mcc – Page 11 – Creative Minds Out Loud

Episode 65: Museum Apprenticeships Transform Lives of New Bedford Youth

The City of New Bedford wanted to increase its high school graduation rates. As their response, New Bedford Whaling Museum launched the High School Apprenticeship Program, which provides resources and support to students that deepen community engagement and cultivate college and career readiness. Director of Apprentices and Interns Christina Turner and then Vice President of Education and Programs Sarah Rose share how the apprenticeship program has grown into a nationally-recognized model for creative youth development – with a 100% graduation rate for its participants.

Sarah Rose (left) and Christina Turner (right) Christina Turner is the Director of Apprentices and Interns at the New Bedford Whaling Museum where she directs the Museum’s High School Apprenticeship Program which earned the 2017 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award and the 2018 American Alliance of Museum Education Committee’s Excellence in Programming Award. In this role, she leads all recruiting and community engagement efforts and designs, implements, and evaluates all aspects of the program’s curriculum, daily activities, and operations.
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Episode 64: Fashion Rolls Forward

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Jay Calderin, Founder and Executive Director of Boston Fashion Week, discusses his work as a designer with the Fashion Accessibility Project and how it inspired new ways of thinking about designing for the body.

The Boston Globe refers to Jay Calderin as “a budding designer’s best friend.” Calderin is the author of The Fashion Design Reference & Specification Book (formerly Form, Fit, Fashion), which the LA Times called, “a new fashion bible for designers, aspirers and the just plain curious, this tome contains all the secrets.”
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Episode 63: Boston’s Literary District Engages Writers of Today with the City’s Rich Past

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In 2014, Boston became the first American city to have a Literary Cultural District. Last year we spoke with Eve Bridburg, Executive Director of GrubStreet and Founder of the Boston Literary District, and Alysia Abbott, Director of the Boston Literary District. They discuss what it takes to support long-term collaboration between organizations of different sizes and missions. Alysia says a big part of her job is sustaining engagement in shared work while providing a partnership flexible enough to withstand institutional needs and transitions.

Eve Bridburg and Alysia Abbott Eve Bridburg is the Founder and Executive Director of GrubStreet which has grown into a national literary powerhouse. Her mission is to work with her team toward building the most inclusive and accessible writing center in the country. Interested in the connection between civics and the narrative arts, Eve sits on the Executive Committee of the Boston’s Literary Cultural District and is an active partner with the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.
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Episode 62: When Growing Audiences, Going Too Fast is as Dangerous as Too Slow

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Graham Wright, Founder of Opus Affair, discusses the perennial question of how do organizations take care of their established audience while leaving room to create emerging audiences.

Graham Wright is an arts management consultant, classical singer, and founder of Opus Affair—an organization focused on connecting individuals with arts and culture events in their communities. Opus Affair, called a “social behemoth” by the Boston Globe, has over 7,000 individual members in the Boston area and has partnered with arts and culture organizations in Boston and beyond, including Boston Philharmonic, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Baroque, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston Athenaeum, Boston Children’s Museum, Museum of Science Boston, Boston Early Music Festival, Celebrity Series of Boston, Odyssey Opera, Michigan Science Center, Portland Bach Experience, and White Snake Projects.
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Episode 61: Oh, the Places Springfield Museums Will Go!

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Kay Simpson, President of the Springfield Museums, speaks to the opening of the Dr. Seuss Museum, and what it means to Springfield, MA, Theodor Geisel’s hometown.

Kay Simpson is President of the Springfield Museums. She received her B.A. from Smith College and a M.Ed. in educational administration from the University of Massachusetts. Ms. Simpson has more than 30 years of museum experience.

Her current responsibilities include the direction of all areas of operations for the Springfield Museums, an interdisciplinary complex of two art museums, a history museum, a science museum, the outdoor Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden and the newly open Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum.
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