AOTA-231013 - Megan Stoner and Jordan Adams

The transcription is about the Art of the Year show, celebrating its 5th anniversary and featuring interviews with Megan Stoner, the new Executive Director of Memorial Opera House, and Jordan Adams, the Arts Service Program Manager of Indiana Arts Commission. The show also highlights the upcoming production of Little Shop of Horrors at Memorial Opera House, with Tony Somerville as the voice of Audrey Too. The hosts, Larry Breckner and Esther Golden, discuss the show and its availability on various radio platforms. They also receive a congratulatory message from a listener and interview Tony Somerville about his background and role in the production. Lastly, they welcome Megan Stoner to discuss her journey and new role at Memorial Opera House. This week on Art of the Year, we celebrate our 5th anniversary and the start of our 6th season featuring Memorial Opera House's new Executive Director, Megan Stoner. Next, we have Indiana Arts Commission's Arts Service Program Manager, Jordan Adams, discussing her role in helping artists. Our spotlights on Memorial Opera House's production of Little Shop of Horrors with Tony Somerville, the voice of the plant, Audrey Too. Express yourself you art, and show the world your heart. Express yourself you art, and show the world your heart. You're in the know with Esther and Larry, with Art of the Year today. Stay in the know with Mary and Esther, Art of the Year our way. Express yourself you art, and show the world your heart. Express yourself you art, and show the world your heart. Welcome, you're listening to Art on the Air on Lakeshore Public Media, 89.1 FM, WVLP 103.1 FM, our weekly program covering the arts and arts events throughout Northwest Indiana and beyond. I'm Larry Breckner of New Perspectives Photography, right alongside here with Esther Golden of The Nest in Michigan City. Aloha everyone. We're your hosts for Art on the Air. Art on the Air is supported by an Indiana Arts Commission Arts Project Grant, South Shore Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Art on the Air is heard every Sunday at 7 p.m. on Lakeshore Public Media, 89.1 FM, also streaming live at LakeshorePublicMedia.org, and is available on Lakeshore Public Media's website as a podcast. Also heard on Friday at 11 a.m. and Monday at 5 p.m. on WVLP, 103.1 FM, streaming live at WVLP.org, and Tuesdays at 4 p.m. on WDSO, 88.3 FM. Our spotlight interviews are also heard Wednesdays on Lakeshore Public Media. Information about Art on the Air is available at our website, breck.com, slash, A-O-T-A. That includes a complete show archive, spotlight interviews, plus our show is available on multiple podcast platforms, including NPR One. Please like us on Facebook, Art on the Air, WVLP, for information about upcoming shows and interviews. Hey, Larry and Esther. Hi, this is Dorothy Graydon from Valparaiso. I just wanted to congratulate you on your anniversary. You two are definitely interviewers extraordinaire. I really enjoyed being on your show, and I hope you guys have a really successful career. You have deserved it, and you have earned it. I hope to listen to many more of your shows in the future. Happy anniversary. We'd like to welcome to Art on the Air Spotlight from Memorial Opera House, and it's their upcoming production of Little Shop of Horrors. And they have a full season coming up, Little Shop of Horrors. It's been around for 30 years. It was an Ashton Menken production, who are people familiar with Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. And we have one of the people that are appearing, well, not exactly appearing, but voice only in the show, Tony Somerville. He's the voice of Audrey, too. The show is, by the way, directed by someone who I know, David Markley, and I think Peyton Tinder is in the cast, and we'll talk a little bit about that. But welcome to Art on the Air, Tony. Yeah, thanks for having me. Welcome. Hello. Well, we want to just kind of start this as a different spotlight, just a little bit about your background, where you're from, and then a little bit about your theater career. Yeah, sure. Well, I'm northwest Indiana, born and bred. This is my first show in six years. So I graduated high school back in 2018, but I haven't done any shows since then, right? So, yeah, it's been a very long time. Yeah. So what was the break? What were you doing? Yeah, well, I went to college for engineering at Purdue. I'm now doing computer science at the University of London, but I didn't really have time to put drama into my schedule, and then the pandemic happened, so that really put a damper on things. But, yeah, I'm super excited to finally get back on the stage, even if it's in the wings. Well, also, what school did you go to, and did you have any earlier theater experiences in some of the shows you were in? Yeah, absolutely. I went to Hebron High School. I did basically every show that they would let me. I was Troy Bolton in High School Musical, Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music, and then also previously at the Memorial Opera House, I was Issachar on Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Excellent. Do you have any favorite roles that you've done so far? I think the most fun I had with the role was that Issachar, but I think my favorite role was Judge Wargrave in Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. That was a very fun role to play. I think I actually came out and saw that play. Oh, fantastic. Yeah, I was invited by your director before he left town and everything. Oh, yeah, yeah, Chris. Chris, yeah. So anyway, you're going to be voicing Audrey, too. For our audience who's not familiar with Little Shop of Horrors, why don't you set it up for us, tell us a little bit about it. Yes, absolutely. Audrey, too, is a mysterious man-eating plant that appears out of thin air and is kind of the big bad of the show, right? So it's going to be controlled by a very talented puppeteering team and myself providing the voice for said puppets. Now, you've been in rehearsal for how long? We've been at this since late August, early September, I think. Okay. And some of your other cast members that you know of? Oh, sorry, not late August. Sorry, it's been since, like, early September, late July. Yeah, my other cast