The Arts of the Local Culture

Interviews

 

 In nearly forty, hour-long interviews conducted under the guidance of Lehigh University anthropologist Alison Kanosky and funded by an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant, we have recorded an astonishing record of Bethlehem’s rise as a cultural destination.  These interviews featuring many founding members of Bethlehem’s arts community are available here both by this series of video segments and in their complete and unedited form(https://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/beyondsteel/).

Bridget George

Executive Director of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem

There was a richness here that could be explored in the work; the work growing out of issues and dialogue in this community.
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 Jill Dunn Jones

Artistic Director of Pennsylvania Youth Theater

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 Barbara Pearson

Dancer, Choreographer, and Educator

They’re right here, they’re cooking up stuff as they go… looking for needs… and making something out of it which is helpful to the people that are there.
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Anna Russell

Former Artistic Director of Allentown Public Theatre

[Grant giving organizations] are very concerned with quantitative proof of the number of people that you’re reaching rather that qualitative mission…
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Mark McKenna

Theater Deviser and Teaching Artist

what’s generating those stories has more to do with the place and the experience of the artists who live there…
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 Camille Armstrong

Dancer, Choreographer, Director, Teaching Artist, and Musician

If the arts is a thing that can transform a whole neighborhood into a community… then why… aren’t we more supportive of this profession?
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 Ricardo Viera

Former Director and Chief Curator of the Lehigh University Art Galleries Teaching Museum

Each individual brought their own energy and that energy was multiplied by other individuals.
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 Doug Roysdon

Founder of Mock Turtle Marionette Theater

This in fact is the work of civilization, it is in fact the most basic economic underpinning of this town.
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 Seth Moglen

Associate Professor of English at Lehigh University

Art only takes place when people are in a community which teaches, encourages, supports and nourishes them in the doing of it.
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 Bill George

Co-Founder and Ensemble Member of Touchstone Theatre

We could make as many mistakes as we wanted… year after year after year, learning, learning, learning.
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 Kim Plyler

Founder and CEO of Sahl Communications Inc.

The best thing was to sit at that table and know that each artist coming from a different non-profit came with a different perspective.
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 Lisa Jordan

Managing Director and Ensemble Member of Touchstone Theatre

We need to have these moments of pure joy… and we need to have these moments of reflection and deeper understanding.
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 Chloe Cole-Wilson

Founder and Artistic Director of Basement Poetry

I’ve realized, a lot of my art I want to keep here… It’s home… I just love creating art in my home.
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 Deb Sacarakis

Artistic Director of Zoellner Arts Center

The arts are a synergistic relationship primarily between the audience, the artist and perhaps… the muses.
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 Matt Wolf

Poet and Artist

When something’s growing… in order to keep it fertile you feed it. You don’t tear it apart. You feed each other, and water each other.
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 Ara Barlieb and Pam Wallace

Co-Founders of Crowded Kitchen Players

Over the years I can see where the public money has been redirected more toward the institutions and less toward the unaffiliated artists.
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 Cleo Leslie

Former Owner of Cleo’s Silversmith Studio and Gallery

You have to have stores that are individual and have some character.
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 Dave Fry

Co-Founder of Godfrey Daniels

To take a cultural risk of stepping off campus onto an urban scene is very threatening… The cultural abyss still exists.
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 Matt Molchany and Shamus McGroggin

Co-Founders of Tape Swap Radio

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 Greg Funfgeld

Conductor of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem

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 Geoff Gehman

Author and Former Journalist of the Allentown, Pennsylvania, Morning Call

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