Artistic Empowerment: Ariel Davis on Diversity, Inclusion & Expression

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The Truth In This Art podcast
Only a couple months down. I think I recognize.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
Welcome to the Truth in. Your source for conversations on arts and culture. I'm your host probably. And today I am thrilled to welcome my next guest, a cultural organizer, a creative strategist and communications lead. Also the co-founder of the Arts, Administrators of Color Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing professional development and networking opportunities for arts leaders through the United States.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
Please welcome Ariel Elizabeth Davis. Welcome to the podcast.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Thank you so much for having me.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
And again, thank you for for making the time. And, you know, like we talking a little bit beforehand and as a person that's like been following you a little bit and now being able to have this sort of conversation to learn more about your your work and your thoughts, this is this is great. This is just, you know, like the cherry on top.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
And I'm allergic to cherries, but you get the. You get the meaning. So if you will, could you describe your background a bit and how you know, some of the things that you're doing is influenced, that your background has influenced the work that you're doing today in particular experiences related to the arts?

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Yeah, definitely. So I'm originally from Detroit, Michigan, but grew up mostly in Southfield, which here in this area I like to compare like these seats to PG County. Southfield is kind of that Detroit and so very much giving like a mixture of classes, but handling middle class, slightly upper class and very privileged with that, you know what I mean?

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
I in middle school had an amazing band director who had a lot of community support. His name is Randy Scott. He's still there. He had one of the students played the French horn in class and told us that, you know, if you play the French horn, the Boston oboe, you're almost guaranteed a full ride scholarship to college. So just the fact that I had a teacher like that at the age of 11, I mean, really helped chart my path forward in high school.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
The band director happened to be a French horn player is name. That's Damian Crutcher. He's incredible. I still have the honor of supporting him in his work now as an advisory board member for the Detroit Harmony Project and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, which I'm thrilled to do. But Damian, you know, kind of took me under his wing and really opened the gateways to the best private instructors in Michigan and all these opportunities.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
So like Solo with local bands and orchestras and I mean it was great. And with all of that that occurred, I ended up getting a Fulbright scholarship to Howard University and me going from like this very safe kind of bubble of a place where like everyone looked like me and was into, you know, instrumental music in this way and it was socially accepted.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
And so like a city where there were so few of like, you know, me, you know, kind of I don't know, it was really surprising. I had gotten a glimpse of stuff that in high school. But for me, coming to the East Coast, I was just shocked, honestly, at how often I'd only be I'd be the only woman on stage, you know, in a brass section or the only black person on stage, an orchestra of like 80 plus people or both.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
And so, yeah, all of that background kind of has like led me to just questioning how artists are chosen to represent so many on stage and etc.. And yeah, I could go on and on, but that's kind of like my background.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
Thank you. I think that that sort of observation and there's there's a second question that kind of dives into that a little bit further, but it almost preprogramed it to be like a monolithic sort of conversation. Like, there's only one of us and I represent everything and it's like, it can't be that way ever.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
No, that's so true. It's I mean, it's that thing of like, I get so frustrated because to this day, I think the media kind of perpetuates certain paradigms of what it means to be black. And so when you're a black person that plays the French horn, it automatically becomes kind of like this intrigue, saying that can be just frustrating to experience.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Like it shouldn't be such an intriguing thing for each of us to have like our own interests while contributing to the larger community, you know? Oh, yeah. Agreed.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
I remember. And this this has nothing to do with it. But I think it is worth mentioning that this reminds me of this this one time I went to Morgan State University. So Blue Howard or whatever. No kidding. But I went to Morgan, and I remember upon graduating, like years later, you know, I would kind of always any Morgan State related news that would pop up.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
I would look into it. And I remember it was looking at the news, which I don't do anymore, but I was looking at the news and it popped up and it's like, yeah, how the Morgan Orchestra's going to bring a little soul to you. I was like, It's like, what is? What does that mean? Bringing some soul to the holidays?

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
Like, what does that even mean? And I was like, They're doing like this sort of like they're doing holiday music. They're doing like the standards or what have you. This very kind of like white, you know, heavy. So this notion of bringing soul to it, it felt really weird to me. And I remember the partner I had at the time, she was like, Why are you annoyed?

