After six months of not traveling, I found myself in Phoenix. 

I used this opportunity to reach out to an incredible artist + activist => artivist, Lucinda Y Hinojos who goes by La Morena and uses murals as her medium. On a 103 degree afternoon Lucinda and I sat across from each other - in masks, outside - at The Churchill in Phoenix. The Churchill is a cultural collaborative hub of restaurants, music venues, murals and artisans shops that is working on very limited hours but was serendipitously hosting a virtual live-streamed concert while we were chatting. 

Behind The Churchill is an alleyway with a number of murals and where Lucinda’s piece #MMIW is located. MMIW is in honor of and brings attention to the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women in our country. This is a piece that, as Lucinda said, just came to her. As an indigenous woman with deep beliefs in spirit guides she often feels she is pushed in service to her murals. It is this piece that helped to propel her swift rise into becoming a nationally recognized muralist. In our hour together we touched on everything from the importance of mentors who “oftentimes believe in you before you do”, to the need to rip off your blinders and “leverage the resources that are in front of you” in order to push forward your dream and how sometimes just survival is how we learn leadership. 

But before any of her success, first she had to believe in herself.

While her formal art training has been minimal she grew up with a grandfather who was an artist and felt comfortable with her creative side. And as a mother of three she is also a fighter and a survivor leaving behind a domestic abuse situation where she learned the importance of her inner strength.  As a self-led leader she instinctively knows how to pull others together and leverage the power of community to amplify the voices of those that aren’t heard.

Risk taking is embedded in Lucinda’s being and when she felt she had enough traction in her art she quit her FT professional job in the banking field in 2018 and didn’t look back. Even now during Covid19 she is digging deeper into her art and the business behind it. 

Lucinda had the organizational and leadership skills she needed from being in the business world for years but only in 2012 did she put them to work for the artistic community. A deep desire to pull the arts community together to help in her own healing process was the initial catalyst and then her inner artist took over as she dived head first into her own mural making. Lucinda knew what she had to do and did it and over the course of three years her art has been featured in galleries, solo shows and art magazines. She is also one of GoDaddy’s featured artists which has helped her leverage her art on a much larger platform with her video that they produced and promoted having close to 20,000 views. 

Like the rest of the world, Covid19 has deeply impacted her personal and professional life. Since March of 2020 she has lost 12 projects, everything from murals to artist talks and events but Covid19 has also given her a chance to breathe, focus and re-tool to maximize her desire to serve humanity. In addition she is focusing on cleaning up her website to increase and streamline her sales and commissions so when the world starts opening up again she will be in a strong place to rebuild in a thoughtful impactful way.

For a great in-depth interview and to learn more about Lucinda and her work check out this Podcast from the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts at the University of North Carolina. 

Thank you Lucinda for your generosity and giving voice through your art to many who are struggling. 

Links: 

Go Daddy Video

La Morena Art

With Covid 19 there isn’t much room for serendipity. Until there is. I was already on the west coast when I received an email blast from Anaís Azul whom I knew when they had lived in Boston. Relocating to Berkeley, CA in January of 2020 Anaís was getting ready to drop their latest single, Mi Piel (My Skin). With both of us comfortable getting together IRL, we were able to connect in San Francisco for a wonderful hour-long masked conversation.

 Anaís doesn’t fit neatly into any one art form. Talking and working with hundreds of artists, innovators and entrepreneurs over these past years – I have found it’s those who overflow the buckets of conformity and creativity that are blossoming during these tricky times of Covid and social unrest. A Peruvian/American who straddles artistic borders as a singer, songwriter, composer, teaching artist and herbalist Anaís has just started a MFA program at the California Institute of the Arts.

 With two visual artists as parents Anaís spent many hours of their childhood growing up in the Red Poppy Art House, a collective/collaborative art center where there was always a piano. Their parents instilled their love of bartering by swapping art for piano lessons for Anaís instilling a long awareness and love of exchanging products among artists, activists and others. As a newly trained herbalist when Covid19 combined with anti-racism unrests converged during the early summer of 2020, Anaís was confronted with the question, “what is my role in the uprising?” Anaís turned to their newly acquired skills in herbal medicine to make and distribute both Fire Cider and Elderberry syrups designed to support black and indigenous POC’s immune support systems. Distributing the tinctures at the Freedom Clinics in Oakland they are packaged with the intentions of both Strength and Endurance.

