Shows
ART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers174: Anne Cleveland - How Arts-infused Education Supports DemocracyActive citizenship isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a life path that can be cultivated from a young age.That’s exactly what Ann Cleveland, a Waldorf educator, dives into with us. In our conversation she takes a deep look at how arts-infused education transforms kids into engaged citizens.Forget the boring lectures about democracy; here, kids are living it through music, movement, and storytelling. Ann shares how children practice collaboration and empathy every single day in the classroom, honing the skills they’ll need to navigate the complex social fabric of the world around t...
2026-04-2153 min
Cleveland Browns Podcast NetworkTalking NFL Draft with CBS' Ryan Wilson and Sporting News' Bill Bender - Cleveland Browns Daily - 4.14.26On a big football Tuesday edition of Cleveland Browns Daily, Ryan Wilson from CBS Sports (15:49) and the Sporting News' Bill Bender (51:10) join Beau Bishop to talk Browns options at 6 and 24, trading in the first round, Buckeyes and more. That plus Tytus Howard sits down with Z (1:21:11) and soundbites from the HOF on the draft and the linemen available (38:34).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
2026-04-141h 30
ART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers172: Jordan Seaberry - What Use is Art Making When Freedom is Under Fire?What use is art makingwhen freedom is under fire?From the Center for the Study of Art and Community? This is Art is Change, a chronicle of art and social change where activist artists and cultural organizers share the strategies and skills they need to thrive as creative community leaders. My name is Bill ClevelandThis episode is part of a special Art In Action series we're producing in partnership with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation Democracy and the Arts program. In these episodes, we'll be speaking with artists, cultural organizers and...
2026-04-0855 min
ART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers169: Joni Doherty: ART IN ACTION Is Fueling Free Expression & DemocracyWhat happens when artists step forward not just to create, but to defend the freedom to create?In this opening episode of a new Art in Action series produced with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, Bill Cleveland speaks with Joni Doherty, Senior Program Officer for Democracy and the Arts. Their conversation begins with a rediscovered 1964 speech by Martin Luther King Jr. in Dayton, Ohio, and unfolds into a powerful exploration of how artists today are confronting censorship, recovering buried histories, and expanding the civic imagination.As Doherty explains, the arts are not merely...
2026-03-1840 min
The Cleveland PulseStop Starting at Zero: Building Generational Power in Cleveland through Life Insurance with Warren D Lamberson JrCleveland is a city of legacy, but too many of our families are forced to rebuild from scratch every generation. In this power-packed session of the Cleveland Pulse Podcast, host Edwin Hubbard Jr. sits down with East Cleveland’s own Warren Lambertson Jr. to dismantle the myths surrounding life insurance and financial planning.For the "Millennial Mover" in their 30s, life insurance isn't just about a death benefit—it’s about living benefits. We explore how Clevelanders can use permanent policies as tax-advantaged assets to buy homes...
2026-03-1338 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers168: Arts Freedom Weather Report - The MAGA Squeeze Is Provoking Creative ResistanceYou can feel it in the air.Across museums, national parks, libraries, and cultural institutions, the pressure around what can be said — and what must disappear — is tightening.But while federal policies attempt to narrow the public cultural space, artists, historians, librarians, educators, and cultural organizers are responding in real time — documenting what’s being erased, refusing complicity, and building new civic infrastructure.In this report, Bill Cleveland surveys the emerging landscape of creative resistance and cultural restriction across the United States.From citizen historians documenting museum censorship at the Smithsonian to artis...
2026-03-1124 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers166: The Wedding - What Can We Learn From Activist Artists in Northern Ireland?How can a play devised by enemies, performed in four locations across a peace wall in the middle of a war zone help provoke lasting peace?In November 1999, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, a community play called The Wedding brought Protestants and Catholics together to rehearse a shared future in the fragile aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement. It wasn’t a feel-good arts project. It was risky, volatile, negotiated truth performed in living rooms and kitchen houses on both sides of the peace line.In this episode, we revisit that moment — not as n...