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
I was like, Because that's a very weird thing to say. And it's just you can't say it's because it's black. But also it's pretty obvious now.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
That's so real. That's so real. I mean, yeah, it's interesting because even I mean, there's so many layers to all the language that we use and just the histories of those worlds and spaces, you know, like the orchestra ultimately is an African rooted entity that unfortunately has been transformed by white supremacy paradigms and eugenics and all the things.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
So you know what I mean? Like it should be a soulful thing, it should be a community oriented thing. And unfortunately, it's been whitewashed to not be that. And that can be very annoying for me. But I mean, what you just mentioned reminds me of Darren Atwater who shout out stared at a lot of soulful symphony. I was actually just on a piano last week, and myself, two others from Baltimore serendipitously were in Detroit just talking about moving beyond the jargon.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
And there in Atwater, Baltimore, again, you know, was one of those people. I mean, to this day, people look at soulful. So for me as like, that's what we're trying to get to, you know, like on a large scale.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
So yeah, shout out to shout out to Darren. I've interviewed him and had the privilege of chatting with how we we talked about walking a little bit. So totally, I think, I think we all come to sort of an aha moment where we want to spin because while we're all working a lot on the things that we're doing and we may have an interest, we may pursue it, but when it whatever the thing is creatively, but when we get to a point that is the aha moment that I'm going to put a lot of my blood, sweat, tears, time, all of that stuff into a creative pursuit or supporting creative expression and cultural expression.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
When was that moment for you? Was there was there something that was that key indicator of Noni? To really put a lot more time into this? I need to really like this really has me hooked.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Yeah, you know, it's so and such a good question. This is why I'm such a fan of this podcast. It's funny because I'm actually kind of experiencing that right now. Just this morning, I finally registered an LLC to begin pursuing consulting work. Now full time, and that's work that I've been doing for years now. I mean, I've worked within for about 20 different entities at this point and help grow organizations from the grassroots up.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
And so I would say for me, I mean, my core passion at my very heart is to see more of us doing more different things and, you know, economically sound ways. And I want us to do it in ways in which, you know, we're really able to grasp it. Like there's there's clear communication on what's happening. I think sometimes, folks, I don't know, like we're all just so busy, you know, we miss what's happening with even our next door neighbor.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
And so finding ways to, like, just help bridge those gaps and provide support and all of the things like on the back end is something that I'm really into. And so, yeah, I just established this LLC this morning because this was an aha moment. On Saturday, I got asked to join a call with some creative consults and said, Want me to work with them on Monday.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Yesterday, you know, two days ago I got a frantic call from a very well known conductor who does the work and wants me to work with them. I got another call from a former colleague that wants me to do work, you know, around community engagement with them. So I've been getting these calls and having these conversations where folks, you know, are needing that support.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
And I don't know, you know, sometimes I think about the fact that I chose the French horn or the horn chose me, whatever, you know, goofy thing to say. But like, for for me, playing the horn was such a beautiful space to be in the time in which I did perform, because I got to be that thing on stage that people didn't really know like what it was.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
But they heard it, They felt it, you know? And I've always kind of been about that, Like I don't need to be front and center. I don't always need the solo, right? But I like to really help amplify and support and uplift on the back end where I can.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
That's, that's, that's wonderful. And I've I've had that a couple of years ago where the LLC thing right where you get there like, Hey, I got to fill this paper. I feels real now and you know, coming into this and doing it as long as I have doing podcasting, as long as I have and you know, in I kind of think about this a lot.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
Recently I've been thinking about this a lot recently as this this we're recording this in February, and this is like the anniversary month of when I got started. So like, yeah, I remember I started making fun of a Washington football player, you know, for Washington football team player. And I was like, yeah, sports. We're going to talk about that.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
This is the first podcast I'm going to do and just kind of growing from that sort of seed of having an opinion or having something I wanted to share and now being able to do this. But really, you know, when it came down to looking at it as an LLC, I have a consulting side of supporting podcast and supporting people and telling their stories through podcasting.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
And that's a thing that I've done. And I, you know, spoke with someone earlier because, you know, you get to capacity and it's like, I can help a few places here, but I don't want to do it at a large scale. I want to really take advantage of sort of the slow entry point here and knowing there are several entities that don't have a marketing budget or have a very small marketing budget, try podcasting, you know, as a way to get that message out.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
And I was speaking to a firm and I'd mentioned like, Hey, I've done this basically. I know if you be asking me. And they were like, Oh, it's so interesting that you do that. And then their quote was $25,000 to do some promotion.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Sorry.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
This is like and I and I'll throw this out there. So I throw this out there that that kind of relates and the whole scheme of things I made it that is, I wanted to test something. I made it that I didn't have my visual up, so it was just like black and white screen. But they follow me so they know who I am and I know what I look like.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
But I wanted to get a sense because I've been hearing more and more when people see me for the first time, I'm really tall, so that's one thing. But when they see me for the first time, I get the whole You don't look like a podcaster. That's like, What does that even mean?

