyone know that we're taking a week off to catch our breath, and she previews the second half of Season 1 with guest announcements and more!

Faisal Abdu’Allah is the Chazen Family Distinguished Chair in Art at the University of Wisconsin, and a barber. (Not a typo.) Fraser James is a prolific television actor who happened, one day, years ago, to get his hair cut by the Chazen Family Distinguished Chair in Art at the University of Wisconsin. This week on the podcast, a new take on mentorship reveals how these two Black British artists have influenced each other across the years in their art and activism.

It might be faster to name everything that Annaleigh Ashford HASN'T done, but let's just summarize her work and say that she IS an incredible actor and singer; star of the stage, the TV, and the movies, with credits including WICKED, KINKY BOOTS, YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (Tony-winner!), BAD EDUCATION, B POSITIVE, and AMERICAN CRIME STORY; and will star in the Broadway revival of SWEENEY TODD alongside Josh Groban in February 2023. On this episode, Annaleigh has invited her high school teacher Ms. Rossi, whose work as a social studies and psychology teacher – and as an all-around guide and mentor – helped launch Annaleigh into the world, and on to her extraordinary career.

Josh Radnor's career has spanned television (HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, HUNTERS), Broadway (DISGRACED, THE BABYLON LINE), film (HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE, LIBERAL ARTS), and music, recording both as a solo arist and part of the duo RADNOR & LEE. On this week's episode of ARTS EDUCATORS SAVE THE WORLD, Josh links all these forms of storytelling back to his graduate education at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and, specifically, to his singing teacher, Deb Lapidus, who inspired him -- and us -- with her wisdom. She tells us "I think that the idea of 'getting it right' is the thing that can really limit people as they are trying to do their work. For me the only way to 'fail' is to not try." Follow Josh @joshradnor on Twitter and Instagram.

Bill Strickland is the founder of Manchester Craftmen’s Guild and Bidwell Corporation. He's also a MacArthur Fellow. Sharif Bey is an artist and professor, whose work is focused on the visual heritage of Africa, Oceana, and contemporary African American Culture. He's also the winner of The United States Artist fellowship. Bey got his start at Strickland’s Craftman’s Guild, and counts Strickland as one of his earlier and most influential mentors. These two master ceramicists join together for a wide-ranging discussion on the beauty of clay, the value of mentorship, and the power of art to “heal cancer of the human spirit.”

Let the Storm Rage on, because You'll Be Back! It's Part 2 of our conversation with Robert Lopez, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and their elementary school music teacher, Barbara Ames, where they discuss composition, performance, and reminisce about their school's auditorium... the room where it happened.

Wait for It... then Let it Go. Lin-Manuel Miranda (HAMILTON, ENCANTO) and Robert Lopez (FROZEN, BOOK OF MORMON) together in their first ever joint interview, sit down with their shared elementary school music teacher, Barbara Ames. The trio discuss Barbara's dedication to instilling a love of music and the arts in all her students, and we hear stories about (and long-lost audio clips from) Lin and Bobby's early work on the elementary school stage.