 During this time Anaís was also tapped by the small local business community, Commotion of West Berkeley, to curate music as a tool for collective healing and community building. Given their work in Boston with the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics curating an event series Stories from the Garden  for a community garden in East Boston, Anaís knew this work. The series is entitled Songs While You Wait and is a popup concert series embracing East Bay based POC artists to perform for lines that have formed during the pandemic in front of such places as the Berkeley Patient Group and Acme Bread.

 And then there is their own incredible, thoughtful, transporting music. Mi Piel is the single of their debut EP slated to come out next spring. This concept album reflects on the many views of ourselves and validates the transformational process. As Anaís explained, “We all have these pieces that are parts of who we are. They are not less on their own but they help to make us whole. We need to cherish the growth we collectively are reaching towards. We are all struggling with mental health issues and I am putting my music out into the world as an example of radical vulnerability to connect with others to combat loneliness and encourage collective healing”. Another way Anaís is engaging with their audience is by creating a community though their IG page posing different questions each day that resonate with people so they can connect and share stories.

 For more information on Anaís and to join their healing community through the arts check out:

Web:https://anaisazul.com/

IG: @anaisazul

Spotify

YouTube

Capable, confident and competent are three “Cs” that immediately come to mind when you meet Catherine T. Morris. Catherine is the Founder and Executive Director of BAMS Fest and also the Director of Public Programs at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. (When asked how she does it all, she laughs and says that both work toward the same goal.)

Like many arts leaders, she had a clear plan heading into 2020. She and her board had just finished a comprehensive strategic plan for BAMS Fest. The coordination of the June outdoor arts and music festival was well underway with volunteers lined up and ready to go. As she prepared to hop on a plane for a mini vacation in Miami, COVID-19 struck and turned everything upside down. Flights were cancelled followed by cancellations of public gatherings. It was clear that BAMS Festival would not happen. And weeks later, the country witnessed the horrific death of George Floyd. “It was the perfect storm,” shared Catherine as she reconciled cancelling BAMS Festival while simultaneously reassessing how to meet the need of the moment. Like any good entrepreneur, she pivoted. Fast. 

BAMS Fest had always been dedicated to showcasing the work for Black and Brown artists and supporting local black-owned businesses. But how might BAMS Fest amplify its ability to fight for racial, social and creative justice? To answer this question, Catherine formed mini “brain trusts,” experts from the community, to think of ways that BAMS Fest could use its platform to support artists of color to tell their stories through art forms like spoken word, dance, visual arts, film and music. It could become a laboratory for experimentation and public narratives for artists of color and the exposure could also lead to new economic pathways and creative autonomy.

“Everything around us is made by someone. It’s time that we recognize that art and artists matter.” This takes us to a fourth “C”. Catherine is a creator. More specifically, a Creative Strategist, who approaches her work with authenticity, focus and “holistic heart.” We benefit from Thought Leaders like Catherine T. Morris - an entrepreneur who is leading the way in building a more inclusive, equitable and creative city of Boston.

Photo by Vanya Arroyo

When Jen and I talk about Cultural Entrepreneurship we define it as where Arts & Culture, Business & Technology and Social Impact overlap. Through this platform of 100 Conversations we often seek out the artists and nonprofit organizations that are helping to change and shape conversations, but just as important are the for-profit small businesses in the creative industries. Enter Artistic Environments where co-founder and interior designer Janet Carpenter will refreshingly say, “anything for a buck design” with a smile and a laugh.

Growing up in a creative household seems to be a shared experience for many of the artists I talk with and Janet is no different. Her mother was a design scout for interior design magazines. Janet grew up helping on photo shoots for Better Homes and Gardens, and other interior design publications. Seeing first hand the technical and artistic skills of the photographer and photo stylist (a.k.a. Mom), and the need to focus on budget for the paying client, the magazine.

After graduating from the University of Minnesota, Janet attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, CA. She got her first job working for a family-owned interior design business. While she learned a ton about interior designing in the real world, she saw that there was a limit to how far she could advance in a family owned company. Janet saw a potential to work for clients that were too small for her present employer, so she and a colleague, Kathy Weber, took the jump and launched their own interior design business focusing on these smaller clients. With the blessing, referrals, contacts and good working relationship with their former employer they launched Artistic Environments 32 years ago.