members, we've got Trey and Peyton, right? Those are our Seymour and Audrey. Myself as the Audrey, too. We've got Doug the Laughter as the wonderful Mushnik. Okay, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Doug the Laughter's been around for a long time, yeah. John Owens as Orin and various other cast members. I don't want to list them all off. Right. Well, we put you on the spot because we were supposed to have Maddie here to kind of also talk about what's going on in the season and everything like that. I know that The Puppet is a lot of times actually rented because it's so complex. It's not something that a theater builds for a one-time show. Do you know anything about that process? Yeah, that's the case here, too. Actually, The Puppet should be getting in at time of recording in the next couple of hours. So we're going to be playing around with those tomorrow, trying to get a feel for them, synchronizing my voice with their movements and everything. But, yeah, we're super excited to finally get our hands on them. The Memorial Opera House, does the cast help with the sets in any sort of way? Yeah, yeah. This Sunday, actually, we had a set painting. I had my finals due Sunday, so I wasn't able to help with that. But there was a set painting and building thing happening then that the cast helps out with. I know in some professional or semi-pro theater, that doesn't happen as much as it does in community theater. But, anyway. So after the show, I know while you're going to school, do you have any other projects down the road you'd like to get into? I haven't really been looking around at it too much. I'm going to be leaving Indiana entirely within the next year. I am a five-time intern at Microsoft, and I will finally be working out there full-time come next year. So, yeah. Oh, congratulations. I'm hoping that I get into some more musical theater things before that time comes. But, hopefully, Seattle's got a pretty decent acting scene out there, too. So I'll be sure to be on the hooligan. Yeah, really strong in all the arts. Oh, yeah. Well, we have only about a minute left, and we want to give you a chance to say show dates and everything like that and contact information and just cover all that. Yeah, absolutely. From off the top of my head, it's every Thursday through Sunday in October. So that would be October the 5th, Thursday. So Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 7 p.m. and then Sunday at 2 p.m., if my memory serves. That's correct. I think through the 22nd, yes. 8 p.m. Yes, all the way through the 22nd, yep. Well, we appreciate you coming on Arm of the Air. This is Tony Somerville, the voice of Audrey II, and it's the wonderful production of Little Shop of Horrors, and that will be at the Memorial Opera House, and you can always find out information about that on the website, memorialoperahouse.com. Tony, thank you so much for coming on Arm of the Air Spotlight. Thank you, Aaron. Yeah, thank you, Tony. Thank you so much. Arm of the Air Spotlight and the complete one-hour program on Lakeshore Public Media is brought to you by McCauley Real Estate in Valparaiso, Olga Patrician, Senior Broker. And as a reminder, if you'd like to have your event on Arm of the Air Spotlight or have a longer feature interview, email us at aota.brech.com. That's aota.brech.com. We would like to welcome Megan Stoner to Arm of the Air. Megan is the newly appointed director for the Memorial Opera House in Valparaiso, Indiana. We look forward to hearing about her winding road to the opera house. Thank you for joining us on Arm of the Air. Aloha and welcome, Megan. Thank you. Nice to meet you. Thank you for having me. And welcome back to the region. Kind of throwing you right into the mix. But, you know, our audience always wants to know a little bit about our guests, and I always like to say their origin journey and everything. So tell us about how you got from where you were to where you are now, Megan. Yeah, sure. I actually grew up in the region. I grew up in Chesterton and graduated from Chesterton High School in the year 2000. And from there went to college and ended up for the next 23 years in Fort Wayne, Indiana. And I did a lot while I was in Fort Wayne. I was a professor at several different universities. I was a middle school teacher. I wrote a lot of nonprofit educational curriculum. And I owned a business for seven and a half years. And in January, I moved back and ended up in Valparaiso, primarily to be closer to family. Very short snapshot. Well, we want a longer snapshot. Tell us a little about your early experiences here in Chesterton, like any experiences that kind of molded your life. You obviously were involved in theater and things like that. So tell us about some of those experiences, high school and even before. Sure. So I started, you know, accidentally sort of ending up in theater at a pretty young age. I think I was 10 when I was in my first play. I don't remember the play. Sorry. But I do remember loving being on stage. And from there, I went to Liberty Middle School at the time. I was in plays in middle school. I was in plays in high school. But actually, in high school, what I did mostly was marching band. And I was a band geek, and I'm very proud of that. So that was really fun. And I did end up playing my instrument. I played the flute. I played all the way through college. But while I was in college, I went to Manchester University, and I was very involved in theater in college. I was a communication undergraduate major, and so a lot of that involved theater. I was in plays. I stage managed. I directed. I was an assistant director. I sort of did all of the roles, which was a really wonderful learning experience for me and learning opportunity for me to be able to see all the different sides of theater. So that was a really wonderful experience. But back to theater. Did you gravitate toward any particular, other than being on stage, what kind of backstage stuff did you enjoy? Backstage stuff? I really enjoyed designing, you know, envisioning and designing set. So what set pieces did we need? Do we need stairs? How do we get stairs on stage, turned around, et cetera? I really enjoy designing interesting set pieces. So that's really fun for me. I like to design set pieces that, for example, I