Fluency w/ Dr. Durell Cooper

In this episode Dr. Cooper speaks with Molaundo Jones. Molaundo currently serve as Senior Director of Communications & Partnerships at Art21 [https://art21.org/], a celebrated global leader in presenting thought-provoking and sophisticated content about contemporary art. He is also Founder of The Clever Agency [https://www.molaundo.com/clever], a content creation and brand strategy consultancy, where I launched VeryCleverStudios.com [https://verycleverstudios.com/], a storefront studio project designed to amplify the work of emerging performing artists, entrepreneurs, and disruptors.  He has had the opportunity to work for some amazing, creative, and mission-driven companies including Black Girl Ventures Foundation [https://blackgirlventures.org/], an organization committed to creating low-barrier access to capital for Black and Brown women-identifying founders; the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable [https://nycaieroundtable.org/], New York’s premier arts advocacy organization; Queens Council on the Arts [https://www.molaundo.com/qca], an institution committed to developing the arts in Queens County; and Fractured Atlas [https://fracturedatlas.org/], a national membership-based organization committed to helping artists raise capital for their projects. In addition to his  passion for working with his Elders through arts education, he’s also enjoying contributing to the development of emerging artists and entrepreneurs. He has served as a Marketing & Communications coach with Creative Capital [https://creative-capital.org/] and NYFA [https://nyfa.org/] and as a grant panelist with organizations including Brooklyn Arts Council, the Museum of Arts and Design, and the NYC Metropolitan Transit Authority.  Currently he serves as President of the Board of Fourth Arts Block (FABnyc) [https://fabnyc.org/], a community organizing-based nonprofit committed to strengthening the cultural diversity of the Lower East Side.   https://linktr.ee/CulturalInnovationGroup [https://linktr.ee/CulturalInnovationGroup]

In February 2023, Bynum assumed the role of Chief Education Officer at Lincoln Center for the  Performing Arts, providing strategic leadership, creative vision, and administrative direction for  the organization’s educative initiatives, and serving as an advocate for the value and importance  of arts education. Prior to Lincoln Center, Bynum inaugurated the role of Vice President for   Impact at Minnesota Opera, guiding the company’s educational, engagement, and equity work.  During Bynum’s tenure, the company made diversification a priority, and the percentage of the  staff who identified as people of color rose by fifteen percent, including at the director, vice  president, and board levels; built its access apparatus to begin addressing internal policy and  artistic programming gaps relative to physical ability and neurodivergence, socioeconomic class,  sexual orientation, and gender identity; produced multiple mainstage works by Black, Asian,  Latinx, and women composers and librettists; and unveiled a community commissioning  program that advanced conversations around who-creates-opera-and-for-whom. Additionally,  Bynum launched the Creative Development Program, which gave Minnesota Opera a fully  articulated set of educational programs—from babies to seniors—rooted in the values of  inclusion, diversity, equity, and access and social emotional learning pedagogy. The programs  directly address pipeline issues among underrepresented singers, composers, and technical  artists, as well as prioritize de-gendering vocal pedagogy and broadening the canon to normalize  the programming of underrepresented composers.   Before Minnesota Opera, Bynum was on the program staff of The Andrew W. Mellon  Foundation for a decade, working in the Higher Learning, Diversity, and Scholarly  Communications and Information Technology funding areas. At the Foundation, Bynum made  diversity, equity, and inclusion grants to colleges, universities, community music schools, and  museums; supported the creation of K-12 music education programs and arts majors at HBCUs; and funded two PBS documentaries, Tell Them We Are Rising and Driving While Black. As  Associate Director of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, Bynum steered a program  that shepherded several hundred budding scholars of color through the PhD process at dozens of  colleges and universities in the United States and South Africa. Before joining the Foundation,  Bynum was the Assistant Director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race at Columbia  University, managing the Latinx, Asian American, Native American and comparative ethnic  studies programs. Bynum also was invited to be a visiting scholar at the Caritas Institute of  Higher Education at Hong Kong’s St. Francis University.  Bynum was part of the 2019 cohort of the Council on Foundation’s Career Pathways Executive  Leadership Development Program, as well as a professional mentor for Opera America’s Opera  Leaders of Color program for two years. Additional field service includes peer reviewing for the  Educating Harlem program; writing for the Harlem Heritage Project; researching as the staff  historian for We Are 2042; coordinating the Critical Approaches to Race and Ethnicity Working  Group; making regular contributions on film and television to The Amsterdam News; and serving  on the editorial board of Journal of South Asian Studies. As a dramaturg, Bynum has  collaborated on the development of new works with American Opera Projects, the Herberger  Institute for Design and the Arts, the John Duffy Institute for New Opera, and Columbia  University. And as a librettist, Bynum recently was https://linktr.ee/CulturalInnovationGroup [https://linktr.ee/CulturalInnovationGroup]