In order to diversify their revenue streams as well as highlight the wildly different but wildly complementary skill sets of the two partners, they concentrate on both commercial and residential clients. As Janet explained, “I concentrate on the commercial side working with construction teams doing multi-family housing, offices, lobbies and public spaces.  Kathy concentrates on our private residential clients who love her and her attention to detail. The splitting of the workload has it’s advantages as we are able to pivot quickly and adapt to changes in the market.”

Initially founded with a desire to  promote environmentally sustainable products, Artistic Environments was a bit ahead of the curve as there was limited product on the market and often too expensive for their clients' price points. Now however, with the industry mirroring the demands of society there is a robust selection of sustainable and environmentally conscious materials on the market. 

Six months into Covid19 Janet is speculating on how office spaces will reinvent themselves. “The hipster open-office with long shared tables, game rooms and coffee bars that I have been installing for the past several years are a Covid nightmare.” While the committee is still out on how and when office places will be remaking themselves, she is always looking forward to new products and design ideas. 

Janet keeps inspired by creating her own art. As a working artist she is inspired by color combinations, advertisements, and other peoples’ work, “My subconscious is always looking for designs in patterns. Also, taking on-line art classes during COVID helps keep me thinking and seeing the beauty even in our troubled world.”  In addition, she  spends time with her side hustles of selling her original artwork on Society6 and Saatchi Art,  and her vintage and collectable shop, Studio Mustang Sally on ETSY. Janet’s refreshing take on her art work is really about how her art will go out into the world and how much revenue it will make.

Building an artistic life that pays the bills is a constant hustle but when right sized can have welcomed benefits. Thank you Janet for your inspiration and honestly. 

Links:

Artisticenvironments.com

Studio Mustang Sally

Society6

https://www.saatchiart.com

You know when you meet someone and you can feel a quick connection? That’s what I felt when I first met Marquis Victor, the founding Executive Director of Elevated Thought (ET) based in Lawrence, MA.  ET helps youth and communities to understand art's liberating power and how to use art to make their voices heard. 

We met in December of 2019 at an event (remember those?) sponsored by the Social Innovation Forum announcing their 2020 Cohort of SIF Innovators of which ET was one of eight non-profits selected in a highly competitive process.  As a consultant to SIF through Creative Re/Frame, over the next six months I had the pleasure of working alongside Marquis coaching him through a process with the main deliverable being a riveting talk he gave (over Zoom) at the SIF Showcase of Innovators in May 2020. I wrote about the coaching process Creative Re/Frame uses with our long time client SIF for their blog if you are interested. 

I had a chance to check in with Marquis this summer to hear how Covid, combined with George Floyd’s murder and BLM has impacted the work of ET, an organization designed to address systemic racism and injustice through art. ET was made for this moment. 

“Over the summer the process of adjusting our programming due to Covid has evolved.  And certainly the content of our programming with George Floyds murder has found a home as well with the work we do.  Amaryllis Lopez, who came up through ET and just graduated from college, joined the staff as our first Program Director in June. She quickly designed and implemented a coloring book project designed by ET youth artists and distributed them in shops throughout the community where wifi isn’t a given and many people live in closely packed shared accommodations.  As the summer months unfolded, we began our yearly Beautification program; outdoor public art projects where youth artists are in masks, making some money and expanding awareness of art’s power. And now we are launching a Creative Resistance Institute where youth will be introduced to the concepts of organizing and arts role in community building. This is a natural extension of our work and incredibly timely.“

The content of the work ET produces is created by their young participants and is tied directly to the issues that they find inspiring, infuriating and sometimes both. 

When I asked Marquis where he is going for inspiration these days he said, “my days revolve around creating, making up songs and adventures with my daughter, vision building with my partner and reading as much as I possibly can.” 

Marquis never ceases to inspire the young people in his life, his staff or his community with his thoughtful, inspirational and authentic approach to education and social justice. His commitment to creating welcoming environments for young people to explore their artistic talents and integrate their creative voices to help build a more just society is crucial and inspiring. 

Thank you Marquis for doing what you do. 

The Socially Distanced Soul Economy

What do you do if your artistic passion is singing chamber and sacred choral music in glorious churches but churches are shut down due to Covid 19? If you are Shannon Rose McAuliffe and Daniel Gostin, you pivot your business model and turn Festina from a Portable Liturgical Choir for Hire into a Socially Distanced Portable Liturgical Choir for Hire! In the words of a Festina Fan, “Festina is a ‘choir of angels”. 

