Karen Ann Hoffman: To me, every really good piece of Iroquois raised beadwork that I’ve ever seen is encircled in some way or another and the way it comes to me is to understand that each one of those beads stands for all the Iroquois people that ever were, all of us that currently are, and all of those whose faces we have yet to see, all of the unborn, but we’re all connected in this really beautiful, connected circle. What’s important to remember is that each bead has a significant and equal responsibility and if any one of those beads got plucked out, the entire encirclement would suffer, and what that says to me is that that’s my responsibility as a good Iroquois person. If I or any of us don’t live up to our responsibilities to the whole, if we fail, if we fall out, we impact every other person in that chain, from the past, of the present, and into the future. So it’s about knowing that you as an individual are not the important part but that we as the community are.

Terri Lyne Carrington: A couple years ago I founded the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice and so many stories that I had heard from young women was that they didn’t feel comfortable in their ensembles, they didn’t feel comfortable trying things because they felt ridiculed or criticized by either their teacher especially in high school or their peers so I felt like that was the reason to start the institute so that there was a place where they didn’t have to feel those things. I do think we’re moving in the right direction. I do think recent times have made people even more conscious and more aware of issues of inequity with race and gender. Over the last five years or so, I’ve really seen more change and more hope for a better teacher in regard to gender equity. I’ve seen it not just at Berklee but also at other institutions that I’ve visited and it seems that people have finally gotten the message that we need to make these kinds of shifts in order for the music to fully develop. There are more women students, there are more women teachers, and there are more male students and male teachers that are concerned with this issue and that’s the most important thing to me because nothing will really change if women are the ones advocating for women and it really needs to be across the board; we all have to advocate for each other.

Jo Reed: Welcome to Quick Study, the monthly podcast from the National Endowment for the Arts. This is where we’ll share stats and stories to help us better understand the value of art in everyday life. I’m copiloting Quick Study with Sunil Iyengar. He’s the Director of Research and Analysis here at the Arts Endowment. Hello, Sunil.

Sunil Iyengar: Hi, Jo.

Jo Reed: Well, parents are getting ready for their kids to return to the classroom after, what, a year and a half of virtual learning? And we know that the arts, arts education, arts integration in the classroom can play such an important role in this tricky transition.

Sunil Iyengar: That’s right, Jo. The arts and indeed, many of the arts education programs and organizations that the NEA supports can help to address the needs of not just students, but also, educators at this critical time, the arts especially can be used to help address healing and to address trauma. We know that involvement in the arts can support the social and emotional learning needs of students. Our studies have seen that it helps in improving emotional regulation, coping, empathy in others, and that the arts can provide an outlet for students to process their emotions from disaster and trauma to begin the healing process and build resiliency. This will be a key factor to successful transitions, I’m sure, in reopening schools.

Jo Reed: We also see access to arts education actually translates into improvement in other areas for students and especially students who don’t come from privileged backgrounds.

Sunil Iyengar: That’s right. We’ve seen access to arts education oftentimes through our studies, it’s shown that it closes the opportunity gap while helping all students thrive. The studies show that students from low socioeconomic backgrounds who have access to the arts in or out of school are more likely to set higher career goals and even have higher scores on STEM test subjects.

Jo Reed: Well, that relates very nicely to a recent study you wanted to highlight from Auburn University and let me toot our own horn-- this was a study that was supported by a research grant from the NEA.

Sunil Iyengar: Correct. It’s very exciting. Researchers at Auburn University in Alabama have just published this article called “Observational Drawing in the Brain: A Longitudinal Exploratory FMRI Study.” In their article, the researchers point out that arts education is often devalued in curricular programs. This is because while arts education, especially in visual arts, is generally understood to involve training our perceptions, we don’t know a lot about how it can enhance our cognitive abilities. There’s also been a shortage of well-designed studies showing that training in the arts can directly cause improvements in learning in other subjects.

Jo Reed: So, what did this new study discover about visual arts education?

Sunil Iyengar: So, the new study suggests that learning basic drawing techniques and concepts are positively associated with brain changes in cognitive processing. This includes functional changes in the brain areas responsible for attention, decision making, motor control, visual information processing, and working memory.

Jo Reed:  How did they discover this? What was the methodology?

Sunil Iyengar: Well, researchers followed students enrolled in a 16-week college-level course in observational drawing. So, the instructors sought to improve perceptual, cognitive, and technical skills in those students. The course required still life drawing, where you closely observe objects and you render them as real-like as you can. The objects included things like animal skulls, drapery, plants, chairs, and boxes. These were arranged so as to invite students to solve specific visual and technical problems.

Jo Reed: Okay. Then what?

Sunil Iyengar: The students were compared with undergraduates who did not take the drawing class. These groups were pretty evenly matched in terms of age, gender, and whether they were right-handed or left-handed, though the students taking the art class did show they had previous art experience more often than the control group. Anyway, what’s neat about the study is that both groups were asked to perform a set of visual observation tasks while in an MRI machine. They did this twice, once near the start of the study and once near the end.

Jo Reed: Okay. When you say a set of visual observation tasks, that means nothing to me. What do you mean by this?

Sunil Iyengar: Right. I understand. Well, the students were presented with photographs or other images and were asked to push a button in response to multiple choice questions about what they’d seen. These tasks included understanding the sources and direction of light, observing variation in tonal value, variation in line quality, and understanding linear perspective. Also, apart from the FMRI scans, the art class students were rated on improvements in their drawing over the study period.

Jo Reed: Okay. I’m assuming that the students who participated in the art class saw their drawing skills improve.

Sunil Iyengar: Right.

Jo Reed: But I don’t think you would be excited if that was the only result.

Sunil Iyengar: That’s right. What’s fascinating are the brain scan results. When all the students first had their brains scanned, there was no difference between the art students and the non-art students in terms of their performance on the visual observation tasks I mentioned. However, when the students were scanned near the end of the study period, the art students showed functional brain changes in terms of understanding line variation, linear perspective, and tonal value. The affected areas were in the prefrontal cortex and cerebellum and they may indicate brain plasticity, the researchers say. The use of the control group told them that these changes occurred as a direct result of the drawing course. So, that’s the big deal.

Jo Reed: Wow. That is a big deal. Okay. So, you know me. I want to know what the implications are for this.

Sunil Iyengar: Right. So, I’m glad you asked, Jo. The researchers write that their findings, quote, “Demonstrate some of the first functional changes in the brain due to training in the arts and have implications for pedagogy and mental health.” In fact, the Auburn University team recommends that future studies look at how these changes can affect patients in occupational or mental health settings and how art training can be customized to tackle specific cognitive challenges.

