Where can artists be seen as cultural workers and offer other humans much needed creative engagement? The intersection of Arts and Health. In 2017, we founded Stories Love Music (501c3) and integrated our deep relationship with music into a program (The Joy of Creative Engagement), for caregivers and those living with dementia. The United States does have some exciting organizations that are diving into this world of Neuro-Arts, the creative arts meeting the challenges in neurodegenerative diseases. And when we hear of artists doing this kind of awesome work in other countries, we have to talk to them!

Our latest guest is Liz Clark, an Ireland-based singer, songwriter, performer, and musician. Liz has recorded 5 full length studio albums of original songs. She has performed and collaborated throughout the US and Europe working solo engagements as well as alongside the likes of Sarah Maclachlan, Emmylou Harris, The Counting Crows and more.

Over the past ten years she has been working extensively in the Arts and Health context in which she developed a collaborative approach to the songwriting process in healthcare settings across West Cork. As part of the Arts For Health Partnership Programme, she developed The Starling Song Project which preserves stories and heritage from older participants with dementia, in the form of song and songwriting. From this work, she developed The Starling Band, involving other singers and instrumentalists to showcase this music in a wider context outside of the hospitals. Liz is also the leader of a community choir and choirs for the wellbeing of staff.

Music and Lyrics in this episode written and perfomed by James Harrell and Ilyana Kadushin.

No, I Know's Make a Difference Series continues. Across America there are beach towns and resorts areas filled with restaurants and hotels that can create an incredible amount of waste and food waste. Ocean City, Maryland is no different. What can be done about this food waste? Lets find out.

Segment One: Josh Chamberlain is the visionary founder of Go Green OC, an environmental non-profit committed to transforming Ocean City, Maryland into the first zero waste resort town in the United States. Armed with a background in marketing, Josh has always harbored a deep passion for environmental preservation and a profound dedication to safeguarding the planet for future generations. In 2018, driven by an unwavering commitment, Josh transformed this passion into a compelling mission by establishing Go Green OC. Under Josh's leadership, the organization has achieved remarkable milestones in the quest for a cleaner, healthier planet. This includes spearheading a citywide compost program that has diverted over 650,000 pounds of food waste.

Segment Two: Prince Street Elementary's Rhythm & Roots was founded by Physical Education, Health and World Music Teacher, Dustin Thomas. Three students unexpectedly lost their father during the 2018-2019 school year. Mr. Thomas could see a change in their schoolwork and behavior, and he knew he had to find a way to connect with them. Knowing their father played drums, he created an after-school music program, Rhythm and Roots, to engage these struggling scholars and strengthen their connection to their father's legacy. The program began with a whistle, drumsticks, and paint buckets donated by a local paint store. Many Prince Street scholars asked to participate as they heard what was happening. Mr. Thomas began writing grant applications to obtain funding for additional equipment. Rhythm and Roots became a program with local, state, and national recognition in many outlets, including Inspire One Magazine, SHAPE Maryland, Hip Hop Public Health, and the NBC Today Show.

All Music and Lyrics by your hosts, James Harrell and Ilyana Kadushin

How does it affect the development of self and our culture as a whole if we regularly engage in the creative process and what if we don’t? Art and Spirit, they are in a marriage and are profoundly dependent on each other in ways we do not understand! What are the steps of the creative process and how is the subconscious at play with this? We have invited someone to shed light on this….an artist, teacher and author. Coeleen Kiebert is a sculptor working in both ceramic and bronze. She exhibits her work nationwide in museums and galleries and is represented in numerous private collections. She has degrees in Art Education and Psychology Her interest in the psychology of the creative process, she pursued the effects of Asian philosophy on Western art. Her search for the “spiritual” in art has taken her to extensive study and travel in Japan and China and left a decided impression on her sculpture. These pursuits have become a powerful influence as she digs deeply for personal and spiritual meaning in her sculpting process. Music and Lyrics by James Harrell and Ilyana Kadushin.