For those of us new to the term Sacred Music - it is a thing. A big thing and a crazy old thing. According to Wikipedia, with an over 1000 year history, sacred/religious music is an integral part of every imaginable religion from Islamic, to Jewish, to Sikh, to Zoroastrian. Liturgical Music however is more of a Christian term. And while churches throughout the world have choirs made up of volunteer singers from their congregations, it is normal to hire outside professional singers to fortify the ranks of the choir, especially for important religious events such as Good Friday and Easter services, both the holiest of days in the Christian calendar. For the Catholics and Episcopalians in particular this is where they go all out with the “smells and bells”, as some would refer to it, to help worshipers deepen their religious practice in a more transportative and meditative way. 

Full disclosure: The Creative Re/Frame Team works with Shannon Rose in her role as Manager of the Students Arts Program at MIT where Creative Re/Frame has led workshops and participated as judges and mentors for the MIT $15K Creative Arts Competition.

Shannon Rose and Dan launched Festina in 2018 and they are rightly proud of Festina’s ability to quickly pivot. Shannon Rose reflected that, “amidst almost 100% shut-downs and closures of performing arts organizations, Festina has been able to provide opportunities in the musical gig economy to artists who are struggling, and we're doing it in clever, socially-distant ways, which is no small feat! Many artists live paycheck-to-paycheck, and the sudden loss of most (if not all) of their income has been troublesome, to say the least. Having the opportunity to hire colleagues has enabled us to re-direct resources into the local gig economy in an immediate way. Several of us who are fortunate not to have lost all of our income have been donating our fees either to artist relief funds, or back into the organization so that we can continue to fund recording projects.”

Shannon Rose and Daniel are both performers, scholars, researchers and musicians who share a love of sacred music and met in 2016 on a gig and later became colleagues at the Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill, MA.  When their services for Easter 2020 were cancelled due to the pandemic, they quickly called upon their roster of other freelance singers for Festina to hold a socially distanced session in the empty but acoustically significant church in Chestnut Hill, MA that was recorded and broadcasted live to a far-reaching global audience for three services during Easter weekend. Here is a link to a podcast, CHORantine, hosted by another Festina member who gives greater detail on the mechanics for socially distance singing. 

As Festina continues to move forward they are hoping to be able to continue to make glorious music and to serve the artistic and church communities in a time when live performances of professional music are not so hard to come by.

And just for fun check out Festina’s satirical video putting the CDC guidelines to liturgical music!

If you’ve ever attended a Now + There event, you will have experienced firsthand what artist and Executive Director Kate Gilbert brings to life - beautiful art, a generous sense of community, a sprinkle of humor and what I would describe as “smart goodness”. Just check out the Joy Parade if you want a better sense of what I am talking about. It is truly remarkable what Now + There has accomplished in just 5 years in way of bringing temporary, site specific public art to Boston.

When Kate and I connected via Zoom one early Friday morning, she had been up since 5:30 AM working on budget projections. Such is the life of an executive director of a small arts organization! As we discussed isolation in the time of COVID, she shared a story about one of her recent personal projects. To stay connected and engaged with her Leather District community during the pandemic, she and some neighbors initiated a community-led series of temporary murals and added beautiful stencils to the outside windows of restaurants and businesses. Local developers and businesses helped to support the project known as #oneLD.

When asked about the future of the arts in Boston post-pandemic, Kate pointed out that hearts and minds need to change for systemic change. “It comes down to housing and the economy. Artists can’t afford to live in Boston. We need policies that address these issues and help artists with studio and rehearsal space. We addressed a lot of this in our N+T Asks conversation series.” Despite the challenges, Kate remains optimistic. “Remember that the Renaissance came after the plague.”

I first met Graham through his work with Opus Affair, a wonderful organization founded in 2008 that connects people with a shared interest in arts and culture. In 2014, Opus Affair expanded its team and starting offering marketing and patron services consulting to arts and culture organizations. Graham recently took a position at the Boston Symphony Orchestra serving as the Director of Content and Digital Services.

We connected over Zoom to talk about arts, COVID and life post pandemic. During isolation, we have seen a tremendous uptick in arts and media consumption online. For example, Netflix gained 15.8 million new subscribers between March and April. But will this level of consumption continue as we begin to reopen the economy? Also, working artists in the gig economy are struggling to make ends meet. As we face so many existential crises - from racial justice to healthcare to climate change - we agreed that artists have a critical role to play in the fight for equity and social justice.