Jo Reed: So, I’m right in assuming this is just opening the door to a whole raft in new research about the arts and wellbeing in the brain.

Sunil Iyengar: That’s correct. In recent years, there’s been some attention to music and music’s ability to foster cognitive improvement in the brain and also, healthy behavioral patterns and there’s been a lot of research around the arts and education more broadly, but what this does is now lifts up drawing and visual arts and visual observation and how that can be-- how broader cognitive processes can be influenced potentially by drawing. So, get out your sketch pad, I guess, Jo.

Jo Reed: Well, I’m sure we’ll be following this as the research continues.

Sunil Iyengar: Thank you. Yes. We’re pleased to fund a lot of these kinds of studies through our research grants program and of course, this is a research grant and we have actually done studies in the past. We’ve supported research around drawing and social emotional learning. So, hop on to our website if you’re interested, arts.gov.

Jo Reed: That’s great. Thank you so much, Sunil. I’ll talk to you next month.

Sunil Iyengar: Looking forward to it.

Jo Reed: As am I. That was Sunil Iyengar. He’s the Director of Research and Analysis here at the National Endowment for the Arts. This has been Quick Study. The music is “We Are One” from Scott Holmes Music. It’s licensed through Creative Commons. Until next month, I’m Josephine Reed. Thanks for listening.  

“NY” composed and performed by Kosta T from the cd Soul Sand, used courtesy of the Free Music Archive.

Jo Reed: This is Art Works, the weekly podcast from the National Endowment for the Arts—I’m Josephine Reed. With the new school year upon us, this week we’re turning our attention to arts education and its valuable contribution to students’ creativity and well-being. Later on in the show, a look at arts education in practice with Taos artist and educator Agnes Chavez. But first, I’m joined by director of Arts Education at the National Endowment for the Arts Ayanna Hudson. I wanted to begin with Ayanna because the work and research here at the endowment and across the country bring the welcome news that the arts and arts education can play a singular role as students transition back to the classroom after a year of uncertainty.

Ayanna Hudson: We are really coming off of an unprecedented school year due to COVID and the forced virtual instruction that students had to learn through, as well as the forced social isolation. And any one of these situations would cause trauma and a traumatic experience for students, but all three combined is really, really unprecedented.

Jo Reed: And as students are heading back to school that really is going to be attendant with its own anxiety. And they’re going need a lot of support.

Ayanna Hudson: I couldn’t agree more. You know, as schools prepare for students to return to in-person instruction, we really have to provide support for students to help them deal with the collective trauma that they’ve all been through over the last year, year and a half. And we really must focus on their wellbeing and on their healing.

Jo Reed: And we know, the research is there, that the arts, arts education, arts integration in a classroom is amazingly helpful for supporting students’ wellbeing.

Ayanna Hudson: And, Jo, we know from our own research at the National Endowment for the Arts just how important arts education is to a student’s academic success, to increased graduation rates, to increased standardized test scores, as well as civic engagement. But I also want to talk a little bit about the role of arts education on a student’s mental wellbeing because that really, especially at this moment in time, that cannot be underscored enough. And it’s really through the process of creating art, whether it’s dance, music, theater, visual arts, even media arts, it’s through the process that students are able to express themselves. They’re able to get in touch with their emotions and their feelings, really in a way that they may not even be able to articulate. And this is especially true for our younger learners who may not even be able to form the words to express how they are feeling. And for any student, even if they’re not able to express verbally, it is through the arts that they can truly, truly express themselves and express their feelings.

Jo Reed:  You know, we’re all aware that the arts provide a creative outlet for students, but I think the fact that arts also can help students develop empathy and compassion is less known and so critically important right now.

Ayanna Hudson: And that’s why the arts are so critical, so key, and really the magic ingredient. In general for schools, but especially as students are returning from a year of, again, of virtual learning and forced social isolation. And, you know, it’s through the arts where students are expressing themselves, that they are able to cope and they are able to develop mechanisms for their own personal healing. And when we think about what students have been through, they’re really able, through the arts, to process in a new way the trauma of the last year, which leads, of course then, to their overall mental wellness. And this is critically important because students can’t learn if they’re anxious, if they’re fearful, or if they’re stressed. And it’s through the arts, as you just mentioned, where students really learn empathy for themselves to, again process the trauma that they’ve been through over the last year and a half, and then develop empathy for others as well, as they are supportive of their classmates as we all reengage with in-person instruction. And the arts really are, I believe, the tool that all schools should be using as a way to help students experience success, to help them to heal, to help them reengage in learning and in-person instruction, for many of our students for the first time in a year and a half. The other kind of magical thing about the arts is that it also helps students to reconnect with themselves and for the last year and a half, where students have been focused on, again, the trauma that we’ve been going through, it is also through the arts where we can not only heal, but we can reconnect and we can find joy in life again and we can find joy in our educational experiences.

Jo Reed: I think the other thing that is so critical about the arts right now is that for a year and a half, it’s hard not to be a passive learner when you’re on Zoom. All props to the teachers who, I’m sure...

Ayanna Hudson: Yes.

Jo Reed: …absolutely did everything that they could. But with the arts, with any creative process, you’re not passive, you’re active. You’re actively engaged.

Ayanna Hudson: You’re actively engaged and you are also actively engaged in the community. And I think when we think about reengaging with yourself and reengaging with your classmates, also reengaging with your school community, the arts definitely provide the opportunity, as you said, to be an active participant and through that active participation reengaging with your classmates, your teachers, and your school in an entirely new ways, in ways that you haven’t been able to do for the last year and a half.

Jo Reed: And that’s the joy you were referring to.

Ayanna Hudson: And that’s the joy. And that’s the joy.

Jo Reed: Ayanna, thank you so much.

Ayanna Hudson: Thank you, Jo.

Jo Reed: That was Ayanna Hudson –she’s the director of Arts Education here at the National Endowment for the Arts. If you go to arts.gov and search for arts education, you’ll find a number of helpful resources. I’ll also provide links in the show notes. Next up—we’re going to hear from Agnes Chavez about some of the extraordinary ways art can be used in a classroom to open new worlds for students.  You’re listening to Art Works, I’m Josephine Reed—

Agnes Chavez is a sci-artist and an award-winning educator in Taos New Mexico. Now this needs a little unpacking—beginning with  sci-art which Agnes defines simply art that is created in collaboration with scientists or that explores science as a topic or as a process. In her case, she collaborates across disciplines to create data-visualized light and sound installations. Agnes is also an educator. In fact, for her, arts and education are one and the same. Back in 2009, having already designed a successful curriculum that teaches Spanish to youngsters through art, music and games, Agnes was looking for new ways to reach middle and high school students.  She decided to use the arts to develop science and math skills. The result is STEMarts Lab which designs and creates light and sound installations and then builds curriculum tools around the art. STEMarts Lab also bring artists into the classroom to work with teachers and provide hands-on workshops both in person or virtually. As it turns out, Agnes was able to evolve this innovative curriculum to directly speak to the students’ needs during the last pandemic year. 

