ART ON THE AIR-Testimonials

ART ON THE AIR - WVLP 103.1 FM Fridays 11am Sunday 7pm Central time streaming at WVLP.org Lakeshore Public Radio 89.1FM Sunday at 7pm - Podcast at brech.com/aota

		Larry A Brechner Ester Golden

ART ON THE AIR
Testimonials

11/5/2024

The interview was absolutely amazing with Lakeshore Public Media's Art On The Air !!
I'm so grateful to #larryabrechner and Ester for this amazing opportunity.
When the editing is done, I'll let everyone know. All I can say is wow!

Patricia Tyson
Singer/Songwriter
shalommusicinc.org

11/4/2024

Thank you to ART ON THE AIR and Lakeshore Public Media.
A nice conversation about my work in various roles and my long relationship with Chicago and the Midwest.

Frank Ferrante
The Premier Groucho Marx Impersonator
eveningwithgroucho.com

10/29/2024

Art On The Air is pleased to announce that it received a 2024 Bronze Signal Award in the Arts & Culture - individual episode
for Episode 286 - their feature interview with Béla Fleck.

10/28/2024

I'm thrilled to share that I participated in an interview with Art On The Air!
It was a fantastic experience, and I'm really grateful to them for having me on the show.
https://www.lakeshorepublicmedia.org/show/art-on-the-air/2024-10-16/art-on-the-air-november-10-2024

Molly Abraham
Molly Abraham Music

10/18/2024

Honored to have been interviewed for Art On The Air - it was a fun and wide-ranging conversation from jewelry to craft shows to Broadway musicals. Thanks to Larry A Brechner and Ester for the opportunity.
Now, y’all go listen, ok? lakeshorepublicmedia.org/show/art-on-the-air/2024-10-02/art-on-the-air-october-20-2024

Bobbi Rafferty
Beadsong Jewelry
beadsongjewelry.artspan.com

9/22/2024

Hi Ester and Larry,

Yesterday's Fall Innovation Forum, "Touring Creativity through Architecture," was a smash! As you know, we added a second tour to accommodate the response. Truth be known, we could have offered a third session with all the folks wanting to come.

We appreciate you and Lakeshore Public Radio and all our other community partners. Your help in spreading the word to the community made a huge difference. Thank you!

Take care...be well!

Cindy Hedge

Center for Creative Solutions, Inc.®

6/4/2024

I never would have guessed the [interview] time would go by so quickly,
you and your co-host do a great job with your relaxed manner.

Ken Rabbers
Photographic Artist
Indiana Artisan

5/28/2024

Hope you had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. Ours was made special listening to your interviews of us.
You and Esther do such a good job with your questions.

Thanks and be well,

Tom Sourlis and Susan Eleuterio

https://www.lakeshorepublicmedia.org/show/art-on-the-air/2024-05-15/art-on-the-air-may-26-2024

5/22/2024

Larry and Ester are fantastic hosts. They ask great questions and guide the guest to focus on the “origin story,”
but also pepper the interview with surprising questions. It was a delight to be their guest on “Art On The Air.”

Merry Bell Clark
Author - "Dandelion Roots Run Deep"

https://www.lakeshorepublicmedia.org/show/art-on-the-air/2024-04-09/art-on-the-air-may-12-2024

5/20/2024

Thank you, Larry and Ester

For all you do for the arts in the area.

We appreciate you.

Sincerely,

Ray Scott Crawford

Canterbury Summer Theatre

5/16/2024

Here's my interview with Larry and Ester from Art On The Air.
They were both so welcoming and made the process so easy and a pleasure.

Thank you Art On The Air!!!

Lynn Heims Buckmaster
https://www.lakeshorepublicmedia.org/show/art-on-the-air/2024-05-16/art-on-the-air-june-2-2024

5/8/2024

Art On The Air is pleased to announce that it received a 2024 Communicator Award of Distinction
for Episode 212 - their feature interview with Public Media music theme composer BJ Leiderman.

2/24/2024

I wanted to thank you again for the opportunity to be interviewed on your Lake Shore Public Media broadcast.
For me it was a good experience, as it forced me to think about some of my work more critically.

Also, I would like to extend thanks to Esther, for her insightful comments and questions.....some, which still linger with me as I'm working in the studio.

Thank you and thanks for your inspiring program.

David DeCesaris

2/14/2024

Thank you so much! I love art shows. I so appreciate all your time and information.
You both are sooooooo great at what you do:)

Mary Porterfield

1/23/2024

"Power of the Airwaves"

Had to tell you this. We opened applications yesterday for this year's Indiana Artisan jury, and we received one today from an artisan in Hobart. She's connected with us through Facebook in recent months, and I'm pretty sure your show was her introduction to us.

Thanks for getting our name all over the state, and particularly in the Region.

Ros

Rosalyn Demaree

Indiana Artisan

IndianaArtisan.org

1/16/2024

A genuine pleasure to be a guest on Art On The Air for this week's show! A very thought provoking interview!

