Sports are a great equalizer: no one can cheat determination, teamwork and practice.
The Final Third Foundation’s mission is to give all kids an equal playing field (or pitch) both literally and figuratively.
Access to clean water can often be taken for granted. The clean water problem is oceanic, but Design Outreach is making waves to solve it.
Some people believe that art is for the select few, and that in order for art to be good, it must be highbrow. Pam Kravetz has made it her career goal as an artist and art educator to bring people together through art.
These topics are all part of this week's edition of Fascinating Ohio.
Guests:
- Ben Levey, founder and director, The Final Third Foundation
- Dr. Greg Bixler, co-founder/CEO, Design Outreach
- Pam Kravetz, artist/educator/board member of the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center
Transcript
This transcript is generated with AI. To ensure its accuracy, review the audio file.
Amy Juravich: Welcome to All Sides with Amy Juravich. This is Fascinating Ohio, a show from All Sides and WOSU where we introduce you to people from the Buckeye state with an interesting story to tell. As we've seen over the past few months, the World Cup games, sports, are doing a great job of bringing people together from all different kinds of backgrounds. Sports are a great equalizer. No one can cheat determination, teamwork, and lots of practice.
The Final Third Foundation's mission is to give all kids an equal playing field, or pitch rather, both literally and figuratively. So joining us now to talk more about soccer, literacy, wellness, and more is Ben Levey, director and founder of the Final Third Foundation. Welcome to All Sides, Ben.
Ben Levey: Thank you for having me.
Juravich: So, the Final Third Foundation is an organization committed to bringing access to soccer to every child who wants to play the sport. Ben, what's your personal connection to the sport? Like, why soccer?
Levey: Yeah, I grew up with the game. Grew up playing since I was four or five years old. I played many, many different sports, but soccer ended up being the sport for me and fell in love with the games as I got older and older and eventually coached the game, got my licenses, and that took me eventually to Kenya where I volunteered as a soccer coach and led me on my path to this sports and development career.
Juravich: Hmm. Yeah. Okay. So we will, we'll talk about all of that. But first tell me about the name. What does final third mean?
Levey: So final third is the final third of a soccer field. It's where you execute and implement and you have to finish and score. It's the hardest part of the game. And it takes a full team of 11, a full of team of creators, of leaders to get you to that point. And what we say is we do it together and we actually do it. We implement, we finish, we work together to make that happen.
Juravich: Is the final third the area around the goal? Or like, explain it a little better. I come from a soccer world, but it's little kid's soccer, and I haven't used this phrase.
Levey: Think of a large field as a coach, you actually speak in thirds. And the final third is a final third of a soccer field. So if you're speaking about the defensive, yeah. Okay, okay, I've heard of.
Juravich: Okay. Okay. I've heard of Midfield. All right. I got you. Yes. All right. So talk to me about the organization's roots. It's it has roots in is it is it the Lee Coney?
Levey: Lekoni. Lekonii.
Juravich: So tell me about those roots and that experience.
Levey: Yeah. Um, so we say global roots, local impact. And the reason why we say that is because when I was in 2011 at 22 years old, I volunteered in Mombasa, Kenya, specifically Likoni, um, the one of the poorest areas of Mombassa. And I went there for three and a half months to volunteer as a soccer coach and added ended up starting an organization and Likoney after witnessing and, and seeing from with my own eyes, how the game really brought people together. And I would volunteer as a coach five days a week with different local community clubs and saw a need in the community and brought the coaches together.
And the idea was to work with all the coaches to eventually create Lacony Community Football League, which is still here to this day and run by the people from Lacony. And that was the idea in the first place and final third foundation supports that organization and sends volunteers there every year
Juravich: The organization does much more than just help kids play soccer though. You've added other components, so let's start with the literacy component. I mean obviously reading is important, but why did you decide to make that a part of your mission too?
Levey: So, over time, I realized soccer could be a vehicle to not only allow kids to learn about teamwork, to allow them to learn leadership, but it's a fun way to bring in other elements like education, like environmental awareness, like health and nutrition. Originally, this idea came from a book that I read and that came into a company that I was working for originally. And called the Jamie Johnson series, a soccer novel series. And everything that's brought into the organization is something I wish I had growing up in a way.
This soccer novel was set up as a tool to connect with youth and I piloted it at Eakin Elementary with another coach that I was working with back in 2019, 2020.
Juravich: Is that a local elementary school? I'm not familiar with that name.
Levey: Eakin Elementary on the west side. Yes, it's a local elementary school and we ran it for two weeks as a summer camp in partnership with Columbus Rec and Parks. And the kids absolutely loved it. They engaged with the book, they engaged with a literacy program. And eventually I brought in a good friend of mine, Dr. Leah Groom Thomas, to help lead the soccer and literacy program and today, last year we were in 27 different schools throughout central Ohio.