Jo Reed:  You both create curriculum that uses art to develop science skills and you make that available for teachers to use in their classrooms. And you also run workshops yourself. So you work directly with students. And I’m curious about this past year when students were learning virtually and whether you developed programs to help students who were going through such a difficult time.

Agnes Chavez:  Yes, that has led to really interesting developments for the STEMarts Lab, because I had developed an online curriculum tool back in 2012, but it wasn't used as much as it's being used now. And so, the online curriculum tool is where I put the content that the teachers use whether they’re participating in an art workshop or going to a festival to experience the art of the festival, there's always this online tool that has all the background information, right? About the artist and about the science behind the art and the engineering that goes into it. All of that content is always there. So, with COVID, this tool became really valuable! More valuable than it was before. And the other thing that happened is… through a personal story that happened to me…So, one thing about STEMarts workshops, and arts education in general, is that we can teach the same students over time.  I've been working with the same group of students from 4th grade through 8th grade. They were graduating this year.  And I've been bringing my programs to this school, “Projecting Particles”, the Lakota Cosmology project. Basically, it’s learning about the physics, particle physics through Projection Art project. And then of course, Covid hits. So, in response to the isolation that students were experiencing from the lockdown and the switch to online learning and with field trips being cancelled, we created BioSTEAM International, a virtual international exchange program, and it connected a classroom in New Mexico with a classroom in Portugal to collaborate on a sci-art installation that is then presented at local and international festivals. The goal is to encourage intercultural respect, connectivity to develop creative expression and scientific literacy as students collaborate on a sci-art installation called "Space Messengers." 

Jo Reed:  Okay. Explain the project “Space Messengers.” I’m really intrigued!

Agnes Chavez: "Space Messengers" is a large-scale projection where the messages and voices collected from the youth participants are live-mixed and projected along with their video silhouettes onto buildings to create an immersive and interactive experience for the audience. So it was created in partnership with long-time collaborator Markus Dorninger and his team of projection artists and along with a team of programmers and sound engineers. We designed a collaborative platform we call the Space Board where students shared ideas and their process drawings, which were actually created through the workshop, and the students co-wrote messages that communicated the science they learned and their thoughts and wishes for a sustainable interplanetary future, that was the goal of the workshop, and then these messages are going to be seen floating on the wall along with interactive video silhouettes that are generated from all the images and videos that are captured from the workshop. And then to enhance the experience an interactive soundtrack will respond to visual triggers filling the space with collected space and planetary sounds from the NASA Library as well as water and earth sounds, and the voice of the students will be interwoven to accentuate the visual of their floating space messages.

Jo Reed:  This happening virtually—but is it also happening in a geographical space? How does it work?

Agnes Chavez: So, when the projection launches in Oerias, Portugal, for the Festival Internacional de Ciência, we are coordinating a global virtual reality day in Taos County. So, on the same day, October 15th, while the projection is happening in Portugal in Taos we are coordinating participating schools to set up virtual reality stations and then we, our creative team, has created a virtual reality 3D simulation of the site in Portugal where we're going to simultaneously livestream the projection into the virtual reality platform. So the students here will be able to at the same time experience the "Space Messengers," and  the virtual reality will also be interactive, they can send those space messages which appear on the wall in Portugal as well as on their virtual wall. So we basically created a hybrid physical online experience so that the kids in both countries can experience the installation at the same time. The final "Space Messengers" installation is participatory, as people will walk through the courtyard site there are sensor cameras that are going to capture their silhouettes which are then also seen projected onto the walls but they're filled with the mosaic of all the student-generated content, and the live audience can also send their own messages which appear on the wall in real time during the event.

Jo Reed:  This seems wonderful and complicated and I wonder how much the students were involved in the panning of it, the implementation of it…

Agnes Chavez: So the whole concept and the "Space Messengers" installation was developed with the students so they were part of the whole process in all its iterations, and then what was most exciting is that the kids were meeting each other from different countries and they were doing this project together, so art was the process through which we learned and we created together.

Jo Reed:  I know the culmination of the project hasn’t happened yet—that’s in October. But I wonder what the response has been from the teachers and from the students!

Agnes Chavez:  It turned out to be like a winning formula. It turned out to be so successful that the teachers told me that the kids had been hiding in their bedrooms and not showing up for their Zoom calls, and they were always muted and their cameras were off, or you'd just see the top of their heads. And with this program, they just came out of their shells and really connected with each other and with the program. So, that was a real experiment that was in response to the problem that I was hearing from teachers that the kids were not engaged, that shifting to this online format was just not working. And my question to myself and to my team was, "How can we use our creativity, our digital tools to come up with another way or a more engaging way to reach them?" And of course, the messaging is always to develop empathy and to empower them. So, we're asking always that question as we design digital tools.

Jo Reed:  Sure. It seems that during this time when all of us can feel so much out of control with everything that's going on, that that combination of science and art makes a really powerful tool for students. Not just to perhaps be empowered themselves, but also to be able to kind of express their own uncertainty about things. And by doing that, own some control over them.

Agnes Chavez:  Yeah, we did notice that that happened through this project, the Space Messengers.  And they were learning about science and art, philosophy, Lakota Cosmology, all of these complex ideas, but always asking the question, "What are your thoughts and wishes for a sustainable interplanetary future?" And so, it very much stayed focused that, "This is your future. You know? And now everything that you're learning here is to help you to think about ways that we can-- that you can make this work for you! That how can you make it better? Always bringing it back to, "You are the youth leaders, you are the leaders of the future." So, we're now giving them all of this knowledge, and we're bringing it all together in an interdisciplinary way. And it seems to really reach them and make them feel empowered, make them, make them feel like they're valued. And that seems to make all the difference.

Jo Reed:  And of course, using the arts to both understand and to explain scientific knowledge is key.  

Agnes Chavez:  Right, that’s right. The model is that we use the arts, meaning New Media Arts, to understand the science and to communicate the science. So, the first part is through the workshop, or through the art learning, we actually learn about, learn from the scientists, and then it's communicated through some kind of SCIArt installation or experience at a festival or real-world event. So, that whole picture, how that all fits together, that's the STEMarts model that I've been developing over the years, and now with COVID has a whole new level of implementation with the virtual component.