Marlon Meikle is an LA-based educator, arts administrator, actor, MC/Host, playwright and drag queen whose work has been featured on Call Me Kat on FOX, the TLC/Discovery+ Historical Docuseries “Book of Queer,” New York's 59E59 Theater, Le Poisson Rouge, Signature Theatre, Incubator Arts Project, Ars Nova, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Cry Havoc Theatre and Joe's Pub. Marlon has presented performance work and workshops at the California Institute of the Arts, Southeastern Theatre Conference, Florida Theatre Conference, and at theatre and performance conferences and festivals across the country. He has worked in university-level programs including his alma mater Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts and The New School College of Performing Arts in NYC where he was instrumental in launching their Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dramatic Arts program. In addition to his performance work Marlon currently serves as an Associate Director of Admission for Parsons School of Design at The New School in NYC. He is represented by Andy Rooney at Midwest Talent Management | Los Angeles.  https://linktr.ee/CulturalInnovationGroup [https://linktr.ee/CulturalInnovationGroup]

Monica Stephenson is originally from Fayetteville, North Carolina. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the Professional Training Program at the Houston Ballet Academy. In 2002, she received her first professional contract with The Washington Ballet. She went on to perform with the Dance Theatre of Harlem Ensemble from 2003-2005. During this time, Monica also performed in The Nutcracker with Pennsylvania Ballet and Ballet New York and as a guest artist with Ballet Black in London, England. In 2006, Monica joined the Los Angeles Ballet as an inaugural season company member. She performed with the LA Ballet through 2010 and enjoyed the opportunity to dance in classical and contemporary repertory and in many of Balanchine’s ballets. In 2016, she completed her Master of Arts in Dance Education from New York University with a concentration in American Ballet Theatre Ballet Pedagogy and is certified in all levels of the ABT curriculum. Monica was previously a member of the Education Staff at American Ballet Theatre as both a Teaching Artist and the Project Coordinator for Project Plié, an initiative to increase diversity in classical ballet. Monica joined The Washington School of Ballet SE Campus as Full-time Faculty in the Fall of 2016. Monica assumed the role of Associate Head of School SE Campus in 2018 and Head of School SE Campus from 2019-2021. She is currently a PhD Student in Dance https://linktr.ee/CulturalInnovationGroup [https://linktr.ee/CulturalInnovationGroup]

Jonathan McCrory is a two Obie Award-winning, Harlem-based artist who has served as Executive Artistic Director at National Black Theatre since 2012 under the leadership of CEO, Sade Lythcott. He has directed numerous professional productions and concerts which include: How the Light Gets In (NYMF), Klook and Iron John (NAMT),  Dead and Breathing, HandsUp, Hope Speaks, Blacken The Bubble, Asking for More, Last Laugh and Enter Your Sleep. He has worked at ETW at TISCH NYU with Emergence: A Communion and evoking him: Baldwin and at Suny Purchase directing Exit Strategy, &  A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes. He has been acknowledged as an exceptional leader additionally through Craine’s New York Business 2020 Notable LGBTQ Leaders and Executives.In 2013, he was awarded the Emerging Producer Award by the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston Salem, North Carolina, and the Torch Bearer Award by theatrical legend Woodie King Jr. He is a founding member of the collaborative producing organizations Harlem9, Black Theatre Commons, The Jubilee, Next Generation National Network and The Movement Theatre Company. McCrory sits on the National Advisory Committee for Howlround.com and was a member of the original cohort for ArtEquity. A Washington, DC native, McCrory attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and New York University’s TISCH School of the Arts. To learn more, please visit www.jonathanmccrory.com [http://www.jonathanmccrory.com/].  https://linktr.ee/CulturalInnovationGroup [https://linktr.ee/CulturalInnovationGroup]