designed a piece that at first everybody thought was a bar, and we could take the top off and spin it around, and suddenly it was a bench that was used in an outdoor scene. So, you know, things like that, they're really versatile. I really enjoy that, you know, brainstorming and creative element for sure. I know that using multi, especially in musicals where you really have offstage space, I always tell people, I said, one of the problems with musicals is anything you put on stage for scene changes has to live offstage. So it's always good if you can take a piece and, like, turn it around and it's something else. One of my famous ones, when I did Fill in the Roof, the exterior of the barn turned around and became the bar in the later scene. So you can reuse a set for that, and, yeah, it works out really well. Yeah, it's really fun to be creative in that way. I know. You know, it's fun. Same thing with Tevye's house. Tevye's house exterior rotated into the interior, so it's, yeah. You go through high school, you're a band geek, you go to college, and you're playing that. So tell us a little bit about your career as you leave college, what directions you took that you were doing stuff. Right, and how did you wind up in Fort Wayne? Fort Wayne is so, I love Fort Wayne. It's so interesting. It has beautiful museums and such a great art community. Absolutely, and I'll give a little shout-out to Fort Wayne. It's come a long way, especially in the last 10 years. Great things to do for a weekend, a weekend visit. But I ended up in Fort Wayne because I ended up going to graduate school there. And while I was in graduate school, I was teaching. I was teaching at the collegiate level as well. And I got involved with a nonprofit Shakespeare group, and they made Shakespeare available through the public park system in Fort Wayne. They made Shakespeare available to all audiences. The plays were free. We just collected donations, and those donations were then given to another nonprofit. So we supported other nonprofits in the area. And we really tried to perform Shakespeare. We did one play every summer. We tried to perform Shakespeare in parks that were not the go-to parks of Fort Wayne, parks that were maybe tucked away in different neighborhoods or maybe off the beaten path. And, you know, people would come out and see us. You know, we had, you know, people that sought us out every year. But we also really wanted people to just kind of stumble into us, people that maybe would not necessarily have access to theater any other way. So that was a really big mission. And I was involved with that organization for about 12 years, and I was the president of the organization for about six of it. I directed three plays while I was involved with the organization, and I acted in four, all Shakespeare. And so that was a really big part of my time. And that was all volunteer, 100% volunteer-run organization. That's so lovely. Yes, people who loved theater, people who loved Shakespeare, and people who loved the community, you know, people who loved where we were. We wanted to make what we were excited about available to everyone. And so that was our mission. And we worked really hard on it. We did some amazing productions. And, yeah, it was a wonderful organization that I was part of. How did you enjoy directing? Oh, I love directing. Directing is my jam. I really like, again, back to the creative process of, you know, set. You sort of take that and explode it to the entire production. And, oh, my goodness, that is like a giant 5,000-piece puzzle. And I love putting all those pieces together, finding, you know, neat costumes. Keep in mind, here at the Opera House, we have people who have roles. You know, we have a costume designer. But what I was doing with Shakespeare, it was the director that was in charge of figuring all of that out. You know, we were all volunteers. So we were just trying to piece it together. And so that was really exciting for me. Not off the subject, but I always like to ask people when Shakespeare comes up, it's about authorship. Do you believe Shakespeare actually wrote Shakespeare? I mean, there's a whole controversy about, like, whether it's Marlow and everything. Because of his educational level, he had a very limited education. So I always like to throw that out when someone talks about Shakespeare, does he really author all that? Was Shakespeare even real? I don't know. I tend to gravitate towards the idea of I'm just going to – whoever wrote it will go down in history as being named Shakespeare. And thank you to whoever it was that wrote it. And if they felt like they needed to use Shakespeare, I get it. And good for them for continuing to write under the bar. And one of the things I always thought, too, is that while the ideas may have come to him, let's say, like Marlow or something, he was actually like the, well, actor, producer, director who actually envisioned it and put it on stage. So he was, I think, creatively involved if that's the case, if someone else brought him the material. Like, well, here's a story that's the basis, like, for Romeo and Juliet, and then he actually put the life into it on stage. Because one of the things I think, and this is just my personal comment, reading Shakespeare in English classroom is devastating to Shakespeare. You need to see it on stage. It's theater. I hate reading dialogue. I mean, you know, and I directed shows. But putting it on stage as a director is a whole different thing. So anyway. I don't know. I love reading it as well. My wife does, too. I enjoy both. So while in Fort Wayne doing this fabulous kind of Shakespeare in the park, how did you develop and can you tell us about the company you developed in Fort Wayne? I mean, it's like from skincare to Shakespeare. So I did. I started a business in Fort Wayne, the Narwhal and the Manatee, which was a bath and skincare company. And we had a retail location in downtown Fort Wayne, and we had a 2,000-square-foot production facility. I created most of the recipes, and I had staff that made everything by hand. It was a very cool organization that we had going on. We had a lot of fun. We made beautiful products. And, you know, we ended up reaching far outside of just Fort Wayne, and we had a pretty big presence nationwide, which