(upbeat intro music) - Here's what's coming up next on "You Oughta Know."

We step inside another world where anything is possible.

Plus the story of a Polish patriot and his connection to Philly.

And see how this nonprofit is transforming public school yards.

(upbeat music) Hi there.

Welcome to the show.

I'm Shirley Min.

Do you remember how much fun you had during recess?

Well, Fiesta Playgrounds is a non-profit dedicated to making new memories for Philadelphia school students.

(relaxing music) - Fiesta Schoolyards approached us in the summer, maybe the late spring of 2022, and they had the idea that they were gonna add on to the schoolyard that we had, which was very minimal.

We had nothing.

So, they offered to come out and allow us to plan the schoolyard.

What did we need?

What would service our students the best?

What would create a dynamic play area?

And through our partnership, we were able to get basketball courts, four squares, hopscotch.

And it's just been amazing.

- My brothers and I became aware that there were more schoolyards than we thought that needed help with schoolyard improvements.

When we were involved with a program called Young Heroes Program, and we sponsor schools that have a theme, and the kids work on that civic theme throughout the year.

And one of the booths was on bullying.

And in the poster it read that they didn't have a playground.

So after that, my brothers and I thought, well, how prevalent is this?

Because we have a family real estate business.

We know about building community.

We know about common area spaces.

Maybe this is something we can assist with.

And we determined of 176 public elementary schools in Philadelphia, about a hundred of them, around two thirds really had very little to offer.

- So, there used to be a bunch of holes in this black top.

So, whenever we did play football, we would fall.

So, we have to watch out for the holes.

I'm happy that they fixed that.

- [Elaine] That's when we determined our goal of 100 school yards in 10 years and deemed it Fiesta Schoolyards, and decided to fund this initiative along with others that help us through the Lindy Foundation.

(upbeat music) - When I was a principal resident here, they started putting the murals on the walls.

So, I was able to see the first day of school and how excited kids were in regards to the different play structures that were installed throughout the school year last year.

- I'm always in a rush to get to school early.

- Other days, like probably two years ago, "Mom, I don't wanna go to school today," but now I'm like, "Nah, mom, can you take me to school so I can be there early?"

- When we realized that the challenge was 100 schoolyards, which is a lot, and we added the number of students who attend these schoolyards, which totaled 100,000 students, which is half the population of Center City, Philadelphia, that's a lot of kids.

So we put as much energy into how to streamline the process as in the actual play amenities that we create.

- [Fred] We polled students, we were able to show teachers different elements and just get ideas on what would work, what the students wanted to do.

So, it just wasn't one person, or the administrative team making the choices.

It was everybody coming together to make the choices.

- [Elaine] We devised around two or three dozen play amenities that are pre-approved by the school district.

Every school gets 400 points, which correlates to $40,000.

So, they can pick and choose what they want, and then we simply execute those wishes.

And with that streamlined protocol, we have been able to deliver on 10 school yards per year toward our goal.

We recently completed our 25th school yard, one quarter of our goal.

- The playground is definitely a critical component to student development.

Also, the playground has made our school environment a welcoming school environment.

And so students are happy to come out at recess time.

They play with their friends.

And also it's critical to them building relationships with their peers and also their teachers.

- I'm thirsty.

- You're thirsty?

I'm Mr. K. - [Alia] We also have a play structure that will allow students to make music.

So we bring in the arts and also the academic components of math and literacy.

- [Elaine] We have sought and have received funding from a number of partners, corporations, nonprofits, and individuals, large and small.

So we do seek and receive funds from a wide variety of contributors.

However, to whatever extent, there is a gap between what we do receive and what is needed to deliver, the Lindy Foundation provides that gap.

And that way we're able to commit to schools as we first approach them, that we will deliver this, and we will continue to do that as we march through the rest of the schools we hope to accomplish.

- Giving children with special needs a place to play is what inspired Field of Dreams in Toms River, New Jersey.

Community contributor Sandra Levine takes us there.

(inspirational music) - This place allows us to forget about our troubles and really enjoy each other's company, as well as the the events that are here every day.

