Tiffiney Davis is the powerhouse co-founder of Red Hook Art Project (RHAP) which provides free, high-quality art programs to local youth. She is also the inspiration (and voice) behind the dance film, “I Am Not Ok.” On this episode we talk about her journey through the New York shelter system, discovering the arts, and her mission to change the lives of young people. https://www.redhookartproject.org/

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Tiffiney Davis, a resilient Black female community leader, co-founded Red Hook Art Project in 2009 with a vision to provide her artistically gifted children and others in underserved communities with opportunities for growth. Today, as Executive Director, she leads RHAP's efforts to empower students through free art and mental wellness programming, fostering a safe and inclusive space where they can thrive. Her ability to unite the community has been pivotal in RHAP's success, securing $1 million in federal funding through partnerships with 11 local organizations and advocacy efforts, enabling the expansion of programming and establishment of a dedicated studio space. This collaborative approach has been instrumental in addressing community needs, particularly during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.

At RHAP, they prioritize holistic education, offering free homework help, visual art lessons, and music lessons that foster skills in leadership, teamwork, and social justice. This integrated approach prepares students for success academically, artistically, and personally. In response to the pandemic, she successfully transitioned RHAP to a virtual setting, hosting over 100 classes and providing meals to address food insecurity. Recognized with awards like the 2023 Woman of Distinction Award, her commitment to the community highlights dedication to arts education, community development, and civic engagement. Featured on the Kelly Clarkson Show as a “RAD HUMAN,” she advocates for the transformative power of the arts and creating inclusive spaces where every child can thrive, emphasizing the importance of breaking barriers and fostering community for all individuals to reach their full potential.

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Theme Music: Sound Gallery by Dmitry Taras.

Steve Conte is the consummate musician - guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer, and teacher. He's toured the world, while playing and writing with some of the most iconic rock stars. On this episode we talk about the making of his record “The Concrete Jangle," how he coaxed Andy Partridge into writing with him, and how we each have six degrees of separation with the Beatles. https://stevecontemusic.com/

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New York native Steve Conte, has been a force in the music industry since his band Company Of Wolves debuted on Mercury Records in 1990. He's sidestepped the mainstream by collaborating with iconic acts like New York Dolls, Willy DeVille, Robert Gordon and Michael Monroe, showcasing his exceptional guitar skills, vocals, and songwriting on albums and tours.

Signed with Little Steven Van Zandt’s label, Wicked Cool Records, Steve's solo work has been heavily featured on The Underground Garage radio program and on numerous indie stations worldwide.

His 2024 album, "The Concrete Jangle" boasts collaborations with his songwriting hero, Andy Partridge of XTC, with a groove by drummer Prairie Prince of The Tubes, Todd Rundgren & XTC.

Refusing to be boxed into a single genre, Steve's sound melds Rock 'n Roll, American Soul, Brit-Pop, and Punk. He draws inspiration from diverse icons like David Bowie, Prince and The Beatles, believing in breaking the mold with each record.

Growing up in a musical family (his mother, a professional jazz singer) Steve supported himself through music school by painting houses - and hasn’t worked at anything but music ever since.

His versatile musicianship led him to collaborate with legends such as Chuck Berry, Paul Simon, and Eric Burdon, and he's notably contributed to soundtracks for anime series like Cowboy Bebop and Ghost In The Shell, and video games like Sonic and Yakuza.

Steve has toured the USA and Europe extensively and has a brand new band ready to hit the road in 2025!

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Produced and Edited by Arts and Craft.
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We're taking a break for the holidays and want to wish you all a very happy New Year. We'll be back next week with a new episode.

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Gabrielle Lansner is a critically acclaimed, socially conscious choreographer and award-winning filmmaker. Her latest short film, “I Am Not Ok,” is currently part of the Brooklyn Artists Exhibition at The Brooklyn Museum until January 26. On this episode, we chat about her friend Tiffiney Davis’ heartbreaking Facebook Live post that sparked the film, her early Avantgarde-arama influences, and the collaborative process. https://www.gabriellelansner.com/

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Gabrielle Lansner is an award winning filmmaker, choreographer, and pro- ducer whose work is influenced by her background in choreography and performing. Her films have screened at dozens of festivals worldwide and garnered multiple awards.

Her latest short film, I AM NOT OK is an experimental dance film inspired by the words of Tiffiney Davis, Executive Director of the Red Hook Art Project in Red Hook, Brooklyn. It is currently on view at the Brooklyn Mu- seum’s, Brooklyn Artists Exhibition until January 26th, in the Video Room.

In 2020, she wrote and directed her first short narrative film, Lullaby to Love. She is also in the early stages of development for her first narrative feature film, STILL LIFE, which she has penned as well.

Her film, the birch grove, 2015, had a successful festival run, screening at the Newport Beach Festival, the Cannes Short Film Corner, and Dance on Camera at Lincoln Center, to name a few. The film won the Grand Jury Prize and Best Experimental Film at the Underexposed Film Festival in Rock Hill, S.C. and composer, Joel Pickard, won Best Original Score from the International Fine Arts Film Festival in Santa Barbara.

learn more at https://www.gabriellelansner.com/about/gabrielle-lansner

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On this episode we dive into the pit with Tiffany Chang, an award winning conductor and creator of “Conductor as CEO”, a blog that champions leadership skills for fellow conductors, arts leaders and musicians. Both Tiffany and Pete give us a “look in” at their look in work at the Kennedy Center and we chat about the hierarchy in the opera/classical world and how creativity fits, or doesn’t fit in.

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Taiwanese-American conductor Tiffany Chang garnered recognition through two Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Awards, the OPERA America Grant for Women Stage Directors and Conductors, LIT Talent Awards, and The American Prize in Opera Conducting.