Rob Quicke
Director and Professor at Marshall W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications

1/15/2024

Thank you So much Larry & Esther!

One never likes to hear their voice but you made the 'flow' interesting to me and I hope the listeners enjoy the stories.
You both have wonderful voices and professional approach to the interview process.
It made me feel very at ease and appreciated.

Thanks for highlighting the museum and my career.

I hope you come visit us sometime in the future.

Brian Bryn
Director / Curator Midwest Museum of American Art

12/31/2023

Rosalyn Demaree - Executive Director Indiana Artisans

Art On The Air thanks to your show for the awareness you build about Indiana art and artists.
Our interview this fall were some of the most fun 30 minutes of the year.

12/20/2023

Art On The Air is listed as the #2 of 25 arts podcast December 2023 on NPR after Fresh Air,
and listed at #22 of 80 hour-long podcasts.

https://podcasts.feedspot.com/npr_art_podcasts/

10/19/2023

I so appreciated the opportunity to be interviewed on AOTA last Tuesday, October 17th, 2023
(lakeshorepublicmedia.org/show/art-on-the-air/2023-10-17/art-on-the-air-october-29-2023 ). It was such a grand opportunity to share my story
with your audience and to contribute to the ongoing conversations about how art is making
a difference in the lives of people throughout the northern Indiana area.

The Host and Hostess, Larry Brechner and Ester Golden, were welcoming and so curious about the many
related aspects of my career and artistic endeavors. Their abilities to draw out and frame the conversation
were helpful in guiding me to unfold and explore my work.

Thank you for your support and providing this venue to artists like myself.

With much appreciation,

Sue Scamihorn

sue.scami@gmail.com

6/14/2023

John Young

Congratulations to you Judith Turner-Yamamoto and to the wonderful team of Esther Golden and Larry A Brechner.
Art On The Air does a great job of featuring the arts and artists of the Midwest.
Can't wait to listen to this episode!

3/1/2023

Dear Ester and Larry:

I want to take a moment to thank you for all that you do to support the arts and artists in our area. Your program guests and their wide-range of topics are informative and very interesting. Both of you are excellent and entertaining interviewers. Your programs are a welcome and necessary part of the artistic culture here. Thank you for your efforts and for all that you do on behalf of the artists in our area. Our cultural environment is richer for the Art on the Air broadcasts.

With thanks and kind regards,

Jeannie

Jeannie Rapstad, MA

President, Jeannie Rapstad Enterprises LLC

2/20/2023

AOTA [Art on the Air] is a wonderful resource for the region, providing in-depth looks into artists and arts organizations providing relevant content for listeners to make informed decisions about how they consume cultural content.

Amy Davis Navardauks – Executive Director - Art Barn

2/10/2023

Art on the Air is a great way for me to find out what cultural events are happening in the dunes.
I also love to listen to the guests on the show. So many interesting people out there !

Eve Landsman Wiersbicki – Executive Director Dig The Dunes

2/9/2023

February 9, 2023

Art on the Air on WVLP and Lakeshore Public Radio

It is an honor to write this testimonial for Art on the Air at WVLP and Lakeshore Public Radio for their application to the Art Project Funding Program of the Indiana Arts Commission. I am impressed by the range of programming developed, given the perceived restriction of an hour, and audience outreach challenges in this age of scattered attention. Nonetheless, the program flourishes, each episode leaving the listener almost impatient for the week to whip by to the next episode.

Art on the Air fulfills an invaluable service to not only the arts community and arts lovers in Northwest Indiana. In a state where one has to travel some distance to attend a concert or an art exhibit, Art on the Air, through its live broadcast and archives, enables everyone within the Lakeshore Public Radio listening area, and beyond, has access to the immense body of artistic endeavors produced by, and under the respected leadership of Larry Brechner. In fact, even though I have moved back to Boston, I can continue to be a listening fan.

During my service on the Indiana Arts Commission, we were committed to a mission of IDEA, Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access. In my opinion, Art on the Air embodies this mission. The programming reflects diversity of voices of our multiracial, multicultural composition of the region. Practically all the disciplines oft considered an art form are introduced and featured, from the professional and high school symphonies, to paintings and photography, and the simple yet complex discoveries of art created from found objects. To use a trite expression, there is something for everyone. Please be assured that the art featured is not just a hodge lodge of random artists and artworks; rather, each show is carefully curated and researched, and the narratives are always in-depth, engaging, and insightful..

I wish to note that my appreciation and observation center on the fact that:

(A) Art on the Air demonstrates the pride of the region’s rich art heritage and potential, and not as a “poor cousin” of Chicago. When I first moved to the region from Chicago, an art leader exclaimed that “How wonderful that you can connect us with the Chicago art scene!” Not so, my friend, and Art on the Air demonstrates that NWI is proud of its art and cultural creativity. And

(B) The programs honor artists in all phases of their careers, and in their varied backgrounds, from the yet-unknown rural painter, to the urban successful jewelry designer. All are given “pride of place” at the Art on the Air Table of Inclusion.

