VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE # 267
AIR DATE: 02 24 2023
TRANSCRIPT
OPEN ((VO/NAT/SOT))
((Topic Banner))
Diversity in America’s Orchestra
((SOT))
((Charles Dickerson, Conductor))
If American orchestras are going to survive, American orchestras need to look like America. We need to look like Black people. We need to look like Latino people. We need to have members who are from native American community. Orchestras need to be just like America.
((Animation Transition))
((Topic Banner))
Because She Loves Music
((SOT))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
Creativity is the ability to self-manage and create your own life. And that's what democracy is all about. And so, for me, arts education is fundamental to being able to instill democratic ideals in the next generation.
((Animation Transition))
((Topic Banner))
Meaningful Art
((SOT))
((Jared Owens, Artist))
That was the thing that kept me going, was the challenge of saying, “Hey, I'm going to make it through this part of my life, and I'm going to get home, and I'm going to have a practice.” I studied like a lot. What paints are made out of, the materials, what the masters painted with.
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((PKG) AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS NEED TO LOOK LIKE AMERICA / DIVERSITY IN ORCHESTRAS
((TRT: 04:05))
((Topic Banner: Diversity in Orchestras))
((Producer/Camera: Genia Dulot))
((Map: Los Angeles, California))
((Main characters: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 3 male))
((Blurb: This Youth Orchestra is the Largest Majority Black Orchestra in the U.S.))
((NATS/MUSIC))
Two, three and four.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Charles Dickerson
Conductor))
There are youth orchestras all over the United States. Most of them are in suburbs. Most of them are in outlying areas, not in inner city areas. They are in areas where there is great wealth. They are in areas that are very Anglo. There aren’t youth orchestras in the middle of the ghetto, and that’s where these young people live. And they can play. They can play just as well, if not better.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Charles Dickerson
Conductor))
To my best knowledge, our orchestra, the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles, is now the largest primarily African-American orchestra in the entire country. Youth or not, we certainly are the largest youth orchestra.
Well, we’re full now. We’ve grown from that original 9 to 24. When we play a full concert at like a Disney Hall now, we got 125,130 young people on that stage.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Charles Dickerson
Conductor))
The inspiration came from the young people who wanted a place to do music that was safe, that was in their community, where they didn’t have to go miles and miles away to do it, where it didn’t cost them anything. When they asked me to do it, it’s kind of hard to say no.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((DaQuan Robinson
Orchestra Member))
He called me and asked me, “Would I be interested in starting a youth orchestra?” Along with me, I got eight other responses, and the nine of us started this group at the beginning of the summer of 2009.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jordan Busa
Orchestra Member))
Organization grew and grew and grew, and next thing I know, I was playing for Michelle Obama. I was playing on the National Mall. I am also playing at the Hollywood Bowl, for the NFL [National Football League]. I’ve met so many different people and I’ve gained so much performing experience.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Charles Dickerson
Conductor))
We take young people as young as ten years old, and the core of our orchestra are young people who are middle school and high school age. The young people don’t pay. We don’t charge a tuition or a fee, so that they can participate. I think just about every young person who is in our orchestra today has their own instrument. But if they don’t have an instrument, we will provide an instrument for them at no cost.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Charles Dickerson
Conductor))
Those young people who participate in our program, they’re involved in high level activity. They’re going to make it in other areas of life that are high level. The disciplines of music are transferable into other areas of life. To learn how to play, you got to practice. To practice, that means doing something over and over and over again in the pursuit of excellence until you get it right. When you instill this kind of discipline in a young child, you’re changing the world.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Charles Dickerson
Conductor))
I’m of the view that we need to have an inner city youth orchestra in every city of the United States, where there is a substantial number of, where there is a critical mass of young people who are Black. My mantra is, we need to have one every place where there is an NFL team.0725
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Luis Jimenes
Orchestra Member))
I am Brown. I’m Hispanic. I play French horn in this orchestra. I am very lucky to be a member of this orchestra for many years.