2026-02-2523 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers164: Meeting The Moment - Tactics & Tools for Activist Artists & Cultural OrganizersWhat Arts-Based Tool & Tactics are Emerging to Meeting the MAGA Storm?This is the Arts Freedom weather report for February 11, 2026. In this episode you'll hear howArtists across the country are turning public space into sites of creative resistanceWhy local place based cultural responses in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and beyond are becoming frontline laboratories for cultural democratic practiceAnd how innovative artist led networks and cultural organizers are teaching resistance as a craft.NOTABLE MENTIONSPeopleBill ClevelandHost of...
2026-02-1118 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers163: Arts Freedom Weather Report: MINNEAPOLIS JAN. 2026What does it look like when artists and cultural organizers respond to authoritarian pressure—not with silence or fear, but with imagination, strategy, and collective action?This January 2026 Arts Freedom Weather Report comes from Minneapolis, a city once again at the epicenter of grief, rage, courage, and creative resistance. In the wake of multiple killings, intensified ICE activity, and federal misinformation, communities across Minnesota are responding not only with protest—but with song, ritual, writing, mutual aid, and rapid-response cultural organizing.In this episode, we explore three urgent realities shaping this moment:Ho...
2026-02-0426 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers162: Alan Jenkins: These Art & Social Change Superpowers Can Help Save DemocracySo if democracy is under pressure, what role do stories, culture, and imagination play in defending it?In this episode, we're joined by Alan Jenkins, civil rights lawyer, former Ford foundation program director, Harvard Law School professor, and now comic book author, for a wide ranging conversation about story making and telling as a tool for social change. From Supreme Court litigation to graphic novels, Alan Jenkins traces how law, narrative, and culture intersect when democracy is at stake.So in our conversation, we explore three big ideas I think matter a...
2026-01-2843 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers161: The Arts Freedom Weather Report - January 2026When unchecked power rewrites the story of America, who gets to live, who gets to speak, and who quietly disappears?In this episode of ART IS CHANGE, Bill Cleveland shares next chapter in the continuing Weather Report, (now called the Arts Freedom Weather Report) Rather than chasing single headlines or isolated outrages, this episode steps back to examine the cultural climate shaping 2026: how small policy shifts stack up, how institutions quietly recalibrate under authoritarian pressure, and how artists and cultural organizations are responding in real time.In this show, we explore...
2026-01-2123 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers160: METRA - A Climate Revolution With SongsWhat if a Musical Could Help us Tell the Truth About Climate Change?In this episode, Bill Cleveland sits down with theater director Emily Hartford and composer–storyteller Ned Hardford to explore Metra: A Climate Revolution with Songs—a nine-episode musical audio drama that reimagines an ancient Greek myth as a near-future climate story.What starts as a conversation about craft opens into deeper territory: imagination as resistance, music as pedagogy, and why genuinely new stories don’t come from algorithms—they come from people doing long, human work together.In...
2026-01-1448 min
ART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers158 Goodbye Leni Sloan: Artist, Activist, CatalystAdios LeniThis isn’t a regular ART IS CHANGE episode. It’s a pause. A moment to mark the passing of Leni Sloan—artist, activist, catalytic troublemaker, and beloved friend.In this special reflection, Bill Cleveland shares stories that trace Leni’s life across stages and communities—from a daring Bicentennial musical about minstrelsy, to decades of cultural work uncovering erased Black histories, to his role as a catalytic force inside institutions that needed shaking awake. This is a portrait not just of what Leni made, but how he moved through the world.You’ll h...
2025-12-3015 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers156: Why Should Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers Care About Sustainability?Why does sustainability matter in activist art? When funding cycles are short, residencies are brief, and institutions often treat creative work as temporary or expendable, what does it mean to commit to change that lasts?In this episode of Art Is Change, the sixth in our series on the building blocks of effective community arts practice, Bill Cleveland sits down with two legendary cultural leaders — Leni Sloan and Barbara Schaefer Bacon — to explore sustainability not as longevity for its own sake, but as ethical responsibility. From invisible lineages of community practice to the quiet power of relationships that...
2025-12-1720 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers155: Why Are Humility & Failure Essential to Art and Social Change Success?This episode digs into one of the trickiest—and most revealing—corners of community-based arts work: the way humility and failure shape everything we do, from a 12-line role in Richard II to a city-wide public-art firestorm.Leni Sloan, Barbara Shaffer Bacon and Bill Cleveland tumble into stories that peel back the glossy surface of “successful” arts practice:the actor with decades of experience learning cadence from an 18-year-old, the choreographer who turned military restrictions into creative fuel, the prison poet who left a Broadway star speechless. And threaded through it all is this question...