Jo Reed: As you say, this particular project was developed during Covid. And I wonder what your plans are for carrying this work forward. I assume you’re going to continue to use as students are heading back into a classroom.

Agnes Chavez:  Yes, yes, yes. What's interesting is that I'm so excited about working with them. And I feel like we started something during COVID that is just continuing. And it is COVID responsive. You know, I didn't say, "Okay, I'm doing this temporarily and now I'm going back to the way it was." On the contrary. So, we're just continuing this project called” Space Messengers” which has all these components that I described, right, this methodology, and so now what happens is that those students who were part of that workshop, now they're waiting for the culmination, which was delayed because of COVID. It was supposed to happen April, now it’s happening in October. So, the kids in Portugal and the kids here have been waiting for this. And so, we're excited, because this project is going to come to completion, but also it's going to travel. So, now the Consulate of Guadalajara, Mexico wants to bring it to Mexico to a school there. So, in February and March of 2022, we're now doing it again with six more schools. So, everyone's very excited to see where, you know, to try out all these new tools and these new ways of learning and communicating.

Jo Reed:  An integrated arts curriculum—especially one like yours where you ‘re using art to learn about science sounds like it just opens up new worlds for students and also really gives them an outlet to express their own knowledge in ways that really work for them.  It’s giving them an outlet especially right now that they so badly need!

Agnes Chavez:  Well, not only is it that they need it, but what I hear from the students I they didn't even know it was possible! So, they're used to arts being in the arts class or like isolated within a particular subject area called Arts. But what they tell me is that they never knew it was possible to combine, you know, Science and all of these different things together with Art. So, it is a different experience when they see it coming together in an interdisciplinary way. So, it blows their minds. And it does open their minds, and it's what I hear from them, that it really opened their mind to what is possible.

Jo Reed:   Agnes, as we're transitioning back to schools, it seems that arts education is really uniquely positioned to be extraordinarily helpful to students as they're facing this anxiety and coming out of being in lockdown for a year.

Agnes Chavez: Yes. And because of the lockdown, but also in general, we are living in this really extraordinary time where science and technology can often overshadow the art, right. So the STEM or the science and technology and all the advancements are very important to learn and to communicate, to understand. Just to expand our own understanding of the universe and, you know, on earth and now in space. But I think with the arts, why the arts are so important and new media arts are so important is because this is a medium where we can really go deeper into what are the ethics behind the science and technology, what are the impacts of it and to raise awareness to the importance of these issues that are coming up. I feel like the goal of STEMArts Lab is to use the power of immersive art to inspire our youth but also our communities and to become just more informed global citizens, and to reimagine our humanity, because that's what the arts can do better than anything else, is to let you imagine and reimagine what we can be, you know, in light of what's going on in the world with climate change and all of these challenges that we face, how can we reimagine our humanity.

Jo Reed: And so it provides students not just with the place where they can explore their concerns, it also offers them a place where they can begin to think about what they can do next.

Agnes Chavez: Absolutely. They learn from the very beginning that that's why we're here is to design new solutions or to imagine alternative futures. So one of the things that I'm getting into now that I'm learning about and sharing with the students is the idea of futures thinking, that there's not just one future that's destined. Now we are creating the future of tomorrow and that they are a part of that building and a part of that imagining.

Jo Reed:  How STEMarts Lab develop curriculum that really speaks to the very diverse cultural backgrounds in Taos?

Agnes Chavez:  Well, that is kind of what created that STEMarts Lab. Because I've been in Taos for 35 years. I came here when I was 27. And the first thing you know when you become a member of the Taos community is that you live in a very multicultural community and New Mexico, in general, is a very poor state. And so, access to knowledge, to technology, just even the isolation of Taos compared to Santa Fe or Albuquerque, all these factors make a difference. They impact the ability to access. And so, you're always, as an artist, trying to find ways to overcome that, right? Or as a teacher. You know, how do we get our kids to have access? So, that really is what created a lot of the methodologies that I developed out of necessity, right? So, this has been my community for 35 years. There are some strategies that I use. So, for example, and it's out of trial-and-error, so when I first started, I would try like maybe after school programs, right? So, just to start there. One of the things that I came up against is that after school programs require, in most cases, that the parent bring the student. And so, then you have a barrier, is the parent working? Which parents are going to be able to bring their kids, right? So, if you have parents that are not able to because they're working all the time, then that student's not going to have access. So, then I started to work within the school classroom time period. And then I had to adapt the curriculum and align it with the standards and make it easy for the teacher. Because otherwise what happened is, "Oh, well, the teachers don't have time to do something extra! Because they have to teach their core curriculum." And that's when I eventually aligned the STEMarts programs to the standards. So, they're now aligned to the Next Generations Science standards, of course the National Core Art standards, and to the partnership with 21^st Century P21 standards. So that makes it easier for the teacher. And slowly, I developed this thing called a STEMarts Curriculum Tool, which has all of the tools and resources that the teacher needs so that it's super, super easy for them to participate and make it part of their classroom curriculum.  So, I always make sure that my programs are coming to schools that do represent the communities that I serve. It’s more like core principles. So, I don't bring my program to privileged schools or schools where the kids already have access to all the latest technology and science. I bring it to schools that don't necessarily have that access.

Jo Reed:  You also have a commitment to turning students from being sort of passive recipients of media to being actual cultural producers of it. And again, after a year of lock-down, it strikes me as particularly important for students.

Agnes Chavez:  Right. And that is something that I bring into the STEMarts Lab program. So, the students have access to these technologies so that they can tell their own stories. For example, the current project, Space Messengers, they're actually sharing their messages that they want to send out to the world. And that doesn't have a lot of technology but it's still the same concept. They're telling their story. So, yeah, I would say that that is a product of our times, and it's one of the most exciting things that we have at our fingertips right now is that we really can allow our youth and our communities to really be contributors to the content that's on the web, or that's just out there.

Jo Reed:   You know, in listening to you, it seems to me that if students are involved in passive learning, asking them to do it via Zoom is the kiss of death. But when it becomes interactive, it can be in a classroom, it can be in Zoom, if it involves imagination and creativity, students become engaged. And especially when they can speak to what it is they see around them. And I'm thinking of your program BioSTEAM,  which very specifically speaks to 21st century challenges that kids face.

Agnes Chavez: Yeah. That's right. And BioSTEAM is a program that also was developed during COVID focusing on climate change and how do we get kids engaged in using arts to learn about climate change and now pandemic diseases or whatever is going on in the world. And how to use the arts to design with nature. So if you're using new technologies, it's not just about blindly using any technology and not understanding the ethics behind it or the environmental impact of the technology. So all of the STEMarts workshops address all those aspects of technology and science, not just sugar-coated, and that engages them because they can-- they want to think beyond just the surface.