It was a joy catching up with Graham, and I look forward to a future time when we will be work neighbors on Boston’s Avenue of the Arts!

Debra Vinci bridges the arts with business in a remarkable way as an executive coach, business consultant and master facilitator.  She is also an incredibly soulful singer, an attentive listener and a talented visual communicator. I met Debra in the mid-nineties when I first moved to Boston and took her Blues Around Town class at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. She taught it in an experiential way, bringing us to blues jams and venues throughout the city. She also told us about her professional life as a strategic planning consultant who specialized in graphic facilitation. 

One of her early mentors, David Sibbet, taught her about the power of metaphor, color and shapes to unleash imagination and create shared meaning. Having experienced the power and importance of mentoring in her own learning and professional development, Debra pays it forward by coaching and mentoring others. When Debra saw my interest in graphic facilitation, she offered to mentor me and invited me to shadow one of her sessions. I was blown away by her ability to process complex meeting information and foster collaboration using visual formats, or what she terms “graphicizing.”

Debra continues to work at the intersection of arts and business and told me about her exciting music-based program called Leadership Tuning. She teaches leadership skills to business professionals through content-relevant songwriting and group performances accompanied by Boston blues musicians. Debra uses her thirty years of experience as a performing artist, organizational consultant and executive coach to ignite leaders’ passion for music and teach them how to authentically connect and communicate, with clarity and courage— through song.

What fun it was to run into witty and engaging Dan Hunter at Pon Restaurant just before the COVID-19 lockdown. Dan and I first met years ago as colleagues teaching in the arts administration program at Boston University. Dan is a playwright, songwriter and the founding partner of Hunter Higgs, LLC, an advocacy and communications firm. He also invented H-IQ, an first assessment of individual imagination and ideation. He shared the following answers to my questions:

1. What in your life got you on the path of caring about and working in an arts-related field?

When I was 19, I lived in Appalachia where singing and songwriting were in the air.  People wrote songs about their lives, their work and their mountains.  I wondered who was writing songs about Iowa.  So, I did.  I became a playwright later by accident.

2. What is most pressing in/about your work at this moment in time?

As artists, we need time and space to work.  But we also need the connections that bring our work to the public—publishers, galleries, theaters, agents and so on.  These connections have evaporated for the time being.  The long process of waiting for a publisher’s decision has become even longer.

3. How has COVID-19 impacted your work?  What are yout thoughts about the role the arts? 

I told a fellow playwright that I was self-isolating.  He said, “Really?  How is that any different?”  The quarantine has dropped me into a revolving door of days.  I lose track of the day of the week.  Each day comes and goes indistinguishable from yesterday or tomorrow. However, I have time to devote to writing and composing, which feels like a sinful luxury.  I have resurrected ideas and projects from the back of mind. 

We create narrative through the arts.  In these communicated narratives, we develop meanings—the meaning of self, society, history and so on.  Narrative or story telling is fundamental to Homo Sapiens.  Every individual weaves a narrative with or without art.  Art serves as a bridge from an individual narrative to communal narratives.

4. What is your hope for the arts in the city of Boston?

I hope that the cultural community can look beyond its own needs to identify ways that we can help the people of Boston.

I first met Ellice in 2019 at the Boston University IDEA Conference where we presented on a panel together. She and other dancers from Abilities Dance Boston also performed a wonderful piece integrating wheel chairs and walkers into their performance. Ellice founded Abilities Dance Boston in 2017 with the vision to “disrupt antiquated ableist beliefs and disseminate the value of inclusion through dance.” Ellice speaks to the connection of relating disabled bodies and their mobility aids with fine arts and hopes “audiences can connect to [this approach] as we uplift marginalized bodies within and outside of the disabled community.”

COVID-19 has had a serious impact on her work, with cancelled shows and presentations resulting in thousands of dollars of lost revenue. Ellice is hopeful , however, that the City of Boston will continue to help and support artists with programs like the Boston Artist Relief Fund so that the arts can continue to thrive post social distancing.

Other sources of inspiration for Ellice? Check out arts organizations doing similiar work like Kinetic Light, Heidi Latsky Dance and Axis Dance.

