In this edition of "The Art Show," providing music lessons to under-served youth.

(bright music) Transforming a landmark into a community art space.

(bright music) And an oasis reflects the wild beauty of its surroundings.

(bright music) It's all ahead on this edition of "The Art Dhow" at CET.

(upbeat music) Hi, I'm Rodney Veal and welcome to "The Art Show," where each week we provide access to local, regional, and national artists and arts organizations.

Today we're coming to you from the studios of CET in downtown Cincinnati.

Our Cincinnati viewers might recognize where I'm sitting.

This is actually the set of "Showcase with Barbara Kellar," which airs on CET.

We wanted to do today's interview in person instead of on Zoom, and the studio gives our production team room to socially distance, so I'd like to give Barbara a shout out and a thank you for letting us use her "Showcase" set for filming.

Now I'd like to welcome two guests to "The Art Show," Susan Carlson and Phil Berne.

Susan and Phil established a scholarship in 2004 in memory of their son Ben, whose short life ended at 19 in a hiking accident.

Ben's passion was to share his love of classical music with economically disadvantaged children and youth.

Today, the Ben Carlson-Berne Scholarship his work, providing high-quality, private music lessons for underserved youth in the Cincinnati community.

Susan and Phil, welcome.

Thank you for being here today.

Thank you for having us.

let's talk about this scholarship.

How did it come about?

When kids are in high school, in their junior year, they have to do a community service project.

So, Ben had to do one of those.

He was a classical pianist and had been taking lessons all of his life, so he was serious about classical music and piano.

And we connected him with the Arts Consortium, which at that time was in the inner city here in Cincinnati and served a lower income community, and then he went down there and he started exposing kids to what you always say is the loudest and fastest...

Right.

Classical music that he could play for them.

Of course, they got all excited and he kept playing that, then pretty soon he was like, "Okay, now I'm gonna teach them piano lessons," and then it was- Well, of course, you can't have piano lessons -without having a piano.

-Yep.

So then the issue became, "Oh, how do we get the piano to the kids?"

So then we started getting donated pianos that we would get into the kids' houses, which was a real challenge, and he then was teaching them the lessons every week.

So that's what he did until he went away to college.

And unfortunately, he died in a hiking accident in 2002 and so in his memory, we wanted to continue his vision and so we started the scholarship in 2004.

I find it really remarkable that Benjamin was so selfless, that he was like, this sense of service and it was amazing for somebody that's so young..

I think it was a combination of several things.

One, Ben was a very feeling and sensitive person for people who had less than him and were hurting in some way.

He also had an incredible sensitivity to beauty, I think.

Also, the kids really loved what was happening and they loved hearing the music.

They got excited, that excited him.

And you know what, you can't stop youth who, once they get an idea and they believe in something, they don't see the barriers that adults see.

He had that teenage enthusiasm.

-Yeah.

-He just figured, well, I don't know how we're gonna do this next step but we'll do this step and then we'll figure out the next step when the next step comes around.

And then just keep going.

Just keep going.

That's pretty amazing.

And so one of the things I loved when I read through on the website, that the eligibility for renewable scholarships is an openness to learning about and playing classical music.

Why was that the number one characteristic for an applicant, the openness?

Well, openness was what Ben was interested in.

he wasn't particularly interested in like, I want to make these kids talented.

I wanna, you know.

That wasn't what he was interested in.

He just wanted them to know the joy of it, and to appreciate it, and so that's all we focus on, is that's our number one thing.

We don't, there's no audition.

Kids do not have to audition.

They are interested in playing an instrument and they are interested in learning about classical music and open to it, then that's fine.

They do have to qualify for free and reduced lunches, because this, again, is about Ben's vision about kids who could not afford to have lessons.

So, one of the things for our viewers that are watching, how can they engage with the scholarship fund?

What can they do to help you further this mission?

First of all, some of our donors, they volunteer instruments to us which is always very helpful.

The other way, of course, is to donate to the scholarship, because we are largely funded by donations and we have a group of very loyal donors that believe in this cause and want to further this cause.

And of course, some people may be interested in their child /\wanting to have lessons and so they should contact us and there's a contact form on our website that they can go to.

Is there anything else you would like our viewers to know about the scholarship?

Well, one thing that I think is important and unique about our scholarship, and that is that once we accept a child into the scholarship, we set aside the entire amount of money for them until they graduate from high school.

So that a child will never be dropped if they continue to have their interest in the scholarship, because too often, what you find is a grant program where everybody gets to have something for a year or something like a short period of time and then it's gone because the money's not there.