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
What in the world would.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
Be right would be too soulful? I don't know.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
We live in somewhere where I mean, I definitely get that thing of, like. I mean, okay, that thing of, Oh, you don't look like, you know, this and that. I would say back in the day that I was a musician. Oh, yeah, I'm a musician. Oh, so you sing. So you play piano. So you know those drums, right?

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
It's like, Oh, I'm short. And then it's like, what? You know, it's a it's a thing for sure to, like, deal with people. Yeah. Just have ideas in their head on what things look like. But, you know, one thing that you mentioned that it just brought to me this conversation on sound just yesterday about processing in in a way that develops your skills to the point where you're almost like considered Swiss Army knife.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
You know, there are like 3 to 5 blades that are really sharp and how it takes time to get there. Almost Akin site clicking a really good meal. There's prep work that's involved. There's all this research, you know, and then the development of the work. And it's I don't know, I think sometimes people don't realize that there are people out there that are still to that degree like yourself.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
And so, yeah, it's just I don't know, it's interesting.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
I like that you use the recipe thing because I've been using it. This is not an ad, but I've been using the whole fellow hash company, fellow fridge. I've been making meals there and they have the whole, you know, like the recipes and all of that stuff. And I've been making an effort to do more cooking because I really enjoy cooking and I really enjoy talking with chefs.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
So being able to try some of these recipes and I see that sort of intuition that's there, like I immediately I immediately like maybe skip a step, right? Cause it's like, I've cooked this before, I've like seared peppers before or what have you. And then I see like, Oh, okay, I have to do this this way, or I might need to do this in this order or change it.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
But at the end of the day, it may be six steps. Those first two I've gotten. And then that, you know, those four or three in between that last step, you know, I kind of mess up, screw up somehow. But ultimately the end result is still the meal.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Absent your.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
Work.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Or sometimes I know I'll read the recipe and I'll be like, I think I'm going to do something a little different here, a little something right here, you know? Yeah, especially with the seasonings. Please. There's at least 20 that go into the food, so.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
I use that much salt. Mrs. Nelson.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Exactly. Yeah.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
So? So. Speaker one And I, and I really have a sense of this, I think, but I really want it when I hear it from you. On the importance of, of diversity and inclusion might die or Jedi is some people will use it in arts, in arts administration because, you know, as you touched on earlier, you want to see more people who look like us but speak on the importance of that as far as like bridging those gaps and kind of connecting to community of artists.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Yeah. I mean, you know, to get to that question, I want to maybe just start with like the history of AC and how it was founded.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
Please.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
So AC was founded cofounded with so Kwani. So to start and then like an amazing group of folks that joined our board in the early days and helped establish things which you can find out more on our website, website, AC network or but yeah, so with AC when we co-founded the organization, this was in 2016, it was the year of the Trump election, There were all these conversations around the fact that we're not the fact that excuse me, the theory that there were not enough people of varying background that could apply for arts and culture jobs.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
I was hearing this at the time through my work and National Strategies, which was providing professional development services. So a lot of arts leaders, Equinix was hearing about this even as her work as a music educator in Baltimore. She was working with Baltimore City Public Schools. So using I basically a team that started an online platform through Facebook to connect each other with others.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
And you know, the DC Baltimore regions and, and it really grew from there. We started doing in-person events. We had a convening actually, our second convening was at motor House with our friend Camille there now. But at the time Andre was there. So yeah, like Baltimore has had such a beautiful or hope, such beautiful space for AC in so many ways.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
And I just wanted to make sure I paid tribute to that ticket in early days. And I'm excited about, you know, future works there as well. So fast forward in 2021. We know excuse me, 2020, we did a COVID relief fund because we were hearing and experiencing a lot of folks, particularly before June of 2020, being furloughed and laid off from their jobs.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
I was one of those folks. I got furlough and I knew a lot of people that got laid off, unfortunately. And so that relief fund really ballooned awareness around ADC and led to us receiving the $1 million grant. And we're not grant excuse me, just one from Mackenzie Scott, which was really great, of course, helpful and led to us hiring our current Eddie Carla ASOLO Rivera, who is based in Chicago.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
And so I say all of that to say, you know, for a see our mission, our vision continuously evolve over time. Right now, our biggest thing is looking at all of the varying identities that exist within our network, you know, and paying tribute to that. So right now we have a series of virtual affinity spaces for folks, you know, that may hail from the Asian community, but folks with seeing folks, whatever, you know, you identify as, there's an affinity space that we've built, you know, either around your heritage or around your interests.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
So we also have like an advocacy event space. Our convening this year will be held in Chicago for the first time. So I'm very excited about that one. Chicago. And, you know, for us, we've identified along with, you know, again, paying tribute to the non monolithic state of our community. We've also looked at just, you know, expanding awareness around the organization, across, you know, different regions.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
So, yeah, that's basically where we're at now with AC.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
Thank you. And I feel like there is a feeling there's a newsletter or a combination because I had an address episode one of this week. I've had Camille on the back of On Now just here we go.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
It's a pretty.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
I like the like that kind of working out in that way. So what are what are some of the challenges like like early on and some of the challenges that you may face like now have you? Because everything can be peaches and cream, you know, or whatever the proper thing would be. I don't know. But there's always challenges.