was a really wonderful thing. I started that, actually, because when my daughter, who is now 15, when my daughter was born, she had eczema, and I really struggled with giving her basic things like a bath. And so I was in a really privileged position. I was working at Manchester University, and I talked to my colleagues in the chemistry department, and I said, I need you to walk through these products. What are the ingredients that are bothering her skin? What's going on here? And so we sort of reverse-engineered some things. And I grew up on a farm in Chesterton, and so I had a lot of experience, you know, cooking and baking and, you know, raising produce and those sorts of things. So that sort of innate understanding of, you know, how to emulsify, of, you know, how ingredients work together, I was sort of able to reverse-engineer and make my own products that my daughter could use safely. And, you know, then I would make things as gifts for people, and after many years of that, enough people said, you should start a business. And I wrote up a business plan and took that to some entrepreneurial groups in Fort Wayne, and I said, is this viable? Am I crazy for starting a business, you know, and doing all this? And they said, you're not crazy. This is a great idea. And I had that business for about seven years. And we closed it down. I ended up with a business partner. She was wonderful. And we ended up liquidating our business because I had survived cancer twice through running a business. And I will be honest, I was tired. And so I went to my business partner and I said, hey, I'm almost 40. I'm tired. I went through cancer twice. My goodness, I feel like I just need a breather. Do you want to take over the business? And she said, no, I'm going to have a baby. We said, okay, well, the time has come. And we, you know, we had grown that business. It was wonderful. We had a great time. I learned a lot. And we liquidated and shut it down. And I moved on to the next phase of my life. And here I am. Is this the next phase or did you have anything else when you were still in Fort Wayne? No, actually, I closed my business down about a year and a half ago and moved to Fort Wayne then in January of 2023. Okay. No, I'm sorry. I moved back to Valparaiso in January. So what brought you back to Northwest Indiana? I mean, was there a reason before actually what's happened in terms of job? But, I mean, did you just come back here just to be back in the region or? No, it's actually kind of a sad story. My mother passed away very unexpectedly about a year ago. And, interestingly, I had sold my house. I had accepted an offer on my house in Fort Wayne the day before she passed away. And my intention was to move close to my sister. She lives right outside of South Bend. And I was thrown into just an unexpected mental space that I didn't feel like I could make a good decision. I had at the time my son was a junior in high school. My daughter was in eighth grade. And my sister said, Megan, why don't you move into mom's? You'll be near our grandma's. You'll be near dad. You'll, you know, just take a minute. And I said, yeah, okay. And I moved into my mother's house, which is where I still live. I ended up buying it. I'm very, I will be honest, I very unexpectedly love being back in the region. It is a very different place from when I left 20 years ago. Now, keep in mind, I came back to visit my family, of course. But I didn't do things like, you know, go grocery shopping or, you know, go out to eat or general living things in northwest Indiana. I have not done that for 20 years. And so coming back, I was just like, oh, my goodness, this is like living in the city. Anything I could want is here. I'm really close. I'm five minutes from a movie theater. It's amazing. So I really love being back here. And my children really love being here. And it was, you know, it was serendipitous, meant to be. And northwest Indiana has changed. I mean, you look at the vibrant theater community we have here. I mean, you know, somewhat professional to nonprofessional. I mean, there's so many producing groups and everything, which now brings us to the next thing. So you moved back here and, of course, got P.J. McDonald and company, decided to leave the Memorial Opera House. And so there's an opening there. And so tell us about how you became the executive director, how that connection matriculated. Absolutely. So when I moved back here, I truly moved back with no idea what I was going to do. I had been teaching middle school in Fort Wayne. And so I took a long-term sub position. And, you know, I just decided I needed to grieve the loss of my mother. I needed to find my footing. And I needed to honestly heal. I was on chemotherapy as part of my treatment for a whole year. And I really wanted to give myself the opportunity to be ready for whatever that next opportunity was going to be. And I did not know what it would be. But I really trusted that it would be revealed. And so I took from January until about July to really focus on healing, to really make sure I was ready, to kind of go forth and make my mark in Northwest Indiana, remake my mark. And I'm really glad I took that time. Because when this position became available, a friend of mine sent me the job description. And she said, Megan, you have to apply. You would be perfect. And I said, okay, I'm going to do it. And I did. And I was shocked to get an interview. And I was shocked to get a second interview. And then I got a third interview. And I was just like, oh, my gosh, over the moon. I cannot express enough how truly this is a dream come true. This is a dream job. This is a job I have thought about for a long time. I love theater. I have enough business background that I really feel like I am in a great position in my life to really work with the team here at the Opera House to continue doing the amazing things that Scott was doing as the executive director and also then grow other programming that he had just started. And so I'm really, really excited. And I really do feel like I am emotionally and mentally at a great spot in my life for this. You have just so much practical knowledge of every aspect of what goes on. It's just it is such a good fit from everything you've told us. Thank you. After you settle in, are