We don't ever want one of our kids to be dropped.

If they're interested, then that money is there for them if the scholarship ended tomorrow.

So parents can breathe a sigh of relief and it has made a huge difference to our parents and to our kids that they know that the money is there.

Once you're a member of the family, you stay in the family.

That is awesome.

That is super cool.

Susan and Phil, thank you so much for being here today and sharing your story about the Ben Carlson-Berne Scholarship.

We really appreciate it.

-Thank you for having us.

-Thank you.

If you'd like to learn more about this, or any other story on today's show, visit us online at cetconnect.org or thinktv,org.

Today "The Art Show" is coming to you from CET, the local PBS station here in Cincinnati.

We're behind the scenes in production control, where all the magic happens during live broadcasts.

Now our next story takes us to the west coast of florida.

In 1927, the newly constructed Sarasota High School opened its doors.

But less than 70 years later, the building was shuttered as the student body moved to a newer, more modern campus.

Despite its status as a community landmark, the old high school was neglected, then threatened with demolition.

Finally, a plan emerged to save it.

Today, it's the vibrant home of the Sarasota Art Museum.

Here's their story.

(upbeat music) When you walk into this museum, you get a brisk slap in the face of color, of energy, and excitement.

(upbeat music) Sarasota Art Museum was founded in 2003.

It's what I like to say, an audacious dream that could only happen in Sarasota.

There were 13 wonderful founders who came together.

They really felt that there was a need in this community to focus on modern and contemporary art.

It's always nice to have another competing facet of a genre of art in a community.

I think the Sarasota Art Museum is just that.

It specializes in contemporary art and I think it pushes the other museums and other venues to enhance and forward their own exhibits as far as the contemporary art is concerned.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) So from those early days, this passionate group of people really knew that the museum would need a great partner to be successful.

And the museum, Sarasota Art Museum, was born under the auspices of Ringling College of Art + Design.

And from there, this community stepped in to essentially be the supporters for the museum's bid for the 1926 Elliott Building, otherwise known as Sarasota High School.

Because the museum was an old high school when they did the adaptive reuse project, of course they wanted to stay true in some areas to the original architecture, which is a collegiate gothic building.

So we like to bring exhibitions that are site-specific, so really responding to the original architecture, and then building on them with new works.

And then we have the great skylights as well, which brings in a lot of natural light, and it just flatters the works in a different way that you might not otherwise get in a typical gallery space.

A lot of museums have the same exhibit over and over, and people walk in and they're looking at the same thing.

But you never know what you're going to see at the Sarasota Art Museum.

It's new, the freshness.

The different mediums.

It's all so special.

Sarasota Art Museum is a contemporary kunsthalle, which is a German word meaning that we don't have a permanent collection.

So we rotate our exhibitions roughly every four to five months, which means that we can always respond to the current moment, what's happening globally and also here in Sarasota.

So this exhibition season at Sarasota Art Museum, we really wanted to offer visitors different experiences to engage in new ways.

So I think a lot of times, people will go to a museum and they're very used to just seeing two-dimensional works on the wall and moving through a space, but we really wanted to force people to slow down and to think about works in new ways, so we have some interactive works like the Felix Gonzalez-Torres "Candy Spill" which is in our historic lobby, as well as the immersive installation with Danner Washburn's work, which is titled "Effigy: Hemric."

And it's really important that we sort of give visitors this opportunity to break from the mold of what a museum typically does.

So not only do we give space for artists to respond to the current moment, but we're also asking visitors to be present in the current moment, and to really reflect and think more about the ideas that the artists are presenting.

This room right here, this studio loft area, I really appreciate all the artists in their studios, because as an artist myself, I'm getting to see an insight to their process.

It creates those questions that I think about of how work is done and how things are handled.

Getting into the Sarasota Art Museum has helped my growth in staying with the arts, being proactive in my own art practices.

We really are a school within a school.

So, we're Ringling College of Art + Design's living laboratory for contemporary art.

We're the museum of the college, but we also have our own educational programming that happens here on site too.

(lively music) From the very beginning, the community, the founders, and Ringling College of Art + Design really saw that there is a need to help educate people around the arts and around contemporary art, but also a chance for people to be creative.

So we were really built, purpose built, so to speak, so that that creativity piece is embedded within our culture here.

We are home to what's called an Osher Lifelong Learning institute or OLLI, and that is one of the most amazing things that happens on our campus.

We have people 55-plus, lifelong learners coming to take classes, to teach classes, share their experience.