Juravich: Wow, 27 different schools. Okay, so soccer is a good bridge to get kids to read. Are you finding that?
Levey: Any sport, right, is fun, so it takes kids outside of the classroom and brings in that movement, that excitement. The idea with every program we create is to create excitement around what we're teaching so that they can go back to the classroom and really want to learn more. We bring in the vocabulary, we bring in the social-emotional learning elements to everything we do, but it's packaged with the sport of soccer, which is, as everybody knows, a universal game. It's fun.
Juravich: The most beautiful game, right? Exactly. Yeah. Well, another area that you're leaning into is also environmental awareness, which has a cute name, Sprouts, is it? And it's engaging the youth also in nature and sustainability. So why did you decide to add that goal?
Levey: So one is that's led by our director of environmental awareness. I always say that if it was just me, I'd be the soccer guy making sure there's access for all and play. Max Rosenthal is amazing. So is Leah Groom Thomas. So is the rest of our team that leads in there, that leads into the different programs that we run. We overtook Pathways Park out at Easton in 2021 when CESA, a recreational program, merged underneath our roof. Okay. Um, and when we overtook that park, I asked Max to come back and work with us.
He, he, he had been originally a soccer coach with us and he led this environmental awareness program. Originally he transformed the soccer facility into a park with metal reclamation, tree planting, building a learning garden. And we want to do more out there as well. That's where sprouts created by Max, um, grew out of and We've now brought it into schools and we'll be in seven different programs this fall throughout Columbus City Schools as well.
Juravich: So in those seven different programs, are you specifically teaching sports and sustainability? Like, are you connecting the two together? Is that?
Levey: Yeah, so in every school we're in currently, we provide soccer and literacy, and then we'll bring in sprouts on top of that with the funding that we have. So the idea is to create a holistic pathway for these children. We were trying to focus in on the whole child. So really from a social emotional learning component to a health and nutrition component to a play component. Or bringing it all on, you could call it wraparound services with every school that we enter into.
Juravich: This is Fascinating Ohio From All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. We're talking about soccer, literacy, wellness, and more with Ben Levy, director and founder of the Final Third Foundation. And okay, so as if you didn't have enough to do, right? So you're doing literacy, you're the nature and sustainability, but then you just mentioned the wellness, right. So there's another component, which is wellness. Health and nutrition is a part of your organization. I mean, obviously kids need to be healthy enough to play soccer, right, so this is a natural connection, but your website also has. Pictures of like a group of kids all eating bell peppers. So talk to me about how you get the wellness message into your programming too.
Levey: Again, I'll highlight another leader in our organization, Cali for our ghoulish who just came in two years ago. Many years ago, we started this after school soccer and literacy program, and we were noticing how hungry the kids were after school. And some schools would provide Children Hunger Alliance, which is such a great organization here, providing meals to students and definitely at a mass rate providing that. But we also noticed some schools didn't have that avenue. Teachers were finding ways to make sure the students had pizza or ice cream right after school.
We didn't have the infrastructure in place to be able to provide food at that time. However, over the past two years, we've created the funding streams and the ability to provide that. And Callie's come on with her expertise to make that what we provide is world class, whole foods, calorically dense with a nutrition. Curriculum that goes along with it, that comes into our soccer and literacy programs, that comes in to our environmental awareness programs and sprouts programs. And actually we're very proud, sad, that Local Matters recently had to shut their doors, but they are providing their curriculum to any non-profit that would like to utilize it. And we've been working with them to also add specifically health and nutrition programs in the schools who are already providing these sprouts. And soccer and literacy programs.
Juravich: Why do you think a sports oriented outreach where like soccer is your base, but why is it so effective at reaching kids with these other messages too? So like talk to me, I guess, about what the greater life lessons you wanna teach kids through soccer.
Levey: Yeah, well, first off, soccer is a natural fit here in Columbus. I think we all know how diverse Columbus is. Everyone plays soccer. And also everyone plays soccer, it's a universal game, universal language. And and kids and adults automatically right away connect. Soccer is that vehicle to teach mentorship, leadership, working with others that come from. A variety of backgrounds, I think right away, we say we try to humanize at the youngest ages and work to respect identity as well.
It allows for different religions, cultures, ethnicities to come together and play and learn. And I think that's the end goal there is, that's why it's so powerful, is when you walk out to the soccer field at Pathways Park, you see the world. And you see everybody together and laughing and enjoying each other's time. I think, yeah, mentorship, yes, leadership, yes, working hard to get better and practicing, but in the end, it's bringing people together and it's showing that we can work together as one in our own little final third foundation bubble, you could call it.