you looking to maybe at some point, I know Scott's done this in the past, get into the director's chair once in a while? Perhaps. I will be totally honest and tell you that no one on earth wants to hear me sing on stage, okay? I'm going to be real. There's a reason I was into Shakespeare. And it did not involve singing. So I could definitely see myself being an assistant director to maybe look at the acting elements of musicals. But I know my limits. And I know that singing is not it. And nor is dancing for that matter. But I do plan on working with the educational programming pretty solidly. I would really like to help actors and help my staff especially grow and mature in theater production. Of course, you don't have to sing to direct musicals. But it does help. I know. And helping actors interpret it and everything like that, you might be surprised. But yeah, also, musicals have many more moving parts than they do with like a straight play. And I have actually assisted and directed for the acting part of musicals before. So I have experience. Right. But I'm just not going to be on stage. Well, and you have a full plate coming in there taking over. And, you know, you already have part of a planned season. You have a renovation thing on the agenda and everything like that. Tell us a little bit maybe about the renovation thing before we get into like some of the shows you have left. Absolutely. We started at the beginning of October the renovation project for the Opera House. In 2025, this will look like a totally different place. Right now, they're fixing up the masonry, the outside of the building. And in the summer of 2024, they're going to really focus on the inside. And we're going to have a whole new entryway. We're going to have new seats. It's just going to be a totally revamped, beautiful space that's really honoring, you know, the building and how it's 130 years old this year. And so we don't want to lose that either. You're coming into an existing schedule. We'll talk a little bit about that. And then some of your plans for the – what is it? The Limelights. I think you're going to work with that and develop that even further because, I mean, that's a great program. And do you have any other plans for other outreach before we talk about what shows you've got coming up? Yeah. I would love to know about the Penguin Project. Yes. The Penguin Project is brand new. They just wrapped up their first production, Amy Jr. That is a nationwide organization that brings theater to a population of people that usually are not invited on stage, those with neurodivergencies and physical disabilities. So it's a really amazing program. And talking about expanding programming, what I would really love to see happen in the next few years is to expand Penguin Project to include the Penguin Players, which includes adults with neurodivergencies and disabilities. So that would be probably, I would guess, my next step in expansion, which would be wonderful to bring that to our stage. Well, you have some current productions running, which you're in the middle of. So tell us about Little Shop of Horrors, which we earlier in this show had an interview with the famous plant and everything. So tell us about that and what you have coming up. Yeah. So Little Shop of Horrors has one more weekend, so you can catch it on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. After that, we have an amazing Veterans Day concert and performance that is going to include some of Limelight, some of our children, and a really amazing collaboration with them and some of our veterans. And then this Christmas, we have White Christmas on stage, and there will be 12 performances. So that is very exciting. That's beautiful. You've got a full schedule, and you're doing the renovation, and you've got your plans for the theater. What else do you have coming up? Are you starting to plan for next season yet, 2024, 2025? So the 2024 season is already planned. We have Little Mermaid. We have Beauty. We have Young Frankenstein. It's going to be so fun, and we are planning for the 2025 season. We are going to be doing a grand reopening. We have some surprises in store, and I'm very, very excited for our programming that we're going to bring you. It's going to be really wonderful. Very good. Well, take just a moment to tell us how people can find, in case by some chance they don't know much about the Memorial Opera House, how to find you online, phone numbers, contact information, and such. Sure. So you can find us online at MemorialOperaHouse.com, and you can come by our box office. We are on Indiana Avenue in downtown Valparaiso, and you can always give us a call. It's 219-548-9137. That's the phone number for the Memorial Opera House. Megan, thank you so much for coming on Art in the Air. We appreciate you coming. Congratulations on being thrown into the mix there. I'm sure you'll do fantastic. That's Megan Stoner, the new Executive Director for Memorial Opera House. Thank you for coming on the show. Thank you for having me. Yeah, an exciting future ahead. Thank you. Thank you. Art in the Air listeners, do you have a suggestion for a possible guest on our show, whether it's an artist, musician, author, gallery, theater, concert, or some other artistic endeavor that you are aware of, or a topic of interest to our listeners? Email us at aotaatbrek.com. That's aotaatbrek, B-R-E-C-H, dot com. Hi there. This is public radio theme composer B.J. Liederman, and you're listening to Art on the Air on Lakeshore Public Radio 89.1 FM and on WVLP 103.1 FM. Larry and Esther, congrats on your anniversary. It's Whitney Reynolds of the Whitney Reynolds Show, and I just want to say I am so proud of you and bringing arts to all the people out there. Big congrats. Greetings from Billy and Renee Foster. We are musicians, jazz radio show hosts, and advocates for the arts. Congratulations to Art on the Air and its dedicated hosts, Larry Brechner and Esther Golden. We want to thank you for this outstanding program and exceptional service to our arts community. No better way to stay informed as to what's happening in the arts than to listen to this informative show. Not only do we get the information, but the opportunity to listen to the thoughts of the artists themselves. We wish you many wonderful