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
Lead time is always a challenge for me or what have you, or being able to get that person to respond to an email or whatever the thing may be. And, you know, when I think back early on, it was very challenging to get interviews, to have people say, Hey, I'm going to spend this time, or What's this about?

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Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
Who were you again? And now it's kind of the other way where it's like, All right, how do I go through this in its time frame and have this to have the most impact? So so speak on some of the challenges that maybe that were there early on and some of the challenges that are there now.

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Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Yeah, for sure. I mean, we've gone through so such a journey. I'll be very honest. The earliest challenges I would say were around the there were there were folks outside of AC that didn't understand why we had to exist or why there hadn't been any organization like AC even prior. I mean, I will say AC is not the first of its kind.

00;20;53;14 - 00;21;21;00
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
It's not a new notion. My people have been, you know, collaborating in ways for quite some time. So, yeah, there are definitely, you know, folks that were like, Oh, this is just another echo chamber or we don't understand the point. Oh, we also, you know, tend to use straight up language. So, you know, there were challenges in just getting folks comfortable with that and of course, being volunteer based.

00;21;21;00 - 00;21;44;17
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
I mean, we were a volunteer base for quite some time. And I just got to give kudos to committees who really led the charge. And so much of the work during those early years. I mean, it was a lot, you know, because it was bouncing back in teaching. And so, yeah, there was a capacity thing for sure. So yeah, I would say those were definitely challenges earlier on.

00;21;44;24 - 00;22;11;28
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
For now, moving forward, I mean, I mean, challenge wise, I don't know, maybe I'm just too Pollyanna about it, but I was briefly clear blue skies because, I mean, the work that has happened, like we, you know, kind of put ourselves, I think, in a really great position to grow. And we've set such a positive track record, I believe, within the community.

00;22;13;03 - 00;22;36;28
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
There are, of course, those times where there's disagreements around language. I would say maybe that, you know, to be very honest, it's a challenge. I'll say for myself personally, that can be a challenge. Like I know I said the wrong word or the wrong phrase. You know, for someone based on their life experience and perspective. So that I would say, you know, is something that we're all experiencing to some degree.