2025-12-1023 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers154: What are the Moral & Ethical Challenges Facing Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers?Budgets frozen. Institutions wobbling. Political earthquakes everywhere. In the middle of all that, many artists and cultural workers are stepping straight into the messy moral world of community change.This episode is the fourth in our special series where we're unpacking the building blocks of effective art and social change practice, This episode we explore: What happens when “good intentions” aren’t enough?What do we owe the communities we hope to serve?And how does an artist even begin to understand the ethical weight of their presence in places carrying trauma, tension, or long hi...
2025-12-0321 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers151: Should Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers be Running for Office - Tom Tresser Says, "ABSOLUTELY!"What if the solution to our democracy’s crisis isn’t another white paper or study—but an artist running for office?In this episode, civic organizer and “public defender” Tom Tresser reveals why he feels America’s nonprofit and creative sectors are missing in action when it comes to power, policy, and public trust. As arts funding shrinks and disinformation grows, Tom challenges creatives to stop “staying in their lane” and instead step up as leaders in civic life.In it we’ll: • Learn how a small, unfunded coalition stopped the 2016 Oly...
2025-11-1251 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers148 ; Five Arts Superpowers for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers to Make Change NOW!When everything feels like it’s unraveling, how do we know art still matters? In this episode, we explore the question: What use is art in a world on fire?Across movements, across generations—from Ella Baker’s quiet revolution to Beckett’s unexpected presence in a prison theater—this episode offers three simple, potent reminders of how art works in times of chaos: to notice, to connect, and to rebuild trust. Whether you’re an artist, organizer, or simply someone searching for clarity, you’ll find resonance in these stories.Discover how art helps us pay a...
2025-10-2231 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers147: Emma Addams: Can a Quilt Change how Congress Listens— & How you Practice Democracy at Home?Can a Quilt Change how Congress Listens—& How you Practice Democracy at Home?If you’re exhausted by performative politics and digital outrage, this episode offers a deeply grounded alternative. Discover how everyday acts of creation and conversation can rebuild civic trust—and how women across America are using quilting to stitch together a more ethical and inclusive democracy, one square at a time.Learn how to transform local conflict into creative fuel for durable, democratic collaboration.Hear the inspiring story of how one woman’s quiet act of stitching sparked a nation...
2025-10-1548 min
Signal Cleveland: On AirCleveland sees fewer lead poisoning cases, but fewer births tooThe Public Meetings Report for the week of Oct. 6, 2025From Signal Cleveland and Cleveland Documenters. In this week’s Public Meetings Report, City of Cleveland Public Health Director Dave Margolius told the Lead Safety Advisory Board that there has been a decrease in the number of children testing positive for high levels of lead in their blood. Learn more in this week’s episode. The Documenters whose work contributed to this episode are: Connie RosemondTucker HandleyMaria ShuckahoseeAngela RushThei...
2025-10-0705 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers145: Liz Sunde Brings Music To Life: Activist Artists Making Music, Making Change, & ThrivingWhat if your art could both heal your community & pay your bills? If you’re a musician or creative itching to drive real-world change without sacrificing your livelihood, this episode maps a path: how Music to Life evolved from a songwriting contest into a rigorous accelerator that helps artists design, fund, and measure community projects—so you can make change while making a living. Learn how Music To Life helps musicians turn a community cause into a sustainable enterpriseSee real models you can adapt: Vanessa Lively’s Home Street Music built 500+ song circles, 230 sessions, & raised ~...
2025-10-0153 min
Signal Cleveland: On AirTri-C lays out new strategies for compliance with Ohio's Senate Bill 1The Public Meetings Report for the week of Sept. 29, 2025.From Signal Cleveland and Cleveland Documenters.In this week’s Public Meetings Report, Cuyahoga Community College’s Access Learning and Success Committee swears in a new board member and hears of new directions for the college, including offering a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing. Learn more in this week’s episode. The Documenters whose work contributed to this episode are: Jamie HarmanMikayla ColemanTheir work has been compiled this week by The Mighty...
