216. Joshua Brown on Why Art Is Vital for a Healthy Democracy

Joshua Brown is the program coordinator at the Nebraska Arts
Council, a state organization whose mission is to promote,
cultivate and sustain the arts through programming, grants and
opportunities to foster creative innovation statewide.


At the Arts Council, Brown manages grants related to arts
education and accessibility. Outside of his work with the Arts
Council, he also serves as a visual artist and musician,
exhibiting paintings and sculptures at community galleries in
Omaha and organizing shows that support emerging and
community-oriented artists.


A University of Nebraska Omaha graduate, Brown has a degree in
art history and is also working toward a Master of Arts in
Education from the University of Nebraska Kearney. His studies
have led him to explore the connections between power, government
and the arts, focusing on how governments can foster environments
that encourage community-oriented arts and culture.


In this episode Brown and Michael Griffin are talking about art
as rhetoric and why it’s essential for a healthy democracy, and
how Brown’s worldview was shaped by homeschooling and an early
appreciation for art of all kinds.