- [Sandra] Among the unique events at this inclusive recreational complex, a baseball clinic run by former major league third baseman, Todd Frazier, who grew up in Toms River, and donated funds to help make the Field of Dreams a reality.

- We're gonna have hitting contests, fielding contests, and everybody's gonna have a really good baseball moment.

It means a lot inside to me.

I've been working with special needs kids ever since I was six years old.

And it's something to give back to this community.

- [Sandra] The RWJ Barnabas Health Field of Dreams is the brainchild of Christian Kane, whose car in 2012 was slammed from behind, leaving his then toddler son, Gavin, with a devastating traumatic brain injury.

As Gavin grew Kane was looking for places where his son could play and discovered opportunities were so limited.

He and his wife Mary decided to start raising funds to build a place themselves.

- It was supposed to be just a baseball field.

And then when we started to go to public parks and realized that Gavin couldn't do anything at a public park, we're like, "Uh-oh, baseball field's not gonna cut it."

- The dream kept growing bigger.

And 10 years after the car accident, this state-of-the-art complex opened for people of all ages with special needs.

It features an expansive playground, a basketball court, miniature golf, and restrooms with large changing tables.

- Families come here because it's accessible, and more importantly, we don't get stared at.

(band playing music) - [Sandra] While Field of Dreams hosts events that are open to the public, ongoing free use of the facilities is limited to members with a disability and their families.

An outside group holds a camp here to provide children with visual impairments a safe place to run with a guide, and play blind soccer.

- Kids with visual impairment and blindness are typically the ones sitting on the sidelines.

And so this allows them a place to practice those skills so they could take it out in their communities and be active just like their peers without visual impairments.

- [Sandra] Rebecca Yarusi held a third birthday party here for her daughter, Hayden, who has autism.

- It's nice to come to a place where nobody's staring at you, nobody's judging you.

Everyone's here just looking to have a good time and feel accepted, which this is that place.

- It offers a lot of opportunities and a lot of social interactions for our children.

It's a place where Jeremy could come and relax and be with his friends.

It's a place where I could come and be with the friend's mothers, and meet other people.

And Jeremy could make new friends.

(cheering) - [Sandra] Despite the struggles and the heartache, Christian Kane says the tragic accident in July, 2012 that changed everything has brought new meaning to his life.

And the goal now is to grow the dream to replicate his vision, and promote more inclusion around the country.

- I feel that this accident, you know, was a push for me to be the leader of this special needs community, so that there could be more of these throughout the country.

That makes me feel better when I have to think about July 12th, 2012.

- [Sandra] In Toms River, New Jersey for "You Oughta Know, I'm Sandra Levine.

(cheering) - This next type of indoor playground takes you to another world where the possibilities are endless.

(upbeat music) - Otherworld Philadelphia is an interactive and immersive art exhibit.

We are a combination of a haunted house, escape room, and an art museum.

We're around 40,000 square feet, a little over 50 different rooms.

And each room is unique and tells its own story.

There's puzzles, clues, and narratives within the whole facility.

There's local artists as well as national and international artists.

It's a collaborative effort with our props and tech department to put on this amazing show.

(exciting music) Well, there are four different puzzles and they're all throughout each room.

So, you collect all of the clues, and then once you solve all of the four puzzles, you get through the grand puzzle, which is at the end of our tour and exhibit.

The art changes as you're moving around.

The lights might change, the projector might change.

You may trigger a puzzle to be solved.

Where in a normal art museum, you're sort of looking at what's on the wall, on the pedestals, here you're physically involved with the actual art and art making.

You pull a lever, you touch a wall, the environment changes all around you.

There's a narrative and a story that ties together all of the different rooms and exhibits here.

We're in the city of Adam.

It's a newly built city.

As guests walk around, you'll see you can create your own avatar.

You're fully immersed and you've become a citizen of this narrative in this other world.

Masi rooms, I will say the willow tree right behind me is sort of our big attraction here.

(intense electronic music) Another room is data temple, where we can plug in different tubes and lights and the whole room will light up.

And there's millions of color combinations that you can do in there.

We want everyone to have their own personal tour, whether they go through the secret passageways, or go through all of the main rooms.

It's really up to you, how you want to discover and interact with the art here.

You're not just walking through a museum and seeing a painting on a wall.

