JOY GORMAN WETTELS - Exec. Producer “UnPrisoned” starring Kerry Washington, “13 Reasons Why”, Founder of Joy Coalition

JOY GORMAN WETTELS - Exec. Producer “UnPrisoned” starring Kerry Washington, “13 Reasons Why”, Founder of Joy Coalition

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Award-winning Executive Producer of UnPrisoned starring Kerry Washington & Delroy Lindo
13 Reasons Why · Home Before Dark · Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground
Founder of Joy Coalition

With UnPrisoned and with really my whole body of work as a producer, I'm really drawn to stories that make people feel seen that take issues that have stigma and shame attached to them, and making those issues just more palatable and more human. And few people realize that 50% of American families are touched by incarceration. And when you meet someone like Tracy McMillan, who really is a miracle, this is a woman who's now in her fifties who grew up in 22 different foster homes because her father was incarcerated when she was so little. And yet for all of his mistakes, the fact that he was a career criminal, he still, when he could change her diapers, he was present when he could be there. He braided her hair, and there was real love there. But they were separated not only by his mistakes, but by a system that is really unforgiving and really unfair, especially to black and brown men. So, the idea that we could tell a story where a young woman who was raised that way and by that person turns out to be Kerry Washington. You know, turns out to be somebody who you want to be, turns out to be "Olivia Pope", this woman that we all see as so beautiful and such a hero and so strong and so powerful, I felt was just an incredible opportunity. And when we first put Tracy and Kerry in the same room, Kerry said to Tracy, "You know you're a miracle, right?"

Highlights - ANNA ABRAHAM - Author of “The Neuroscience of Creativity” - Director of Torrance Center for Creativity

Highlights - ANNA ABRAHAM - Author of “The Neuroscience of Creativity” - Director of Torrance Center for Creativity

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Author of The Neuroscience of Creativity
Director of the Torrance Center for Creativity & Talent Development, University of Georgia

I love podcasts and things like that, if only to listen to people who've done incredible things. We live in a kind of unusual time where we can hear firsthand people talking about their own experiences, and what they went through when they were creating something. And while artists differ greatly from one another in terms of the specifics of their process, what certainly seems to be the case is that they're extraordinarily interested in their own mind, and they have what we would call a metacognitive awareness. They know almost quite precisely, at least what doesn't work for them. They're very cued into what to avoid and how to sort of generate the mental conditions that are necessary in order to be as generative or as creative as they're likely to be in a specific situation. So that is a deep medical awareness that they have about their own process that is really quite something. They know themselves very well.

ANNA ABRAHAM - Author of “The Neuroscience of Creativity” - Director of Torrance Center for Creativity & Talent Development

ANNA ABRAHAM - Author of “The Neuroscience of Creativity” - Director of Torrance Center for Creativity & Talent Development

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Author of The Neuroscience of Creativity
Director of the Torrance Center for Creativity & Talent Development, University of Georgia

I love podcasts and things like that, if only to listen to people who've done incredible things. We live in a kind of unusual time where we can hear firsthand people talking about their own experiences, and what they went through when they were creating something. And while artists differ greatly from one another in terms of the specifics of their process, what certainly seems to be the case is that they're extraordinarily interested in their own mind, and they have what we would call a metacognitive awareness. They know almost quite precisely, at least what doesn't work for them. They're very cued into what to avoid and how to sort of generate the mental conditions that are necessary in order to be as generative or as creative as they're likely to be in a specific situation. So that is a deep medical awareness that they have about their own process that is really quite something. They know themselves very well.

Highlights - Max Stossel - Award-winning Poet, Filmmaker, Creator of "Words That Move"

Highlights - Max Stossel - Award-winning Poet, Filmmaker, Creator of "Words That Move"

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Award-winning Poet, Filmmaker & Speaker
Creator of the Stand-Up Poetry Special Words That Move

Technology has very much changed the way we read and take in information and shortened it into quick bursts and attention spans. We're living in a new world, for sure. And how do we communicate in this new world? Not just in a way that gets the reach, because there are whole industries aimed at what do I do to get the most likes or the most attention, and all of that, which I don't think is very fulfilling as artists.

