Josephine Reed

Jerome Butler has been helping actors get through the minefield of dialects for close to two decades.

The National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program is a national program that works with regional organizations to help artists reach new audiences, provides funding for presenters eager to introduce a diverse array of performers to their communities, and enables underserved community residents to connect with live performing arts.

A classicist and translator, Bryan Doerries believed that the ancient military tragedies of Sophocles, who was a general as well as a playwright, would speak to the experiences of today’s service members and provide an avenue for them to share their own stories.

With some help from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Delta Blues Museum—in the heart of the Mississippi Delta—created an award-winning arts education program that serves the young people in the community.

Patti Astor wanted art for everyone. FUN was the place artists could show without losing any of their street creds, and so the work of many of the cutting edge artists of the early 1980s--such as Jean Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Dondi, Futura 2000, FAB 5 FREDDY, Lee Quinones, Kenny Sharif, and Lady Pink--could be seen there.

Nam June Paik transformed video into an artist’s medium with his media-based art that challenged and changed our understanding of visual culture.

Wind Me Up, Chuck!

About ten years ago, alarmed by California’s growing rate of incarceration, company member Sabra Williams suggested that the Actors’ Gang bring theater workshops to California prisons. Tim Robbins agreed, and the Actors’ Gang Prison Project was born.

In classrooms, recovery centers, cultural centers, and libraries around Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. David Olawuyi Fakunle uses the art of storytelling to promote public health. In this interview, he discusses his upbringing where arts and culture were the foundation for expressing himself and how he became involved in public health and using storytelling as a tool for healing.

From Heritage to Health