Juravich: To pivot back to the wanting every kid to be able to play soccer, which is what you originally started this as, like as your goal, uh, talk to me about, um, I mean, of all the sports is soccer is not that expensive. You need a ball and some cleats, but there are leagues that cost a lot of money. I do know that. Um, and it's kind of like a, you play for the league, your, your family can afford, um situations. So talk to me about the, this access to soccer.
Levey: Yeah, that's a huge talking point, especially after the World Cup and the U.S. Soccer team and how they performed in youth development in general. Private equity is now investing in youth sports and you see it, I see it with my own eyes, how it's becoming such a business. And I have lived that a little bit. Access for all, world-class access for all. That's our goal. That's very hard to accomplish. And when we when. When you're making sure that costs are low and no cost at all to be able to play.
The goal there is really what we're trying to create is a platform to make sure that every child can play. And through sponsors, through donors, through umbrella nonprofit organization that has diversified funding streams, we make that happen. Really every parent has to go in with their child and make sure their child can compete and they're stuck in this route of youth sports and the amount of money and travel that it takes. However, there's enough talent locally to be able to provide low cost elite level pathways for kids to participate. We've created what is called What we call our f3 development league and we partner with local grassroots clubs that participate in it that have kids that play seven days a week and that love absolutely love the game and our f 3 Academy plays in that as well and
Juravich: Yeah, I mean, it's a problem that came up, you know, it was a talking point during the World Cup is that if your family has the money, you can put your kid in the best soccer league, but the best player might be playing for the small rec league that only cost $25 to play, and that kid won't get discovered because his parents can't afford the $4,000 travel league. So you have a pathway for, when you find the kid who is good at soccer, you have the pathway for them.
Levey: Yeah. What's amazing is we're creating this elite level pathway. We have, we, we, we provide a recreational program as well. However, we we've created this elite-level pathway with the F3 development league out at pathways park. And a story that we can tell is that we also run college ID camps and this player that played at West high school, he now is going to Asheville because he was seen at, at these college ID camps and eventually. We will have all the way up to U18 to providing this F3 Academy.
So yes, we are providing that pathway as our organization grows and we're connecting with many Columbus City school students and actually outside of Columbus City schools as well where we find the child that really wants to play. Another story is a child was in our summer camp, our Soccer and Literacy Wellness and Education summer camp. He originally found that summer camp through a soccer and literacy program at North Town Elementary. And now he's in our F3 Academy, this elite level program. And I was just out there last night, watching them train and saw him in the summer camp, saw him and the soccer and literacy program at these schools.
And that's why these principals and the staff in our schools are really, that we work with are really connecting because they see that we don't just come in and provide a program. We're looking to provide. And add value in any way we can to every child we meet.
Juravich: You found a soccer star there, yeah.
Levey: Absolutely. All right.
Juravich: We've been talking about soccer, literacy, wellness, and more with Ben Levy, founder and director of the Final Third Foundation. Thank you so much for joining us today, Ben.
Levey: Thank you for having me.
Juravich: And coming up, we're going to talk with someone who wants to bring clean drinking water to everyone. That's when Fascinating Ohio from all sides continues on 89.7 NPR News.
You're listening to All Sides, I'm your host Amy Juravich. This is Fascinating Ohio, a show from All Sides and WOSU, where we introduce you to people from the Buckeye State with an interesting story to tell. Access to clean water can often be taken for granted. For some people, staying hydrated is as simple as remembering to bring a water bottle to school, work, or practice. But in other communities, it's not that simple. The access to clean water problem is oceanic. But design outreach is making waves to solve it. Joining us now to talk about clean water for everyone is Dr. Greg Bixler, co-founder and CEO of Design Outreach. Welcome to the show, Greg. Thanks so much. So design outreach has a goal of bringing life-sustaining solutions to access clean water and deal with the clean water problem around the world. And you focus on innovative products to help do that. So let's start with your life pump system. Can you describe it to our listeners?
Dr. Greg Bixler: Yeah, we started designing a better water pump. And this goes back about 15 years ago when we discovered that pumps break down quickly and they don't go deep enough. And quickly meaning the pumps can break down anywhere from a few weeks to even a few months and take weeks or months to get fixed if they ever get fixed again. So we decided, well, you know, decades ago we sent a man to the moon. Surely engineers can create better pumps. And so the life pump was born. And we have about 600 life pumps now in 12 countries, and these pumps are extremely durable, long-lasting, high quality, and they can go about three times deeper than traditional pumps.
Juravich: Okay, so tell our listeners who I'm going to assume a majority of our listeners have water from whatever city they live in that comes right to their house and they turn on the faucet and the water is there. But you're talking about communities that don't have water pipes going to houses. Who needs these pumps?