Having lunch with talented musician and songwriter, Melissa Ferrick , was a mid-February treat for me. A mutual friend connected us, and we met at Northeastern University where we both have faculty appointments at the College of Arts, Media and Design. The week before, I had attended a lecture by Melissa in the music department. She spoke about her teaching philosophy and shared ways she mentors and teaches the creative process to her students. During the presentation, I kept thinking, “Wow. These students are so lucky to get to study with her.” Whether listening to her perform, observing her as a teacher or chatting with her over Tatte salads, the same four words come to mind again and again - authentic, kind, insightful and passionate. It is clear that Melissa brings her whole self to whatever she does. She has mastered the art of “just being your best self” and I imagine that this is what makes her such a powerful musician: she is real, and her music reflects this honesty.

We talked about the challenges of balancing art making with teaching. Melissa is passionate about both and as hard as it is to strike a balance (along with raising a family) she also sees how one practice feeds the other. As if this wasn’t a full enough plate, Melissa recently completed an Ed.M. from Harvard University.

Some of the artists Melissa has toured with include: Morrissey, Joan Armatrading, Weezer, Tegan and Sara, Mark Cohen, Paul Westerberg, Bob Dylan, John Hiatt, Ani DiFranco, k.d.Lang, G-Love & Special Sauce and Suzanne Vega.

Melissa, thanks for modeling what it means to be a true rock star!

“I am my ancestors’ wildest dreams.”

On a rainy, winter day, I headed to the South End to meet Lecolion Washington at the Community Music Center of Boston. Lecolion became the executive director of CMCB in September 2017, bringing with him a wealth of experience as a world class performer, scholar and arts leader. When I arrived, Lecolion greeted me with a warm smile and we gathered in his office.

Raised in Dallas, Texas, Lecolion describes growing up in a low income, Black neighborhood. In the 6th grade, he wanted to play drums in the school band but his music teacher convinced him to take up the bassoon instead. A hard-working academic student and a budding bassoon player, his world was turned upside down when his school was seized by the district due to low test scores and poor performance. He had to find another school and while his test scores qualified him to enter one of the best public schools, the principal of the school initially blocked his admission, stating it would be too hard a transition. His parents, neither of whom had college degrees, successfully fought this decision, and he was able to enter a topnotch school in 7th grade. “This is when things began,” he says. Like the quote “I am my ancestors’ wildest dreams,” education opened new opportunities and possibilities for him.

Lecolion had the academic and artistic chops for success, earning strong grades and getting into college for chemical engineering while continuing to practice bassoon every day. He eventually changed his study to music, continued his education and took a faculty position at the University of Missouri, and later, at the University of Memphis, after turning down a job with the Houston Grand Opera. By the age of 33 he was a tenured faculty member and a sought-after musician. In addition to teaching and performing, he and his wife had even started a summer music festival.

His achievements led to desirable outcomes – tenured positions, prestigious international music tours, consulting with foundations for multimillion-dollar arts projects – but he felt called to explore a new trajectory. He eventually left academia and redirected his professional energy toward nonprofit leadership.

Our conversation covered topics of race, culture and identity, and he points out that when thinking of culture, one must also talk about identity. The arts allow for new paradigm shifts that lift voices that have historically been overlooked. He is a leading voice on the topics of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, speaking to the value of having non-white participation in decision-making circles.

Lecolion is interested in systems change on the grand scale and recognizes the complexity and messiness of navigating this kind of social change. The Boston arts sector is fortunate to have Lecolion’s intelligence, insight, passion and experience in this key leadership role. He will help to challenge the status quo so we can actually work toward a more just, equitable and diverse future in Boston.

Hip hop artist, educator, youth development leader and man-with-the-infectious-smile, Corey DePina and I met at New York Pizza in Boston to talk about art, mentorship and changing lives.  As we sat at a small table, drenched in the late-morning sunlight, Corey shared that as a kid, he attended the Peoples Baptist Church just down the road.  His Cape Verdean parents arranged for a neighbor to take him each week since his Dad was busy running the family-owned store and his Mom didn’t speak much English. What he remembers most from the church years was the music, and it is music that continues to shape and sustain his life.

Coming of age in the early 90s, his love of breakdancing, hip hop and “creating something out of what you have” eventually led him to being one of the early teen participants at Zumix, a non-profit dedicated to building community through music and creative technology. The year was 1992 and at the time, Zumix, a newly created operation, was being run out of the co-founders’ homes. Corey describes the profound impact of his mentors who helped him to navigate the sub-par Boston Public School experience, to deepen his love of music and to develop leadership and self-advocacy skills.

