Episode Details

What happens when artists step forward not just to create, but to defend the freedom to create?

In this opening episode of a new Art in Action series produced with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, Bill Cleveland speaks with Joni Doherty, Senior Program Officer for Democracy and the Arts. Their conversation begins with a rediscovered 1964 speech by Martin Luther King Jr. in Dayton, Ohio, and unfolds into a powerful exploration of how artists today are confronting censorship, recovering buried histories, and expanding the civic imagination.

As Doherty explains, the arts are not merely decoration for democracy—they are one of its most powerful engines.

Through stories of collaboration between artists, poets, dancers, and community leaders in Dayton, the conversation reveals how creative work can become a living civic process, one that helps communities reflect on their past, confront their present, and imagine new futures.

In this episode we explore:

• How an almost forgotten Martin Luther King Jr. speech sparked a multi—disciplinary arts movement in Dayton, Ohio.
• How artists are confronting censorship and cultural erasure by reclaiming hidden histories and expanding the frame of what we see.
• Why artistic creativity may be one of democracy’s most powerful tools—what Cleveland calls a kind of “creative cold fusion.”

Listen in as Joni Doherty shares how artists, community leaders, and cultural institutions are working together to defend freedom of expression, and why the work of imagination is essential to the future of democracy.

Notable Mentions

People

Joni Doherty – Senior Program Officer for Democracy and the Arts at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, working to build collaborations between artists and civic institutions that strengthen democratic life.

Bill Cleveland – Artist, writer, and host of Art Is Change, known for documenting the role of community-based arts in social transformation.

Martin Luther King Jr. – Civil rights leader whose philosophy of nonviolent resistance and moral courage continues to inspire movements for justice and democratic freedom.

Bing Davis – Dayton based visual artist and community arts leader whose work explores African American history, identity, and cultural resilience.

Sharon L. Davies – President and CEO of the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, leading initiatives focused on democracy, civic engagement, and innovation.

Debbie Blunden-Diggs – Executive Director and Artistic Director of the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, one of the nation’s leading modern dance organizations.

Sarah Lewis – Art historian and author whose work explores perception, race, and representation in visual culture.

Sierra Leone -Governor’s Award winner, po