00;22;37;11 - 00;23;06;19
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Oh, but yeah, I mean, I'm just really excited. You know, I've been either board, chair or co-chair for the organization for most of its inception. I've never taken a dime from the organization. You know, I volunteer my time given to the organization. And so I'm in a really euphoric space right now, having someone like in a paid position to lead the organization like Kroll.

00;23;06;28 - 00;23;11;18
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
So, yeah, so far it's been it's been really exciting just to see, like where we can go.

00;23;12;02 - 00;23;33;05
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
That's that's wonderful. That's wonderful. It's is great to hear it. And I like one of the with all the things you said, there's a lot to like and there are lots of love in there. But the one thing that pops that you know, I've asked for and being on this side of it and of like looking for funding, looking for support, what have you, in finding the proper terms to say.

00;23;33;05 - 00;23;55;22
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
Because, you know, people play real dumb sometimes. I'm like, look, this is what I need. Make the thing thing make the thing work. Like, you know, I'm having these struggles. How can we make this this work? And I think sometimes the the sort of process of the administrative thing around art in and around culture, around some of the work that people are doing, that's a hindrance at times.

00;23;55;22 - 00;24;18;27
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
But hearing that it's in plain language, it's in a way that can be relatable. And the other thing that I thought was very interesting is sometimes the way that language works and, you know, trying to they're going against the sort of moving target at times like, you know, it's a living, breathing thing. So making sure that you're you're up to date and making sure that, hey, my bad, let's you know, how do we fix this?

00;24;18;27 - 00;24;35;03
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
How do we move forward? I think that's important. I've had a few instances where someone would give me a bio that may not have been up to date and it may be different terms that are being used. I'm like, Hey, I'm happy to fix it, but you got to let me know absolutely that.

00;24;35;03 - 00;25;09;10
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
So true. And, you know, here's here's the thing. I'm going to sound so old and I'll get myself in trouble, but these kids know how good they is in the same space of freedom that I admire. It's when you had even an ounce of an opportunity, you know, And I mean, there's a little bit of that cranky old lady that's starting to creep in with me on that because, you know, the conversation around language sometimes I think, to your point can be a hindrance, right?

00;25;09;10 - 00;25;34;17
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
I'm just celebrating the great that it is existing, you know, the way that people can reimagine and imagine selves is a beautiful thing. And the fact that, you know, it's accepted to the degree and beyond, I mean, not to the degree, but you know what I mean? Like the fact that it's accepted, like it is now versus when I was growing up in the early 2000s, I'm like, youknow, she is.

00;25;36;24 - 00;26;01;01
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
We're in the same boat, we're the same situation. And it's like, I don't use that term. Oh, okay. There's a grant that says podcast is okay. Yeah, let me I'm of color right now. Podcast people see it's so stupid. So so in looking at some of the you know, I wanted to step back a little bit and some of the stops that are within your background.

00;26;01;01 - 00;26;32;01
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
I see Kennedy Center. I see like the Washington women and Jazz Festival. I see, you know, the strange queens. I see a lot of different experiences and roles that you've had that, you know, just make up a really strong body of work in this sort of space of arts administration and arts support and just being an advocate. Talk about, you know, one or two sort of examples that come to mind of like these were important lessons that I've learned during this time that you may still even apply to this day.

00;26;32;01 - 00;27;04;24
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
And it's such a good question. I mean, hmm, I would say my one of my highlights career wise has been or was the work that I did with the string queens. So when string Beans, our beautiful group, of course recommend folks check them out right now, but they're comprised of Don Johnson, Elise Sharp and Kendall Isidore. Kendall Isidore and I went to Howard together.

00;27;04;24 - 00;27;27;06
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
We were in the orchestra and all of that. And Don and Elise, I met, I want to say, actually through soulful Symphony again sound. And so they're in hot water. Oh, because back in the day, you know, when I freelance on French horn, that's how many folks. And so I found out that the three of them had made the decision to start a group together.

