Production of applause and ideastream.

Public media is made possible by funding by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.

Coming up.

Cleveland students go behind the camera with art of me.

Know.

We go behind the scenes of a dance about the Big Easy.

And rowdy sailors hit the high seas and low notes with Apollo's fire.

Hello and welcome to another edition of applause everyone Im Ideastream Public Media's Kabir Bhatia Jalen Cater is a Cleveland teen whose personal story of mental health struggles is now a feature film.

The local group Art of me brought his story to life for global audiences.

Now we'll see how they're opening doors for other Northeast Ohio storytellers.

I am a junior here at the Cleveland School of Science and Medicine.

I was on campus.

I wrote Time Out in seventh grade.

I don't even know how else to explain it.

So Id rather show you.

Seventh grade year was the year I returned to school.

It was right after Covid.

It was post Covid and everyone's mental health was just shot after that.

Like I couldn't go anywhere.

I couldn't do anything.

Mental health and being trapped somewhere, it's like you had no one to talk to is the same.

Faces was the same rooms, the same smells, the same voices.

Like everything was so familiar.

And it was like repetitive.

And it's like it felt like kind of you're going insane.

Just like.

Like just going in circles.

Something has to be said and somebody has to say it.

And I felt as in seventh grade that no one was saying enough.

I think that's funny to me.

Not at all, Mr.

Graham.

You know, I always find a way to buy property in real life.

Artemis is a nonprofit organization.

We work with youth and sometimes adults to help them share their stories, stories that really paint the picture of who they are and who they want to be.

And at times, it's also stories of hope.

And they share their stories through film, through writing, as well as podcasting.

One of our first films that we completed underneath Part of Me, is called The Effects.

The effects was written by.

At that time, Rosemary was in high school, and it was a story about how her family was experiencing migration within America.

We had work with some partners in New York City.

We did a couple of short films in New York City as well, and we did a couple more in Cleveland.

Those were all short films.

One time out we came out that was our first feature length film, and with a feature film, it gave us more access to distribute it widely on streaming platforms.

And we filmed that one around 2022.

And since then we're on our sixth feature film.

So we are so grateful that our funding and our support is continuing.

So we could put these films in larger platforms around the the fall season.

We have a lot of teacher workshops, so during that time we have the curriculum that's available.

We provide professional development for educators who want to integrate more real life stories to the young people's experiences, classroom experiences and then they use those lessons and inspire young people.

Hey, these are these stories of hope.

And why don't you dig deep and identify what your story of hope is?

So many times within our communities, it's always a negative ending, those negative endings, psychologically, it's been proven that it creates some sense of anxiety or failure to feel like I could get to that point in life.

So we encourage everyone to identify whatever problems.

What are you struggling with right now?

But now use the power of the pen, the power of the pencil, the power of typing to change your ending.

So you brought some equipment here.

Don't worry, it's perfectly safe.

You know, history.

Quiet.

That's exactly what I'm afraid of.

Don't be afraid, Mr.

Suburbs.

I'm from around here like Toronto.

Keeps my family here.

Plus.

Hey, come on back.

Hey, stop bouncing that ball!

Yo!

What's up?

Everyone's Mr.

Stories virtually for the contest.

And then those stories go to a selection committee.

Well, I identify the winning storyteller.

The writer works with, director as well as the casting department to really identify who these characters are.

Time out is a story about a high school student who is struggling to, fill up.

So he is succeeding, doing something to make himself proud, to make his family proud as well.

Through this process, we see, the different roadblocks that constantly make him feel every day.

Why he's not succeeding.

He is struggling in basketball.

He's struggling a little bit in school, but he's not finding that sense of relief, that sense of joy, that sense of hope that he actually is doing well, which causes a lot of anxiety for him.

My son has too many responsibilities to be sitting somewhere trying to free his mind.

Putting expectations on yourself, Daniel, can be harmful just as much as it can be helpful.

Timeout is about mental health, so we work with a couple of different mental health specialists.

Jalen story it was premiered at the Clay The Museum of Natural History, which was a beautiful event.

We had over 400 individuals who were there from the different schools of the young people who attended.

Yeah, I can relate to not discipline.

My parents too.

Is.

But hey, having a place like this to make my music keeps me sane.

Watching it by myself and then watching it with others was like, it's a different.

It was two different things.

I watched it by myself.

I did because I was able to hone in on my own emotions.

It was just like a one on one.

It was like I was really talking to myself because I wrote the movie.

It was just like a whole rest of feelings, like seeing where I am now and then watching the movie and then hearing how I talked, then how I wrote in seventh grade post-Covid.

I just really had all my emotions coming all out at once.

So we're excited that Time Out is our very first feature film that is on to be, so we are excited for many people across the world to get a chance to see, a story that just came out of Cleveland.

It connects to many of us through mental health.

So that was a movie that we had chosen to be the first one for two, because it's something that really connects with what we're going on today in the world, as well as something that we're all trying to learn more about.