Jo Reed:  We tend see art as really having the ability to heal. And I'm curious how mindful you are of that as we're approaching this new school year and the big transition that's coming for students?

Agnes Chavez:   Well, during COVID, we had to be attentive to that because there was a lot of depression and anxiety and all kinds of, you know, even suicide that was going on, so there had to be a lot of sensitivity to that. So what I do to address that is I have very, very close collaborative relationships with the teachers. I never pretend to come in and know it all; the contrary. The relationship that I have with the teachers is integral. I consider them collaborating partners.  We're the support. You know, we're there to support the schools and the teachers. And that's always been my approach and I think that's really important because I think sometimes if you just pop in and pop out, it just doesn't work. And they know it.  I'm committed year after year after year. And, sometimes I feel like something didn't work, then I go and talk to them about it and how do we make it better. So I'm just with my team, we're always looking for using the latest technologies and ways to do it better, right. How do we do it better so that we can be engaging our youth and our communities through this art.  

Jo Reed: You are an innovative, wonderful artist. How did you become interested in arts education and bringing this into the classroom?

Agnes Chavez: Yeah. I think I've always been equally interested in art and education. To me, how do I explain it? And they were never really separate for me. So because art has always been about a way to inspire people, right, to communicate ideas, to inform, right. And education is also about that, right? You're, it's, to me, it's like art and science and art and education, they're all one for me. And I've always been interested in sharing what it is I'm learning and sharing it with other people and that process of learning, the learning process is part of my art. So for example, I do a lot of research for my art. I go and do science residencies at laboratories like at CERN where I did a research day to learn about particle physics to inspire and inform the work. And then I developed the workshop called Projecting Particles. And I remember the first workshop I did and I said to the kids, "Okay, I'm learning about particle physics because I think it's very important to understand the universe through particle physics and we're all going to learn together," I tell them, you know. And that's kind of how I approach it. And I do that with the teachers as well, you know. I tell them, "I'm exploring something new and I'd like to share it with you." So I like this process. I consider it all integral. And I've always done that. It's like what I tell the kids: How can we design with nature and build a better world?

Jo Reed: That was Artist and educator Agnes Chavez—you can find out more about the work she does and check out curriculum tools at STEMartslab.com. Agnes was also contributed an essay to the NEA’s Tech as Art report called How Artists Can Bridge the Digital Divide and Reimagine Humanity” you can find it at arts.gov. You’ve been listening to Art Works produced at the National endowment for the Arts. I’m Josephine Reed—stay safe and thanks for listening.

Jo Reed:  You know, we’re all aware that the arts provide a creative outlet for students, but I think the fact that arts also can help students develop empathy and compassion is less known and so critically important right now.

Ayanna Hudson: And that’s why the arts are so critical, so key, and really the magic ingredient. In general for schools, but especially as students are returning from a year of, again, of virtual learning and forced social isolation. And, you know, it’s through the arts where students are expressing themselves, that they are able to cope and they are able to develop mechanisms for their own personal healing. And when we think about what students have been through, they’re really able, through the arts, to process in a new way the trauma of the last year, which leads, of course then, to their overall mental wellness. And this is critically important because students can’t learn if they’re anxious, if they’re fearful, or if they’re stressed. And it’s through the arts, as you just mentioned, where students really learn empathy for themselves to, again process the trauma that they’ve been through over the last year and a half, and then develop empathy for others as well, as they are supportive of their classmates as we all reengage with in-person instruction.

“NY” composed and performed by Kosta T from the cd Soul Sand, used courtesy of the Free Music Archive.

Jo Reed:  Welcome to Art Works the weekly podcast from the National Endowment for the Arts, I’m Josephine Reed. This week’s podcast is a little bit different.  I’m going to talk with two guests about the creative economy and impact investing—don’t roll your eyes! The work is important and interesting—first up is Laura Callanan--she is the founding partner of Upstart Co-Lab, which works to connect impact investing to the creative economy. With global partners from the UK and Argentina, Upstart Co-Lab published a report about this—a group of some 40 essays from organizations from around the world who support impact investing in creative industries. Later on in the show, I’ll speak with the author of one of these essays Sheoyki Jones she’ll let us know how Atlanta is investing in its creative industries. But first, Laura Callanan is on hand to give us an overview –beginning with what we mean by the creative economy

Laura Callanan:  Well, for all of our work at Upstart Co-Lab that's really the first thing we did was realize we needed to have a clear understanding of what is the creative economy.  So we looked at how states and regions across the United States define their local creative economy, which is often a big part of their economic development planning and their jobs planning.  And one of the things we learned which was so fascinating is that the definition of the creative economy is a reflection of the culture and heritage of each place, so you see differences.  For example the State of Michigan does not include food in its definition of Michigan's creative economy.  The State of Louisiana does include food.  So since Upstart is working nationally across the United States, we looked at all of the local and regional definitions of creative economy, all of the industries that are included there and we brought them together under one umbrella and we looked at other definitions from the NEA and some of the foundations who've been working in this sector.  And then we looked to see where impact investors were already engaged and we bucketed those 145 individual industries into five key categories, ethical fashion, sustainable food, social impact media which included television and film and video games and music and a whole range of different types of storytelling and expression.  So those are three big pillars of the creative economy.  Then we have an “other” creative business category, so the fine art market would be there, architecture, other aspects of design, things like that that don't fall into food, fashion and media.  And then the fifth category is what we call creative places, those spaces where creative work happens and where creative experiences are shared.  So that's the definition that Upstart uses for all of our work in the United States and our partners in the U.K. and Argentina graciously allowed us to frame the definition of the creative economy for this report.

Jo Reed:  Okay.  And you know what my next question is going to be, we hear about impact investment too, impact investing, again, how are you defining that?

Laura Callanan:  So we're using what is really the dominant definition of impact investing, which is proper investment, we're not talking about gifts or grants or donations, we're talking about investments in companies and real estate and revenue generating initiatives, projects where there will be a financial return where you put your money in and you get your money back and you get hopefully a bit more than you originally invested.  But that's not the only thing that you get, an impact investor is also very focused on measurable social and environmental returns, social and environmental impact, they want to be sure that their money has meaning and that their profit has purpose and that they're investing in things that they can be proud of that are aligned with their values and that will make our families and our communities and the planet better.

Jo Reed:  Now, that we have that, clear—tell me about the international report Creativity Culture and Capital that Upstart Co-Lab helped bring together.