2025-09-3005 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers144: Solar Story Circle: How Narrative Powers Democracy & Social ChangeWhat if the solution to the climate crisis and the key to democratic renewal were powered by the same thing?In this episode of Art is Change, we'll explore Bill McKiibben new book, Here Comes the Sun, and draw a powerful parallel between the emerging solar energy story and narrative of as a force for democracy and social change.What if stories could be fuel just like solar energy?What if the narratives we share could help shift the tide against authoritarian fear?In this episode of Art is Change, we...
2025-09-2425 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers143: Alma & Frank: Designing Creative Futures One Story at a TimeWhat if art could open the door to a new life after prison? What if creative work wasn't just healing, but a literal job offer?In a time when reentry programs are scarce and trust is hard to rebuild, this episode, the second of our two part series on the work of California Lawyers for the Arts, introduces Designing Creative Futures, a groundbreaking initiative that uses the power of the arts to help formerly incarcerated individuals reclaim their future. With stories from inside and outside the system, we explore how mentorship, hands...
2025-09-1734 min
Mad About Montana PodcastNo. 21: Russell ClevelandRussell Cleveland is a Navy veteran who played football for Coach Bob Green at Montana Tech. He is currently the defensive coordinator for the St. Regis Tigers football team.Russ grew up in Stevensville, and was a part of some great football teams there. After starting a successful business in Colorado, Russ moved back to Montana with his wife, Dr. Kate Cleveland, and their six children. Russ is a descendant of Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. He bills himself as a moderate — he refuses to wear a red or bl...
2025-09-111h 12ART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers138: Self-Care: Why it Matters for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers! If you’re a cultural worker navigating the messy, magical middle ground of art and activism, who’s taking care of you?Now, if you’ve been with us over the last two episodes, you’ll know we’ve been tackling what we call the building blocks of effective community arts practice—those foundational elements that help artists not just make meaningful work, but do so in ways that are ethical, sustainable, and rooted in justice.In Episode 1, we explored Accountability: To whom, and for what, are we truly responsible in our work?In Episode 2...
2025-08-1320 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers137: Can Artist activists and cultural organizers become trusted community leaders?Can an artist lead a community? What does it take for cultural activists to become trusted stewards of change in divisive times?In a world grappling with polarization and rising authoritarianism, the need for compassionate, imaginative leadership has never been more urgent. This episode dives into how artists and cultural workers already operating in community spaces can embrace roles as civic leaders—balancing creativity with responsibility and vision with service.Discover how leadership can be reframed through metaphors like the wedding planner, the parade leader, and the soul shepherd.Hear powerful stories of artistic in...
2025-08-0623 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers136: What Are Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers Accountable to in Their Work?To whom or what are artists and cultural organizers truly accountable—and why does it matter?In an age where creative work increasingly intersects with social change, understanding accountability is crucial for artists striving to make a civic impact. Whether you’re creating in your own community or stepping into unfamiliar territory, this episode explores the moral and practical anchors that define responsible, effective, and meaningful community cultural engagement.Learn how deep cultural competency and trust-building are essential for impactful community-based art.Discover real-world examples, like Marty Pottenger’s transformative police poetry project, that reveal the power o...
2025-07-3031 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers135: Jerry Stropnicky: Story, Civic Empathy, & Social ChangeWhat happens when a theater director steps into a struggling town and ignites transformation through the power of shared stories?In a world where communities face trauma, disconnection, and invisibility, this episode explores how the ancient impulse to gather and perform stories can foster healing, agency, and real-world change. If you’ve ever wondered how art can truly make a difference, this conversation reveals what it takes. In this episode we:Learn how ensemble-based, community-driven theater projects have tackled crises like the opioid epidemic and flood response with lasting impact.Hear firsthand how storymaking catalyzes civic em...
2025-07-2347 minART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers133: Can Arts Festivals, Community Theater & Cultural Organizers Save Democracy?What happens when community theater, political leadership, and grassroots organizing collide? In today’s polarized climate, building authentic, inclusive community can feel impossible—especially across political, social, and cultural divides. But Kathie deNobriga has been doing exactly that for decades—as an artist, activist, and even as the mayor of a small Georgia town. Her story shows how creativity, collaboration, and a little humor can foster connection where we need it most.Hear how Kathie’s winding journey from political theater to small-town leadership taught her the power of listening, laughter, and shared purpose.Learn how grassroo...
