We put together our stories about arts and the economy in the state to create an hour-long documentary called The Cost of Creativity. On today's podcast, we'll hear the final installment of the doc.
And because Artpod is about all things Michigan, all the music you'll hear on The Cost of Creativity is by Michigan artists. The musicians featured on today's podcast and Luke Winslow-King and Ben Benjamin.
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/michigan/local-michigan-953048.mp3
We'll start the podcast with Sonya Hollins and her mystery travel club for girls:
"I thought traveling would be an awesome opportunity to get kids excited about the world around them and to expose them to some careers and people who have traveled and it would open their mind to the possibilities out there."
Then we'll take a trip to Jackson, Michigan where a group of teenagers turn their local symphony orchestra hall into an indie rock venue.
Speaking of indie rock...we'll visit Roast & Toast, an independent coffee shop in Petoskey, where the obligatory indie band croons from the speakers, and the baristas have "tattoos and piercings and hair color not found in human nature," according to artist Will Hosner.
"I would sit and talk to these young Americans and say, well are you in school Rach? No, not enough money this semester. I'm saving up, I'm gonna go next semester. A lot of them were living semester to semester. But I also found out that they all had dreams and visions for their lives. And they were working hard, sometimes another job or two jobs. So it was only natural for me to then say: How can I help?"
So Hosner, an award winning artist, uses his talents to start a college scholarship fund for the baristas.
Then we'll drop in on a Beginners Swing Band in Grand Rapids. The musicians are all in their 60s and 70s, and they've turned to music to help them cope in tough times.