Laura Callanan:  Absolutely.  So we,  in partnership with Nesta's Art & Culture Finance Team, so they're based out of London and Fundación Compromiso which is from Buenos Aires, came together, probably started to talk about this two years ago.    And our big goal is to unlock more capital for creativity specifically capital that thinks about social and environmental impact as well as making a financial return.  And there are great examples around the world, many of which are featured in this report that share first mover examples and bright spots and stories about what's happening.  But we thought that in order to really unleash a global movement, we needed to have some data, we needed some stories and examples and we needed something that would really focus people's thinking and inspire their imagination about what would be possible.  And as we started to talk about beginning this, we realized how lucky we were in our timing and that 2021 is the United Nations' International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development.  So we worked really hard to be sure that we could have the first volume of essays ready to go and launch it in January.  And we're on target to have a second volume of essays, another 40 essays or so be published in September to coincide with the UN General Assembly which we think will be a great moment to reinitiate this conversation about how the creative sector, the creative economy is able to be a source of quality jobs, be an on ramp to economic wealth building for groups that are often overlooked and underestimated around the world, be a place where diverse storytellers can share their stories and be a place where all of the sustainable development goals that think about creativity and culture can be realized, employment, education, sustainable production and consumption and sustainable cities are all ways that the United Nations believes creativity and culture can contribute to a more sustainable world and we agree.

Jo Reed:  Now you’ve published your first group of essays and the second one is coming out in September, very shortly.  What have you learned from this from looking throughout all these essays and what do you hope that we can bring away from it?

Laura Callanan:  So I'm a little sheepish to say this, despite the importance of creativity and culture to the U.S. economy, despite the importance of creativity and culture to U.S. trade and exports and recognizing how amazingly influential the United States has been through its music and its film and its fashion all around the world, we're behind in so many ways.  We don't yet have in the United States a fund that is 100 percent focused on impact investment and is exclusively focused on the creative economy.  I mean Upstart did a small proof of concept fund in New York City with a wonderful community development finance institution partner, LISC, the Local Initiative Support Corporation a couple of years ago and we were able to demonstrate with this slightly more than six million dollar fund that if you create the investment vehicles that focus on creative places in businesses as catalysts of community growth, those impact investors will show up and participate.  So we think it's possible to do it in the United States and really this is Upstart's mission to make that happen, but we're behind the pack.  There are fabulous examples already of funds that have been around for up to five, even ten years in Europe, in Africa, in Latin America where it's already impact investing and the creative economy hand-in-hand working together.  And so I'll say that it won't be the first time that the U.S. has been a little slow on the uptake with some new innovations in impact investing and that once we got on board with something, we really take it to scale, half of the global capital that's invested in a sustainable and responsible way right now is in the United States.  So we're not shirking when it comes to impact investing writ large, by I would say in terms of us being able to bring this capital that's really aligned with values and purpose and put it to work for artists and designers and other creatives and to drive sustainable creative lives and inclusive creative communities, we haven't yet embraced the promise of what's possible and that to me is what really struck home, seeing all of these fabulous global examples where this is already happening.

Jo Reed:  You see pockets of it though, do you in the United States?  I'm thinking of Atlanta.

Laura Callanan:  Well yes, and we're featuring in this report examples of entrepreneurs and impact investors who demonstrate the promise of what's possible. But overall we don't yet have a fund that's 100 percent impact investment and 100 percent creative economy.    So you're talking about the wonderful work that the City of Atlanta is doing through their Invest Atlanta Initiative, but recognize this is a government initiative, this is a government program and they're using government money because they recognize how important film and TV especially, music also and other creative industries can be both as an engine of quality jobs and an onramp for economic opportunity in the City of Atlanta and they imagine how they could bring alongside city dollars, some philanthropic dollars and private dollars that want to be not donated but invested for impact in the creative economy of Atlanta.  So hats off to the folks at Invest Atlanta no doubt. 

Jo Reed:  You created this report as a resource for people. Where can we find it?

Laura Callanan:  We have a terrific website, creativitycultureandcapital.org, it's a global website and happily because we've got such a strong partner in Latin America, the website and all the essays are appearing in both English and in Spanish and we aspire to expand to French in the future.  This is intended to be both a place for folks to go for these essays and this information, but we also hope that it will evolve as a community going forward where folks can share information, investors and opportunities can find each other and so on.

Jo Reed:  Laura, thank you so much.  I really appreciate it. 

Laura Callanan:  Great to talk to you.  Thanks a lot Jo.

Jo Reed: That’s Laura Callanan, the founding partner of Upstart Co-Lab— Upstart Co-Lab is co-author of the report Creativity Culture and Capital. This is Art Works, I’m Josephine Reed, now we’re going to turn our attention to one of the bright spots of proactive investing in the creative economy--Atlanta Georgia and Sheoyki Jones. Sheoyki Jones is the founding program manager of Creative Industries an initiative of Invest Atlanta. She also contributed an essay to the Creativity Culture and Capital report called “The Creative Industries: Driving Economic Opportunity in Atlanta.”  Sheoyki began our conversation by filling me in on the work of Invest Atlanta

Sheoyki Jones: So Invest Atlanta, we’re the official economic development agency for the city of Atlanta.  So we’re a quasi-governmental agency that is contracted by the city of Atlanta to do economic development on behalf of the city of Atlanta.  So the cool thing about us is that we house community development and also economic development in-house, so they kind of help us make like holistic decisions when it comes to the new programs that we do. And also, we have new sectors that we focus on, which is innovation and entrepreneurship and creative industries, so-- and that’s where I sit.

Jo Reed: And that is.  You launched actually the Creative Industries part of that program.  Explain what you mean by Creative Industries.

Sheoyki Jones: Yeah.  So Creative Industries for us is anything, film, music, digital entertainment, fashion, sports, content creators.  Anything that you would consider creative usually falls in my lap.  I’ve even had people that make makeup, different things like that.  So I just try to support them from a government sector and build programs to help them grow their businesses.

Jo Reed:   What are the aims of the Creative Industries initiative?

Sheoyki Jones: Yeah.  So our main goal is to just provide equitable opportunities to all, and that’s across the board for Invest Atlanta as a whole company.  As it relates to Creative Industries, the goal is just to make them feel supported just as we support the small businesses that have brick and mortar, and then also I kind of work to alleviate some of those glass ceilings.  One of the things that is a challenge for Invest Atlanta and Creative Industries is once you get to a certain level you kind of have to leave the city of Atlanta to get to that next level of success, and that’s in film, music, tech, whatever it may be, and so what we try to do is find out what those challenges are, address them so that we can retain our talent, and also be able to provide them opportunities to be able to grow and expand, all by being here in the city of Atlanta.

Jo Reed:  What are those initiatives you use to meet those goals?

