Fresh Arts Podcast

Episode 0: Promo

October 07, 2020 Fresh Arts Season 1 Episode 1
Fresh Arts Podcast
Episode 0: Promo
Show Notes Transcript

We did it! Fresh Arts follows up its Summit and Discussion Series with the podcast series "Should I or Shouldn't I?" that will air October 15, 2020. Listen to this promo to hear Reyes Ramirez and Angela Carranza talk about their experiences with creating a new venture and how they've adjusted to online programming, as well as some behind the scenes info on how the podcast was curated. 
Intro Music: "Ike is Gone" by Nick Gaitan

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Reyes  0:09  
Hello, and welcome to a promo for Should I or shouldn't I a Fresh Arts podcast hosted by me Reyes Ramirez, where we'll explore the decisions artists make everyday to succeed in their creative practice.

This podcast will formally air on October 15 2020. We invited creatives who chose different answers to different pertinent questions. There will be no right or wrong answers at the end of each discussion, so this is not meant to be a one size fits all sort of deal. Rather, we're processing the complexity of such choices to seemingly simple questions in hopes of enlightening others to consider different factors and forming their own conclusions. Today, we're not asking anything, just giving some info on how this came to be, and really what we wanted to be the product that comes out of this effort. And so today, I'm actually joined by my colleague, Angela Carranza. How you doing?

Angela  1:08  
Hello, hello, podcast world.

Reyes  1:11  
Yo. Yeah. So could you I guess, give a quick introduction of yourself?

Angela  1:17  
Yeah, so I yeah. I'm Angela Carranza. I'm the program manager for Fresh Arts. I handle all the program things.

Reyes  1:29  
All the program things? Like what? What do you, what you do?

Angela  1:34  
Um, I do a little bit of everything. In case you don't know what Fresh Arts does. We do a lot to help support artists in their professional career practices. So that ranges from professional development, workshops. We do our online artist resources. We've got some handy dandy toolkits that are written by artists on different business and career topics. We did an annual summit. We do a program called Artist Inc. Umm, different, other online resources. My mind is blanking out. And we do this podcast.

Reyes  2:16  
Right, right, right. Yeah, so my name is Reyes. And you'll be hearing my voice a lot for the for this podcast. I myself am a writer, first and foremost, but also an arts admin and community organizer.

And so...

the idea for this podcast actually come up a while ago, but ever since the COVID-19 crisis began, we started transitioning more and more into virtual online experiences. And it's been an adjustment, to say the least. And so we were essentially following up our huge event, the Fresh Arts summit, that had gone virtual this year. And before that, we did a series of discussions that featured Houston creatives and organizations, and how they adjusted to COVID-19. And I guess that all leads up to my question to you, Angela, well, how is that adjustment been to you? How's that adjustment been? In regards to like what you're used to in terms of being a program director for a nonprofit?

Angela  3:33  
Well, traditionally, all of our programs happen in person. So we'll have a either a workshop, or an event, and artists come to it, and we get to talk to them afterwards, or during, and there's that human connection that's made. And that's sort of missing right now with the virtual world. And that's kind of out of our hands. But it has opened us up to finding different ways to make those connections, and finding other ways to highlight artists. And it's been really successful in terms of connecting artists with, with the online public, and having them tell their stories, talk about their careers. And this new virtual world has really created a platform where we're able able to feature artists more than ever, I can't even count how many artists that we've been able to feature through our digital resources with the virtual summit and the the virtual conversations that we had on Facebook.

And now through this podcast.

Reyes  4:51  
Absolutely. And I will, I'll tell you, and I'll be upfront with the with the listener in that I'd actually never created a podcast before, I'd only been a guest on like maybe one podcast before, I listened to quite a few. So this is really like a new venture for me and also a learning curve. And so you might actually notice some things that, you know, when you listen to the actual podcast, you might go, oh, but then also, I hope that in kind of creating this new adventure, you'll you'll, I think you'll hear stuff that you've never heard before. And I think one challenge that I had was really, how to make something unique when everyone is doing, you know, virtual events, you know,  whether it be zoom, Facebook Live, you know, all that good stuff. And one difficult thing was really, how do you make something unique? When when there's just so many options out there. And so for me, I had to learn, essentially, like, like a script, I had a script that I didn't really follow, but it certainly guided me. I've had to really work on my voice and like my online demeanor, which are all kind of like a performance. And so for you, Angela, like what what's been kind of like something that you really had to learn to adjust?

Angela  6:17  
I've always been the behind the scenes person. And I think I enjoy that. And this new virtual realm of being on zoom, and having these online conversations have streamed on Facebook and YouTube. It's pushed me out of my comfort zone. I don't enjoy being in front of the camera, I don't enjoy having my voice recorded. I will not listen to this recording. But it's Yeah, it's pushed me into learning a lot of new things. I knew nothing about this digital virtual world. And now we've have been sort of, I don't know, I don't want to say experts, but like we we've been sharing... We've been openly sharing our experiences with others. You know, I get phone calls and emails from people all the time of like, what platform Are you guys using? How did you orchestrate the summit? Like tell us all of these things? you obviously know so much, and I know nothing. I'm learning. But I'm very open about that process. So if you have any questions, email me.

Reyes  7:29  
For sure. I guess I Another thing I want to just touch upon briefly was Yeah, like how did not only creating something new, and making it unique, but it was curating the conversation, the conversations before. And so like, before this, we had our Facebook Live discussions. And then after that, obviously, at the summit, we had to like curate the, you know, the day. And so, for me, whenever I try to curate something I really do try to look at like, in what my eyes is like, unique, who's doing something that maybe one either hasn't been said before, or they're saying something in a new way. And so for the Facebook discussions, we had cultivating equity in the arts. And I think that went great. And I think this is kind of like an extension of that energy of, right, of asking kind of very, hopefully what are pertinent questions, to things that people are going through. But in a way that's fun in a way that's informative. And so for you, Angela, like when you put together a program, or when you curate, like a list of artists to, to feature, what is it that you look for in particular?

