Art Works Podcast

The Lotus World Music and Arts Festival is turning 25 this year. So it seemed like a good time to talk with its executive director Sunni Fass and long-time staff member LuAnne Holladay about this one-of-a-kind festival. Lotus is an urban event—turning streets in downtown Bloomington Indiana into a center for music, dance and visual arts for one weekend each September. The musicians come from all over the world—over the course of the festival’s history it has welcomed artists from over 120 countries-- and they reflect the great diversity of these cultures as well as appreciation and respect for their fellow-artists. In another music-filled podcast, Sunni and LuAnne talk about what it takes to put the festival together and the deep impact the festival has had on Bloomington and Southern Indiana.

Although he’s only in his early 30s, singer, educator, conductor and music director of The Dessoff Choirs Malcolm J. Merriweather has already made his mark on the world of choral music. It is his passion; and, his mission is to open singers to all its possibilities, students to it wide and varied paths, and audiences to its wonders. His mission is as simple as it is ambitious: “impacting the world through the gift of music.” And after speaking with him, I’m convinced he’s doing it. As you’ll discover in this week’s podcast, it’s hard to resist his love of voices joining together to make song…and, as you’ll hear, Malcolm himself is a brilliant baritone.

2018 NEA Jazz Master Todd Barkan is a man of many talents: impresario, club owner, producer, artistic programmer. But he would count chief among them his deep and abiding love for jazz and the musicians who create. Owner of the legendary Keystone Korner, Todd created a club where musicians ruled and audiences felt at home. In this music-filled podcast, he talks about that great San Francisco club and shares stories about his many friend-- jazz greats like Miles Davis, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Bobby Hutcherson and Sonny Rollins.

The US Army Artist in Residence SFC Juan Munoz might be the Army's best-kept secret. His job is to document through art the experiences of soldiers as they fulfill their duties both home and abroad. SFC Munoz deploys with troops for a month as a soldier/artist--expected to carry his weight and to document what he sees. SFC Munoz has an extraordinary amount of freedom: he chooses what to document and how to document it. In fact, when he was appointed, the army emphasized he was not creating propaganda but rather telling the stories of soldiers through art. In this week's podcast, we visit the studio of SFC Munoz at Fort Belvoir and learn about the role of the army's artists in residence.

2016 Bess Lomax Hawes NEA National Heritage Fellow Artemio Posadas has spent his life keeping the musical tradition of son huasteco vibrant. Son huasteco is a rich and complicated musical tradition. Beginning in Northeastern Mexico in the late 19th century, it combines distinctive rhythms, musical solos—with the violin taking a major role, poetry and dance. Improvisation is key; but so is participation. This isn’t a tradition that separates musicians and audience, and the dancers feet provide beats and rhythms in response to the music. Artemio Posadas grew up with son huasteco , and he brought it with him when he moved to the Bay area in the 1970s teaching this tradition through the generations. In this music-filled podcast, we’ll hear Artemio talk about his love of son huasteco in all its multi-dimensionality. Posadas’ apprentice, musician and anthropologist Russell Rodriguez serves as interpreter.

The Washington Jewish Film Festival’s director Ilya Tovbis wants to open doors to Jewish life around the world. And for ten days, the Washington DC area is home to some 70 international films both documentaries and narratives from emerging and established directors. Ilya defines a “Jewish film” as a work with “ something deliberately to do with the Jewish experience, culture, history, which is a malleable concept.” Yet, he chooses not to aim the films at a Jewish audience exclusively. He wants the audience to be as diverse as the stories on the screen, which is neither quick nor easy. Now in its 28th year, the Washington Jewish Film Festival has established itself as a prestigious event for filmmakers. How then to reach out to the audience in its own backyard? That’s some of questions Ilya discusses in this podcast.

Folklorist, poet and president of the International Storytelling Center, Kiran Singh Sirah is passionate about the power of stories.  He heads the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee—the oldest festival of its kind in the world and a driving force behind the renaissance in storytelling.  Kiran talks about creating community through stories, the ability of story to transcend petty politics and connect us to what is essential.  His own story is pretty interesting: born in England to parents who had been expelled from their home in Uganda and grandparents who were part of the liberation movement in India.  He understands first-hand the ability of stories to translate cultures to each other.  We also hear a story from NEA National Heritage Fellow Sheila Kay Adams who can spin a tale with the best of them.

Actor Dria Brown talks about playing Joan in Bedlam’s almost postmodern production of George Bernard Shaw’s St. Joan in DC’s Folger Theatre. It’s stripped down in every way: minimal sets and costumes and a cast of four; Dria plays Joan and only Joan; the other three actors juggle 26 roles. The rehearsals were interesting. We hear about her growing up in South Carolina, how time in her father’s church readied her for the role, and her desire to get the audience to engage with the performance.

The first part of this week’s podcast looks at Creative Forces : NEA Military Healing Initiative. NEA Chairman Jane Chu and others reflect on the power of art to heal physical and psychological trauma as well as strengthen families and build community. In part 2, Sebastian Junger discusses his book, Tribe—which looks at the profound sense of loss some combat veterans feel when they return from deployment, and the various ways that art and ritual can help them re-enter their communities.

Curator Nora Atkinson has brought a sense of that annual hotbed of artistic ingenuity in Nevada’s Black Rock desert with the daring and successful “No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man.” It’s the hottest exhibit in DC appealing to all ages. The exhibit at Renwick Gallery often has lines around the block—and for good reason. It is dazzling; focusing on massive installations that fill rooms with sight and sound. But please don’t just look. Participate and play with the interactive installations; leave a remembrance behind at the temple, lie down on pillows and watch the ceiling shift and pulsate with light. The exhibit fills the museum and spills out into the streets of Washington DC. In this week’s podcast, Nora Atkinson talks about the practical and visionary aspects of bringing this very particular desert art to Washington DC.