years of success. And as we say on the Billy Foster Jazz Zone, don't let what you can't do stop you from doing what you can. We would like to welcome Jordan Adams to Art on the Air. Jordan joined the Indiana Arts Commission about one and a half years ago as the Artist Services Program Manager. In that capacity, she oversees programs for artists, including OnRamp, the Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator, and the Next Steps Creative Business Program, as well as the Scoop newsletter, which is fantastic. Thank you for joining us on Art on the Air. Aloha and welcome, Jordan. A pleasure to meet you. Yes, thank you for having me. Well, Jordan, we want to know a little bit about you for our audience, your background and everything. So I would like to see how you got from where you were to where you are now. So tell us all about yourself. For sure. I am a Indianapolis native, born and raised and residing. And my family's been in Indianapolis for about five generations as well, with my great grandmother coming here from West Virginia in 1920. And so with that being said, I grew up on the east side of Indianapolis in the Devington neighborhood. I attended School 92. And in that school, there was a magnet called Center for Inquiry. Center for Inquiry then got its own building. We moved downtown, Indy. And Center for Inquiry is a magnet international baccalaureate with a lot of focus on arts and culture as well. Music, theater was all integrated into our learning. I had a lot of, if you will, Montessori teaching. I was in double grade level. So a lot of second and third grade, fourth and fifth was together. All of that was together. I stayed there for K through eighth. And then I went on to Broderickville High School. Shout out to the Rockets. And we were also an arts and humanities magnet. And I was a humanities focused major. A lot of my friends were in the arts, whether it be visual, dance, theater, music. And so I just really enjoyed my time there. And having said that, in middle school and high school, I participated in a group, my apologies for those sounds, in a group called Science Bound. And so it was an initiative of Purdue University for underserved youth to be able to be the pipeline to Purdue through STEM majors. And so I participated in that through middle school and high school. And when it was time to go to college, I knew where I was going. I had a full tuition scholarship to Purdue. And there I studied organizational leadership and supervision. People were like, how is that science? It was in the School of Technology. And so there I was a STEM major. And I just really enjoyed my time at Purdue. My major was very fantastic. I got to have a lot of classes with the athletes there. And so after school, I was in a various amount of positions, but all focusing on servant leadership. So I did project management, marketing, communications, human resources, things of that nature. But they were always with a service-based organization, whether it be through AmeriCorps, which is our domestic Peace Corps here in America. And then, where else did I go? A health care billing system. And then last, prior to this position, I was in human resources for a service provider for individuals with intellectual and cognitive disabilities. And that's how I got here. Prior to this was just really looking back for my roots in the arts community. And so I just wanted to travel back to that group of folks with a fascination on entrepreneurship as well. And so those two things combined, and the stars aligned for me to join the Arts Commission. Well, my gosh, what a beautiful beginning, though. That elementary, middle school sounds, and actually even beyond, sounds like such a rich experience. So, you know, Montessori is like very tactile as well. So did you gravitate to any of the visual arts or dance or theater during those experiences? I really enjoyed dance. And then also writing was just fascinating for me. I could get my thoughts out. It just was an avenue to clear my mind. My sister and brother, I should say, are more the technical artists. My sister is an actress with a theater major, and then my brother plays saxophone and drums. So they're more the tactile. We all went to CFI together, Center for Inwriters together. So they're more the tactile artists. So your experiences there led to the Indiana Arts Commission. And we'll talk about some of the things you did. But were you aware of what the Indian Arts Commission did prior to joining them? I was aware of them as an agency, but I never interacted with them as a grantee and not much there. But when I saw that job description, it immediately spoke to me. Being in service to artists is something that I did naturally. So I wanted to be a part. So that makes you an art advocate and kind of a management of the artists. Sometimes managing artists is like herding cats occasionally. Tell us a little bit about what different programs you're involved with. I know you're doing OnRamp, and we want to describe that for people. We've had people on that have been through some of these programs, and we've actually both sat on grant panels and everything like that. But for our audience, tell them a little bit about what each program is and how you're involved with it. Sure. So OnRamp, our Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator, is a – we start with a three-day workshop. And our purpose is we're saying the applications for this program are slated to open on October 31st. But we start with a workshop, and it's led by Elaine Grogan-Lutru. She is the owner and founder of Minerva Financial Arts, and she is a CPA by trade. But she started this organization and co-founded this program as well, where she makes the business parts of the arts easy to understand for artists, simple as that. And so she walks them through a three-day workshop and basically tells them how to think business as an artist. Once that three-day workshop is concluded, it really is a breaking point for – not breaking point. Well, I guess I should say jumping-off point for artists to really feel empowered to do a project where we will give an early action grant of $2,000 for them to start that project to further their career. And so they submit a project proposal on what that will be, and we have grant panels