Mastodawn

Just published "A Culture of Possibility Podcast #62, François Matarasso and Arlene Goldbard on Co-creation." What language expresses the egalitarian and communitarian essence of community-based arts? François' work in progress, A Selfless Art, offers co-creation as a viable answer. Tune in for a lively conversation with plenty of give-and-take.
https://arlenegoldbard.com/2026/03/19/a-culture-of-possibility-podcast-62-francois-matarasso-and-arlene-goldbard-on-co-creation/

A Culture of Possibility podcast #62: François Matarasso and Arlene Goldbard on Co-creation - Arlene Goldbard

Buy The Intercessor paperback or ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or Ingram! NOTE: This post is to introduce you to the 62nd episode of François Matarasso's and my monthly podcast, "A Culture of Possibility." This episode will be available starting 20 March 2026. You can find it and all episodes at iTunes, and wherever you get your podcasts,…

Arlene Goldbard

arlenegoldbard Mar 5

Just published "But Beautiful." How did I let myself become so consumed by the many traumas, insults, and offenses committed in our names that I seldom notice, let alone allow myself to be awakened by, the sublime beauty that persists despite the dominance of evil-doers? I'm committing to change that. https://tinyurl.com/39tn48xv

arlenegoldbard Feb 26

Just published "Defeating Amalek." Ancient wisdom stories encode profound truths that we can draw on for strength and vision. This one encodes an enduring paradox: can we blot out the memory of evil when we know we will struggle with it again and again? There is a way. https://tinyurl.com/yvx8rhcp

Defeating Amalek - Arlene Goldbard

Buy The Intercessor paperback or ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or Ingram! "Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in memory as the wish to forget it." Michel de Montaigne The Torah portion for a recent Shabbat was Beshalach, Exodus 13:17–17:16. When the terrible plagues divinely inflicted on the Egyptians culminate in the death of all their first-born,…

Arlene Goldbard

arlenegoldbard Feb 20

Just published "A Culture of Possibility Podcast #61, Eugene van Erven on a Life in Community-based Arts." Listen to an amazing hour of stories from the man who wrote the book on peoples' theater around the world, and join us in Rotterdam in March for the International Community Arts Festival. https://tinyurl.com/bdd7yu2x #culturaldemocracy

A Culture of Possibility podcast #61: Eugene van Erven on a Life in Community-Based Arts - Arlene Goldbard

Buy The Intercessor paperback or ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or Ingram! Listen to my new podcast conversation with Bill Cleveland of Art is Change: Strategies and Skills for Activist Artists and Cultural Organizers: NOTE: This post is to introduce you to the 61st episode of François Matarasso's and my monthly podcast, "A Culture of Possibility." This episode…

Arlene Goldbard

arlenegoldbard Feb 18

Many thanks, Bill Cleveland, for your interview connecting my book The Intercessor to artists’ work, MAGA, and spiritual activism in tough times!
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/art-is-change-strategies-skills-for-activist-artists/id1524173631?i=1000750314086

The Intersessor: Art, Faith, & Repair in the MAGA Maelstrom

Podcast Episode · ART IS CHANGE: Strategies & Skills for Activist Artists & Cultural Organizers · 02/18/2026 · 47m

Apple Podcasts

arlenegoldbard Feb 13

Just published "The Epstein Class Unveiled," based on journalist Anand Giridharadas' truth-talking. "They mean what they say when you're not looking. And these emails, in sum, are an extraordinary and rare chance to see what they really think about you, how they really move through the world, what their actual ends and projects are." https://tinyurl.com/y5a5zd7z

The Epstein Class Unveiled - Arlene Goldbard

Buy The Intercessor paperback or ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or Ingram! I think and talk and write a lot about culture, understood as the complex of ideas, symbols, customs, creations, activities, beliefs, and structures that characterize a particular community or heritage. Here in the U.S., people tend to be somewhat familiar with the idea of a…

Arlene Goldbard

arlenegoldbard Jan 27

Just published "The Way Out: Higher Truth, Higher Love." If you, like me, have sometimes lost sight of the higher truth and higher love that can guide this country past the error of caring more about order than justice, read about Omri Boehm's book Radical Universalism. https://tinyurl.com/4ayfaw29

The Way Out: Higher Truth, Higher Love - Arlene Goldbard

Through January 2026, order The Intercessor paperback from Ingram at a 30% discount! And the ebook from Amazon at half off! As the clusterfuck of this last year has unfolded, when I've pushed back the curtains of anger and despair—even of hope—that add to my confusion rather than dispel it, I keep having the sensation of missing something. What…

Arlene Goldbard

arlenegoldbard Jan 21

Just published " The Arts Funding Crisis: Removing The Blinders." It's time to face reality, both the best and worst possible futures, drop the snobbery, end the competition obsession, and engage with allies to save culture from MAGA. https://tinyurl.com/yc6fy697

The Arts Funding Crisis: Removing The Blinders - Arlene Goldbard

JANUARY SALE! Through the end of January 2026, order The Intercessor paperback from Ingram at a 30% discount! And the ebook from Amazon at half off! I took part recently in a large online convocation about the future of the arts in this country. The 30 or so prominent individuals who conceived and organized it have good reason to be…

Arlene Goldbard

arlenegoldbard Jan 17

A million thanks for all of yesterday’s wonderful birthday messages. This sunset felt like one of them!

I have ONE BIRTHDAY WISH. Please help my new novel, The Intercessor, reach its intended audiences. Readers are loving it, and it needs to reach more through your reviews, social media, sharing with friends. Find all the details at theintercessor.info. (And if you want to review for a publication, let me know and I’ll send a PDF.) Gratitude and blessings!

arlenegoldbard Jan 15

Just published "A Culture of Possibility Podcast #60, Griselda Goldsbrough of the National Arts in Hospitals Network on Art, Recovery, and Wellbeing." People in hospitals deserve beauty and meaning. How does art heal? How do you make that case? https://tinyurl.com/49yynwj3 #culturaldemocracy

A Culture of Possibility Podcast #60, Griselda Goldsbrough of the National Arts in Hospitals Network on Art, Recovery, and Wellbeing - Arlene Goldbard

JANUARY SALE! Through the end of January 2026, order The Intercessor paperback from Ingram at a 30% discount! And the ebook from Amazon at half off! And watch video conversations about the book and its themes here. NOTE: This post is to introduce you to the 60th episode of François Matarasso's and my monthly podcast, "A Culture of Possibility." This…

Arlene Goldbard