You're physically here, working with us to change the exhibit.

And you can also add your personal touch.

It's sort of an evolving art exhibit.

- [Shirley] Philadelphia is known for its murals and was named best city for street art by USA Today.

Someone who's been a part of Philly's art scene for a while is Conrad Benner, creator of streetsdept.com.

Conrad, welcome to "You Oughta Know."

- Thanks for having me!

I'm so excited.

- You are collaborating on a project with WHYY.

Before we get into the details of that, I want to talk about this photo blog you created, Streets Dept, that showcases Philly artists and the street art that they create in addition to the murals.

Let's talk about that.

- Yeah, I started this blog about 13 years ago.

It'll be 13 years this January.

It was when blogging was new.

It feels like now it's old, blogs are out of the picture, even.

But yeah, in 2011 I started this blog to highlight and celebrate the art I saw around Philadelphia.

You know, I'm a lifelong Philadelphia, and I've lived here my whole life.

And the more I got into the news space, 'cause I was a freelance journalist for a few years in my early twenties, the more I saw that there wasn't a whole lot of coverage of this incredible part of Philadelphia in sort of the traditional outlet.

So, blogging was new.

I thought, I'll start a photo blog.

And it kind of took off from there.

- And I find it surprising that a blog like this doesn't exist or there really isn't any other platform outside of what you're providing.

- Yeah, I mean, and that's a bigger conversation about the restraints of news organizations right now, whatever.

So, the arts kind of always go to the back end.

And there's a lot to talk about.

But yeah, it's great that we do have these tools, whether it be social media or blogging, to highlight the artists in our city.

'Cause we are an art city and there's so much to talk about.

You won't be bored for looking.

- Well, you do a great job.

- Thank you.

- Your latest collaboration with WHYY and our digital studios is called Art Outside.

- Art Outside!

- It's a podcast.

Tell us about it.

- Yeah, well the name's right on the head, right?

So, we're talking about art on the outside, Art Outside.

And for it, we're interviewing artists who create in the public space, whether it's commissioned work like murals, monuments, and public art, or non-commissioned work like graffiti and street art.

So, you know, something we say in the intro and the teaser is for 17,000 years people have been creating in the public space, think of the cave paintings of France, right?

Ancient, ancient France.

There's something in us.

We want to put art on our walls.

So with this podcast, we're exploring conversations with artists who do that in Philadelphia.

- And the title of the podcast was very intentionally titled that way.

- Yes.

- What's the strategy behind that?

- So, it's tough.

There's so many different art forms happening outside in our public space, from graffiti, street art, monuments, public art, that we needed a name that was specific enough to, you know, this is art that's outside, but also broad enough that we could talk about these different art forms and respect them, yeah.

- How do you choose the artists that are featured in the podcast?

- That was so tough.

We had a list of like 50 artists to begin with, then it went down to 20, then it was 10.

So, this first season is five episodes, five really great conversations with five different artists.

So, we were really conscious about, we wanted to have someone who worked primarily in graffiti, someone who worked primarily in street art, which is wheat paste, other sort of create non-commissioned creations in the public space.

Someone who creates murals, someone who creates stickers.

And then we just kind of pick someone from those different buckets who we thought had a really interesting story to tell.

And they're all such interesting stories.

I mean, through this podcast, we did two hour interviews in the studio, one hour on site.

We were with these artists for so many hours.

We got really interesting conversation.

And I think, I've been documenting this work for 15 years now, even before I started Streets Dept.

And I was really surprised by some of the thoughts and conversations and perspectives that these artists offered.

So, I'm really excited to share it with folks.

- I love that.

So, when does Art Outside drop?

- It's a great question.

Tuesday, November 21st, it'll be everywhere.

- And there's five episodes.

- Yes.

- How will they be distributed?

- They'll come out sequentially, what's the word for that?

Weekly.

- Weekly?

Okay.

- So yeah, they'll premiere that Tuesday and they'll come out weekly through the holiday season.

So, you'll be driving, you'll be flying, you'll be making dinners, you'll be cleaning up.

This is a great podcast to listen to while you do that stuff.

- And you can listen to it wherever you get your podcasts, I'd imagine.