We also have gallery tours, we have talks by artists and with artists, and, we have artmaking in all of our wonderful spaces, as well as programs for school children.

Ringling has done a great job with having all of these different moving pieces.

It allows people with backgrounds like myself to find a little place to share.

And so the OLLI became the natural for me, because it's something that I like to do.

I like to talk about the apparel industry.

And it was a lot of fun.

(upbeat music) it's a place about ideas, learning.

It's a place about what the future looks like, and it's about the human condition and how we share this life experience together.

And what's wonderful is that we have really, really passionate people who are engaged with us every day.

(upbeat music) "The Art Show" is going to be traveling around southwest Ohio.

You might see this logo in your neighborhood.

Follow the travels of "The Art Show" on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @thinktv and @cetconnect, and check out #theartshow hashtag.

Welcome back to production control at CET in Cincinnati.

Now, let's take a trip to the Chama Canyon Wilderness in New Mexico to experience the Chapel of Christ in the Desert.

Designed by master craftsman and architect George Nakashima, it offers an oasis to visitors who make the trek to its remote location.

Let's watch.

(people singing) (people singing) (people singing) (people singing) The former abbot of Gethsemane Abbey, Timothy Kelly one time said, "Monks have to live in beauty.

And if they go to a place that's ugly, they have to transform it."

For us, we didn't have to transform it.

Even what we build is simply trying to reflect it.

We're blessed to have this kind of church in this space.

It'd be a shame if it were just a monument instead of a living place of worship.

So the church grows and changes, and moves back and forth.

It's a living tribute to George Nakashima that he created something so wonderful that we can still pray in it now and just be lifted up.

(chuckling) (people singing) (people singing) (people singing) When my father first came to this canyon, he must have been blown away by its beauty.

It's almost like the canyon itself is sacred.

He felt that whatever architecture he built should not be an expression of the ego, but it should be reflective of the environment, that it should be reflective of the people who use it.

It should fit into the landscape, it shouldn't be trying to change the landscape.

He must have seen those cliffs and the scree at the base, and he was probably inspired by that and the bell tower reflects those shapes just almost literally.

(people singing) And it was just this tremendous infusion of this American adobe architecture and Japanese sensibility, and the aspiration from the Indian philosophy that he had within himself.

He worked with the office of Antonin Raymond, and the Raymond office sent him to india in 1936 to work on a reinforced concrete building for the ashram of Sri Aurobindo.

I think the Ashram Golconde building was pivotal in his spiritual and personal development.

His Indian name that Sri Aurobindo gave him is Sundarananda, which means "he who delights in beauty."

He thought he was going to be a monk there for the rest of his life, until World War ii started percolating and he decided he'd better go back to his family in the US.

(calm music) (calm music continues) (calm music continues) He had this this strict training in architectural construction and engineering and that manifested itself in everything he made.

When he worked in architecture, it was not a direct experience, but making furniture was a direct experience.

You really had to know what you're doing with your hands.

You had to understand the material.

You had to have a vision of what you wanted that material to become, and when he first started out in Seattle, he only used lumber that was available.

But then we were put into the camps, and when he started out finally back into furniture on the East Coast, he couldn't afford to buy the good lumber, so he would go to the lumber yards and use the offcuts.

And he was inspired by the offcuts and the strange shapes that they had sometimes, and they became part of this design, so it was a little bit serendipitous.

He probably wouldn't have gone into that if it hadn't been, everything that happened to him.

(upbeat music) One can say that it was divine inspiration or something, or divine guidance that brought him to where he was.

(upbeat music) My father George Nakashima was very loving and gentle and sweet to a point.

He didn't talk much.

He was like a zen master.

You sorta had to figure it out by yourself.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (church bell ringing) (church bell ringing) When he came here, Dad was kind of going back to the ashram, where people all worked together for a common goal, and he realized that they were, what, 13 miles from a road, and the road was really bad, and it's very hard to get materials here, so they went to work, they made adobe from the clay that was already here and they used the vigas that were close by.

They used the workmen who were close by.

They didn't have any money, but Dad was very happy to volunteer his time and his energy and his vision to share with the monks, and wanted to make a beautiful space for them to gather in.

(people singing) (people singing) Did you miss an episode of "The Art Show?"

No problem!

You can watch it on demand at cetconnect.org and thinktv.org.

You'll find all the previous episodes, as well as current episodes, and links to the artists we feature.

And that wraps it up for this edition of "The Art Show" at CET.

Until next time, I'm Rodney Veal.

Thanks for watching.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues)