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152: Art, Agency, & Fear: How Artmaking Can Help Crush the MAGA Monsters at the Door
Description
What if the scariest threat we face isn’t some monster outside—but the quiet, invisible loss of our own power to act?
In a world wired to exploit our fear, reclaiming our agency has never been more urgent—or more human. This episode dives deep into how fear hijacks our brains, and how imagination and creativity can reconnect us to each other and to our own capacity for action. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, this is the grounding message you need.
- Discover why making things—from pots to poems—can literally rewire your brain and restore hope.
- Learn how shared creativity offers an ancient antidote to the MAGA Fear Machine.
- Hear why artists and makers are uniquely positioned to help shift us from panic to possibility.
Join us as we explore how reclaiming your creative spark can tip the balance from fear to agency—one act of making at a time.
Notable Mentions
Events / Concepts Fight–Flight–Freeze Response – The brain’s survival-based reaction to fear, narrowing our thinking and heightening stress responses.
- The Deep State – Used here as a metaphor for politically charged fear narratives in American culture.
- Zombie Apocalypse – A metaphor representing panic-driven narratives that fuel division and fear.
- Neuroplasticity – The brain’s ability to rewire itself in response to experiences like storytelling and making art.
2. Organizations
· The Center for the Study of Art & Community – Producer of Art is Change, the center supports artists and cultural workers in community transformation.
- Art is Change (Podcast) – A series focused on how arts and imagination intersect with democracy, agency, and resistance.
- Freesound.org – A collaborative sound library providing many of the podcast’s creative sound effects.
3. Publications / Knowledge Resources
· Neuroscience of Creativity & Agency – Explains how artistic practice stimulates brain function and fosters resilience.
- The Amygdala – The brain’s emotional alarm center, highlighted as central to how fear takes hold in the episode.
- The Prefrontal Cortex – The reasoning part of the brain that gets suppressed under fear-based conditions.
- Evolutionary Cooperation & Collective Creativity – Scientific support for the idea that group creativity and collaboration are essential to human survival.