Episode 110: Prescribing Cultural Engagement as a Protective, Healthy Habit

Dr. Deborah Buccino and Adrien Conklin, BSN RN of MACONY Pediatrics discuss the addition of social prescription – prescribing cultural engagement as a protective, healthy habit – to their collaborative care work in the Berkshires.

“We can give prescriptions for medicine. We can give prescriptions to see a neurologist. But we can also give a prescription for something fun to do with your family. And that’s just as important as some medicines or referrals,” Conklin said.

Dr. Buccino said their participation in CultureRx social prescription has also meant getting to know patients more as people, instead of just their physical bodies. “It does a lot to combat physician burnout.”

Dr. Deborah Buccino and Adrien ConklinDeborah Buccino, MD is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Medical School. Since completing a residency in pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital in 1996, she has practiced general pediatrics at MACONY Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Dr. Buccino is an Instructor of Pediatrics at Boston University Medical School. Dr. Buccino is a school physician at Berkshire School and previously at Bard College at Simon’s Rock.

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Episode 109: To Change an Org’s Culture, Rip Off the Band-Aid

Last November, we spoke with Michael J. Bobbitt, Artistic Director of New Repertory Theatre, about approaching major change in an organization. He shares ways to identify organizational culture, support staff work/life balance, and keep a board focused.

Michael Bobbitt. Photo: DJ CoreyMichael J. Bobbitt is the Artistic Director of New Repertory Theatre. He is an arts leader, director, choreographer, and playwright. Prior to New Rep, he served as Artistic Director for Adventure Theatre-MTC in Maryland, where he led the organization to be a respected theatre/training company in the DC region and a nationally influential professional Theatre for Young Audiences.

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Episode 108: Learning in Concert

New Bedford Symphony Orchestra (NBSO) Education Director Terry Wolkowicz discusses Learning in Concert, an in-school partnership program between the NBSO and over 40 elementary schools in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Through this concept-based arts integration program, music educators work with non-arts teachers to remove barriers between a concept (e.g. gravity, space, and sound) and how the students experience it (e.g. employing classical music chord cycles to imitate the gravitation pull and orbital rates of planets).

Terry WolkowiczTerry Wolkowicz received her bachelor’s degree in music education from the New England Conservatory of Music and a master’s degree in education from Harvard University. For the past ten years, she has worked as the Education Director for the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra.

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Episode 107: Youth Workforce Development in Creative Industries

Kim Dawson is the Director of Advancement at ZUMIX, a venerable creative youth development organization in East Boston. ZUMIX works with a largely immigrant community to better equip its youth to be able to navigate the world once they have graduated out of ZUMIX and high school. Dawson shares how they are expanding their opportunities for workforce development to help youth gain the skills they need to be paid well to do something they really love.

Kim DawsonKim Dawson is an Assistant Professor of Arts Administration in the Music Business/Management Department at Berklee College of Music and the Director of Advancement at ZUMIX. Kim has been working in the nonprofit sector as an artist, educator, administrator, and humanitarian for over 15 years.

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Episode 106: Sharing the Bounties of Human Culture

“The humanities give people time to reflect and think about issues in a different way than our daily living,” says Jack Cheng, Academic Director of the Boston Clemente Course.

The Clemente Course is a college-level introduction to the humanities for adults facing economic hardship and adverse circumstances. Cheng shares how teaching adults makes for a rich learning environment and pushes him to be a better teacher.

Jack ChengSince 2001, Jack Cheng has taught art history at the Dorchester/Boston site of the Bard College Clemente Course in the Humanities, and has served as Academic Director since 2012. The Boston Clemente Course is the subject of a forthcoming documentary by Lost Nation Pictures. Jack has worked as an archaeologist at sites in Turkey, Syria, and Sudan.

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