Frame of Reference - Profiles in Leadership
"Frame of Reference - Profiles in Leadership" and "Frame of Reference" - Coming together are conversational style shows with local, national, and global experts about issues that affect all of us in some way. I’m, at heart, a “theatre person”. I was drawn to theatre in Junior High School and studied it long enough to get a Master of Fine Arts in Stage Direction. It’s the one thing that I’m REALLY passionate about it because as Shakespeare noted, “all the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players”. Think about the universality of that line for just a moment. Think about the types of “theatre” that play out around us every day in today’s world. The dramatic, the comedic, the absurd, the existential, the gorilla theatre (it’s a thing, look it up) that is pumped into our Smart Phones, TV’s, Radios, and PC’s every minute of every day.
Think about the tremendous forces that “play” upon us - trying to first discover, then channel, feed, nurture, and finally harvest our will power and biases in order to move forward the agendas of leaders we will likely never meet. Think of all these forces (behind the scenes of course) and how they use the basic tools of theatre to work their “magic” on the course of humanity. Emotionally charged content matched to carefully measured and controlled presentations.
With that in mind (and to hopefully counter the more insidious agendas), I bring you the Frame of Reference "Family" of podcasts, where the voices of our local and global leadership can share their passion for why and how they are leaders in their community and in many cases, the world. Real players with real roles in a world of real problems. No special effects, no hidden agenda, just the facts and anecdotes that make a leader.
And at the risk of sounding trite, I sincerely thank my wife Ann and my two children Elisabeth and Josiah for continually teaching me what leadership SHOULD look like.
Frame of Reference - Profiles in Leadership
A Foundation for Farm/Art D'Tour: Jay Salinas; Brenda Baker; Jacque and Dan Enge
This is part 1 of a 3-part interview with Jay Salinas; Brenda Baker, as well as Jacque and Dan Enge. These guests bring robust backgrounds and life experiences to the various aspects of a unique Sauk County event: The Farm/Art D'Tour. This nationally renowned event gives visitors and residents an opportunity to tour Sauk County and the myriad of ways that (as Max Garland wrote) "Art amplifies what landscape quietly asserts". IF you choose to avail yourself of this exquisite journey you will find Art that is beautifully integrated into its surroundings in "Farm Forms" as well as "Pasture Performances" filled with music, merriment and mirth and (as if that wasn’t enough) fermented culinary treats at area "Food Chain" marketplaces filled with food, art and ideas.
Jay Salinas is the Director of Special Projects & Outreach at the Wormfarm Institute which coordinates the Farm/Art DTour. Jay is an artist, farmer and co-founder of Wormfarm. He coordinates the Artist Residency program, and leads food and agriculture outreach initiatives. He helped conceptualize the Farm/Art DTour and has served as juror, logistics and Food Chain coordinator from 2011-2020. Trained as a sculptor, Jay holds a BFA from University of IL Champaign and an MFA from University of Cincinnati. He has operated a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm since 1995. He has worked nationally for food justice and sustainability issues and was a director at Growing Power in Milwaukee from 2006-09.
Brenda Baker is an artist, writer, and museum curator, whose work intersects the fields of ecological restoration, sustainable design, cultural geography and site-specific sculpture. Brenda has an MFA from University of Wisconsin-Madison, a BA from DePauw University, and studied at both the Austro-American Institute in Vienna, Austria and Karl Marx University of Economics in Budapest, Hungary. Brenda is the Vice President of Exhibits, Facilities and Strategic Initiativesfor Madison Children’s Museum in Madison, WI, where she has worked for the past three decades, leading the museum’s nationally known exhibition and sustainability efforts. Her artwork is inspired by both children and the natural world, and has been shown throughout the world and held in collections in Europe, Canada, South America and the United States. She has participated in three previous Art Farm D’Tours, and is working on a piece for this year’s D’Tour called the CarbonEra Café with arist Beth Persche and the Wormfarm Institute.
She has been named a Noyce Fellow, a Badger Bioneer and Sustainabiltiy Visionary of the Year, and the children’s museum has received the highest honor for museums in the United States, the National Medal, for its national leadership in community engagement and sustainability.
Jacque & Dan Enge are co-founders of Veggie Emporium which is located in Sauk County, WI. Veggie Emporium started as a quaint roadside stand and has since expanded to sell at the Baraboo Farmers' Market. Their focus is providing nutrient rich produce to the community while promoting biodiversity and soil regeneration.
Thanks for listening. Please check out our website at www.forsauk.com to hear great conversations on topics that need to be talked about. In these times of intense polarization we all need to find time to expand our Frame of Reference.