170: Is Community Based-art Making at the Heart of Cultural Democracy?
ART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers · Bill Cleveland
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Show Notes
Is Community-Based Artmaking
at the Heart of Cultural Democracy?
In this conversation, community arts organizer, educator and theater maker Matt Schwarzman describes his mission to make collaborative art making a regular, normal, expected part of everyday life. A movement that has quietly grown for decades, but now faces a new test in a time of democratic strain.
Along the way, he traces his influences from John o' Neill and the Free Southern the to the grassroots cultural movements of the 1980s and 90s that helped shape a generation of artists who see culture not as decoration but as civic infrastructure.
Matt's journey winds through several decades of cultural organizing from sea to era arts jobs in Philadelphia to community organizing in Oakland and youth theater in post Katrina New Orleans.
Across these projects, a single thread emerges the idea that community arts is a learnable, cross sector civic practice, an amalgam of organizing, teaching and art making.
In our conversation, we talk about:
- The influence of seminal cultural leaders like John O'Neal, whose minimalist storytelling and story circle methodology help build national networks of cultural democracy
- How youth arts programs can serve as modern rites of passage that help young people claim civic voice and leadership
- And how storytelling, imagination and collective creation are foundational skills for sustaining democratic life.
Notable Mentions
People
Mat Schwarzman – Trinity City Arts
Community arts organizer, educator, theater maker, and co-creator of Trinity City Comics and A Beginner’s Guide to Community-Based Arts.
John O’Neal – SNCC Digital Gateway
Playwright, storyteller, organizer, and founder of Junebug Productions; a key influence on Schwarzman’s understanding of cultural democracy and story circles.
Cartoonist and collaborator with Mat Schwarzman on A Beginner’s Guide to Community-Based Arts.
Rhodessa Jones – Cornell Arts & Sciences
Performer, teacher, and co-artistic director of Cultural Odyssey, cited in the episode through her theater work with formerly incarcerated women.
Organizer, strategist, and writer whose work at the Center for Third World Organizing helped shape Schwarzman’s understanding of community organizing.
Gary Delgado – American University
Organizer, scholar, and founder of the Center for Third World Organizing; one of the people Schwarzman credits with teaching him organizing practice.
Artist and educator who worked with Trinity City Arts and helped mentor youth comic-makers on Trinity City Comics.
Judith Malina – The Living Theatre
Co-founder of the Living Theatre, referenced for her writing on the artist’s role during periods of counter-revolution.
Octavia E. Butler – Hachette author page
Visionary novelist whose Afrofuturist imagination and Parable novels deeply influence Schwarzman’s current work.
Robert M. Sapolsky – Stanford Profile
Neuroscientist and writer whose work on behavior, biology, and violence informs Schwarzman’s thinking.
Places
Schwarzman’s home base and the setting for much of his current work; he names it as Bolbancha, “the place of many tongues.”
City where Schwarzman began his paid community arts work at Big Small Theater and connected with the Painted Bride Art Center.
Where Schwarzman trained in organizing through the Center for Third World Organizing and developed the East Bay Institute for Urban Arts.
Bill Cleveland’s home base, acknowledged in the episode as Ohlone land.
The broader region where Schwarzman worked at New College of California and built his arts-and-organizing practice.
Events
Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA)
Federal jobs program that helped support the arts position Schwarzman took in Philadelphia in the mid-1980s.
The storm whose aftermath shaped Schwarzman’s New Orleans youth theater work, including the Creative Forces Youth Theater Company.
Chicago Conference of the Alliance for Cultural Democracy Archive
Referenced in the episode as one of the gatherings that connected Schwarzman to a wider national arts-and-democracy network.
Junebug Productions: Our Story
The institutional home for John O’Neal’s post–Free Southern Theater work, including the Junebug Jabbo Jones performances mentioned in the episode.
Publications
A Beginner’s Guide to Community-Based Arts, 2nd Edition
Comics-illustrated guide co-authored by Mat Schwarzman and Keith Knight, designed to demystify community-based arts practice.
Octavia Butler’s novel, cited by Schwarzman as a major influence on Trinity City Comics and his interest in Afrofuturism.
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
Robert Sapolsky’s wide-ranging study of the biological roots of behavior, referenced in the conversation as a current fascination.
Jake Page’s popular science book on canine behavior, cited by Schwarzman in relation to theater, performance, and social roles.
Acknowledgements
From Freesound.org
beautiful or ominous music box.wav by xtrgamr -- https://freesound.org/s/268511/ -- License: Attribution 4.0
Eerie Horror Background Music with Ominous Dark Atmosphere by Matio888 -- https://freesound.org/s/793481/ -- License: Attribution 4.0
Audio Exerpt:
"Don't Start Talking...Junebug Jabbo Jones”Stevenson J. Palfi's 1985 television adaptation of playwright/actor John O' Neal's bravura one-man theater piece.
"Don’t Start Me Talking Or I'll Tell You Everything Know. Sayings From the Life and Writings of Junebug Jabbo Jones” was created by O' Neal as the final production of the Free Southern Theater, which had been formed in 1963 to be a cultural arm of the Civil Rights Movement.
The play was developed in the community workshop-feedback style with O'Neal's principle collaborator, the theater director Steven Kent,
#SOUTHEAST MEDIA PRODUCTION LAB
#SE MEDIA PRESERVATION ALLIANCE
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Art Is CHANGE is a podcast that chronicles the power of art and community transformation, providing a platform for activist artists to share their experiences and gain the skills and strategies they need to thrive as agents of social change.
Through compelling conversations with artist activists, artivists, and cultural organizers, the podcast explores how art and activism intersect to fuel cultural transformation and drive meaningful change. Guests discuss the challenges and triumphs of community arts, socially engaged art, and creative placemaking, offering insights into artist mentorship, building credibility, and communicating impact.
Episodes delve into the realities of artist isolation, burnout, and funding for artists, while celebrating the role of artists in residence and creative leadership in shaping a more just and inclusive world. Whether you’re an emerging or established artist for social justice, this podcast offers inspiration, practical advice, and a sense of solidarity in the journey toward art and social change.