to review those project proposals. But this project panel is a bit more of professional development to have other artists to provide feedback, suggestions to just make their projects a bit stronger and to get any blind spots that they may have not thought about out of the way. And so those applications will open in October 31st. We're slated to have that workshop portion May 8th through the 10th of 2024. I'm really excited. We've had about six cohorts so far since 2018. Only 2020 not, of course, because of COVID, meeting in person. But we're excited to get our next cohort underway for sure. I have an odd question about OnRamp. Do you have to join the cohort that's in your region? Or could you, like if you're from one part of the state of Indiana, could you join a cohort in another part of the state? So only in 2021 do we have local cohorts where they were spread out throughout the state. But our default model and the model that will be happening for 2024 is just a statewide cohort that we meet in one location. This year for 2023's cohort, we met in Columbus. And so there were people from all over the state that came to Columbus for that workshop. But, yeah, you don't have to live in Columbus or the Columbus region to join us. So an artist is interested in that. What type of preparation should they make in their application process? What are they looking for and what are you looking for to bring them into the program? Yeah. So we have a wide range of artists with experience levels. And what we're kind of looking for is even if you are emerging that you are pursuing a career, that you didn't just pick up your art form yesterday, we want to see some level of commitment to your art form and it as a business. And so what we call that initial application, our letter of intent, what we see in there are samples of your work, you describing where you are in your career, the effort that you have put forth so far, as well as just the excitement that you have to pursue your career. Is there room for you to grow? And having that self-awareness that there is room for you to grow there. I do meet with people on an individual basis to kind of answer questions throughout the application because we know everybody's art form is unique to them. And so I can meet with you individually if that artist has any questions specific to their art form and their discipline. But, yeah, we just want you to brag on yourself honestly and truthfully and be self-aware that you may have areas of improvement. This is Karen Moravia with It's Just Serendipity. And you're listening to Art on the Air on Lakeshore Public Media, 89.1 FM and on WVLP, 103.1 FM. How many people are allowed into the program at any one time? So traditionally we've had up to 40 spaces. We have not always met those 40 spots. But this year we met those 40 spots. So that kind of made my head a little wonky. So we've reframed it back so that we can speak to everybody personably and, you know, treat everyone with the intimate experience we want them to have. So now we're at 30 spots. And where is it going to be this year? Yeah, we're going to be in Terre Haute. So the people that apply, they don't necessarily have to become a full-time artist. They can do this as a secondary career. And that's just to get them up and making a better business approach to their art. For sure. We have people with full-time day jobs where this is their side hustle and they're looking to make this a full-time gig. But they just need that extra support and education to know how to do that. We have people who they want to keep it a side gig but, you know, figuring out the numbers that make it a sustainable side gig. So, yeah, wherever you're at, we're willing to meet you there. So exciting. Yes, it is. It's a great program. So what other programs are you involved with in terms of development of artists and everything besides the on-ramp? I don't think I've heard about the Next Steps Creative Business Program before until I read it in your bio. So that was a one-time program. And we just did that last year where we kind of did – it was a partnership with our Indiana Economic Development Corporation where we went to each of our service regions. We have 11 of them and kind of gave business resources, again, for artists. This was not a cohort endeavor, but we, you know, met people where they were. We had local resources in each region speak to how they could serve artists, whether it be loans, whether it be law resources where people want to make sure they copyright their intellectual property, things of that nature. And so that was a one-time thing last summer. But hopefully, maybe we could do it again. Not for sure, but it was an exciting program for sure. You touched on something, which you just kind of – is can Indian Arts Commission maybe, like if an artist, without getting directly in a program, like if they have questions about legal, copyright, some other things without becoming part of the cohort of Next Steps or anything like that, can they say, well, I need to call up Jordan at the Indian Arts Commission and maybe she can guide me on some of those items. And then you connect them to the resources. Is that something that happens? Yep, that's what I'm here for. I do that on a regular basis. If people call and just have a quick question or they want to be connected with somebody, I can do that research for you and I probably already have somebody I'm connected with that I can send you their contact information. We're also working on revamping our Artist Services Hub. Some of that information is outdated, but it is our hope to revamp that, get it up to date. And some of those resources are still applicable to people, but we want to get it in a more user-friendly format and just more relevant resources. I have a question about the IAC in general. Like during the extreme part of our COVID, does the IAC have any plans to do any more online experiences like they did during COVID? I mean, that was so beneficial and it got to reach everybody in the state. Yeah, I can't speak for certain if the plans are to do that, but I will say that speaking to what you asked about the other programs that we have, Lifelong Arts Indiana is our creative aging endeavor. And so we had those training portions this year and that whole training