Years later, Corey now pays it forward, working on the staff at both Zumix and Young Audiences of MA to teach and mentor other young artists. His entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to social change also led him to create the The Fogo Project. After a trip to Cape Verde to explore his own cultural heritage, Corey launched a fundraising campaign to bring instruments and music lessons to this poor island community.

In February, Corey received an award for his contributions to the Boston community, recognized as an Honoree of Black Excellence.

Violin Viiv (pronounced “Viv” - short for Vivian) and I met up at the Boston University Questrom School fo Business in the mid morning. Creative Re/Frame is working with Boston University’s BUild Lab to infuse arts and effective storytelling into the IDEA 2020 conference, and Vivian will be a featured performer.

Vivian showed up to our meeting wearing funky, colorful pajamas and a long black coat with a fur trim. She had come straight from performing at a Red Line T-stop during the morning commute. Originally from Sunnyvale, CA, Vivian moved to the east coast to attend college at Columbia University. Her mother was a piano teacher and she grew up playing music, but her first professional path was in investment banking. What did she learn from working in finance? “That I can work on little sleep!” she said with a laugh. She eventually moved to Boston, and started doing some performance gigs for fun. However, after getting her car towed and needing to get some wisdom teeth removed, she found the extra cash to be helpful, even with the high paying finance job. She eventually left finance all together to focus on being a full-time professional musician.

What has she learned as a street performer? “People are very stressed out!” It’s hard at times for people to slow down and take note. “Music can awaken you or you can tune it out.” Vivian takes it all in stride and says that most people respond favorably to her music.

Kids tend to notice her playing before their parents. When the parents see how much their kids are enjoying it, they start to pay attention and enjoy it too. Some of her biggest fans? Boston’s homeless people, many of whom she has become friends with over the years.

100 Conversations began with an informal glass of wine with Amy Macdonald, Director of Community Engagement from WBUR’s CitySpace. We were discussing life transitions and the next day, she connected me, via email, with Amy Bennitt from Motor Media. Ami has worked with many arts organizations across Boston and was involved with The Shout Syndicate, focused on generating new funders for creative youth development. When Ami and I met, she said when thinking about your next move, its good to have 100 conversations with people to figure things out. So that is what I set out to do! While I didn’t photodocument these early conversations, I had wonderful meetings with David Dower, the Artistic Director of ArtsEmerson, David Odo, the Director of Academic and Public Programs at the Harvard Art Museums and Katharine Lusk from the BU Initiative on Cities.

Wendy and I first met Jaclyn Youngblood when we partnered with the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM) for our co-taught Creative Economy and Social Impact class. As part of the class, our students submitted proposals for the Play Around the Snowy City initiative. Jaclyn is a super cool civil servant who understands the strategic value of the arts in cities. She and the MONUM team introduced us to several international cities like Cluj-Napoca in Romania that prioritize arts and culture as key strategic partners for innovation and growth.

I had the pleasure of first meeting Danya at the Now + There Nick Cave Joy++ parade. When it began to rain, we both took cover under a small awning and struck up a conversation. I knew I wanted to find time for a longer conversation so we met up a month or so later at the yummy Forge Bakery. Danya has a master’s from MIT in City Planning and works on a range of interesting projects. As she states on her website, She believes “in praxis - bridging inquiry, lived experience, and best practice together to make more effective and equitable institutions, programs, and campaigns.” Over a delicious cookie and tea/coffee, we discussed the Boston arts community and her work as a researcher and writer.

It is always a good day when I get to hang out with Marian Brown! Marian is the Founding Executive Director of Arts Connect International and has led groundbreaking research in the area of equity in the arts, including Moves Toward Equity: Perspectives from Arts Leaders of Color.

We had lunch together at ArtBar in Cambridge and then enjoyed a cold, clear afternoon along the Charles River. Marian is an artist, a scholar an arts entrepreneur, and most importantly, one of the most kind, loving humans I have ever met. Marian listens. She observes. And then she acts. She inspires with her powerful presence and generous heart.

Be sure not to miss the incredible Arts Equity Summit.

It is always a joy to connect with my dear friend and mentor, Benjamin Juarez, the current Director of the Center for Mexican Studies of Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM). When Benjamin served as dean of the BU College of Fine Arts, he shared his vision for the Citizen Artist. He dedicated resources to build an arts leadership program, providing skills for artists to shape culture, engage with the community and become change makers. What a delight to spend a fall afternoon together at Tatte on Beacon Street talking about music, travel and the healing, transformative power of the arts!