Episode 1: CS/CW Genesis

<p><strong><em>Bad home, Drugs, and prison. A predictable story? Sure, except when you throw in the National Cathedral choir, a geodesic dome, and the stubborn belief that art can save the world. </em></strong></p><p>This is the first episode of a new podcast produced by the <a href="www.artandcommunity.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><em>Center for the Study of Art &amp; Community</em></strong></a> called <em>Change the Story, Change the World</em>. My name is Bill Cleveland. In this first episode I share the very personal story of how this podcast came to be and try to answer why would anybody want to listen to it. It’s a journey of many decades. It begins in the leafy suburbs of our nation’s capital around the time that America started losing what some have called its innocence---Along the way we encounter hippie communes, the requisite drugs, sex and rock and roll, art colonies in prisons, and armies of artists doing battle with the likes of the Slobodan Milosevic, Pol Pot and the US Department of Justice. This week on Change the Story, Change the World, I share how my story crosses paths with the early history and extraordinary growth of the global community arts movement.</p><h2><u>THRESHOLD QUESTIONS AND DELICIOUS QUOTES</u></h2><p><br></p><p><strong> ?Can the creative process be a lifeline for people who are struggling? </strong>&nbsp;</p><blockquote><em>"The pervasive, penetrating pulse of all that music was a god damn miracle, all at once a soothing balm, a shattering depth charge, and a transcendent window into other dimensions." </em></blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><p><strong>?Can art help us re-imagine and recreate the social and cultural fabric of our communities? </strong></p><blockquote><em>"One of the bedrock understandings of the hippie universe was, to coin a phrase “you can’t always get what you want, but if you really need it, well, you can make it yourself.” So, in no time at all, we found ourselves imagining that we could make our OWN music.”</em></blockquot