Especially when it comes to classical music and orchestras, they do not have enough Hispanic people or African American people in those groups. And thanks to this orchestra, they give us an opportunity to prove that we do belong in those groups, that we belong to be on those stages playing Mozart, Haydn, Mahler.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Charles Dickerson
Conductor))
If American orchestras are going to survive, American orchestras need to look like America. We need to look like Black people. We need to look like Latino people. We need to have members who are from native American community. Orchestras need to be just like America.
((NATS/MUSIC))
TEASE ((VO/NAT/SOT))
Coming up…
((Topic Banner))
Because She Loves Music
((SOT))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
I think that leadership is serving others. And so, my job as the conductor is literally to allow the music to come through me, and to share that with the musicians, and to create a space that allows for the music to also come through them.
((NATS))
BREAK ONE
((https://www.voanews.com/a/logon-bird-migration-tech--web-mp4/6655228.html))
((Bird Migration Tech))
((Rodd Kelsey
The Nature Conservancy))
((Courtesy: Google Earth))
((Courtesy: Cornell Lab of Orinthology))
((Courtesy: Point Blue Conservation Science/The Nature Conservancy))
((Jon Munger
Montana Farms))
((Courtesy: California Rice Commission))
((Courtesy: Migration Bird Conservancy Partnership))
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((PKG)) BECAUSE SHE LOVES MUSIC
((Previously aired May, 2022))
((TRT: 08:40))
((Topic Banner: Because She Loves Music))
((Producer: Faiza Elmasry))
((Camera/Editor: June Soh))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((Main characters: 1 female))
((Sub characters: 1 female))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
Music is joy. It's joyful. And I feel like whatever orchestra I'm standing in front of, whether it's my orchestra or another orchestra, I want all of us to be able to rekindle that joy that we all first felt, you know, as young students starting out in the business.
((Courtesy: The Kennedy Center))
((Text-over-Video:
Conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson was invited to lead the National Symphony Orchestra in a Family Concert, the world premiere of Because.))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
This is my first time with the National Symphony here at the Kennedy Center. They've been incredibly generous and really wonderful to work with. Often when you do programs like this that involve a lot of technical back and forth, there are actors on stage. There are visuals being projected. So, there's a lot of moving parts in addition to just the music making. And so, just their patience, their diligence, their really willingness to throw themselves into this work and into the spirit of it, I've been so grateful for.
((NATS: Jeri Lynne Johnson and Narrator))
Jeri: She can just come on. They are tuning. Tuning, tuning, tuning.
Narrator: This is how it happened.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
Because, this piece that we are presenting is based upon the book of the same name, Because, which was written by Mo Willems, very famous children's book author, and illustrated by Amber Ren.
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
The book itself is about the way that beauty gets passed on from one generation to the next because people are inspired.
((Courtesy: The Kennedy Center))
((NATS: Clapping & Narrator & Music))
Narrator: This is how it happened.
Music
Narrator: Because a man named Ludwig [Beethoven] made beautiful music,
Music
Narrator: a man named Franz [Schubert] was inspired to create his own.
((NATS))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
And then as we progress, we see that because Schubert wrote this symphony and so many people wanted to hear it, how orchestra performances can be put together.
((Courtesy: The Kennedy Center))
((NATS: Music and Narrator))
Music
Narrator: Because many others loved and practiced their instruments, there were enough musicians.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
So, there's all these elements about how a concert works, so that when children come to a concert, they're aware that there are ushers who are making sure that the seats are ready. There are people who are facilitating the lighting.
((Courtesy: The Kennedy Center))
((NATS: Narrator))
Narrator: Because someone's uncle caught a cold, someone's aunt had an extra ticket for someone special. Because the usher helped the aunt and her special guest, they found their seats.
((NATS))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
In this process, we see then a young girl who gets invited to this concert quite by accident, and she falls in love with the music that she sees on stage. And because she was at this concert, she then is inspired to become a composer and a conductor and share her gift of music with the world, that will then inspire another child who's in the audience, hearing her music.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Courtesy: The Kennedy Center))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
The music that has been composed for this that represents the new music of the young girl, is written by a really wonderful composer, Jessie Montgomery. And she had wonderful assistance in the arrangement by Jannina Norpoth. So, it's a really collaborative effort bringing this project to life.