Bixler: A large part of the world doesn't have piped water coming to their house. In fact, about 2 billion people don't have safely managed water supplies. And that means over seven and a half million communities. And these are communities of maybe 250, 300 people. They rely on hand pumps and, uh, and most of this is in developing countries and in places in Africa and other parts of the word where people are going and carrying buckets of water to get, um, to get their household water needs. And one of the best ways to do that in rural communities where there's no electricity, there's not piped water coming from a city water supply is a humble hand pump.
Juravich: Okay, and your hand pump you mentioned, you wanted to make a better one, right? And it's different than other water pumps. Your team worked hard to increase the lifespan of these pumps. So tell me about the Max Life Centralizer.
Bixler: Yeah, as we were putting in more and more life pumps, we realized we were just making barely a drop in the problem go away type of thing. And so we wanted to tackle the seven and a half million pump problem where these pumps are breaking down quickly and not providing enough water for communities to really thrive. And so, we thought, could we create a simple upgrade kit for these existing pumps, the traditional ones you see across the world, and do it in a way that's ultra affordable. So that the community themselves can be empowered to upgrade.
And so we started looking at this a few years ago and we had an aha sort of breakthrough moment when we were studying data and we saw that there was one part of the pump that breaks down very quickly and causes about 75% of the point breakdowns. And that part we call it the black rubber centralizer.
Juravich: Okay. So all water pumps have a black rubber centralizer.
Bixler: For a lot of the pumps and these black rubber centralizers, what they do is it keeps the drive rod inside of the riser pipe from rubbing each other.
Juravich: The thing that goes up and down, okay.
Bixler: It's going up and down. So when you're pumping your handle, that rod goes up and down thousands of times a day. And that can wear a hole inside your pump and no water comes out. And so what we discovered was that the chunks of this rubber centralizer are actually wearing and breaking off and it jams up the pump. So in other words, you have water today and there's no water tomorrow. And people are very desperate because when pumps break, there's nobody around to it quickly. There's not enough money to fix it quickly. So we decided, hey, maybe we can make a better centralizer.
Juravich: Okay, and so radio listeners can't see it, but in front of him you have the better centralizer. So it's not a little black rubber thing. It's different, it's blue. So tell me what it does differently.
Bixler: Yeah, the blue centralizer, we call it the Max Life Centralizer, it actually snaps on the rod. So if I slide it on and I rotate it, there's a snap that keeps it in place. And what happens is, this simple replacement that we're doing on pumps, and now we have over 2,000 pumps with these installed, can make pumps last from anywhere where they breaking down three weeks previously to now over two years without any major repairs. So this has been a game changer, and these are extremely affordable. We actually make these in South Africa now. And for pennies on the dollar, we can put these in and communities can afford to install these themselves.
Juravich: Okay, so you don't have to install a whole new water pump system. They can just open up their existing pump and, you know, swap out these two little pieces? Very easily. Okay. And so that's the idea is, I mean, you probably want your pumps everywhere, but this is a easier fix for where there already are pumps. Is that what happens? Thank you.
Bixler: So yeah, exactly, where there's a need for life pumps, you know, we definitely are continuing to put in more life pumps as the donations come in to make that possible. But there's such a huge problem of these existing pumps that we wanted to do something that would move a little bit quicker and we could help make these existing pumps last longer.
Juravich: And you were recently on a trip to Africa. You went to Zambia and Malawi, right? Correct. And so you went to oversee some work being done there. Tell me about that trip. What did you do?
Bixler: These trips are always such a joy for me personally. I get to travel with some others and share with them what we're doing, but also see firsthand the impact we continue having in communities. And these are what I consider dirt poor communities, right? Dirt floor, grass roof, where there's just not money for anything. And people are hungry. They're growing what they eat. And when there's not food, there's hunger and a lot of hunger. There's a lot disease.
And so we're going through and our goal is to go across the country of Malawi. Train local pump technicians and stock the local marketplaces in order to have these max life centralizers available across the country and we've we've done that in Mostly in the central region of Malawi and so we got to visit many communities over 2,000 communities now have these centralizers and The need in Malawi alone is there's about 60,000 pumps in Malawii that need these centralizes
Juravich: Oh, wow. Okay. So we're, I mean, we're talking thousands, 60,000 pumps need, and how many were you able to break and install?
Bixler: So our team is working very hard every day in Malawi. And so we're going from district to district. So a district is about the size of a county in Ohio, so Franklin County type of thing. And so, we've already completed four districts of this training and large scale demonstration. And so what I get to do is come and see what our amazing team in Malawis doing and encourage them along.