- That's what we say at the end of every one, because it's true.

Yeah.

Including the NPR One app!

So, shout out to NPR.

- I love that.

Conrad Benner, thank you so much for being here.

- Thank you so much for having me.

- And I'm really looking forward to hearing Art Outside.

- Yeah, thank you.

- The crcus is in town for a few more days.

And if you'd like to catch a Philly history maker in action, then step right up.

(old-timey music) - This is from a long time ago.

It says the 1980 edition of Circus Vargas.

And that was my first season at Circus Vargas as a showgirl.

I was there for four years.

I was with an original group of women that he had never had showgirls before on his show.

And we were called the Vargettes.

And on that show, I think that's when I just fell madly in love with my life in the circus.

(circus music) I started taking dance classes as a little girl.

I really knew that the path I wanted to be on was to be a dancer.

Started out wanting to be a ballet dancer, and then the mix of ballet and modern was just perfect for me.

At Temple, I did major and get my degree in dance performance and education.

And I was dancing full-time with Philidanco.

I had a bug to travel, and Ringling had an audition.

That's how I ended up auditioning for the circus.

Oh, this is so great reminiscing.

This is wonderful.

It was when I moved onto Big Apple Circus in New York City, I became a company member there.

And a lot of the skillset that I had found at Circus Vargas, I transferred when I went to Big Apple Circus.

This was a one ring show.

It made me feel the theater, the theatrical part of it, the artistic part.

You know, stuff that I had learned when I was dancing.

(majestic music) I learned this act with two other women called Rolling Globes.

We went up a ramp, three feet, six feet, nine feet.

And then we got to the top, then we had to back down.

We were "beach ball balancing bathing beauties."

(curious toy piano music) I had been with elephants most often.

This is me spending the day with my elephant, Anna May, laying underneath of her.

What was I thinking?

(toy piano music continuing) This is me and my elephants, Anna May And Peggy.

I love this photo because this helped me learn and use my ballet training.

This is Anna May, again.

She held a piece of metal with two rings and then I did a half split there.

- Tonight, we invite you to see a classical circus of the Golden Age.

- [Vanessa] Paul Binder was an original founder of Big Apple Circus.

He was at every show.

Paul comes to me and says, he's gonna do some more traveling to promote the show.

And he asked me if I would like to be the ringmaster while he was away.

I accepted and then I had to be able to be myself in the ring.

I started to do some research, 'cause I knew plenty of the ringmasters.

I saw that there were some women, but there were no African Americans.

And so indeed, I am the first African American ringmaster in an American circus.

- Travel with us now to the home of another Philly history maker who championed freedom for all.

(bombastic music) - We are at the Tadeusz Kosciuszko National Memorial at Third and Pine Streets in Philadelphia.

It is the smallest unit of the National Park Service coming in at 0.02 acres.

But it's the only unit of the National Park Service that's dedicated to preserving the legacy of a European officer who fought in the Continental Army.

Kosciuszko, born in what today would be Lithuania, but essentially Polish.

He is a military engineer.

He's commissioned as a brigadier general, and he is sent into the Northern Department of the Continental Army under the command of Horatio Gates.

Now, he plays a very important role in the surrender of the British at the Battle of Saratoga.

Many people feel that this is really the turning point in the war because this is the American victory that convinced the King of France to jump into the war on the American side.

So, you can't underestimate how important Kosciuszko's contribution was to the Battle of Saratoga.

After that, he has sent to West Point to build some fortifications, and then he spends the last years of the war down in the Southern campaign.

But when the war ends here, he's really very inspired.

The ideals of the declaration, the concept of equality for all people.

But he is also convinced that you don't have to have a professional army to defeat a professional army.

So, he goes home to Poland.

Poland, at that point, was being split up by Prussia, Russia and Austria.

So, he issues a document called the Act of Insurrection, modeled on the Declaration of Independence.

He raises up the Polish serfs into an army and he goes to war against Russia.

Unfortunately, this did not have the same results as the American Revolution.

Kosciuszko is pretty severely wounded in battle, taken as a prisoner of war, and he spends two years in a prison in St. Petersburg.