Tiffany’s been engaged by the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, The Dallas Opera, Portland Opera, Minnesota Opera, and Opera Columbus. Her other engagements include BlueWater Chamber Orchestra, OperaHub, College Light Opera Company, Dinosaur Annex New Music Ensemble, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, Brookline Symphony Orchestra, University of Missouri-Kansas City, NEMPAC Opera, among others.

Tiffany optimizes work culture for job satisfaction, promotes psychological safety for musicians, and leverages people-first leadership for artistic excellence. She authors the blog Conductor as CEO and has been an active guest speaker and published contributor for Routledge Press, Leader to Leader, Notes from the Podium, PM World Journal.

For the first decade of her career, Tiffany revolutionized orchestral programs as a conductor and professor at Oberlin Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, Boston University, and Baldwin Wallace Conservatory.

Visit www.tiffanychang.net for more.

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David Mills is an international comedian, monologist, cabaret performer, and self-proclaimed “Apocalypsist” who has acted alongside Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, Benedict Cumberbatch, and more. On this episode we opine on the role of the audience in art, our current state of affairs, and who truly holds the crown in the alt-cabaret kingdom. @DavidMillsDept, Linktr.ee

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David Mills is a comedy cabaret singing, actor / writer. He’s performed lives in venues all over the U.S. and Europe. He’s acted in film and TV alongside Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rami Malick and others and opened for stand-ups including Margaret Cho and Trevor Noah. His highly acclaimed solo comedy / cabaret show ‘STAY LOST’ recently played in New York and London.

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Tony Bell has made a career out of playing The Fool as a founding member of Propeller Shakespeare Ensemble. He’s launching a new role as a writer and performer of his own solo show - which recently received glowing reviews in London. On this episode we talk about projecting and protecting our voices, reinventing yourself, and moving forward.

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Tony Bell was a founder member of Propeller Shakespeare ensemble which toured globally for 17 years between 1997 and 2012. The company won many awards including in both the UK and New York. Several productions toured to BAM in Brooklyn between 2003 and 2012. Tony played many of the famous fools specialising in ad-libbing with the audience as Bottom in Midsummer Nights Dream, Feste in Twelfth Night, and Autolyclus in The Winters Tale. During this time he also played The Common Man in A Man for All Seasons which won him a UK Whatsonstage award as Best Supporting Actor. Other notable theatre roles included a Tokyo Theatre’s Best New Play award for Hideki Noda’s The Bee, and West End performances in Shakespeare in Love, 39 Steps, Treasure Island and The English Game by Richard Bean. Tony has appeared on film in The Crown, Prisoners Wives, Holby City, Eastenders, and Coronation Street. He was a member of the BBC Radio drama repertory company between 2010 and 2012 playing in over 100 audio dramas including Aston in The Caretaker by Harold Pinter. In 2014 when Propeller ensemble ended and Edward Hall left the UK to work abroad (Hall is currently Director of Chicago Shakespeare Theatre) Bell focused on directing and teaching acting students at RADA and other UK conservatoires helping to launch the careers of several successful young actors in theatre and film. This year Tony returned to the stage in his own solo show about an actor’s life and his parents’ mental health issues. The show, Man In The Rain, has just been shortlisted for Best Solo Performance in the Offies (Off West End awards) and marks a triumphant return to the British stage. Tony plays folk fiddle, sings baritone, plays soccer and lives with his cat Shortbread, and his partner, the actress Caroline Faber, in London.

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Rachelle Garniez is a quirky, unique and talented multi-instrumentalist. She is a solo artist, and a member of the VickiKristinaBarcelona Band who has collaborated with the likes of Jack White, Suzy Roche and more. On this episode we explore the intersection of art, mental health wellness as well as the joy of tour life through Europe. https://rachellegarniez.net

the book referenced in this episode is "Extreme Exposure" by Jo Bonney
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Rachelle Garniez is a songwriter, singer, composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Born and raised on New York City’s 1970s culturally diverse Upper West Side by an American classical pianist and a European professor of French literature, Rachelle was exposed to a singular multiplicity of rich and multi-layered influences, from utopian collective free-schooling and Austrian Expressionism to the roller disco dancers and congueros of Central Park.

In 1982, at age 17, she left home and spent a year making her way around Europe. By default, she picked up a guitar and started playing folk songs on the streets of Venice and Avignon. She wound up on a beach in the south of Spain, where she was adopted by the local Gypsy flamenco singing champion and began to develop a commitment to the visceral and ephemeral mode of live music. After a year, she moved back to New York, gave away all her LPs and lived in a squat on 89th Street before eventually settling in the East Village and being hijacked by an accordion, an instrument that served to connect her with an infinitely expanding motherlode of multi-cultural music.

From her first adventures as a street musician and a fixture in the 80s New York boho scene, Rachelle went on to form a band (The Fortunate Few) and has released seven albums under her own name. In addition, Rachelle’s songs have been performed and recorded by jazz artist Catherine Russell, pop singer Karen Elson, and Ingrid Lucia (The Flying Neutrinos). Besides her her own work, Rachelle has performed and collaborated with Jack White, Suzzy Roche, Sven Ratzke, Palmyra Delran, Thomas Dolby’s TED House Band, beloved bar band Mumbo Gumbo, roots-world ensemble Hazmat Modine, and sonic sorcerer Sxip Shirey. Together with Terry Radigan and Amanda Homi, she is a member of VickiKristinaBarcelona Band, covering the Tom Waits catalog in three-part harmony.

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Produced and Edited by Arts and Craft.
Theme Music: Sound Gallery by Dmitry Taras.