And, we're excited to see what happens next.

Those students healed on film.

But let's check out healing on Stage.

It's been more than 20 years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast.

And Ohio State University scholar and Guggenheim Fellow Ryan K Johnson honored Katrina survivors with his dance theater experience zazz The Big Easy.

See how the piece came together?

This story is part of our ongoing series Behind the Scenes Art Across Ohio.

Self-centered servants outside of the Star Society, suspended for six hours.

And then one more.

Now that's the Big Easy is an extension of my MFA thesis project, which is an extension of me fallen in love with New Orleans.

I met Kelly School of Dance almost 16 years ago, and ever since they can now get rid of me and I'm not leaving.

Hurricane Katrina came even though I watched it from the screen.

Once I became part of the New Orleans East community, I knew there was something within me and my spirit that caused me to create this work.

The time dancers here.

So what you just read this morning, I think it actually works.

I started to feel like a different person.

Cool.

So last summer we had the first part of the creative residency between last summer and now, a lot of the technical elements have come to life the integrated media reimagined music.

So we went from synthetic sounds to live recordings that had my team got bigger.

I released control a little bit, understanding the importance of having a team around me that cares about me but also cares about the work, has been transformative.

So when?

As an artist, it's hard to get exactly what's in your mind outright.

So I think I'm mostly translating what he wants.

It's hard to remember everything that he's doing right, so I'm always taking notes, following him around.

But I'm learning a lot too.

Ryan has his hand in everything.

Everything from from the sound to the music to the choreography to the set.

So I'm really just going around with him and making it all come alive, which each.

Being an outsider and working on the choreography and being able to embody those experiences can be a bit of a challenge, you know?

So, I have the pleasure of serving as the associate choreographer in bringing those ideas and visions and pieces to life and working with the cast, and make sure that we are all on point, and we're all telling the story to the best of our ability.

With art making, pacing is huge with this work because there's such a huge ethic of care that has to go into this because we're really taking the oral histories of survivors and turn it into embodied storytelling through these art forms.

And so it's important that the work does educates people but doesn't cause harm.

Right.

And so the pace and the tempo and the flow and the orchestration of the dance and the story, it's really important that we don't overload the audience.

The idea is for it to be an immersive experience, but in a way that is healthy.

Jesus, keep, keep me from long.

The audience will get to experience and dance.

Sand dance is an art form that many people haven't seen in probably decades.

But we are fortunate enough to be able to have predecessors of that art form that have left some treasures with us along the way.

And we are using the essence of sand dance as a way of symbolizing rebirth and the birth of a phoenix coming back to life.

And.

The show is and I don't want to call it a show.

It's definitely an experience.

And the experience is the intersection of theater and dance.

Yeah.

It's here.

Like, right now.

When you walk into the theater from the top of the show, it'll be about 5 p.m.

on, a summer day in New Orleans.

And then throughout the course of the prolog, you'll wind up landing inside of us, which is the center of the story you got in the book.

What did you get from the most?

You transform from walking into a theater lobby, into a world.

And to be really clear, like this is not the full story of Hurricane Katrina, right?

Every person who experienced this storm and the governmental failures has their own story, their own connection.

This is a small group of people that I've become really connected to, and it's a part of their stories that we're bringing to life.

And so as artists wanting to make sure that we preserve these oral histories, especially those in the the black and brown community.

President Bush has declared a state of emergency in Mississippi.

It's important because we're currently living in an environment where black and brown identity and culture and history is strategically being erased.

And so as a performance artist, as a black body, it's, extremely important to me that we find ways to use art as a medium to archive and preserve the oral histories, to ensure that these stories don't go away and try to create something magical, bringing theater and dance together, bringing my 22 years of experience into this space, listening to all of these talented artists who have all contributed to it.

Right.

I had the idea, but none of it could have come to life without every single person who has put their hands on it.

I think sometimes when we see live theater, we always expect, this happy ending.

And the reality is, there really hasn't been a happy ending.

Post-Katrina.

They were.

Honestly, it was one of the most prominent black communities in New Orleans.

And now it's a food desert.

Emergency services don't frequent the area.

And as someone who has a master's of fine arts and dance performance and social justice, I have to use the dance as a form of social justice.

And a lot of people ask, well, why?

Why are you doing it?

You're not from New Orleans?

I'm clear on that.

But I've been really blessed to have a fruitful career, to put me in places that I can actually create some change, even if this is a small push forward.

And because of that, and because of the way that I love the young people at Kelly School of Dance, the musicians of New Orleans, the artists.

That's why I do it.

Ohio is home to hundreds of craft breweries, and most are run by men with beards, except for me.

But an ambitious group of women brewers are breaking through the pint glass ceiling and creating their own path.

The new documentary, Witchy Boots, profiles female brewers from Michigan to Pennsylvania to North Carolina.

Plus, a number of these female experts in fermentation are from Ohio.

As you'll see in this excerpt from the film.