When he is eventually released, he comes back to Philadelphia, because Philly is now the capital of the United States.

The year is 1797.

One of the things that Kosciuszko wants to do is petition the Congress for his back pay.

So he takes a small room on the second floor of a boarding house here at Third and Pine, and he's here for just a little under a year.

A lot of folks are coming to visit him.

Probably the most famous visitor to the site was Thomas Jefferson, who was the vice president at the time.

They became very good friends while Kosciuszko was staying here.

- Tadeusz Kosciuszko relates to today because of not only his service in the Continental Army and his service to Poland, but his ideas about liberty, that it should apply to all, and not just to the few or the rich alone.

He was an abolitionist.

He was anti-slavery.

In fact, in his will, he requests that as many slaves as possible purchase their freedom with what he leaves behind.

To paraphrase the words of Thomas Jefferson, who wrote General Horatio Gates in 1798 talking about his friendship with Kosciuszko, he says, "He was as pure of a son of liberty as I've ever known."

And I think that is the essence of who Tadeusz Kosciuszko was as a person.

He was a freedom fighter and he believed in freedom, and he fought for that for his entire life and for his homeland of Poland, which he really didn't see in his lifetime.

And we really didn't see until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989.

- More than 50% of our visitation to the site is folks who are either from Poland or have Polish ancestry.

And they're coming here because this is one of their national heroes.

They want to pay their respects to him.

- I think everybody that visits the house here walks away with a greater appreciation of the person that Kosciuszko was, but really what he did for the United States and Poland, and the fact that he was the purest son of liberty.

- Finally tonight, Patrick Stoner reveals the truth when he sits down with acclaimed director, Martin Scorsese, to talk about his latest project, "Killers of the Flower Moon."

- [Ernest] The Osage took their name from Missouri and Osage Rivers.

Ni-u-kon-ska.

Children of the Middle Waters.

- [Patrick] Martin Scorcese has directed "Killers of the Flower Moon," starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.

I had a chance to sit down with him and talk about how deeply he gets involved in creating characters.

But first I wanted to clear something up about his name.

By the way, you are Martin Scorsese.

You once explained that's really how your family pronounces the name.

- That's right.

- So I went on the air and I said, "And I just interviewed Martin Scorsese," and the internet lit up, "You don't know how to pronounce the name-" - No, well, let me explain that real fast.

The name Scorsese is misspelled.

It really was originally, it's misspelled by my grandparents.

They couldn't read or write, really.

It's really Scozzeze.

It means "Scotsman."

- Oh.

- S-C-O-Z-Z-E-Z-E. - Not what you'd expect.

- No.

Well, I have some, apparently in my DNA on my father's side, there was a guy from the Shetland Islands about a thousand years ago wound up in Sicily.

- Ah.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- That's a good combination.

(Scorsese laughing) That's an Italian drinking good scotch.

Something I noticed about Leo in the film, his eyes.

This is a guy that we read is not very smart.

You know, they might work in something that requires repetition, but they're not very imaginative.

And he nailed that look.

- [Scorsese] He got it.

I don't know how he did it.

I don't know.

And it came off of Bob.

It came off Lily a lot.

It came up for her.

She was pivotal in this picture.

Lily Gladstone.

'Cause at one point, Leo, when we were trying to work on the script, me and him and Eric, and he said, "Where's the heart of the movie?"

I said, "The heart of the movie is her."

And that means Ernest.

So then he said, "I think I should play Ernest."

And that turned everything around.

I said, "Yeah, we work from the two of them out."

And so he then developed a, how dense is this guy?

That's what we were trying to play in each scene.

He's just a person who just may have, for whatever reasons, a world where one doesn't want any more problems.

I don't know.

He listens to his uncle.

His uncle says, "Call me King."

He calls him King.

- That's right.

You like money.

Here's how you get money.

- Here's how you get money.

(laughs) - You have enriched our lives so much.

Everybody has a legacy.

And thank you so much for sharing with me and the rest of us, yours.

- Well, thank you.

It's a great honor.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And great to see you again.

- It is great to see you again.

I'm Patrick Stoner.

- Thanks so much for tuning in and we'll see you back here next week.

Goodnight.

(upbeat closing music)