When Art Meets Activism

In this episode, I reflect on a full-circle reconnection more than 20 years in the making — and on two people who convinced me, once again, that art has the power to change the world.

The first is Joni Doherty a former colleague from my teaching days at Franklin Pierce University, who commissioned my very first one-woman show decades ago. After losing touch for two decades, we reconnected when Joni — now Senior Program Officer for Democracy and the Arts at the Kettering Foundation — recommended me as a guest on a podcast hosted by the second powerhouse in this story: Bill Cleveland.

Bill is a pioneering arts activist, author, and founder of the Center for the Study of Art and Community, where he trains artists to become community leaders and creative change agents. I share what moved me most from our conversation together on his podcast, Art Is Change — particularly Bill's work bringing art into prisons, and the sense of self-esteem and agency it restored in prisoners serving life sentences.

Mentioned in this episode

• Joni Doherty  Senior Program Officer for Democracy and the Arts, Kettering Foundation
• My guest episode on Art Is Change 
• Bill Cleveland — Founder, Center for the Study of Art and Community; host of Art Is Change
• My TEDx talk: How I Redeemed 35 Years of Regret — available at triciaroseburt.com or by searching "Tricia Rose Burt TEDx Portsmouth" on YouTube

Sponsor 

Interabang Books — a Dallas-based independent bookstore named one of the country's top five by Publishers Weekly. Shop their curated online collection at interabangbooks.com.

Credits

Written and produced by Tricia Rose Burt. Produced and scored by Adam Arnone of Echo Finch. Executive producers: Amy Grant, Nancy Perot, and Sage Wheeler. No Time to Be Timid is a presentation of No Time to Be Timid Productions.