Sheoyki Jones:  We have a few different initiatives.  One of the first programs that I started was the Creative Industries Loan Fund, so we did this in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Film and Entertainment of Atlanta. One of the challenges that we hear after serving creatives is access to funding to jumpstart their content, and so we were able to create the first taxpayer dollar fund that will be investing in content.  So they could use it for production, post-production, marketing and distribution of their projects, but then also we kind of use it as a education tool for creatives for them to learn how to package themselves as a business. Letting them know that you need marketing and distribution plans, you need a business plan, you need to have a strong team, you need to know what your financial projections are going to be.  So that’s one of our programs.  Another one of our programs is our Creative Industries Exchange, which we launched about two years ago, and this was an opportunity for us to take some of those high-performing creatives and give them the opportunity to expand into international markets. The first one that we did was with Toronto.  So we took four music execs, and we set up a week full of meetings for them. They were able to meet with people from YouTube.  They met with the city of Toronto, their film and entertainment office.  They also met with Apple, a lot of like high-profile creative companies, and then also they were able to speak on a conference, one of the largest music conferences, at the city of Toronto.  So it’s a lot of different things that we try to be of support to and just address challenges, but then also the main goal is to provide opportunities that they necessarily wouldn’t have.

Jo Reed: Let me ask you how you knew where to focus your resources and the kind of research you had to do before creating these initiatives.

Sheoyki Jones: I don’t like to assume what community groups need.  I like to hear from them, take the information and then go back into our office and figure out, “Okay.  How can we alleviate these challenges?”  So, probably like the first six months to a year of my role in Creative Industries, I just met with a lot of creatives, like over maybe like a hundred to two hundred creatives.  I was talking to them at conferences, going to their events and talking to them, and then really just educating them on what Invest Atlanta was.  A lot of them did not even know what our office was and that we existed, and the resources that we provide, and so I would just go out there, explain it to them and then ask them, “How do you think that we can be of help to you?”  Like, “What do you think the city of Atlanta can be doing better?  What do you need access to?” and things like that, and so after all of that surveying, went back to the board and just started creating programs around that.  So a lot of the things that I heard was, of course, funding.  So the loan fund was our way of addressing that, and then also access to opportunities was a big thing that I heard from the creatives, and so that’s how the Creative Industries Exchange came about. Then also the work that I’m doing is making sure that we’re connecting creatives with corporate and government opportunities.  I think another big part of my job is educating creatives on why we can’t invest or do certain things just because we’re a government agency.  Like, dollars do have restrictions around them when it comes to working with a government entity, but I think that’s where those public-private partnerships come into play, which has been, like, majority of my focus going forward is like having those public-private partnerships that be able to go the extra mile when we have restrictions that we have to abide by, but we have those public-private partnerships that can be able to step in on our behalf and make sure that that impact is something that’s intentional and effective when it comes to our community.

Jo Reed: What do you think some of the biggest misconceptions people have that make them hesitant to invest in the creative industries?

Sheoyki Jones: I think when I started, a lot of excuses that I got is that it’s too risky.  Like, investing in creating are too risky.  But to me, it’s like if you invest in a tech company, you’re probably going to invest in a slate of them and one of them are going to take off, and that’s kind of the same with creative industries or even with a small business.  Even with small businesses you’re taking a chance, maybe opening a pizza shop, hair salon, whatever it may be, there is no guarantee that two to three years or five years from now that that business will still be there.  So I think a misconception around that creatives are too risky.  Like, true enough, it may not be something that you see millions of dollars from at first, but as you build and invest and really groom creatives and then also put them in rooms and give them opportunities, it really kind of protects your investment. And then also it just helps keep the culture of the city of Atlanta, because one of the things that attract people to the city of Atlanta is the culture, and the culture wouldn’t be there if it was not for the creatives in these entertainment industries. I know investing in creatives is risky, but I think you make it a calculated risk.  It can be a very good reward behind standing behind your creative community.

Jo Reed: You know, I’m glad you just said that, because creatives are not often factored into economic development budgets.

Sheoyki Jones: No.

Jo Reed: But boy, they are sure used to promote a city.

Sheoyki Jones: Yes. <laughs> Yes.  I think culture, I feel like, is one of the number one drivers even in our office that we use to attract people here is that-- is our culture.  It’s like we have food and music here.  We have tech here.  We have the best food, southern food that you’ll have here.  And so it’s like we use all that to let companies know that, “Hey, when you bring your employees here, they’re going to love the quality of life here.”

Jo Reed: You know, we know that opportunities like the ones you’re providing through Creative Industries historically have been uneven.  How do you address issues of equity?

Sheoyki Jones: It’s all about where we promote.  So one of the things that I do try to do is just make sure that I show up and I’m visible in all of these areas.  So a lot of the events and stuff that I go to are majority minorities, majority women, and it-- I just make sure that, “Hey, I just want you to know that we do have these resources.”  So doing that for almost about a year, so now, like, my phone rings off the hook like even when creatives have <laughs> an idea, or if they want to start opening brick and mortar businesses, or if they want to start employing people.  I think being able to show up and be present, that makes it equitable, because now they think of us when it comes to these resources, which also makes our pipeline more diverse, and then it helps us choose how we’re investing our money.

Jo Reed: What were some of the challenges you had in engaging creative workers, so that they would see you as a resource?

Sheoyki Jones:  I think the hardest part was --  it was two issues.  Even though we have this fund, you still have to protect your investment and then also make sure the right people are getting the fund.  So I think in the beginning the struggle was we got a lot of projects that applied that were-- they just weren’t ready.  Not to say that they weren’t good, it just wasn’t investment ready. And then the quality projects that we were seeking, a lot of them were scared to take out loans.  They didn’t trust the government, and then also they were nervous to take out loans.  So it took a lot of explaining that, “Hey, even though it is a loan, we understand that the creative community and the creative projects can be up and down, so that’s why there’s flexible repayment terms.”  So, there’s a six-month deferment term, and then also for some reason if you get behind on your payments or you’re unable to make your payments since the money is in-house, we’re able to work with you to reconstruct your loan to get it to a point where you’re able to make your payments and not be in default.  So it’s like once that messaging started to resonate with those projects, then we started to see more of those quality projects come through.

Jo Reed: And how did the pandemic change your work?