Juravich: This is Fascinating Ohio from All Sides on 89.7 NPR News, and we're talking about clean water for everyone with Greg Bixler, co-founder and CEO of Design Outreach. I wanted to talk about you for a minute because you used to work in mechanical engineering at Battelle, and I can see the connection between engineering and these water pumps and the pieces that you make, but what made you pivot to the work you do now with the clean water-for-everyone?
Bixler: It was back in 2006. I got to go on a short-term missions trip that changed my life. The trip had nothing to do with engineering, but what I saw in Central Asia was extreme poverty. And I also saw people that were using their occupations and mission. So these were business development people who were helping locals start small businesses to support their families. And I remember thinking, as an engineer, we're problem solvers. We help to create solutions. And I wondered what engineers could do to help. The extreme poverty issue.
And so I remember coming back to Columbus here and starting to read about what others are doing and watching things and talking to a lot of people. And I realized that there was this huge need for technological development in the international community development world. So in other words, we needed engineers to help create better solutions and not just kind of like wish for the best, but create these solutions and. We discovered that there really isn't any group doing this in a large scale effort. And so we really felt like we were being called to use our engineering skills and create an organization that would focus on the other 90% of the world that really doesn't have strong engineering focused on them.
Juravich: Yeah, your press materials that was sent to us had a startling statistic. It said 90% of the products are designed for 10% of the world's wealthiest population, leaving billions of people without access to necessities such as clean water, sanitation, and basic health care. So design outreach exists to bridge that gap. I mean, that statement would give anyone pause, but do you ever feel like this is such a daunting task when you have numbers like that?
Bixler: It gives me lots of job security. You know, even though as a non-profit our work should be to run ourselves out of business, but there's such huge problems it's the land of endless need and we really started with the water problem because We saw this as the biggest problem that if we can solve this it impacts education. It impacts health impacts security impacts economic well-being in communities and So we we looked at this and said let's let's not just continue to do the same things and expect a better result But let's look at how can we rethink what is possible and have a vision to change entire countries and to do that, not just through better technology, but it's better technology designed specifically for the people that need it that is meeting the, like solving problems that people think they have, not problems that we think they.
Juravich: Your organization achieved a major milestone recently by reaching one million people across 16 countries through your technologies and programs. How did that feel?
Bixler: It's amazing, and also we feel like we're just getting started.
Juravich: Yeah, because you have a goal of reaching 10 million people by 2030. Now that seems like a big jump. That's less than four years. Do you have the momentum right now to do it?
Bixler: Well, we have such amazing momentum because of the Max Life program that we were talking about earlier. And the Max life program is really scaling very quickly. We're on, you know, people talk about it as like a hockey stick growth, you now, but you know a lot of people forget that there's a really long like handle to a hockeystick. And so we were on that long handle for a long time, but now we're seeing that exponential growth and largely because we've been able to create these upgrades that actually work and are affordable for communities. So We're able to do these large scale trainings, large scale demonstrations, and communities themselves can use them and purchase them. And so that's huge for long-term sustainability. And so, that's why we're seeing such exponential growth in just even the last 12 months.
Juravich: Many people study engineering because of the promise of making a decent salary, having a comfortable life. But what fulfillment do you find in your work? I mean, you're reaching out to underprivileged communities. You're basically trying to change the world here. I don't know if you're making a million dollars doing it. But tell me about your dreams in engineering and where you're at now.
Bixler: I'm definitely not making a million dollars doing it, but you know, I think you're right. A lot of people go into engineering because they were good at math and science, you know. They like to invent things, they like to solve problems, and those are all reasons I went into engineering originally. But I had no idea this area of humanitarian engineering was even a thing. I went to Ohio State as an undergrad thinking I wanted to work in the auto industry, and I'm really thankful that the auto-industry exists, but I didn't know that this was even a possibility.
And, you know, when we're able to solve these giant global problems where like two billion people who don't have clean water, but we're able to create solutions to help to help make that problem go away. It's extremely satisfying and it gets really personal when I get to travel. Like we talked about going to Malawi and Zambia just recently and being in communities that you see them either still getting water out of a river where, you Somebody just a few weeks earlier had gotten cholera because there was a disease that um, somebody had washed into the river and they're Um, they were drinking it, you know, and you realize this is such a huge problem that that's still there but then you go to communities like our first community we ever put a life pump in called zalamando in balali And and seeing the tremendous transformation over the last 12 years And uh, and it's always uh, when we put a pump in or when we get a pump fixed It's always like a top five moment in life because the joy is just so amazing and it's contagious and people are so thankful because it's life changing. It's like better than winning the lottery for them.