((NATS))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
When I got the email from the Kennedy Center asking to participate in this project, and I was like in the quiet car on the train. And I was like, I kind of like screaming because I had, I have a, now a six-year-old daughter and I had bought this book for her when she was four and I would read it to her. And so, I knew this book when they said it and I love it so much because this story was my story. I was inspired by a concert to become a composer and conductor. And so, I really identified with this. And so, I was so honored and excited to be a part of this project.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Courtesy: The Kennedy Center))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
I started out as a pianist at the age of four. I studied piano at a very young age. I've always loved music. And I was really lucky to have some family friends of my parents take me to my first orchestra concert. I'll never forget. It was in Minnesota. That's where we were living at the time.
I'll never forget it was a beautiful Beethoven symphony. I don't remember which one it was, but I just fell in love with the music. I fell in love with the spectacle and the power of seeing all of those musicians playing different instruments in different ways, making music together. I did not see a piano on the stage. And so, like in my seven-old-brain, I kind of figured, “Okay, if I want to make that music, I have to do what I see the man on the stage doing, waving this stick around.” And so, that's how I just, I decided right then I wanted to be a conductor.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
I think that leadership is serving others. And so my job as the conductor is literally to allow the music to come through me, and to share that with the musicians, and to create a space that allows them, for the music to also come through them.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Courtesy: The Kennedy Center))
((NATS: Jeri Lynne Johnson))
Jeri Lynne: And because I love conducting so much, I enjoy teaching other young people how to conduct. And so, at this point, I’d like to ask if there are any mildly enthusiastic young people out there in the audience too, who might want to come up and get a conducting lesson with the National Symphony Orchestra?
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
Not just music but the arts in general are really critical. I think for a lot of years, people probably felt that teaching the arts in public schools may have been a luxury. It's not a core skill like reading and writing and arithmetic and science. But I think one of the things that we see very, very recently is how important creativity is to critical thinking skills, to social-emotional development. And also to give children a sense of agency, that they have the ability to identify their emotions and thoughts and express them constructively in a way that allows them to make their way through society in a variety of institutions. This is how we begin to very gently and softly teach children how democracy works. Creativity is the ability to self-manage and create your own life. And that's what democracy is all about. And so for me, arts education is fundamental to being able to instill democratic ideals in the next generation.
((Courtesy: The Kennedy Center))
((NATS: Jeri Lynne Johnson))
Jeri Lynne: Come on up. I have three batons. Okay.
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
I hope for the families coming to the Because event is that they leave feeling inspired to wave a pencil or a baton or something around and just feel the power of music in themselves and think about how they might be able to express that. You know, it isn't necessary for everyone to be a world-class violinist or you've been studying piano for 20 years. If you love music and you want to just sing or clap your hands and express yourself any way you want to.
((Courtesy: The Kennedy Center))
((NATS: Jeri Lynne Johnson))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
We don't own Beethoven. We don't own Schubert. We don't own Montgomery. This is something that belongs to all of us.
((Courtesy: The Kennedy Center))
((NATS))
That is how it happened.
TEASE ((VO/NAT/SOT))
Coming up…
((Topic Banner))
An Artist Creates Art
((SOT))
((Jared Owens
Artist))
How art helped me in prison was definitely a coping mechanism, but it was also an exercise in seeing what I can get away with. Even making pieces inside, anything that was made, to me, was valuable because it was creativity in a place that was supposed to oppress you.
BREAK TWO
((UV Disinfecting Robots))
((Andy Molnar
UVD Robots))
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((PKG)) AN ARTIST CREATES ART
((TRT: 07:50))
((Topic Banner: An Artist Creates Art))
((Reporter/Camera: Aaron Fedor))
((Producer: Kathleen McLaughlin))
((Editor: Kyle Dubiel))
((Map: New York City, New York))
((Main characters: 1 male))
((Blurb: We meet and visit with Jared Owens an artist whose work and process are influenced by his past experience in Federal prison and a Carceral Aesthetic.))