portion was online this year. So not everybody has to get on the road and travel to one space, but we all met online. And that was a cohort of about, I think we got to about 47 or so, 42. Wow. And so 35 of those folks have submitted project proposals. We just wrapped up their project panels today. And so they'll be starting their projects at the end of the month as well with their early action grants. And one of the ways to support the Indiana Arts Commission is through that license plate program, the Indiana Trust License Plate that comes to you. But maybe explain also, you just touched on it, the Lifelong Arts, what is that about? So our audience might better understand that. Yes. If you have more questions about the license plate, I will say reach out to my colleague, Connie Braum. She oversees that. See Braum at IAC.IN.gov. But speaking to Lifelong Arts Indiana, that is what we like to call in our office the multiverse of creative aging, if you will. Stephanie Haynes, my colleague, she oversees that entire program. And so I oversee the artist portion of that. And so the artist portion of that, we are training teaching artists to be able to teach older adults, 55 plus. In some aspects you may hear 65 plus, but we leave that open to interpretation. They just went through that training with another organization called Lifetime Arts. I have to be confused with the program name Lifelong. But, yeah, they got to learn different adaptations, how to connect with artists specifically to their art form, any adaptations that maybe need to be considered with dexterity issues or, you know, early dementia or anything of that nature. They got to learn how to speak to those needs of our older adults. And then we have our what we just opened for arts organizations. So arts organizations can apply for a grant. We have four slots open, and they can apply for that program to be able to pursue programs for older adults within their organization. So we're really excited to get that started, too. And then aging service providers. So those may be rehab facilities or, you know, maybe an aggregate lunch site, things of that nature. They can apply for funding to have creative teaching in their organization as well. It's a really nice addition to what the IAC offers. Are you involved at all with the grant process? I mean, even peripherally? I mean, maybe explain briefly. I mean, we've had people on before to talk about it. But talk briefly about the IAC grants that are available for artists and organizations. Yeah. So right now that the OnRamp and Lifelong Arts are the two main grants that we have open for artists. But we do have arts organization support and art project support. For more information on that, I will explore our website and or reach out to my supervisor, our deputy director of programs, Paige Sharp. Yeah. And she can give you more information on those programs as well. We also have creative teaching for teachers, actual teachers to integrate arts into their curriculum as well. Yeah. So I would definitely explore our website for more information on those grants, too. And we should probably say at this point on the station, WVLP, we are a recipient of the Indian Arts Commission grant for that station. So it's much appreciated. So Jordan, tell us about it. You've said you guys have had planning meetings. What are some maybe things coming down the tubes for Indian Arts Commission? Yeah. Is there a homecoming coming up? We have not slated any homecoming dates thus far. I think our last one might have been in 2020, 2021. But, yo, we're always improving, planning. And so if you tune into some of our quarterly business meetings, you can be abreast of those changes as they happen as well. But we're excited for the future of the Indian Arts Commission. Yo, things are changing, and we're excited to get things underway. Anything we didn't cover that you want to talk to us about briefly? No, I think that's it. Yeah, we'll leave it to you. Yeah. Well, you can reach me at joadams1 at iac.in.gov or reach me by phone at 317-508-6115. Okay. Well, you know, we really appreciate you coming on Art of the Air, sharing your experience, your whole background. That's Jordan Adams from the Indian Arts Commission. She is the Artist Service Program Manager. She oversees, like, the agency's program for artists, including the on-ramp. She was involved in the next steps and everything. She's an Indianapolis native, and she studied at Purdue, so go Boilermakers. Jordan, thank you so much for being on Art of the Air. Thank you. Yeah, thank you so much, Jordan. Thank you. Hi, this is David Graham, Associate Artistic Director for Canterbury Summer Theater in Michigan City. And I want to congratulate Esther and Larry of their marvelous program, Art on the Air. Not only is the show highly entertaining as well as informative, but Esther and Larry are providing a wonderful forum to support the thriving arts community in our region. Esther and Larry, here's to many more. We'd like to thank our guests this week on Art of the Air, our weekly program covering the arts and arts events throughout Northwest Indiana and beyond. Art of the Air is heard Sunday at 7 p.m. on Lakeshore Public Media, 89.1 FM, also streaming live at lakeshorepublicmedia.org, and is available on Lakeshore Public Media's website as a podcast. Art of the Air is also heard Friday at 11 a.m. and Monday at 5 p.m. on WVLP, 103.1 FM, streaming live at wvlp.org. Our spotlight interviews are heard every Wednesday on Lakeshore Public Media. Thanks to Tom Maloney, Vice President of Radio Operation for Lakeshore Public Media, and Greg Kovach, WVLP's Station Manager. Our theme music is by Billy Foster with a vocal by Renee Foster. Art on the Air is supported by an Indiana Arts Commission Arts Project Grant, South Shore Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. 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Your hosts were Larry Breckner and Esther Golden, and we invite you back next week for another episode of Art on the Air. Aloha, everyone. Have a splendid week. Express yourself you art, and show the world your heart. You're in the know with Esther and Larry, Art on the Air today. They're in the know with Larry and Esther, Art on the Air our way. Express yourself you art, and show the world your heart.