All Power To The Developing!

Ep.58 Let’s Learn: A Free International Learning-Teaching Community

Dr. Omar H. Ali, the Dean of Lloyd International Honors College, Professor of Comparative African Diaspora History and a Research Associate in the Medicinal Chemistry Collaborative at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro sits down with host Desire Wandan to discuss the importance of play, performance and improvisation to teaching and learning. They focus on the innovative online global educational community Let’s Learn!, a joint project of Lloyd Honors College and the East Side Institute. Dr. Ali also shares his personal journey from a community organizer to world renowned historian and college dean—remaining a play revolutionary throughout.

Ep.57 Holistic Homes, Empowering Women

For over 25 years, Angela Coleman, the author, most recently, of The Art of Chilling Out for Women and the founder of the Sisterhood Agenda, an international network active in 36 countries, has been working to support and empower women and girls.  In this discussion with host Desire Wandan, Coleman focuses on PARKS (Positively Affirming Reality & Knowledge in Sisterhood) Holistic Housing, through which she hopes to provide eco-friendly, supportive housing for over 100 women in the Baltimore metropolitan area.
https://amzn.to/404vkQP  
https://sisterhoodagenda.com/
https://angeladcoleman.com/
https://youtu.be/OJjefIYnE40?si=LgkcYYqNR6HsHS2S
https://www.instagram.com/baltimoresun/reel/DA3_tWePsZN/
LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-d-coleman-mba-cnm-ibiyinka-oyewola-ms-adc-4b02426/

Ep.56 Amplifying Voices: Fighting State Violence with Jazz

Albert Marqués is a skilled jazz musician from Barcelona, Spain, a public-school music teacher in Brooklyn, New York, and a creative social justice activist.  In this episode, he and host Desire Wandan focus on his program “Amplifying Voices” which brings musicians together with victims of state violence to create platforms for them to tell their stories to the wider world.  “Amplifying Voices” has worked with, among others, death row prisoners, Holocaust survivors, and Jason Fulford, the cousin of Eric Garner who was choked to death by New York City police officers in 2014.  “Music creates an atmosphere, a vibe, that allows walls to come down and for people to connect and listen to each other as human beings,” says Marqués.  “I want to use music against power to create power.”
Albert's website www.albertmarques.com/amplify
Book: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/el-jazz-suena-en-el-corredor-de-la-muerte-albert-marqu-s/1143693137

Ep.55 Imagine Brave Spaces

The San Diego, California-based Imagine Brave Spaces does just that—imagine brave spaces.  This performance activist organization, founded in 2021, uses play, performance, theatre, and other arts to help children, young people, and adults create spaces and engage in activities through which, in the words of Co-founder and Director of Programs Catherine Hanna Schrock, they can, “see what is not yet there, to picture the possibilities of what can be.”  In this in-depth interview conducted by Desire Wandan and Dan Friedman, she asks, “Isn’t it a courageous thing to dream, to hope that things could get better?” and shares how Imagine Brave Spaces uses Forum Theatre, Playback Theatre, Interview Theatre, and creative community conversations to empower people to ask, “What if?”
www.imaginebravespaces.com
Instagram- @imaginebravespaces

Ep.54 “First You Say Yes, Then Your Figure It Out”

Katie BEE (aka Kate McGlynn) is a remarkable human being who has lived her life saying “yes” and then figuring it out.  She has been a teen peer counselor, taught improv, laughter yoga and meditation.  She worked for 12 years as a street performer in Europe, as a circus performer all over the world, and as a performance-inspired community organizer in Detroit and other cities. 
In 2021 with the pandemic raging, Katie founded the Joy First Foundation and spent the next three years living in a trailer traveling the U.S.A. bringing joy to the nation’s front-line workers—retail workers, nurses, airline employees—who gave so much with so little appreciation during the pandemic. Her mission soon broadened, and she spent her days visiting dinners, hospitals, bars, airports, shopping centers, etc. talking to strangers, thanking everyone she met for waking up that morning.  “Appreciation, Recognition, Acknowledgement, and Gratitude” are, she says are windows that let the joy in.  “You can lift a person up so easily because no one else is appreciating them.”
In this conversation with host Desire Wandan, Katie BEE shares her life story, the relationship between humor, appreciation and development, and welcomes all to travel the road of joy she helping to build.
 
Co-host of therapeutic humor podcast: Laughbox.aath.org
Host of Joy First Foundation podcast: https://katyem.podbean.com/
 
Sign up for the Joy First Foundation Newsletter http://eepurl.com/idPhCL
 
Check out my new album! You Matter! https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nJbbY-gAe3Ds1c53WEoaM5_P3jUlOigtI&si=URUHN0xeiREKQIS2
 
Subscribe to my Youtube Music channel:
https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCqdCe0cvDmVNIXmehvCfItw
 
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/foam-city/1756235965
 
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/78ogT2SMjjsXeSogWRgPjh?si=4e8p6urXSWWP8ze57jVWpQ
 
Website  https://joyfirst.org
Website  https://katybeellc.com
Youtube     /joyfirstfoundation 
Youtube     / @katybeee   - Katy BEE Coach and Facilitator
Youtube     /norma-lacy
Instagram    /joyfirst  
Instagram    /joyfirstfoundation  
Facebook    /joyfirstfoundation 
Facebook    /katemcglynn16
Podcast  https://laughbox.aath.org
Podcast  Joy First Foundation - link coming soon
 
