Larry Morris is the Director of Artists in Residency for the Kranzberg Arts Foundation. He is also the Vocalist/MC for St. Louis music legends, Illphonics. He stopped by to speak with Nancy about the program.

The Kranzberg Arts Foundation has long been a major patron of the arts in St. Louis and is committed to aligning their resources to aid in and advance the flourishing renaissance of the arts in the St. Louis area. Growth in the local arts community is now more vigorous than ever, however, the shortage of affordable artists’ work and presentation spaces has been a clear obstacle in the path of our artists. In consideration of this problem and in support and recognition of St. Louis area artists, the Foundation  is redefining and expanding our short and long-term residency programs. ——— 

The Foundation hosts partnerships with over 150 arts organizations and presenters in the St. Louis region and provides an intersection of arts  venues and work environments that serve a full range of artistic processes.  ———

Most of their venues are located in the heart of the Grand Center Arts District in Midtown St. Louis and  are surrounded by some of  St. Louis’ most distinguished cultural assets,  including the Fox Theater, St. Louis Symphony, Contemporary Arts Museum,  The Pulitzer Arts Foundation, Jazz St. Louis,  the home of Public Media and so much more. ———

Jessica Hentoff, Artistic Executive Director of Circus Harmony, stopped by to talk about the mission and works of the organization. ------

Hentoff-Circus-Harmony2.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="383">Circus Harmony is a non-profit social circus organization that uses circus arts to motivate social change. By inspiring individuals and connecting communities with our circus education and entertainment programs, we have a positive impact on the St. Louis area and beyond. ———

Our programs teach valuable life skills like perseverance, focus, and teamwork. Learning circus with others teaches trust, responsibility and cooperation. Perhaps the most important experience we give our participants is the opportunity to meet and interact with children from different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds than their own. ———

We believe the path to peace is a path of cooperation and communication. Teaching children from different neighborhoods how to stand on each other’s shoulders may seem like a strange way to take this path. But it’s the technique we use! Circus Harmony promotes peace through pyramids, joy through juggling and harmony through handsprings. ———

About Jessica Hentoff: Jessica has been teaching and performing circus arts for over 40 years. Ms. Hentoff has been using circus arts to motivate social change since she founded the St. Louis Arches youth circus performance troupe in 1989. She created Circus Harmony in 2001 to expand youth circus opportunities for St. Louis youth. In 2009, Ms. Hentoff was named both St. Louis Arts Innovator of the Year and Outstanding Arts Educator of the Year. Ms. Hentoff is the only person to be a founding member of both the Big Apple Circus in NYC and Circus Flora in St. Louis. She serves as youth circus advisor to both the Circus Fans Association of America and the World Circus Federation. In 2014, she was honored to be the first person to receive the American Youth Circus Organization/American Circus Educators’ Excellence in Circus Education Award. Jessica is the artistic/executive director of Circus Harmony where she uses her remarkable vision and use of circus arts to build character and community and to help children “defy gravity, soar with confidence and leap over social barriers.”

Dawn Karlovsky, Founder and Director of Karlovsky and Company Dance and Yaseen Manuel and Marlin Zoutemn of New World Dance Theater speak with Nancy about their careers, as well as the collaborative dance presentation "Conversations" on March 24th and 25th of 2023.

Karlovsky & Company Dance was established as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization in 2012 by its Founder and Artistic Director, Dawn Karlovsky. Prior, the company operated as Dawn Karlovsky & Dancers from 2004-2012. Since the inception of the company, the work of Karlovsky & Company Dance has been commissioned internationally with tours to France and South Africa, and nationally presenting in New York City, Minneapolis and Duluth MN, Tulsa, and San Francisco-Bay Area. Karlovsky & Company Dance aspires to connect with audiences through the art of dance, and to provide an experience for the viewer that evokes personal reflection. ———

Through the company’s investigative choreographic approach, Karlovsky & Company Dance reaches diverse audiences with opportunities to witness and experience dance in a distinctive, thought-provoking manner. This process-oriented, somatically-motivated approach generates dances that are visceral, poignant, and expressively stimulating. Karlovsky & Company Dance is committed to connecting with the community and offering educational outreach programs that helps to build more receptive and informed audiences. The works by Karlovsky & Company Dance bring depth and diversity to contemporary dance in St. Louis with an aim to make dance more accessible and to invigorate the artistic climate of our city. ———

The work of Karlovsky & Company Dance extends beyond the region with a long history of presenting site-specific community performances, concert work, and residencies nationwide and internationally. Karlovsky & Company Dance engages performing artists by promoting collaboration and facilitating employment opportunities for artists to cultivate and extend their own personal, artistic ambitions. ———

The company believes that the arts play an integral and vital role in our human existence and contributes to the cultivation of a healthy, evolving cultural future. Karlovsky & Company Dance is in residence at the Grandel Theatre in St. Louis, MO. ———

New World Dance Theatre is a Cape Town based contemporary dance company, with Celeste Botha and Marlin Zoutman at the helm of this exciting vibrant dance institution. Specializing in all facets of the entertainment and performing arts industry ------

The Rep is a live professional theatre company. Founded in 1966, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis is a fully professional theatrical operation belonging to the League of Resident Theatres, The League of St. Louis Theatres and is a constituent member of Theatre Communications Group, Inc., the national service organization for the not-for-profit professional theatre.-----