2025-07-0938 min
Signal Cleveland: On AirCleveland police commanders discuss party shooting, nuisance law at Ward 7 meetingThe Public Meetings Report for the week of July 7, 2025In this week’s Public Meetings Report, Cleveland Documenters covered a recent Ward 7 community meeting. Cleveland police commanders talked with residents about safety issues and the city’s nuisance law. Plus, a state representative sounds a warning about the proposed state budget and Ohio House Bill 335. Learn more in this week’s episode.The Documenters whose work contributed to this episode are:Jotoya GrayTucker HandleyDenise LykesRosie PalfyTheir work has been c...
2025-07-0704 min
Best Podcast AvailableCollege Football Preview with The Sporting News' Bill Bender - Cleveland Browns Daily - 6.18.25Bill Bender from The Sporting News joins Beau Bishop to preview the college football games to see in 2025. Hear from Tackle Dawand Jones and Beau and Gibbs take your questions in this week's episode of the mailbag!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
2025-06-181h 31Cleveland Browns Podcast NetworkCollege Football Preview with The Sporting News' Bill Bender - Cleveland Browns Daily - 6.18.25Bill Bender from The Sporting News joins Beau Bishop to preview the college football games to see in 2025. Hear from Tackle Dawand Jones and Beau and Gibbs take your questions in this week's episode of the mailbag!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
2025-06-181h 31ART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers128: Art IS Change: Want Proof That Art Makes Real Change? Start HereWhat if changing a podcast title could spark a deeper, more powerful shift in how we understand the role of artists in shaping society? Not likely, but if you’ve ever felt like your creative work is meaningful but invisible in the fight for justice and transformation, this episode digs deep into how storytelling isn’t just a method—it’s the foundation. We’re in a moment where the narratives driving political and cultural realities are being rewritten, and artists are at the heart of this seismic shift.Discover why “Art is Change” isn’t just a rebrand—i...
2025-06-0418 min
Best Podcast AvailableBill Musgrave Talks QB Room - Cleveland Browns Daily - 5.29.25On this Thursday edition of CBD, Z goes 1-on-1 with Browns QB coach Bill Musgrave (0:41), and hear some of the highlights from Browns QBs Kenny Pickett (33:12) and Joe Flacco's (1:08:20) OTA press conferences. And the guys answer your questions on today's mailbag (1:20:10).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
2025-05-291h 31Cleveland Browns Podcast NetworkBill Musgrave Talks QB Room - Cleveland Browns Daily - 5.29.25On this Thursday edition of CBD, Z goes 1-on-1 with Browns QB coach Bill Musgrave (0:41), and hear some of the highlights from Browns QBs Kenny Pickett (33:12) and Joe Flacco's (1:08:20) OTA press conferences. And the guys answer your questions on today's mailbag (1:20:10).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
2025-05-291h 31
ART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers125: THE CETA ARTS REVOLUTION: What Can Today's Activist Artists & Organizers Learn from It?Did you know the U.S. once launched a massive jobs program that empowered over 20,000 artists, and creative support staff—and then let it vanish from collective memory?For artists, educators, and community leaders seeking sustainable support for creative work, the forgotten story of the CETA Arts Program offers a powerful historical lesson. In a time of economic uncertainty, this 1970s initiative not only employed artists—it embedded them into the heart of local communities to spark cultural and social change.Discover how two artists-turned-historians uncovered the lost legacy of a program that transformed the lives of t...
2025-05-1438 min
ART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers124: New Rules: 11 Unlikely Lessons for Activist Artists Navigating MAGA.What can we learn from artists who survived the chaos of 1980s prisons—and how can their lessons help us resist authoritarianism today?From the Center for the Study of Art & Community, this is Change the Story / Change the World: A chronicle of art and social change, where artivists share and learn the skills and strategies they need to thrive as creative community leaders. My name is Bill Cleveland. As censorship and threats escalate for activist artists and community leaders, navigating today’s polarized world demands more than passion. This episode draws powerful insights from priso...
2025-05-0722 min