It's sort of a diminishing of our art form to try and play the game because then we're getting the attention and getting the hits, as opposed to what do I really want to create? How do I really want to create it? How do I want to display this? And can I do it in a way that breaks through so that if I do it my way, it's still going to get the attention, great. But if it doesn't, can I be cool with that? And can I be okay creating what I want to create, knowing that that's what it's about. It's about sharing in an honest, authentic way what I want to express without letting the tentacles of social media drip into my brain and take over why I'm literally doing the things that I'm doing.

Max Stossel - Award-winning Poet, Filmmaker, Creator of "Words That Move"

Max Stossel - Award-winning Poet, Filmmaker, Creator of "Words That Move"

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Award-winning Poet, Filmmaker & Speaker
Creator of the Stand-Up Poetry Special Words That Move

Technology has very much changed the way we read and take in information and shortened it into quick bursts and attention spans. We're living in a new world, for sure. And how do we communicate in this new world? Not just in a way that gets the reach, because there are whole industries aimed at what do I do to get the most likes or the most attention, and all of that, which I don't think is very fulfilling as artists.

It's sort of a diminishing of our art form to try and play the game because then we're getting the attention and getting the hits, as opposed to what do I really want to create? How do I really want to create it? How do I want to display this? And can I do it in a way that breaks through so that if I do it my way, it's still going to get the attention, great. But if it doesn't, can I be cool with that? And can I be okay creating what I want to create, knowing that that's what it's about. It's about sharing in an honest, authentic way what I want to express without letting the tentacles of social media drip into my brain and take over why I'm literally doing the things that I'm doing.

Highlights - Dickie Landry - Composer, Musician, Photographer, Artist

Highlights - Dickie Landry - Composer, Musician, Photographer, Artist

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Composer, Musician, Photographer, Artist

Einstein on the Beach, it's a masterpiece. America, in 1976, was to be celebrating its 200th year of existence, and Michel Guy, the French Minister of Culture, came to New York to offer a commission to Philip Glass and Robert Wilson to write an opera. This was the gift that France would give for America's two-hundredth anniversary. That was the first time I met Robert Wilson.

Dickie Landry - Composer, Musician, Photographer, Artist

Dickie Landry - Composer, Musician, Photographer, Artist

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Composer, Musician, Photographer, Artist

Einstein on the Beach, it's a masterpiece. America, in 1976, was to be celebrating its 200th year of existence, and Michel Guy, the French Minister of Culture, came to New York to offer a commission to Philip Glass and Robert Wilson to write an opera. This was the gift that France would give for America's two-hundredth anniversary. That was the first time I met Robert Wilson.

Highlights - Gloria Pacis - Artist

Highlights - Gloria Pacis - Artist

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Artist

I just feel there is already a connection, something I have to come to, but that I'm trying to search it out or see what's already there. I feel that we are truly connected as a world. And I'm just trying to make people aware of an existing connection we already have, to send that message out there. And I like to do it in the form of...I guess you'd call it a mundane image, where it's not really about bells and whistles, but it's about something in it makes you want to look, and you want to know why. And it's because you've been there before, regardless of whether you are a dancer or that particular guy in the subway, you know you've been in his head in that mood that he's experiencing.

Gloria Pacis - Artist

Gloria Pacis - Artist

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Artist

I just feel there is already a connection, something I have to come to, but that I'm trying to search it out or see what's already there. I feel that we are truly connected as a world. And I'm just trying to make people aware of an existing connection we already have, to send that message out there. And I like to do it in the form of...I guess you'd call it a mundane image, where it's not really about bells and whistles, but it's about something in it makes you want to look, and you want to know why. And it's because you've been there before, regardless of whether you are a dancer or that particular guy in the subway, you know you've been in his head in that mood that he's experiencing.

Highlights - Ty Jones, Producing Artistic Dir., Classical Theatre of Harlem - Allen Gilmore

Highlights - Ty Jones, Producing Artistic Dir., Classical Theatre of Harlem - Allen Gilmore

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Ty Jones (Producing Artistic Director) & Allen Gilmore (Actor)
Classical Theatre of Harlem

I believe that these plays are living arguments and that when you actually read the full text, not cut down versions of them, but the full text, you'll see that Shakespeare was commenting on the ruling class, and for some reason, he found a way to comment on the workings of folks who make decisions in society. Now, I think what's tended to happen over the years is that the ruling class has essentially taken over how we see these plays… We hope that we can move people, and we hope that these are the kind of plays that ignite discourse. I hope that at the end of seeing that piece of art, their hearts begin to beat in sync. I believe all progress begins with a conversation.