I know what.

I've got going.

I think we met the Pink ghost.

And we know I met you.

We're.

What are we go back to?

I met you three years ago at a beer festival.

Someone told me to come talk to you.

Because.

That's right.

I need to know about pink boots.

I had no idea what it was.

I got you, girl.

Founded in 2007 by Terry Farren Dorf.

Pink Boots Society is a nonprofit organization which supports women and non-binary people within the fermented beverage industries from all over the world.

I. Them make OpenVINO.

I guess it's just something that's in support of Pink Boot Society.

I'm actually close to two chapters.

I close to the Pittsburgh chapter, and I'm close to the Cleveland chapters, so I'm actually a member of both chapters.

I can't tell you how many soft lips I different beer face or anything that I went to when I tell people I was this December, I was like, are you shocked because I'm a woman?

Are you shocked because I'm black?

Or are they both?

And I was just like, it's very velvety.

It's like I was thought like a unicorn.

I'm like, I think that's pretty cool.

I was like, oh, you got me a unicorn.

I was like, that's not bad.

The reason why I joined Pink Boot Society was because I was feeling really stuck as a director of beverage like that.

Yes.

I was getting myself the education I needed to be able to order beer correctly and to be able to educate my staff on how to talk about the beer.

But I wanted to be able to have a network of women that we could all work together and grow each other.

The women in this industry are really, really good at connecting and uplifting each other.

We all know who not to work for, who to work for.

I've been very lucky.

I've had really good teams throughout my entire career where I haven't had to worry about a lot of the things that women worry about, but it does happen.

It doesn't happen here, which is great.

And why I work here is a novel thing.

You know, when you start talking to men and they're like, oh, you know, you're stuck out here.

You know, yeah, I know about beer.

Probably more than you know.

But stop for a minute.

Gotta hit the road beyond the limits.

I was like, can I get it back at home?

Ask me how I did it, I did it, I had.

People always ask me, what do I like more?

I mean, like making cider, wine or like making beer.

And I'm like, I actually like making them both.

But to me, cider and wine is more of patience.

Beer is more of you have to pay attention.

Like so.

I used to joke around.

I was like, hey, my A.D.D.

a little bit is like, if if you don't do beer to the exact time, you can mess everything up.

And and like I say, with wine, I learned to have patience because I was like, all right, it's done.

But it's just gotta sit.

It always had to be here in Youngstown and I always had to be home.

And with me opening up this business, this venture, I am the first black female owned cider house in the state of Ohio.

That's huge.

And so it became a part of history.

Sometimes feel like you feel confused, like, how are we in the 2020s?

And this is still a first.

And then it's like, oh, crap.

I'm the first.

I'm black.

I'm the female.

I can't mess this up for anybody else.

After me, I was stopped for a minute.

I hit the road to be good for something important.

For the Jolly Scholar is on the campus of Case Western Reserve University, which is smack in the heart of University Circle in Cleveland.

I've been homebrewing since 2014.

I met Matt Van, the owner of the Jolly Scholar, late 2017.

What he wanted me to come on to do was to create new recipes.

As a homebrewer, I tend to do a lot of historical recipes, a lot of, foraged ingredients, kind of unusual stuff.

When I walk into a room, everything that I make, coffee, milk, I could make sure I elevate the mountains, the make room and everything.

I bring my basement.

I have an electric system, ten gallon kettles and six gallon batches.

I start out with reverse osmosis water at home.

We use Cleveland water here in the brewery, which even water is pretty delicious to brew with.

Water is a big part of life up here, so we have sought out some beer styles that are kind of naturally suited to the water profile.

So when you can live in a place instead of fighting to make it fit for your water, that's a really romantic way to think about beer.

Praying for me.

Kent's water is very particular, and it's been very challenging for me to make a good product with our water source through.

So this great recipe is one that I've done many times over.

And it's a half this beer that I, it's, it's flavored with, rosemary and lemon balm and lemongrass.

Every one of those herbs was grown outside of my garden.

I think it's, kind of a refreshing change from the West coast IPA.

I'm really happy with that batch.

And I want.

Witchy boots airs on PBS on Thursday, March 19th at 10 p.m.

for Women's History Month.

We're celebrating Indigenous art.

On the next applause bath.

Bush honors her Potawatomi ancestors by weaving modern crafts with an ancient technique.

a way of me reclaiming what was taken from us.

And wait until you see what this award winning artist uses in her art.

Plus, find out what happens when the Cleveland Orchestra puts away its wins and percussion instruments.

All that and more on the next round of applause.

Well, it's time to say bon voyage to this round of applause.

I'm captain of the SS Arts and Culture Kabir Bhatia let's set sail and share some sea shanties.

Sounds like steam escaping.

Here's Apollo's fire and a rowdy crowd of singing sailors living it up at the Cleveland Institute of Music's Kulas hall.

(Singing) Production of applause and ideastream.

Public media is made possible by funding by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.