Episode 15: Sharnita Johnson - Queen of Community

<h2><strong>Episode 15: Sharnita Johnson – Queen of Community</strong></h2><h2><br></h2><h2><u>Threshold Questions &amp; Delicious Quotes</u></h2><p><strong>What was the path that led you into cultural philanthropy? </strong></p><blockquote><em>I never saw anyone that looked like me, a black woman in philanthropy, in a city like Detroit, which is where I'm from, which has I think the population is like 90% African American so it just never clicked. that was something that I could do, even though I certainly had the skills and the education, et cetera. Until I did see someone who looked like me, a black woman in philanthropy, who became a mentor to me and, helped pave the way for me to get into the field, which was not easy</em>.</blockquote><p><strong>You were involved in some contentious debates about the appropriateness and value of public art when you worked in Flint Michigan. What did those struggles teach you?</strong></p><blockquote><em>This commissioner at one point came up to me years later and said, I just want to apologize to you. I was a little bit confused, and I said, “Apologize for what? And he said, “I gave you so much flack about that mural, but I love it. I look at it every day. I can see it from my house and when my family and friends come to visit, it's the first thing that I showed them.”</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>So that was again, transformational because I just saw what the power of love and the arts can do</em></blockquote><p><strong>Are you thinking that when ... the doors reopen, when the streets repopulate, that there's a particular role for the makers and creators in our community to help with that. (pandemic reconstruction)</strong></p><blockquote><em>There is a critical role, and I'll say, as devastating as the pandemic has been for all of us, and particularly, those who have lost loved ones, and the communities that have been devastated, but the creatives are still creating. I was on a zoom earlier with some young public artists, ...and they're telling this story ... in a way