Juravich: Um, you mentioned humanitarian engineering. I mean, is that actually a major or is it just a phrase you're using? Like, couldn't you, can you, uh, can you go to school for that?
Bixler: Actually, in recent years, there has been a few colleges and universities that have actual programs at Ohio State, where I have had the privilege for the last 10 years teaching a class called Appropriate Technology for Developing Countries. Over the last ten years, I've seen Ohio State even grow in this area, which has been really exciting because it's not a major yet, but you can minor in it. Oh, okay. And so students can take classes, they can go on service learning trips, which Earlier in my career, I got to lead some of those trips with students and so it's an area that I think Needs a lot more attention a lot, more funding a lot More emphasis because we need engineers who are trained in this area to come alongside of us and help create things like this max life centralizer
Juravich: Yeah, okay, so are you hoping to teach your students to believe in a future where humanitarian engineering is a career, is a thing, instead of working in the auto industry, as you said?
Bixler: Absolutely, and I love the auto industry because I love my honda odyssey and that's just an example where you
Juravich: That's just an example we're using.
Bixler: And I think it's a both, you know, because I think a lot of engineers are kind of like one or the other. You know, I can either make money or I can do humanitarian or mission work. And I think it is like a both. I think that we can apply world-class engineering to both areas, you know. The wealthiest 10% of our world, which is like what we are used to for most of us in America, or we can also apply it. In addition to the other 90% of the world that lives in poverty, comparatively speaking. And so I like to tell students, look around in your classroom or the studio and everything in here is an anomaly. This is not normal. Having lights or carpet on the floor or a microphone, it's not normal for most of the word to even have exposure to those things. And so we, I think we have a tremendous opportunity to help solve very big, solvable problems like the clean water crisis. By applying world-class engineering to create things that are simple, reliable, and actually work.
Juravich: We've been talking about clean water for everyone with Greg Bixler, co-founder and CEO of Design Outreach. Thank you so much for joining us today, Greg.
Bixler: Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
Juravich: Coming up, we're going to talk about what art means to a person and to a community. We're going hear from an award-winning art educator. When Fascinating Ohio from all sides continues on 89.7 NPR News.
You're listening to All Sides. I'm your host, Amy Juravich. This is Fascinating Ohio, a show from all sides in WOSU, where we introduce you to people from the Buckeye state with an interesting story to tell. Some people believe that art is for a select few and that in order for art to be good, it must be highbrow. But why place a limit on what art can be? Beyond the art elements and principles we all learn in grade school art classes, art can bring people together. And our next guest career as an educator and an artist is a testament to that. Joining us to talk about art and art education is Pam Kravetz, artist and educator who also serves on the board of the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center and is a stakeholder at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Welcome to the show, Pam.
Pam Kravetz: Oh my gosh, Amy! Thank you so much! I'm so excited to be here!
Juravich: And for our listeners, you have to look on our social media later because Pam is wearing an amazing outfit and I want you all to see it, so go to the All Sides Facebook page or our Instagram account and make sure you can see Pam's outfit because it is out of this world. Oh my gosh. I mean, do you, do, do dress, um, do Dressed with
Kravetz: with color all the time. All the time, I'm always in color, I'm over the top, I always like too much and I love it. And I feel like it gives other people a little bit of a license to do the same. Yeah. So yeah. So your wardrobe is art as well? I always say that I don't separate myself from my artwork so this is actually my art on the dress and a fashion designer friend of mine made the garment. And a lot of times I wear wigs made by another artist or hats by a milliner, but always I want to walk into the world ready for joy and fun and art and acceptance. And yeah, so yes, this is what my closet looks like, my floor looks like everything.
Juravich: I wanna, yes, I wanna visit your closet now. Okay, so you served as an art educator for many years and you were awarded Teacher of the Year and District Teacher of The Year by your school community. What did you enjoy most about being an art teacher? Oh my gosh.
Kravetz: There is so much to love about being an art teacher. It is absolutely the most fun job in the world. It is. It's messy and it's exciting and it is accepting and it creative and it joyful. It is a little wacky and a little crazy and actually I taught at Harrison on the southwest side of Ohio, right at the border of Indiana. I'm a Cincinnatian. And I do love Ohio State though. My whole family went here. I'm a bear cat, but I love y'all. And I liked the idea that kids, when they're little, you would ask a third grade class, who's good in art? And every hand goes up. And then I know, I know. I know you're like, yay.
The older the kids get, the less the hands go up. And then, I taught most of my career at the high school, at Harrison High School. And I would ask every time at the beginning of class, who's in art. Maybe one, maybe one out of 32 kids all day long, would do that, which broke my heart, but it also was such a beautiful challenge for me to show them that, yes, you are a creative spirit, it's what gives humanity our heart and soul, being creative in the arts, and we all have it in us. We kind of learn our way out of it through the years and growing up in fear. And my job as an art educator and as an artist to say, you are welcome here, you can do this, you can create and yeah, it doesn't have to look like everyone else.