Danny Williams became The Rep’s Managing Director in January 2022.  An experienced arts administrator, Danny has expertise in nonprofit accounting, senior management, and organizational development.  Prior to joining The Rep, Danny worked at The Public Theater in New York, where he served in various roles since 2006. Most recently, as Senior Director, Finance and Administration, he managed the daily and strategic financial operations of the $50 million nonprofit organization, successfully launched an organization-wide intranet, partnered with the development team to achieve fundraising goals, and collaborated on long-term financial planning and analysis, including cash investment strategies, budget analysis, and project management.  Noteworthy and favorite productions include Broadway productions of Fun Home, Eclipsed, Hamilton, and Hair along with Off-Broadway productions of Here Lies Love, Into the Woods, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, White Noise, and Rock Bottom. ------

As a performer, Danny was featured in the 2002 Westport Country Playhouse pre-Broadway production of Our Town starring Academy Award winner, Paul Newman. He also performed extensively as an improvisor at various venues in New York. Williams directed several NY Fringe Festival productions including Gated and Yellow Brick Wall, both written by Marisa Marquez.  For several years, Danny has been affiliated with the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center in Big Sky, Montana, bringing world class theater to the Treasure State.  Danny produced productions of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, directed by Laura Savia, the world premiere production of Levity by Stephanie DiMaggio, directed by Stella Powell-Jones, The Last Five Years directed by Jason McDowell-Green, and [title of show] directed by Danny Sharron. -----

Williams has held roles with Musical Theatre International and Manhattan Theatre Club and has served as an adjunct professor in the performing arts management master of fine arts program at Brooklyn College. He earned degrees in marketing and theater from Fairfield University and spent a semester abroad studying at Regents University in the United Kingdom.------

Grant Benoit, Director of Education for Craft Alliance, stopped by to talk about some exhibits and the institution. ------ 

Grant Benoit (American, 1990) is an interdisciplinary artist who observes notions of memory through printmaking, sculpture, and craft methods.  In his practice, Benoit combines traditional printmedia with installation and sculpture to reinterpret the mechanics of memory in more human ways through the lens of the domestic space. Through printing wallpaper, he works through ideas of domesticity, place, and memory through a print practice that speaks to printmaking's industrial beginnings. ------

He received his Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking from Southern Illinois University in 2015, and his Bachelor of Arts in Studio Arts from Spring Hill College in 2012.  Benoit exhibits nationally and internationally, most recently being selected to exhibit work at the Printmaking Center of New Jersey, DEMO Project in Springfield, IL,  Williamson Museum in Wirral, England, and Spring Hill College in Mobile, AL. Benoit was a 2016-17 Artist in Residence at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and  the 2017-18 Community Artist at the Bascom: A Center for the Visual Arts. He is a member of the 12 member collective, Good Children Gallery in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans. ------ 

Jessica Baran is a St. Louis, Missouri-based writer and curator interested in the interplay between art, place, and identity. She’s the author of three poetry collections, and her art reviews and essays appear regularly in publications such as Artforum and Art in America, among others. In 2021 she received an Arts Writers Grant for short-form criticism from the Andy Warhol Foundation to support critical writing about artists and exhibitions situated across the greater Midwestern region. In the summer of 2022, She conducted research on the People’s Art Center of St. Louis (1945-1965) with the support of a Divided City graduate research fellowship.------

Alongside her freelance writing, which has included an art column for the alt-newsweekly the Riverfront Times (2008-2012), she’s spent over a decade organizing exhibitions and programming at a range of independent and community-focused art spaces in St. Louis. From 2008-2011, she was the Assistant Director of White Flag Projects; from 2012-2016, she was the Director of fort gondo compound for the arts; and from 2017-2021, she was the Director of Curatorial and Program Development at Barrett Barrera Projects (2017-2021). She is also an educator who has instructed and advised graduate students in the MFA program at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Art (2012-2017); taught writing courses in St. Louis University’s Prison Arts & Education program (2013-2017); and overseen numerous public workshops, discussions and literary events.------- 

Carol Crouppen Schuchard, is an artist currently based in St. Louis, Missouri, lived and worked as a studio artist in St Louis for twenty five years – exhibiting work in galleries and museums in the U.S. and abroad. Her degrees include the University of Missouri, Columbia, and post graduate studies at Fontbonne College and Washington University. ------

Under the name of Boo Cat Projects Carol and her artist husband Patrick Schuchard have restored, renovated and designed dozens of historic landmark buildings. The Schuchards’ activities as painters and image makers center on the making, realization and uncovering peculiar beauty in the made object or built place. ------

Bob Bennett, Artistic Director of Jazz St. Louis stopped by to talk with Nancy about the goings on at the institution. 

For over 25 years, Jazz St. Louis has been the foremost presenter of jazz in St. Louis and throughout the region. We are dedicated to preserving the legacy of this musical genre. Hundreds of local and nationally renowned musicians, such as Wynton Marsalis, Diana Krall, Harry Connick, Jr. and Al Jarreau have graced our stage. Our state-of-the-art Ferring Jazz Bistro has earned praise from artists and patrons alike as one of the best listening rooms in the country. Year after year, Jazz St. Louis strives to be the leader in showcasing unique and diverse jazz performers and preserves the shared cultural heritage embodied in jazz music through our educational programs. ------