 
Katy BEE Joy Activation  https://youtube.com/@KateMcGlynn23
  
LINKTREE
https://linktr.ee/katybee_joy
 
Patreon https://www.patreon.com/KatyBEEJoyful
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/katemcglynn/

Ep.53 Black 47, Paradise Square, and Green Suede Shoes: A Conversation with Larry Kirwan

Larry Kirwan, the creative force behind Black 47, the Irish American political rock band, which for 25 years brought its energetic, joyous hybrid of rock and roll and Irish traditional music to the world, joins co-hosts Desire Wandan and Dan Friedman for an expansive conversation about his life, his creative evolution and the politic that informs them both. 
In addition to leading Black 47, Kirwan is the author of 21 plays, 3 novels and a memoir.  One of his musicals, Paradise Square, was nominated for 10 Tony Awards during its Broadway run.  Kirwan is also a columnist for the Irish Echo, host of the “Celtic Crush” show on SiriusXM Radio, the President of Irish American Writers and Artists, and the winner of the 2022 Eugene O’Neill Lifetime Achievement Award.  Don’t miss the chance to hear from this great storyteller and one of the most prolific artivists in the U.S.A.
www.black47.com
Facebook Larry Kirwan
For Books:  Amazon Author's Page Larry Kirwan
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Larry-Kirwan/author/B001K8NX96?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Ep.52 Capoeira— A Way of Connecting to History and Building Community

In this episode of All Power To The Developing, host Desire Wandan sits down with Silvio Dos Reis, a maestro of capoeira and a dedicated teaching artist at the Union Cultural Center in Seattle. Silvio shares his journey of embracing capoeira not just as a martial art but as a powerful tool for community building, cultural expression, and personal transformation.
Together, Desire and Silvio dive deep into the roots of capoeira, exploring its Afro-Brazilian heritage and the unique blend of music, movement, and play that make it a dynamic practice for all ages. Silvio reflects on the challenges and joys of teaching capoeira in diverse communities, his passion for mentoring the next generation, and the impact of art in fostering resilience and connection in today’s world.
Join us as we explore how capoeira transcends the boundaries of a traditional martial art and becomes a bridge for cultural dialogue, empowerment, and social change. Whether you're a seasoned capoeira enthusiast or new to this vibrant practice, Silvio’s insights and stories will inspire you to think about movement and community in new, transformative ways.
https://www.unionculturalcenter.org
https://www.instagram.com/unionculturalcenter
https://dance.washington.edu/news/2021/08/11/silvio-dos-reis-capoeira-angola-mestre-silvinho
facebook:silvio dos reis
Instagram mestresilvinho86

Ep.51 Giving Youth the Courage to Speak their Hearts

Toiya Taylor, the Executive Director and Founder of Speak With Purpose (SWP), tells her story and the story of SWP, which is bringing the power of public speaking to students in Seattle and beyond to challenge prevailing narratives, uplift their cultures and communities, forge self-authored identities, and become forces for change. To Taylor and the educational innovators she has trained, public speaking is “not a powerpoint, it is not text on a page, it is connecting to people at the deepest level.”
https://www.speakwithpurpose.org/

Ep.50 America Makes It Very Hard To Be Well

Malia Gilbert-Neal, the executive director of ArtWell, grew up in Philadelphia and has been creating community empowerment organizations her entire adult life. In conversation with host Desire Wandan, she shares her life story and the work of ArtWell, founded in 2000 in response to chronic community violence in Philly.  Today ArtWell partners with over 400 organizations to bring arts-related activities to schools, libraries, and health and social service organizations throughout the Philadelphia area.  In all her work Gilbert-Neal strives to focus on the wellness of individuals, communities, and the earth. “America makes it very hard to be well.  We’re all experiencing the same capitalism that is overworking and underpaying people, expecting them to make huge sacrifices of themselves for the sake of profit and dollars. We’re all experiencing the same racism, sexism, and challenges to our human rights,” says Gilbert-Neal. “We’re all swimming in these systems of oppression, so it’s really important to talk about wellness and how to sustain it.”
www.theartwell.org
Instagram: @Maliaknowsthings

Ep.49 Through Play You Find the Kid in You

La Transplanisphère, based in Paris, France, has been doing cutting-edge political theatre for two decades bringing artists, students, and “ordinary people” together to explore the political and cultural challenges facing Europe as it becomes more diverse.  In residence, since 2018, at the Lycée Albert Schweitzer in Le Raincy, a working-class suburb of Paris, La Transplanisphére has, among many other things, developed methods for teachers who want to use play and performance to explore political issues and the challenges of cross-cultural dialogue with their students. In this episode, Bruno Freyssinet, founder and artistic director of La Transplanisphère, shares the theatre’s history and discusses how, “through play you find the kid in you, you find the openness, the lightness which has the power to totally change your relationship with the ‘Other.’” This episode is hosted by Desire Wandan and Dan Friedman.
https://latransplanisphere.com/https://www.instagram.com/latransplanisphere/https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruno-freyssinet-55200062/