Sheoyki Jones: Wow, <laughs> it completely put everything on hold, reset, and then it also kind of changed our focus.  So before pandemic, it was creating opportunities and how can we make them more visible on a global scale?  Now it’s how can we retain our talent and how can we even put them in new jobs?  I think the biggest challenge for creatives last year was a lot of them, their work just woke up one day and they had no more gigs, and it’s like “How are they going to pay their bills?”  It’s like, “Where’s their next job going to come from?” and then even, I think with some of the unemployment, it’s just different.  Like, I feel like a lot of creatives were not even able to take advantage of that because in a creative community, you know, they get paid different.  They may not have an employer and it’s hard to explain to unemployment that, “Hey, I’m a gig worker and I get a gig maybe like once every three months, but that’s how I live.”  So our focus went from the <laughs> next Creative Industries Exchange-- I was actually in the midst of planning that, trying to do that one with Africa last year, and all of that work had to come to a pause because we had to focus on, “How can we make sure that these people are able to pay their rent?” where their next job’s going to come from, et cetera.  So majority of my time, which I’m still actually processing now, is COVID Relief grants for creatives.  and then also a lot of my I guess creative contacts, they ended up having to transition jobs, because the work was not there anymore.  So I spent a lot of time just connecting them to different opportunities.  So traditionally they may have been in the entertainment industry, but you’re good at marketing, so, “Hey, maybe you-- you may be good to do this marketing job at UPS or Home Depot,”  because different jobs were opening but more on a corporate side versus on the entertainment side.  So just trying to be those connections and advocates for people to get those new roles.

Jo Reed: Do you work with other cities?  Do you compare best practices?

Sheoyki Jones: Yes, we don’t mind sharing what it is that we do and how we do it.  So yeah.  Like, I’ve even sent, like, applications of how we do it, the tools that we use, to different cities, because I feel like a lot of cities need <laughs> to start doing this because in-- I believe in just about every city you have some type of creative community, whether it be big or small, and I just think that it’s important that we’re supporting people from all over the world, not just having in the city of Atlanta.  I’m so grateful to be able to be the example, but the true impact would be for me to see other cities starting to invest and cultivate and also like groom and provide opportunities to their creative communities.

Jo Reed: You’ve been doing this for over three years now, if you were going to give advice to somebody in another city who wanted to set up an initiative like Creative Industries,  what kind of advice would you give? What would that you would share that you’ve learned?

Sheoyki Jones: Yeah.  So the number one lesson I learned is one things is like-- and I see a lot of people do it in like different cities and even sometimes in Atlanta, is don’t assume that you know what a certain community wants or needs.  So I think-- I’ve seen it even sometimes in Invest Atlanta, sometimes we be like, “We think that they need a grocery store or something on the South Side,” and then they’re like, “No.  We actually want a farmer’s market.”  So it’s different things like that.  I think that’s the number one thing I push to cities is, “Actually talk to your creative communities, understand what their challenges are and build programming around that,” and then another thing I learned was educating our creative communities.  Some of them just don’t know.  Like they don’t know how government entities work.  They don’t know where the dollars come from.  They don’t even know what like the opportunities may be there, so if you’re thinking about really being equitable with your resources, it’s really just going to meet people where they are.  That’s another thing is don’t expect them to come to your big, shiny office or city hall and things like that.  Creative communities, they’re big on relationship, so you have to show up where they are and you have to support them, and then also truly support them and you’ll see that support come right back and then also you’ll see those relationships actually flourish.  So a lot of my relationships come from just truly maybe like doing something small like bridging a gap between corporate and government and creatives. So I think the lessons are listen to your communities.  Truly listen to them.  Show up for them. And then really try to create intentional opportunities and understand that everybody does not have the same starting point.  So especially if you think about equity and inclusion, minorities may not have that same starting point but they had a great idea, so they may not have access to funding to be able to get their projects to a certain point to show you what it is that they’re trying to do.  They may not have like a rich aunt or uncle.  They may not be able to take out a loan and things like that, so just really understanding that everybody does not have the same starting point, and if you think about what equity and inclusion is, it’s how do we get them to the same starting point so that they have the same access to the opportunities as everyone else?

Jo Reed: Where do you see the biggest challenges?

Sheoyki Jones: The biggest challenges is really I would still say funding.  I know even though that we have our loan fund.  it was a great starting point with 1.25 million dollars, but I would love to see it grow.  But then also one thing about creatives, they need access to more free money, I would say, to be able to get their projects off the ground.  I think loans are an option but just really just thinking about the history of like creatives and what their finances and things look like.  I think being able to provide them more access to free money in exchange for like marketing and promotion for cities could actually be very beneficial.  When we went-- did the exchange with Toronto, we sat down with the city of Toronto, and one of the things that I think that they’re doing is amazing work when it comes to supporting their creative communities.  Like, they have huge budgets that goes to not just creative communities as a whole but they break it down by sectors.  So you may see three million dollars going to music, five million dollars going to film. That’s where I kind of would love to see the city of Atlanta get to one day, and all of this money that they allocate for the creative industries is free monies to their communities but it’s also they use it in a way that creates more jobs for their local community.  So, if you have a festival that’s coming, now they’re hiring maybe 5,000 people locally to help run that festival, and had the city not been able to invest in that, those jobs wouldn’t been created. I think that’s like the biggest challenge and I think the blueprint is out there, watching especially what they’re doing in Canada, and then I also think like once the government gets more comfortable and city councils get more comfortable with bullishly investing in our creative communities, you’ll really see the impact of your investment on that.

Jo Reed: And finally, what do you find the most gratifying part of this job?

Sheoyki Jones: Every time I get discouraged about the work that I’m doing, like if it’s challenging or anything like that, I always will have somebody that’ll come to me and they’ll say, “The work that you’re doing is really changing lives,” and that’s my whole why.  I always knew when I graduated from college I wanted to be in a position where I’m able to help people’s dreams come true and change their lives and just help them, and that’s the most gratifying experience to me is for somebody to come to me and say, “Because of you, I was able to complete my film,” or, “complete my album,” or, “I was able to go to Toronto and now I’m an executive at YouTube.” So that is the most gratifying part of my work.

Jo Reed: Oh, Sheoyki, thank you so much.  Thank you for the work you’re doing.

Sheoyki Jones: No, thank you.  I really appreciate you all highlighting me and the work that I’m doing, because I’ve seen the work that you all have done, and the way that you all are intentional when investing in creatives and foundations.  So I appreciate you all as well.

Jo Reed: That was Sheoyki Jones. She is the founding program manager of Creative Industries an initiative of Invest Atlanta. And she contributed an essay to the Creativity Culture and Capital report called “The Creative Industries: Driving Economic Opportunity in Atlanta.” You can find it at creativitycultureandcapital.org.

You’ve been listening to Art Works produced at the National Endowment for the Arts. Keep up to date with everything happening at the NEA including information about ARP funding for arts organizations at arts.gov.

I’m Josephine Reed. Stay Safe and thanks for listening.

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