((NATS/SOT))
((Jared Owens
Artist))
Oh, we’re in luck. Yes, we are. Yeah. We got some live paint here. You gotta…try to…yeah…get it across and then, like that.
((Jared Owens
Artist))
My name is Jared Scott Owens. I’m a visual artist. My practice is still developing. I'm incorporating found objects. I have a background in ceramics and assemblage and some installation art.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Courtesy: Jared Owens))
((Jared Owens
Artist))
I went to prison for conspiracy to possess narcotics, cocaine. Life in the federal prison was like waiting at DMV [Department of Motor Vehicles] with stabbings in between.
((Text on screen: Jared Owens served 13 years, 3 months at Fairton Federal Prison in New Jersey from February 2000 to April 2013.))
((MUSIC))
((Jared Owens
Artist))
It was like my fifth year. I was walking through the rec [recreation] yard and they had a ceramic program there.
((Courtesy: Jared Owens))
And I remember that I did ceramics as a child. That was my first love. So, I started going in there. I got the ceramic bug, which is a weird bug to get, but the ceramic bug is good because it's very Zen like, sort of take your mind off, you know, your situation. So, I needed that.
((Courtesy: Jared Owens))
And then eventually, wound up teaching classes, taking over a lot of responsibilities inside the ceramic room itself, teaching other guys throughout the years. I segued into painting because I always painted too. I had a[n] easel in junior high school and high school. And then I just, I knew, I started really looking at art in magazines and I said, you know what? I need to paint. I understand the language, what it takes to do it. And I didn't have the material to do it, but I could visualize what it was to paint.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Jared Owens
Artist))
How art helped me in prison was definitely a coping mechanism, but it was also an exercise in seeing what I can get away with while I was in there. I always need to feel like I'm breaking the law for some reason. And art made me feel like I was breaking the law while I was in prison without really doing anything that's going to get me in big trouble. Even making pieces inside, anything that was made, to me, was valuable because it was creativity in a place that was supposed to oppress you. That was the thing that kept me going, was the challenge of saying, “Hey, I'm going to make it through this, you know, part of my life, and I'm going to get home, and I'm going to have a practice.” I studied like a lot. What paints are made out of, the materials, what the masters painted with, what they had, what they didn't have, the first cadmiums, when they were on a canvas, you know, like who was the first one to do that, like I was interested in all that. And that kept me going.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Courtesy: Jared Owens))
((Jared Owens
Artist))
So, in this jar is soil from FCI [Federal Correctional Institution] Fairton. This is a peanut butter jar that’s sold in commissary. I would just clean these out. I would go to the yard and scoop up some dirt. It's a pretty soil. Like this is the soil from like that part of New Jersey, and it's unlike the soil here in New York, believe it or not. It's got a different color to it.
I was looking for a conceptual, physical element from inside the prison that spoke about everybody that's inside the prison. And this is the only thing I could find and had the DNA, the blood, sweat and tears of every, you know, person whoever came through the prison was probably on, in this soil from the weight pile. So for me, the idea was, you know, it came from watching “Saving Private Ryan”, when the guy was
((Courtesy: Jared Owens))
taking the soil from all the battlefield and stick it in his backpack. And this is kind of like the same thing for me. You know, like there's a finite amount of it. I'll never go back and get any more of it. So for me, it's a precious material.
((Jared Owens
Artist))
And I actually cut it with sand. Like this little bit that’s left might make into like 15 paintings. It's ever present. It's in all the work.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jared Owens
Artist))
So, the other thing that I incorporate into my practice is, like I call it, ‘The Carceral Palette’ or ‘The Prison Pallet’, which is,
((Courtesy: Jared Owens))
the hues are usually cadmiums, Indian yellows, just really dull colors, but they're bright, but they're dulled. The only place you're going to find this pallet is inside prison. It's just I’m an antenna. So I grab things out of the way they feel.
