Arts Educators Save The World: Mentors From The Classroom

ARTS EDUCATORS SAVE THE WORLD is a weekly podcast that brings successful artists together in conversation with their mentors. 

See below for all the reasons this podcast is desperately needed in the U.S. right now. 

Let me start with: There is no diplomatic way to phrase this. Being a teacher in the U.S. sucks right now. Worse than that, it seems like it's only going to get worse. 

Let me summarize: Teachers are underpaid and even more underappreciated. Teachers are attacked by parents who call them "groomers." Teachers are scapegoated by entitled parents who raise entitled children who, of course, are perfect and can do no wrong. Teachers are mandated by parents and school boards who know nothing about teaching, to adhere to strict rules on what they can and cannot teach. Teachers are now expected to teach sanitized versions of their subjects.

Finally, if students act up or out, then somehow the teachers are to blame.

I have a teaching degree and taught adults and remedial classes to inner city teens. What I'm proud of most was that I was able to connect with some students who avoided the gangs, drug addiction, and a dependent lifestyle. These students are successful at their jobs, prosperous and productive members of society.

The ARTS EDUCATORS SAVE THE WORLD weekly podcast is all about how teachers, especially arts teachers, became mentors for notable people. 

This podcast reminds extremist politicians, activist parents, education administrators, and others that teachers play a critical role in shaping our society and the future.

Season One of the show welcomed guests such as Lin-Manuel Miranda, Robert Lopez, Josh Radnor, Annaleigh Ashford, and more.

Here are some quotes from the well-known people about their mentors:

“My elementary school music teacher is the reason I’m here.”
– Lin-Manuel Miranda, Season 1, Episode 1

“Having a formative mentor at that vulnerable place, when I knew I wanted to say something, but I didn’t quite know what it was yet. That was enough.”

– Josh Radnor actor (How I Met Your Mother) , Season 1, Episode 3

“That feeling that we got in that classroom – where something would finally click, where you understood a word in a different way, where you had an effect on somebody – all the surprises, the discoveries, those are more exciting than anything else.”

– Cecily Strong (Saturday Night Live)  Season 1, Episode 7

The host of this podcast, Erica Rosenfeld Halverson is a professor, an author, an actor, and the Mayor of Whoopensocker. She is Professor of Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she studies arts education and teaches the next generation of teaching artists and classroom teachers who learn to share their artistic superpowers with the next generation of geniuses! 

 

Her book How the Arts Can Save Education: Transforming Teaching, Learning, and Instruction shows how we can fix our broken system of schooling by reimagining teaching and learning using the arts. Erica has founded two community arts outreach programs, Playmakers Lab in Chicago and Whoopensocker in Madison, WI. Erica has been blessed with incredible arts mentors, including the late Jacques d’Amboise who founded the National Dance Institute, where Erica first encountered the power of arts education for all.

Halverson does some heavy lifting here as the host. She's an excellent host who infects listeners with her enthusiasm and passion. Her podcast partner is Alek Lev is a writer, director, podcast producer, and American Sign Language interpreter. Podcasts include Meeting Tom Cruise and Private Joke: The Official How I Met Your Mother Podcast. He wrote and directed the recent release, WHAT?, a black-and-white, silent feature film about a Deaf actor struggling in Hollywood. And he’s interpreted for three presidents, two Broadway shows, and one Beatle.

The show -- ARTS EDUCATORS SAVE THE WORLD -- began in late August 2022 and just began its second season in the winter 2024. 

What will you hear on this podcast? Lin-Manuel Miranda may be the biggest name on the podcast, and his two-part episode was exhilarating. Don't miss it. It will be undeniable proof that teachers can have an outsized impact on our lives, especially someone as talented as Mr. Miranda.

Another don't miss episode is a recent one with actor Bradley Whitford, probably best known for the TV show The West Wing. In the show, Whitford meets with his mentor from Madison East High School, Paul Milisch, the producing director of theater. Whitford raises fundamental questions about arts education in our public school system when he asks, "Are we expanding opportunity, or are we preserving privilege?"

In a format break for the podcast, two shows look at arts teachers in TV and film. For TV, the podcast talks with actress and teaching artist Christina Anthony about Glee and Abbott Elementary.

For the film review episode, the podcast talks with Slate's film critic, Dana Stevens about Dead Poets Society, Camp, Whiplash.  

Both episodes are superb and worth the 45 minutes of your time.

ARTS EDUCATORS SAVE THE WORLD can offer a more complete understanding of the critical role that arts education and arts teachers play in the development of our youth. 

Who will be our next Lin-Manuel Miranda? Who will be the next mentor to our most famous actors, writers, and musical artists?

 Listen to be inspired by how these educators and mentors changed the lives of the artists... that change ours.

Remember that, “The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don't tell you what to see.”