If it does, then it would be super boring. What's the point? And I would teach basic skills and how we go from there gives them the confidence and the ability to create on their own. And I love that so much. It's a gift that I get to give and it was given to me. I was not a good student. When I was little in kindergarten, I got sent to, this is the 60s, I get sent to the principal's office for wearing go-go boots and a mini skirt. I thought the principal wanted to meet me because I was so cool. Yeah, that sounds like a great outfit. It was, but I got send home for being dressed inappropriately and I got to use the easel every day.
Juravich: Yeah, so I was going to ask you if you always wanted to be an artist or did you ever think about a different career? But it sounds like this was your career. You know, I, well, I super
Kravetz: wanted to be a ballerina. Yeah. You know, but art art was always that. And it's the thing that's given me confidence and it's given me joy and it has given me sense of purpose. And that is from kindergarten on to today. Yes. Yes,
Juravich: But you're not only an art educator, you're also an artist yourself. Your artwork is punchy and bright, bold colors and shapes. Tell me some of your favorite artists. Who inspires you? Oh my god.
Kravetz: Gosh, that's such a great question. Okay, who inspires me? Well, I'm inspired by the beauty and the chaos of the everyday. So walking outside, I met some cute girls here. I was grabbing coffee and talking to them. They're like, who are you and what are you doing here? And we're freshmen and we just started today at Ohio State and tell me about you. And I was like, oh my God, just the joy that those two young ladies had starting school, that will inspire a piece of art for me. Those kind of conversations Artists that I love, I absolutely love, Frida Kahlo, I have to say, the Mexican self-portrait surrealist artist. She would say that she makes art about herself because she knows herself best. And I always say I make art about myself because I like myself best. But I'm very much inspired by Frida kahlo and surrealism, actually.
Juravich: This is Fascinating Ohio From All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. We're talking about art and art education with award-winning art educator and artist Pam Kravetz. I saw a post you put on your Instagram account where you said, art does not decorate a community, it defines it. Oh, my God. Tell me more about.
Kravetz: Wow, so, and when you first introduced me and you said that sometimes we think that art only belongs to a select few, or you have to be born with an ability or that, I love that you question that, and I have questioned that my whole life and my whole career. Art brings us together. Art, like I said, it's the heartbeat of humanity, and it is what I love about creating with community. And people all around me. I love to bring people into my space and my world and say, here, here's a paintbrush, here's some clay, let's create together. And I feel that that is what the arts do. They bring us together, they celebrate life, they question, they're storytellers, they are historians. We kind of do it all. And I like that that's the role of the arts. I don't think it's. This tiny little pocket that belongs only here in a corner or in a museum or in the theater. It belongs on the street. It belongs within each one of us.
Juravich: So you're from Cincinnati, how does that city do when it comes to being defined by the art it cares about? Oh my gosh.
Kravetz: I am a Cincinnati girl, I am through and through, and I love our city. We support the arts, we support artists. We have award-winning theaters. We have museums, we have galleries, we have murals from 1001 Colors. That's the organization I'm on the board of that as well. And we have children and young artists make these murals all over the city. We have Blink, we Shakespeare, we had it all. And our mayor, Aftab, he always says, and I love this, that we punch above our weight. We do it all and we do it with passion and support and community and exposure and elevating each other. And I feel, okay, can you tell I'm a super fan? Yeah.
Juravich: You're doing a great job. You should work on the tourism board. Well, Columbus, our city, is working right now on a public art plan. The city's really leaning into public art in a bigger way. We're adding more sculptures, more murals, and the city's trying to put them in every community instead of a select few, right?
Kravetz: Right, right, right.
Juravich: Um, so what do you think about whenever you think about, you know, public art versus going to a museum? No offense to museums, but talk to me about public.
Kravetz: I feel that public art is incredibly important. It is the way we can reach everyone. And as you're walking down the street and you see a mural, and I love that Columbus is doing this, and y'all have always had a really strong art community. The Ohio Arts Council is here. I mean, I'm in awe of the art and the art at the university as well, with Wexner Center. I mean it's, you guys are cool. Ohio State is cool, this area, Columbus. For me, what it does is it takes the barrier away from walking into a space.