((Jared Owens
Artist))
So, like the work behind me is titled, ‘Nemesis’. I don't really do figurative painting, but I like this one because I did it by accident, and it's got everything that I love. It's just a loose painting. And it was a painting I did during when we had the upheavals because of the George Floyd killing.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jared Owens
Artist))
The bricks that are inside this dumpster there, they are really over 50, 60 years old, maybe even older. They don't fire them like that anymore. So, it’s a, it’s a…to me, it's a material that's valuable because it can't be replicated. And as far as applying it to a cultural aesthetic,
((Courtesy: Jared Owens))
I mean, bricks are used to build buildings. And unfortunately, some of the buildings that bricks build are prisons.
((Jared Owens
Artist))
And yeah, I just wish I can get in here to grab some of them.
((NATS/MUSIC))
Silver Art Residency decided, in its second year, to incorporate individuals that are affected by mass incarceration of mainly formerly incarcerated artists. We have three slots open every year for people who fit that criteria. And this first iteration of that is artist, Jesse Krimes, also my good friend. Mary Baxter is also my good friend. And Russell Craig, also one of my good friends. All formerly incarcerated, all in the nonprofit world, and all making contributions to end mass incarceration.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jared Owens
Artist))
And I'm into these found objects and they're everywhere, you know. I see beauty and I see a carceral aesthetic in a lot of these objects. I get a lot of feedback on the work and there's really…
((Courtesy: Jared Owens))
I don't try to message in the work, but they, you know, people extrapolate messages from the work on their own, and that's fine with me. It's fascinating to hear people, to have subject matter that's really dark, and then present it in a way that is more palatable to the eyes and to the senses, but it's still dark subject matter.
((Jared Owens
Artist))
The first time I saw this, this piece was in a reclamation yard. And the reclamation yard is in wine country in the North Fork of Long Island. So, I'm assuming that somebody had a, in a winery, you know, they commissioned somebody to build this thing, and then store wine in it, you know, bottles would have went this way. But, you know, when I see it, I see cells, I see tiers, I see prison, I see a carceral aesthetic that I just can't escape. It looks like it was designed as a prison.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jared Owens
Artist))
I never really think about…I just think about my practice as it's just going. I don't really think about past, present. There's no linear aspect to anything that I'm doing. It's kind of like a lot of happenstances in the work, and I'm just going with the flow. I don't have a calendar that says, “I'm going to be at this point, this point. Where will you be in five years?” I just, I try to live every day as if, you know, what am I doing today?
((NATS: Jared Owens))
I might mess with this today. See what comes of it.
((NATS/MUSIC))
CLOSING BUMPER ((ANIM))
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NEXT WEEK ((VO/NAT/SOT))
((Topic Banner))
In coming weeks…
Feeding the Underprivileged
((Devina Mahapatra
Founder, Dulles South Soup Kitchen))
I have always been a volunteer in a soup kitchen, but after looking a lot, I did not find a soup kitchen in Loudoun County. I decided that, you know, I'm just going to have to start one.
I believe that no one should ever go to bed hungry. We have to have equitable food available to everybody. That was one of the reasons I started the soup kitchen. I have many young volunteers as part of the soup kitchen. I try to make sure that the youth is involved early so that they make giving part of what their life is going to be. Anisha and Yash, my two children, are part of the volunteers as well.
((Topic Banner))
Hope Changing Lives
((Dei Jay Jamison
Member, Mobile Hope))
We do this every week, so we hand out food, non-perishables and perishables to families who need them. And we go to different like bus stops, like every week.
CLOSING ((ANIM))
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BREAK THREE
((https://www.voanews.com/a/episode_experiencing-realities-aging-through-virtual-reality-4505071/6113741.html))
((VR Experiencing Aging))
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((Carrie Shaw
Founder & CEO, Embodied Labs))
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((Courtesy: California State University Channel Islands))
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((Jaime Hannans
California State University Channel Islands))
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
SHOW ENDS
