the body is the brain
the body is the brain
Podcast Description
the body is the brain is a podcast about art and social justice hosted by artist and attorney Hope Mohr. Through conversations with artists and cultural workers, we explore the practice, production, and politics of contemporary artmaking.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on the intersections of art and social justice, with specific topics including embodied practices in directing, the politics of casting, and the role of performance in community building. Episodes feature discussions around notable works such as The Magnolia Ballet and collaborative performances like Beyond, emphasizing themes like liberation, queerness, and cultural safety.
the body is the brain is a podcast about art and social justice hosted by artist and attorney Hope Mohr. Through conversations with artists and cultural workers, we explore the practice, production, and politics of contemporary artmaking.
We talk about: curatorial practice, radical hospitality in performance, ethical grantmaking in the arts, softening the architecture of engagement, operationalizing “art for change,” the current state of arts funding, and much more…
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Since retiring as a dancer and choreographer, Michèle has managed performing arts projects and professional development programs for On the Boards (Seattle), New England Foundation for the Arts/National Dance Project (Boston), DanceUSA (DC), and the Deborah Hay Dance Company (Austin). She joined the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis) in October of 2006 as Assistant Curator for the Performing Arts and remained in that role until summer of 2013. She was on the boards of the National Performance Network (New Orleans) and Movement Research (NYC) from 2012-2018. She has served on panels for the NEA, MANCC, NPN, McKnight Foundation, USA Fellows, Pew Foundation, Herb Alpert Award, MAP Fund and been an artist mentor for Creative Capital’s retreat and Arts Midwest’s ArtsLab. She holds an MA from the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance at Wesleyan University and was published in Curating Live Arts (Berghahn Books, New York/Oxford).
Committed to social justice in the arts, she has researched and facilitated sessions at conferences and professional gatherings such as Grantmakers in the Arts (2022), Association of Performing Arts Professionals (2018 & 2019) in partnership with American Realness, Interrarium at Banff Centre (2018), National Performance Network (2017 & 2018), Arts Midwest (2011 & 2014), and DanceUSA (2012 & 2013 + 2014 host & showcase committees). Half Québécoise and half American, Steinwald is currently living in Montréal as an independent curator, community organizer, dramaturg, and occasional writer.
@michele_steinwald
RESOURCES AND REFERENCES
Michèle Steinwald, Noticing the Feedback: A Proposal to the Contemporary Dance Field or This Revolution will be Crowdsourced
Hope Mohr and Michèle Steinwald, Building Accountability in the Dance Field
Hope Mohr, Shifting Cultural Power: Case Studies and Questions in Performance, with a foreword by Michèle Steinwald
Michèle Steinwald and Michael Trent, “A Note on Curatorial Statements-A Third Space: Chasing the Intangible,” in Curating Live Arts: Critical Perspectives, Essays, and Conversations on Theory and Practice, Edited by Dena Davida, Marc Pronovost, Véronique Hudon, and Jane Gabriels
Michèle Steinwald, Feminist Movement: Deborah Hay, Artistic Survival, Aesthetic Freedom, and Feminist Organizational Principles
Meg Foley, Blood Baby
Michèle Steinwald, Cultural Dramaturgy and the Early Mapping of Meg Foley’s Blood Baby
Luciana Achugar and Michèle Steinwald in Conversation at the Walker Art Center
Luciana Achugar, Otro Teatro
Dance USA, DFA Data Collection and Accountability
Bridget Fiske + Joseph Lau, Project Auske
Manchester Art Gallery, Rethinking the collection
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