00;27;27;19 - 00;27;57;03
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
And immediately I said, I will do whatever needs to be done to support you. So I took over their social media channels on their website. I helped them redesign their logo and all of this stuff. I was just doing like self-taught, honestly. It was stuff that I was beginning to find passion around and I was seeing just how important it was to build really strong communications channels and strategies for organizations.

00;27;57;03 - 00;28;18;26
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
At the time, I was working full time at the Kennedy Center, so that's where my perspective was coming from to like I was reviewing and seeing artists, websites, bios, you know, all of the time. You know, I was one of those gatekeepers. So I knew what would, you know, give people what they needed. And yeah, that was just such a beautiful learning space for me.

00;28;18;26 - 00;28;40;09
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
I was honored that they, you know, took me at that time. So to manage them, I never managed artists before, you know. And so there was a lot of trust placed in that. But we went on to do commercials and campaign for ESPN and Unlimited, which was beautiful. They did this rendition of Lift Every Voice and Sing with Aloe Black, which was dope.

00;28;41;11 - 00;29;08;07
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
They've gone on to win awards with their a symphony orchestra. They performed, of course, at the Kennedy Center, but then also at Lincoln Center at Carnegie Hall, like they've been out here. So just, you know, being there in the infancy, I'm going to shows and seeing how much I've grown, you know, like these are three full time working women at schools in the area, you know, So they see young people all the time and have kids themselves.

00;29;08;07 - 00;29;28;19
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
So, yeah, just being an example in that way I think is incredible. And I mean, shut us. There's so many people, thank goodness, that we have in the D.C. region that help make their career transformation happen. Like Sonny sometimes D.C. Jazz Festival, like Lorenzo Evans, who was working at Washington from an arts at the time, is now a financial consultant.

00;29;28;19 - 00;29;39;01
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Love his work. I mean, there were these people that I was lucky enough to get to know and help helped launch. So that's one major highlight that does come to mind.

00;29;39;17 - 00;30;04;05
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
Thank you. That's as great. I mean, seeing sort of like where people are like it's sort of we were doing this and this is where we're at now. So I like see, you know what that next step is? It's almost like the time lapse thing. I was like, Yeah, I was just doing this. You know, I was doing this creative thing and now it's just like, yes, I'm managing this, this account for this major client and I'm working in this capacity and we're bringing in people that look like you and I to do this work.

00;30;04;12 - 00;30;34;11
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Yeah. And let me tell you for me, where where I get so much gratification when I can pass the baton on until very comfortable. Like, you know, my conclusion of working with them. I pass the baton on to their now current manager and like to see how things have continued to progress has been so dope. It was similar actually at the musicianship, so I started working with them when they first launched alongside Jeff Treble, who is an incredible leader in DC.

00;30;34;28 - 00;31;00;15
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
He works now with lobbying us for music. He's the executive director there. But when we were at the musicianship, you know, setting up camps for youth and helping to run student produced events and like all of these things, and now seeing where the musicianship is in the crime rate and acquiring the Grammy Awards in DC, you know, things like that.

00;31;00;15 - 00;31;09;02
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Again, I mean, we talked about this earlier, this thing of like connecting people and just like seeing how it grows is I'm addicted to that, obviously.

00;31;09;18 - 00;31;27;26
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
So let's see. I have one more real question. It's a two part question now. One more real question. And then like I've been adding rapid fire question since we've been talking, so thank you for what you're going to have to deal with later on this. So so I guess this is sort of the device side of things, right?

00;31;28;22 - 00;31;52;22
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
So what advice would you give someone that's like the person is interested in going into like arts administration and cultural expression, that sort of person basically like I want to be you. What advice would you give someone that wants to go into there in on this other side of it? What advice would you give aspiring artist in navigating sort of that world like today?

00;31;53;14 - 00;32;20;04
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
MM That's a great question. I mean, you know, it's tricky because things are changing all the time. There's stuff coming out like this chat G.P.S. and I, you know, all this stuff. Yeah, it's fascinating to see, but that's another conversation. I mean, I want to preface my response with that though, because of course, like, I can only give as much as I know.

00;32;20;16 - 00;32;43;29
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
And what I know is the folks I've seen most successful are as fearless as possible, you know, and even fearless and also gentle with themselves. And those are two things that I know I personally have been working on. But, you know, when I meet with younger folks, what I've I mean, I've seen and heard things that I've dealt with myself.

