Arts Educators Save the World

So many first-time ingredients to spice up the episode we've whipped up this week: Our FIRST guest from the CULINARY arts... Our FIRST guest co-host who is also an artist in the art form o' the day... and our FIRST guest who has brought along his MOM! A melange of new flavors baked into this week's conversation with 2024 Top Chef-testant CHEF VALENTINE HOWELL, JR, and his mother, STEPHANIE JOACINE, at whose side Val first came to know and love the art and science of food. And because there are never truly too many cooks in the kitchen, we are thrilled to be joined by guest co-host LINDSAY CHRISTIANS, a full-time food editor and arts writer at The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin. Bon appetit! BIOS: Born and raised in Boston, VALENTINE HOWELL, JR. was drawn to the magic of hospitality and food as far back as he can remember. Officially starting his culinary education at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School and graduating from Newbury College with a B.S. in hotel, restaurant and hospitality management, he continues to be inspired by food, art, and his love for culture, travel and the people around him. With over two decades of experience working behind the line in some of Boston’s most notable kitchens, Valentine’s path has led to experiences working alongside culinary royalty such as Lydia Shire, shaping how he approaches cooking and expanding his culinary acumen. A James Beard Award finalist for Best Chef in the Northeast in 2023, every kitchen has imparted diverse knowledge to Valentine’s repertoire. Highlighting local produce and other various cultural and local ingredients, Valentine is currently focusing on hosting pop-ups to promote his international food concept, Black Cat Eatery, which consists of tacos, shared plates of Caribbean, Afro-Latin, and Latin street foods, and dishes with his creative take. Chef Val is currently the head chef at Lingo, the in-headquarter restaurant and bar at EF Education First in Cambridge, MA, which is enjoyed by EF employees and guests. Chef Valentine's official Instagram handle is: @_valentino_86 Bravo's Top Chef official Instagram handle is: @bravotopchef LINDSAY CHRISTIANS (she/hers) is a full-time food editor and arts writer at The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin. She is the host and producer of The Corner Table, a podcast about food and drink in Madison, and a monthly video series called Cooking with the Cap Times featuring local chefs. She is the author of “Madison Chefs: Stories of Food, Farms and People” (UW Press, 2021) and "The Osteria Papavero Cookbook" (Little Creek Press, 2023) with Francesco Mangano. Lindsay earned a BA in journalism from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in theatre research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She served as a judge for Wisconsin's high school musical theater awards program, The Jerry Awards, for 14 years. She also founded the Student Critics Program at Overture Center for the Arts and ran it every season from 2009-2020. Lindsay is a member of the American Theatre Critics and Journalists Association and the International Association of Culinary Professionals. lindsaychristians.com

We launched this podcast in Season One with a conversation between Lin-Manuel Miranda, Robert Lopez, and Ms. Barbara Ames, who was not only their mentor (and elementary school music teacher), but Erica's as well. We now end Season Two with Bradley Whitford, whose mentor (and university theater professor) was, in fact, Alek's as well. Bradley Whitford is, of course, a three-time Emmy Award-winner actor, known for his work on THE WEST WING, TRANSPARENT, and now, as the enigmatic Commander Joseph Lawrence on THE HANDMAID'S TALE. As Brad explains, he's "now at the age when his mentors are no longer... mentoring." So we are thrilled to have with us Paul Milisch, the producing director of theater at Madison East High School, where a certain Mr. Whitford was a student years ago. We bring Season Two to a close with this fantastic conversation about acting, directing, mentorship, arts education, and we confront Brad's fundamenal question about students' access to the arts: "Are we expanding opportunity, or are we preserving privilege?" Follow Bradley: X: @bradleywhitford IG: @bradleywhitford

Our guests today, working at the highest levels of network television, are proof that the mentorship doesn't end at graduation. Craig Thomas is the co-creator of CBS's smash sitcom HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, which received 30 Emmy Award nominations in its nine-season run. His prose has been published in The Iowa Review, The Boston Globe, The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, and the Weekly Humorist. He joins us in conversation with Rob Greenberg, who, as a writer/producer on FRASIER, won three Emmys, and a Writers Guild Award. Rob was an executive producer for the pilot of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, where he remained as consulting producer -- and mentor to Craig and co-creator Carter Bays -- for the show's first six years. Currently, he and his partner, Bob Fisher, are writing, directing and producing the second season of ANIMAL CONTROL for Fox. Check out Craig online: Website: craigthomaswriter.com Instagram: instagram.com/craigtthomas/ Threads: threads.net/@craigtthomas And please learn more and consider donating to the invaluable work of Dr. Paul Grossfeld, whose unique research on Jacobsen's syndrome is helping people every day. And follow Rob: IG: @greenberg.rob

In Season One, we looked at the representation of arts educators on television with Christina Anthony (Episode 8, for those who want to give it a listen). This season, we are taking a look at a few arts educators from the big screen, and who better to speak with than Dana Stevens, Slate’s film critic since 2006 and a co-host of the Slate Culture Gabfest (the magazine's weekly culture podcast). She has also written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic and Bookforum. Her first book, Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century, was named one of the best books of 2022 by The New Yorker, NPR, and Publishers Weekly. Your homework, should you choose to accept it, is a rewatch of DEAD POETS SOCIETY, CAMP, and WHIPLASH. Check out more from Dana: Her (amazing) Buster Keaton book on Amazon: https://bit.ly/danastevensbusterkeaton Slate Culture Gabfest: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/culture-gabfest/id1482212953 IG: @thehighsign Century Tree; composed by Victoria Williams; performed by Aisha Dehaas, Idina Menzel, John Eric Parker; ℗ 2003 Universal Classics Group, a Division of UMG Recordings Inc.

We are back from the holidays and honored to have Chelsea Devantez in conversation with her "comedy mom", The Second City's Anne Libera, who is also the Director of Comedy Studies for the Theater Department at Columbia College Chicago. Chelsea is an Emmy-nominated TV writer, comedian, and filmmaker. She’s written on Peacock’s Girls5Eva, ABC’s Not Dead Yet, and was the Head Writer on The Problem with Jon Stewart on Apple TV+. She hosts the hit independent podcast Glamorous Trash with Chelsea Devantez covering celebrity memoirs, pop culture and all things Glamorous Trash. Anne Libera is the Director of Comedy Studies for The Second City and is an Associate Professor who coordinates the degree in Comedy Writing and Performance at Columbia College Chicago. She is a resident director for The Second City. Her book, Funnier: A Theory of Comedy with Practical Applications, will be published by Northwestern University press, who also published her first book, The Second City Almanac of Improvisation. For more on Chelsea: Get her book: https://www.chelsearosedevantez.com/the-book URL: www.chelsearosedevantez.com IG: @chelseadevantez Learn about Anne: URL: www.comedystudies.com IG: @anne.libera