And sometimes people feel, yeah, I don't belong there, I don't understand art, I didn't understand contemporary art. If I go to the opera and they're speaking a language I don get, like I don't belong here. Which isn't true, but it is definitely a barrier. And I feel public art, street art, graffiti art, sculpture, paintings, murals brings it to the people. It is the outdoor museum. And I think that the way society and humanity and the way we communicate, I mean, from cave paintings, that was public art, right? True, true. And I it's incredibly important. And I'm gonna say, I don't think, I know. I said that, I said, I think, nope, I know it's incredible important. It's welcoming and it pulls everyone in, from kids to adults. To people that understand art, to people who want to understand art. To people that are like, I don't even know why this is there. But wow, that's cool, you know? I love it.
Juravich: When we asked you for a bio to describe yourself, what you emailed to us said you're a mural-making, street-painting, quilt-sewing, yarn-bombing, curating, flash-mobbing, tutu-wearing, rootin'-tootin' art monster. Okay? And I quote. So I'll start with, in that bio, what's an art monster? Oh.
Kravetz: Okay, an art monster is, I feel like it's such a magical unicorn. It's the person or people that make art their life. And I, like I said, I can't separate the two. I am my art, my art is me. I walk into the world seeing art, finding art, looking for it. And I also love that because I have been given so many opportunities and part of that bio is I love bringing other people in. And saying opening doors. Doors were open for me constantly and I am at a place where I can open doors for others and I do that through curating or through getting opportunities to create and working with my high school students. I have high school student from Harrison that worked with my art that was at the art museum, the Sensei Art Museum and the Rec Center and then also at the Contemporary Art Center. So I feel like an art monster does it all. I make it, I teach it, I advocate it, I celebrate it, I support it, and I support artists as well.
Juravich: I wanted to talk a little bit about your art when it comes to adults, because you mentioned in the third grade, everyone raises their hand and says they're an artist. In high school, maybe one or two, and you could probably convince a few more in high school that they're artists. But what about the adults who say, nope, I can't even draw a stick figure?
Kravetz: I love that challenge and I find it very exciting because actually I think stick figures are not easy by the way, you know, you gotta get a straight line, that's hard, but what I do when I teach workshops and I do it often, or people will ask me, or a conversation like this, just do it. Just do it, the sun is still gonna rise and the moon is still going to be there if you draw something or you make something and it's not what you wanted. I always tell people just try. The other thing when I taught high school, because I would have a lot of students that, you know, you have to take art. It's like a class you have take. So when I understood that and like, I know some of you guys don't really wanna be here. You have to, in order to graduate. I know, some of this is what you wanna do. I like both ends of that spectrum.
And what I would tell them is, art can be so many things. Do you like gardening? That's art. Do you to bake? That's arts. Do you wanna work on your car? Do you want to do things that have you step outside yourself or work hard or learn or create? Those are all ways of expressing yourself. And we as adults sometimes put those away when we get busy. And I just always say, I challenge you, just do it. Just try. And the other thing that's great is now we have so many opportunities, adult coloring books. Do it, draw, color. What's gonna happen if you go outside the line? Nothing, absolutely nothing. It's gonna be okay. So I love when people ask me that. I want them to come and make with me or create or take a class.
There's so many wonderful classes. Take a class, take a chance. It's going to be great. It's go to be amazing. I take tap dance, I'm terrible. Oh. Oh my gosh, I am the worst. Is it fun? It's so much fun. And I also take banjo and I'm really bad at that too. But I just always want to learn things. And I think as we grow as adults, we stop thinking that we can not be the best. You can not the best, you can just have fun.
Juravich: Yeah. Yeah. Well, and we only have 30 seconds left. Oh my gosh. I want to stay all day. Well, what projects, is there a project you're working on now? Can we point people to your Instagram?
Kravetz: What do we, yeah. Absolutely. I have a piece right now at the Contemporary Arts Center in downtown Cincinnati. It's called Pinkalicious Pamma Jamma's House of Wonder and Silly Scooters Clubhouse. And I also just recently worked with a team painting a roller rink in downtown, Cincinnati. And I want you to come and roller skate. I'm bad at that too, by the way. But yeah, I put art out into the community. I bring people in. I love spending this time with you, Amy. And I am incredibly honored that I'm a Fascinating Ohioan.
Juravich: You are. You absolutely are fascinating. We've been talking about art and art education with Pam Kravetz, artist and educator, and a rootin' tootin' art monster. Thank you for joining us today, Pam. Thanks for having me. And this is Fascinating Ohio From All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. And as we end, I needed to take a few seconds to thank one of our staff members. Our student producer, Izza Haq, is leaving us this week. She's not going far. She's joining the WOSU News team to focus on her reporting skills as she prepares for a career in journalism. But All Sides is going to miss her. She has been a tremendous asset to our team, and honestly, we don't know what we're going to do without her. But thank you for everything, Iza. And this is All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. I'm Amy Juravich. Thanks for joining us.