We chat with cartoonist Ellis Rosen about what makes something funny, why people should pay artists, and what success means to him.
Gavin Lodge
4A Arts Executive Director Gavin Lodge is also an actor, entrepreneur, political strategist, and father of two. After studying international affairs and philosophy at the University of Colorado, he worked as a field organizer in the Iowa Caucus followed by the role of “body guy” to then-candidate Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington State. Politics empowered him to move to New York City to pursue a performing career. Ultimately, he performed in multiple Broadway shows (including 42nd Street, Spamalot, and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) as well as regional theater, national tours and several network television appearances.
Though he was thrilled every time he stepped onto a theatrical or sound stage, Gavin was equally happy to take on leadership roles in his local union and later his kids’ PTA.
With the Covid-19 pandemic, Gavin jumped back into the political realm, working as a strategist for Bryson Gillette, a minority-owned PR firm focused on politics and public affairs. He also volunteered for Be an #ArtsHero, an arts advocacy movement blossoming during the first few months of the pandemic. During his time with Be an #ArtsHero, he was part of a team that successfully lobbied for a first-of-its-kind hearing on the creative economy in front of the House of Representatives Small Business Committee.
Gavin lives in rural Connecticut with his partner (a composer and orchestral conductor), his TikTok-dancing daughter (who is musically gifted in unparalleled ways) and his soccer-playing son who recently told him “Dad? I’m just not into concerts and theater stuff.” As he told his son, Gavin believes there is much more to American arts and culture than “concerts and theater stuff.” From the video games his son loves to play to low-rider paint jobs to streaming television series while sitting on the couch, Gavin sees American arts and culture as an inclusive, “big tent” spectrum where everyone is an artist and everyone is a member of an audience.
Art in the White House: a Presidential Candidate Questionnaire
Dear Esteemed Candidates for president, Congratulations on securing the delegate support for your Presidential races and for earning the privilege to ask all Americans for their votes; now let's talk about art in the White House. As you catapult through the remaining...
Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together (With Art)
Here at 4A Arts, we frequently emphasize the way art strengthens communities. It creates ties that bind, helps people push past vulnerabilities, cures loneliness, helps us demonstrate self-expression, dismantles facades, and (some might say most importantly)...
Americans: Join the Fight for Arts, Culture, Design & Craft
We are excited to share our new video encapsulating our vision for American arts, culture, design, and craft. Here at 4A Arts, we know that in order to create an arts ecosystem that thrives instead of merely survives, we will have to develop and initiate new...
Organizing for the Arts (O4A)
4A Arts is excited to announce... its new grassroots arts advocacy organizing initiative called “Organizing for the Arts” (O4A). Launched in the winter of 2024, O4A seeks to build out vast teams of citizens to support the efforts of state arts advocacy organizations...
Taylor Swift for President
If you do not have a tween in your household, don’t sport a friendship bracelet or, well…just don’t care, you might have missed that Taylor Swift has added another 16 songs to her musical canon with her album that dropped last night at midnight, “Tortured Poets...
HOW LONELINESS INSPIRES CREATIVITY
In episode 114 of Framing the Hammer, we chat with Richard Deming, Yale Director of Creative Writing and author of the recently published, This Exquisite Loneliness: What Loners, Outcasts and the Understood Can Teach Us About Creativity.
the cure for loneliness…Art
I was recently elected to my local Board of Education, and in the process, was inspired to think about the cure for loneliness. I’m honored to be a public steward and contribute to my community. While many people told me the odds were in my favor (I’m a Democrat in a...
Press Release: Recommendations for live musician pay
Whippoorwill Arts, In Partnership With The Center For Music Ecosystems & 4A Arts, Delivers Landmark Recommendations For Live Performance Pay & Professional Protections For Working Musicians “Live music performance is labor and it should be compensated.” ...
Recommendations for live musician base pay presented by new study
4A Arts is thrilled to announce the release of a study with recommendations for suggested baseline and graduated payments for live music performances.