Ty Jones, Producing Artistic Dir. of Classical Theatre of Harlem - Allen Gilmore, Actor

Ty Jones, Producing Artistic Dir. of Classical Theatre of Harlem - Allen Gilmore, Actor

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Ty Jones (Producing Artistic Director) & Allen Gilmore (Actor)
Classical Theatre of Harlem

I believe that these plays are living arguments and that when you actually read the full text, not cut down versions of them, but the full text, you'll see that Shakespeare was commenting on the ruling class, and for some reason, he found a way to comment on the workings of folks who make decisions in society. Now, I think what's tended to happen over the years is that the ruling class has essentially taken over how we see these plays… We hope that we can move people, and we hope that these are the kind of plays that ignite discourse. I hope that at the end of seeing that piece of art, their hearts begin to beat in sync. I believe all progress begins with a conversation.

(Highlights) SEAN CURRAN

(Highlights) SEAN CURRAN

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Bessie Award-winning Dancer & Choreographer · Chair of Dance, NYU Tisch School of the Arts
Founder Seán Curran Company

In terms of history, the humanities show us how we were, why we were, and while we were...But then I also think about the future. What are we doing now? What seeds are we planting to inform the future?...And I said it earlier about making sense out of a chaotic universe where bad things happen to good people. Arts will help you figure that out.

SEAN CURRAN

SEAN CURRAN

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Bessie Award-winning Dancer & Choreographer · Chair of Dance, NYU Tisch School of the Arts
Founder Seán Curran Company

In terms of history, the humanities show was how we were, why we were, and while we were...But then I also think about the future. You know. What are we doing now? What seeds are we planting to inform the future...And I said it earlier about making sense out of a chaotic universe where bad things happen to good people. Arts will help you figure that out.

In Memory of TONY WALTON · 1934-2022 (Part 2)

In Memory of TONY WALTON · 1934-2022 (Part 2)

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Art and Theater Director, Costume Designer

Creativity is perhaps the ultimate mystery. I veer wildly between opposing views on it and have different feelings depending on whether the creator is isolated or a collaborator.

In Memory of TONY WALTON · 1934-2022 (Part 1)

In Memory of TONY WALTON · 1934-2022 (Part 1)

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Art and Theater Director, Costume Designer

Creativity is perhaps the ultimate mystery. I veer wildly between opposing views on it and have different feelings depending on whether the creator is isolated or a collaborator.

(Highlights) JOSH GLADSTONE

(Highlights) JOSH GLADSTONE

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Artistic Director · John Drew Theater · Guild Hall of East Hampton

And the era of the actor-manager has probably passed, but in a curious way, I feel like I've been living that life as an actor-manager because I will both act, direct or produce and they all inform each other. You know, they're all part of the same creative language. And I think, having been an actor and first and foremost loving being an actor, I think I know how to speak and communicate with other actors at various levels.

JOSH GLADSTONE

JOSH GLADSTONE

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Artistic Director · John Drew Theater · Guild Hall of East Hampton

And the era of the actor-manager has probably passed, but in a curious way, I feel like I've been living that life as an actor-manager because I will both act, direct or produce and they all inform each other. You know, they're all part of the same creative language. And I think, having been an actor and first and foremost loving being an actor, I think I know how to speak and communicate with other actors at various levels.

(Highlights) JOE MANTEGNA

(Highlights) JOE MANTEGNA

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Actor and Director

When I read Mamet, to me, it was almost like–Yeah! I get it. This is a language I understand. It felt very comfortable to me. And I know he has told me that he has written characters with my voice in his mind as he wrote them, and so, again how lucky for me that that's the case. I feel very lucky that it's worked out that way that he's the writer that I ended up hooking up with.

JOE MANTEGNA

JOE MANTEGNA

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Actor and Director

When I read Mamet, to me, it was almost like–Yeah! I get it. This is a language I understand. It felt very comfortable to me. And I know he has told me that he has written characters with my voice in his mind as he wrote them, and so, again how lucky for me that that's the case. I feel very lucky that it's worked out that way that he's the writer that I ended up hooking up with.

(Highlights) DELIA EPHRON

(Highlights) DELIA EPHRON

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Author, Screenwriter and Producer

So the great thing about being a writer is you can take the pain of your life and make something out of it. And you can mix it up with the happier parts and make something even better out of it. I mean, it's kind of all these things end up being gifts when you're older.