00;32;43;29 - 00;33;07;06
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
There is, you know, anxiety whether or not you're making the right step. Like I took a very curvy path to where I am now. I left how was actually my senior year because I'm quite sure I was depressed. You know, I didn't know where I was going next. And I ended up bartending and working restaurants and hostessing. And that taught me so many life skills that I wouldn't have expected, you know?

00;33;07;18 - 00;33;31;22
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
And I mean, luckily I had people that were gentle to me around me, so I could also be gentle to myself. But doing that, I saw it was, you know, I just always look back at that as such an invaluable experience that I gained. So, yeah, being gentle to yourself and also just being fearless and making decisions that feel right, I think is really important, you know, and knowing that there's no straight path really.

00;33;32;02 - 00;33;56;02
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
I went back to Howard, I finished my degree, I got my first 4.0 everything my if I was focused when I went back, you know, But yeah, I think so for young folks, I always recommend that. And then of course, liberal arts administrators, you know, diverse backgrounds of color, all the words I would say, you know, some of it and say this is going to make that work.

00;33;56;23 - 00;34;20;23
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
What we do is we have a private Facebook group where we'll post job opportunities and internships and the like. We also have a newsletter where we're hoping to build those connections and as I mentioned earlier, those affinity spaces. So yeah, checking out those events and also events that are shared within the network that are more geographically based, I think is always a good move.

00;34;20;29 - 00;34;40;14
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
I've used my own AC Facebook group that I moderate for my own right, you know, things, honestly, you know, I'll see a job pop up from a member and then I'm like, I'm going to sue or I'll see, you know, whatever, and I'll pass it on or, you know, I'll go for it as well. You know, it's really like a community in space.

00;34;40;29 - 00;34;50;24
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
So a see network Facebook group, I would recommend that for sure as well for young folks. But yeah, thanks for the question. I mean.

00;34;51;04 - 00;35;09;25
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
It was and in and I'll kind of close on this portion of it with yeah I think I think it's important that we allow for that sort of stuff where you know looking for someone else that may not be invested in what we're doing and for whatever reason, they're not going to do it. They're not going to do it the same here.

00;35;09;25 - 00;35;26;16
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
They're not going to do it in the same way. They're not going to, you know, be be kind at times. They are looking at a person to fill a certain slot. And I think being able to be in a group that kind of sees you in it are your people. And however one might define that, that's I think it's important to kind of do that.

00;35;26;27 - 00;35;52;20
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
That is so real. I'm sorry. I should have said that to you. It's that, you know, that thing of like find your tribe. I mean, it's real. It's, you know, who can you grow? It's I've done so much stuff with people that I went to college with, and I never thought we do as much as we've done, but we have, you know, and also, you know, just these random little coalitions that I've been a part of, you know, have started into all these other things.

00;35;52;20 - 00;35;57;15
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
So, yeah, you're so right. Having right folks around you, it's super important.

00;35;58;12 - 00;36;15;18
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
100%. So now, with all of the goodwill that we've established, so get to rapid fire questions. I got five of them for you. Brevity is key. As you know, it was the first one. What would you do if you could only work for one hour a day?

00;36;16;13 - 00;36;29;16
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
I could only work for one hour a day. Oh, this is hard. It's. This is going to sound dorky, but I would build out timelines.

00;36;31;02 - 00;36;34;06
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
And I like that South-South strategic. I like that I.

00;36;34;06 - 00;36;36;27
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Get lost in that. In the haystack. So, yeah.

00;36;37;07 - 00;36;45;20
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
As a strategic guy, I like that. What is something that without fail makes you less know what?

00;36;45;28 - 00;36;46;13
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
I'm sorry?

00;36;46;21 - 00;36;49;12
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
What is something that without fail makes you laugh?

00;36;50;19 - 00;36;57;01
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
I have a best friend that every time he sends me a message, I'm sitting on the ground.

00;36;57;04 - 00;37;08;24
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
So I like that. I had someone tell me yesterday is always cat videos. I was like ten or 10 minutes. Make it happen. Do you collect anything? If so, what do you collect?

