Season One, Episode 4 of Arts and Democracy welcomes nationally renowned audience development and community engagement leader Donna Walker-Kuhne, author of Champions for the Arts: Lessons and Successful Strategies for Engaging Diverse Audiences. In a wide-ranging conversation with host Olga Levina, Donna traces her journey from professional dancer to arts administrator and shares the “small steps” that build lasting audience loyalty—grounded in sincerity, welcome, and relationship. Together, they explore what it truly means to be a “champion for the arts,” how organizations can confront blind spots around race and belonging, and why arts leaders must courageously shape programming, measure impact beyond numbers, and use their platforms to strengthen democracy in a polarized time.

At the Intersection of Art, Culture, and Faith

Season One continues with a powerful conversation between host Olga Levina and arts leader, actor, and strategist Deonté Griffin-Quick—a bridge-builder dedicated to equity, community, and systems change. From his early arts education in New Jersey public schools to his work building statewide networks and serving on major grant panels, Deonté reflects on why the arts are essential to a healthy democracy—especially when communities feel fractured and exhausted. Together, Olga and Deonté explore power-sharing in cultural institutions, the realities of the nonprofit funding model, and how relationship-building and infrastructure can move communities from competition to collective impact. The episode closes with a hopeful (and urgent) look at Deonté’s faith-rooted approach to cultural strategy and what it will take to help artists and communities truly thrive.

In this episode of Arts & Democracy: A Global Conversation, host Olga Levina speaks with Shawn Emamjomeh — a self-described “child of revolution” whose life spans Iran, Silicon Valley, Broadway, and the ancient Citadel of Erbil. Shawn reflects on how collaborative art on stage, city-building in Iraqi Kurdistan, and his Color & Light Festival have all been ways to build community in fragile times. From blockchain and PolyOne to projection mapping on a 6,000-year-old UNESCO World Heritage Site, he explores why art is the conscience of society, how stories travel across borders, and why creativity remains essential to sustaining democracy.