All Power To The Developing!

John Opdycke, democracy activist and president of Open Primaries, talks to ESI faculty Jan Wootten about how he sees the dawning of a new day in American politics: millions are on the move, demanding a meaningful role in shaping policy and institutions. "Yeah, it's also a mess. The professional political class won't lead; the American dream of progress is dying. But our people are fighters. They're stepping up to topple the barriers that leave them frustrated, divided and disempowered.”   www.openprimaries.org   https://twitter.com/jbopdycke?lang=en

What if young people ruled the world? What would that world look like? Applied Theatre educator and ESI Associate Alex Sutherland talks to Dan Friedman about a performatory, whole-body, arts-based approach she and colleagues have developed at the Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education in Cape Town that helps young social activists find their social and political voice.  http://www.tshisimani.org.za https://www.ru.ac.za/search/?q=Alex+sutherland https://eastsideinstitute.org/about/our-people/institute-associates/alexandra-sutherland/

Can improv make it harder to hate?...make it easier to be (and create) with others in all our diversity? Communications professor and improv aficionado Don Waisanen -- author of Improv for Democracy -- talks (and has some fun) with fellow performance activist Marian Rich, to show how improv can help us find our voice, unlock the politics of gridlock, and make us better citizens of the world. https://www.sunypress.edu/p-6960-improv-for-democracy.aspx  (book) https://twitter.com/donwaisanen?lang=en  (Twitter) https://www.linkedin.com/in/don-waisanen-99bb0816/ (LinkedIn)

Robyn Stratton-Berkessel works with groups large and small — non-profit and corporate — to grow supportive, relationships and build with all that's working well. In this lively chat with Performance of a Lifetime’s Maureen Kelly, Robyn introduces an Appreciative Inquiry approach to helping groups "grow their positivity,” as producers of all that “we want to see in the world."   https://positivitystrategist.com/   https://performanceofalifetime.com/

Raquell Holmes is a Harvard-trained cell biologist, computational scientist and social activist. Founder of ImprovScience and Cultivating Ensembles in STEM Education, Raquell is recognized for her organizing prowess in bringing improvisation, performance and social therapeutics to fellow scientists and educators. In this intimate conversation with Dan Friedman, she recounts her innovative approach to introducing the wonders of physics and biology to working class adults, and describes her most recent project — Uncomfortable Independent Conversations  — a series she’s organized with friends and colleagues shaken by racial injustice in America and seeking new ways to come together to develop. https://www.cultivatingensembles.org   http://www.improvscience.org/welcome   http://improvscience.org/UIC

There is a remarkable development project for young people happening in Africa’s most populous nation. Rita Ezenwa-Okoro the Founder and Chief Visionary of Street Project Foundation in Nigeria, shares her work of building environments where young people can use the creative arts to foster their own development—and that of their nation and world.  As Rita Ezenwa-Okoro often tells the youth she works with, “Talent is not just talent.  There must be more to the song you sing. … You have to learn how to lead.”   Hosted by Jan Wootten. http://onlinewithreo.com http://streetproject.org.ng 

What if young people weren’t required to go to school? What if we could invent other ways for them to learn and grow that worked just as well, or better? Meet Ken Danford, former middle school teacher, who in 1996, frustrated by the coerciveness of traditional classroom environments, founded the North Star in Sunderland, Massachusetts. There he invited teenagers to self-direct their learning experiences – without required classes, grades, or tests. In this fascinating conversation with Carrie Lobman, Danford discusses the history, methodology, practice and challenges of the North Star experiment. 

Dr. Jennifer Carson, Director, Dementia Engagement, School of Community Health, Univ. of Nevada, Reno; Eileen Moncoeur, Exec. Director, Sabal Foundation, and social therapist; and Claire Molyneux, senior lecturer in Music Therapy, Anglia Ruskin Univ., UK, are on the front lines of reimagining dementia. Rejecting the biomedical “tragedy narrative,” they have embraced a playful, performatory, social-relational approach that focuses not on what is lost, but on the co-creation of possibility. They work with people with dementia, friends and families to co-create inclusive environments where all can live well and develop. Hosted by Mary Fridley. https://www.sabal-foundation.org/ https://aru.ac.uk/people/claire-molyneux https://www.unr.edu/public-health/centers/dementia-engagement-education-and-research-program

When the pandemic hit and tens of millions were forced into lock-down, improvisers, clowns and performance activists of all stripes stepped up to address the crisis. They organized the Global Play Brigade to bring (therapeutic) play, via Zoom and WhatsApp, into communities around the world. The Brigade now involves 160 performance activists from 50 countries — and still counting! This intimate conversation with chief organizer Cathy Salit (USA) and founding brigadiers Rita Ezenwa-Okoro (Nigeria), Jeff Gordon (Israel) and Fernanda Liberali (Brazil) explores the revolutionary power of play and performance to open doors to new ways of seeing, being and building with strangers. http://globalplaybrigade.org/

Institute co-founder and director Lois Holzman reads her talk, 'The Performance Movement: The Obvious and Outrageous Way Out of the Epistemological Fly Bottle' — presented to the "Alive in the Anthropocene” virtual conference in January 2021. Curious about the fly bottle? Listen and find out what it means!