00;37;09;19 - 00;37;34;08
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
I collect too many things, so my office has my collections. Can I do a spin of mad? Sure. So I have my artwork here and you see? Yes, I can. And then I also like books, so I have lots of books there. But yes. So I like artwork and I like books. I'm an old lady at heart.

00;37;35;00 - 00;37;49;15
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
I collect fail podcasts now. No, 14 years. What can I say? I would be remiss if I didn't mention I dig the esthetic, I dig the fit that you're wearing. What is your favorite color or where.

00;37;50;12 - 00;37;59;17
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Do you recall the combination? Okay, so I just said it yesterday actually. So it's color. My mail, right? I like.

00;37;59;17 - 00;37;59;24
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
That.

00;38;00;05 - 00;38;05;17
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Yeah. Uh huh. Black and white. Yeah, that's it. That's. That's what we're on this whole spring.

00;38;05;29 - 00;38;21;21
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
Okay. I'm more of a mid tone sort of guy. We have a lot of gray, as you can see, and a fair amount of oxblood that sort of burgundy. You'll see me in a burgundy hoodie a lot. It's. It's just like. Yeah. Rob, have you showered? No, no, no, no. It's not about that. It's not about being a funky old guy.

00;38;21;21 - 00;38;34;27
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
It's fine. Here's here's the last question. This is going to be broad, but since we were talking about words, right? Yeah. What is your least favorite word that you hear in, like, our conversations?

00;38;35;00 - 00;38;37;09
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Who have such a list?

00;38;37;20 - 00;38;52;21
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
I know you do. Me and my partner make fun of these conversations a lot. Like when we're in these spaces and as it are, I wanted to do a bit on the East Baltimore diaspora and she was like, You're stupid. You are so stupid.

00;38;53;13 - 00;39;15;24
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Yeah. Oh, gosh. I mean, I don't know why this is. This is going to sound so into the quote. So everything that has been shared today, but just DIY together, I don't know why it makes me go, Oh, but it does so I'm trying to process that. But that's all we're familiar with. Again, what happened when she said, excuse me.

00;39;16;09 - 00;39;27;07
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
I think it's an honest thing because everybody wants to have a slice on it as to how they define it and and so on. And working in higher ed, I hear that as well, combined with with this.

00;39;27;07 - 00;39;32;18
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
So it's clear I still use it.

00;39;32;18 - 00;39;35;18
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
I mean, I find myself saying spaces way too often. I was like, damn it.

00;39;36;02 - 00;39;42;08
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
So yeah, but you got to be gentle with ourselves, right? Got to be gentle.

00;39;42;08 - 00;40;06;26
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
Just pillow fingers. Pillow fingers. So. So with that, I want to thank you for coming on to the podcast. This has truly been a treat and I want to open up the floor for you in the last moments here to share anything that you got that you feel like we may have, we may have missed. And I know there's a lot, but anything that you want to share in the final moments and tell the listeners where they can check you out A See anything along those lines, the floor is yours.

00;40;07;12 - 00;40;35;12
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
Absolutely. So I will share the latest project that I've been doing some consulting work for, and I'm happy to pass that your way too. If you're interested. But it's with New York Public Radio. I've had the honor of being on the research team with Terrance McKnight, who is a classical music reviewer and commentator there at New York Public Radio.

00;40;35;22 - 00;41;08;11
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
And so, yeah, that's being launched or was launched depending on undisclosed live February 16. So I'm super, super, super, super thrilled about it. And yeah, also you can check me out and whatever projects I'm involved on LinkedIn, Instagram and then I have a website that's air y, e, l e dot com area dot com and yeah, that will have a link to all the things as well.

00;41;08;12 - 00;41;08;21
Ariel Davis - The Truth In This Art
So.

00;41;09;13 - 00;41;34;27
Rob Lee - The Truth In This Art
So thank you. Thank you. This is, this has been fun. I'm really happy about this and I think we got it. So there you have it folks. I want to again thank Ariel, Elizabeth Davis for coming on to the podcast. And I'm Rob Lee saying that there's arts and culture in your neck of the woods. You've just got to look for it.