Angela  8:56  
That's a good question.

You know, I, I look for diversity,

in all sense of that word, as Fresh Arts as an organization that is trying to serve artists and creatives in general. Aside from what discipline, you are really trying to make sure that we're showcasing not just visual artists but showing a wide spectrum of the artists that Houston has to offer. Also looking for looking at artists who are open about their career struggles and strengths and weaknesses. So people who are actively sharing about themselves on you know, social media platforms or what have you. Those are typically artists that I'm looking at. That would be good, a good fit for our programs. I think the willingness to be open and vulnerable is important and the artists that are displaying that are the ones that I'm really looking at trying to highlight Some more.

Reyes  10:02  
Yeah. And so

kind of going through our list that we ultimately ended up going with in terms of the conversations and the topics. For me, I mean, being an artist, myself, or rather a writer, that's always been like a tricky thing that I've always contended with, or rather, like, tried to expand upon, particularly in Houston, and, quote, unquote, the art world, right, where you know, the definition of like an artist versus a creative versus if even like, a writer fits in there. Would a filmmaker call themselves an artist?

And you get all those kind of like interesting conversations that

again, just inherently exist exist and being an artist, or creative and Houston. And so I'm kind of curating this list, our first episode will be whether should or should not go full time with my, my art practice. And so that will feature Justin Garcia and Icess Fernandez Rojas. And so a lot of these we kind of like came to terms on like, who we chose to invite. And so I think that one was like a perfect example of like, an artist that you're more familiar with, than I am. And I chose someone who I'm way more familiar with you than you are. And so, in that first episode, you know, I guess what were you going for, let's say when you chose Justin, or when you chose any of the people on this on this list, really.

Angela  11:40  
Um,

when thinking about that topic, and again, it goes back to like, who's being like, open and vulnerable, about certain aspects of their career? I, Justin absolutely, like came to mind first. He has, you know, he's written a book about his career. He's, he's talked about his struggles, as far as coming, coming to terms without question and deciding for himself. years back of, you know, leaving, leaving behind a different career and in really taking on being artists full, full force. And he's always really easy to talk to. So just sort of natural that he came to mind.

Reyes  12:27  
Yeah, and I am a huge fan of Icess Fernandez Rojas. One as a writer, she was one of the very few writers that when I heard her read, she read a story once, and in it, it pretty much made me like tear up, it was so good. And then to she's an incredibly talented educator, any workshop I've been with her or whenever I see her post stuff. That is regarding her role as a teacher. I think she's incredibly talented as a teacher and as someone who talks, especially talks to inform others and I thought she was like a perfect fit. And so I think that's kind of like the that's going to be the reoccurring theme or the reoccurring thing that you'll see in this lineup when we choose when you listen to people is Yeah, people who are, as Angela said, like, open with your experiences, but are really good at talking about them really good exploring them. And I think kind of you'll see some even like meshing energies of like, people we thought about like, because that's definitely something we thought about like, oh, like, how is their energy? or How did they talk?

or How did they talk about the stuff that they do?

And so, before we end, this kind of promo, is there anything you want to say, Angela, about this experience? Or about, again, venturing into the into podcasting?

Angela  13:54  
I'm actually again, I'm glad that I've gotten to be behind the scenes on this one. Reyes is the the face and now the voice of Fresh Arts programs. So thank you Reyes for taking one for the team and being the voice of Fresh Arts on this podcast. I am nowhere near as eloquent as you are. I get very scattered in my thoughts. No one, no one wants to hear me talk.

Reyes  14:22  
I don't believe that. I don't think that's true. But thank you for your compliments. Thank you for being  an amazing colleagues to work with being open with ideas and taking ideas. And I know I've been kind of, you know, in terms of like, what my vision is, and you know, kind of pushing back on some things, but I think I always, I mean, at least always trust in your judgment in your experience. And I think that I like working with you because of that because you have a really great mind for like how things will interact with the public and really the holistic initiative. So, thank you for trusting me with this.

And thank you for working with me on that.

Angela  15:07  
Absolutely. Oh, and and we got a shout out our podcast musician.

Reyes  15:14  
Absolutely. The one the only Nick Gaitan made the track that you that you heard as the intro to this podcast. And it's amazing. I love it. It was very much inspired by his performance at Discovery Green, which if you haven't heard, you should definitely check that out.

Angela  15:37  
Yeah, it's great. It's, it's, it's a fun, fun way to start off this podcast. And I'm glad we were able to, to feature Nick. I'm now really glad that I ran into him at a bar a year ago and talked his ear off about Fresh Arts and finding a way to try to integrate them in our programs. And here we are a year later and I've been successful in that. So

Reyes  16:01  
certainly look him up. If you like the music, hire him, have him do your podcast intro he was really great. And fairly quick, you know, relatively to work with. So check them out. And we hope you enjoyed the podcast. And so again, this is just a promo on October 15 is when the first episode airs, so and then after that, it'll be weekly increments, so it'd be the 15th I believe, the 22nd my guess and then essentially every Thursday in the last half of October and the first half of November. So we hope you tune in. We hope you enjoy it.

I hope I'm not too bad or too repetitive.

Yeah, you enjoy.

Angela  16:59  
This podcast is powered by Fresh Arts, a Houston based nonprofit that helps advance the careers of local artists and creatives, their resource sharing skill building initiatives and artists center community programs. Visit Fresh arts.org for more information

Transcribed by https://otter.ai