I am proud to be a listener and supporter of Art on the Air, and am confident that new and seasoned listeners will continue to be dedicated to the exciting gift offered by this program. One additional comment: I truly believe that Larry, a professional and gifted photographer, has an acute yet relatable sense of aestheticism that informs his work as the producer of the show.

Sincerely yours,

Libby Chiu

libbychiu@yahoo.com
Former Commissioner, Indiana Arts Commission
Adjunct Professor, Arts Administration, Goucher College

2/6/2023

Northwest Indiana is the state’s second-largest metropolitan area and home to a thriving and varied artistic community. Toiling away while tucked under the shadow of big-city Chicago, artists in the Calumet Region unfortunately don’t always get the media coverage they so richly deserve. But Art on the Air on WVLP and Lakeshore Public Radio has shone a spotlight on many talented local painters, photographers, sculptors, musicians, authors, actors, theater directors and other artists working in many different mediums.

During the hour-long weekly radio show, hosts Larry A Brechner and Ester Golden interview a number of artists, curators, and others about the Region’s vibrant arts and culture scene. Artists get the opportunity to talk in-depth about their work in substantive, high-minded conversations. The show also informs its audience about concerts, gallery shows, museum exhibitions, and other cultural events on the calendar. It’s an exciting, educational, and edifying program that helps keep people abreast of the arts in Northwest Indiana and beyond.

Art on the Air also reaches audiences as a podcast, making it even more accessible to the public it keeps informed. It’s become a vital cultural resource in Northwest Indiana. It’s essential listening for artists and anyone with an interest in the arts. It’s a bright, shining light that deserves support.

–Joseph S. Pete, author and journalist with The Times of Northwest Indiana

2/6/2023

Dear Indiana Arts Commission: Hello. I hope this arrives to find you well.

I am a supporter of Dr. Brechner and Art on the Air. I appreciate the love with which Ester and Dr. Brechner curate the topics for the program. It is the only regularly scheduled program of its kind in our area dealing with the fine arts and culture in Northwest Indiana. The fine arts, the arts and the humanities are needed now more than ever to ameliorate our politics and to inform better judgments in the areas of law, government, commerce and philanthropy. The underlying rationale for all of these important areas of our society are informed by the arts and what it releases. As President Kennedy so ably noted in his address at Amhurst College in 1963, “When power leads men toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. For art establishes the basic human truth which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment.” I support the Art on the Air Program. I hope the Indiana Arts Commission will support it too and renew its grant for the application period. Thank you.

Michael W. Griffin, M.P.A., MMC/CPFA/ACPFIM

Citizen Servant

Highland Clerk-Treasurer (1.1.1992 to 2.72022) • State Senator (2.7.2022 to 1109.2022)

2/6/2023

I really enjoy listening to Arts on the Air, because the information is timely useful. They give you a behind the scenes look at local arts organizations as well as individual artists that we don’t often get a chance to see. I know for me, I get a greater appreciation for the artists and organizations featured in the Arts on the Air. Something that I believe increases community interest in our local arts organizations and individual artists something that is very valuable to all of our communities here in Northwest Indiana

Larry Brewer, Executive Director, South Shore Dance Alliance Inc

2/6/2023

Dear Art on the Air,

I was deeply touched when Ester informed me that you wanted to interview me for my upcoming shows at Gallery Guichard and the Chicago Art Dept. Your interest in my art and background as a self-taught artist meant so much to me, as it has often been a challenge for me to find an audience that appreciates my work.

Your interview was a true validation of my professional status as an artist, as you asked insightful questions about my techniques and inspirations. Your approach created a warm and familiar atmosphere, and I felt comfortable sharing my story with you and your listeners.

Thank you for the incredible work you do in promoting and supporting artists like myself, and for giving us the opportunity to share my passion with your audience. I fully support your efforts and look forward to the possibility of future interviews with you.

Namaste,

Lammie

D. LAMMIE-HANSON

Contemporary Metalpoint and Painter

2/4/2023

Don Widmer (on Instragram) donwidmerpaperarts

I enjoyed my conversation with Larry and Ester for @artontheairnwi .
They asked some great questions (I hadn’t thought about the art I did in elementary school for decades).
Check it out at:
https://www.lakeshorepublicradio.org/show/art-on-the-air/2023-02-14/art-on-the-air-february-26-2023

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/810025328/art-on-the-air

#donwidmerpaperarts #pulppainting #handmadepaper #artontheair #lakeshorepublicradio
#artistinterview #fortheloveofartfair

2/3/2023

Art on the Air is a significant asset to the Northwest Indiana community. I am not only a listener but also was interviewed as an artist. The two interviewers, Esther and Larry are kind and always give a positive outlook and that makes the show so enjoyable. It's a gem and uplifts the spirit.

I also want to mention how important art is to our community. When Art on the Air broadcasts, there are budding artists of all ages listening. I have been contacted by listeners asking me about my art and how I started as they would like to paint, or make but haven't had the confidence to do so.

There are many shows and podcasts to choose from and Art on the Air is a great choice as it is valuable and fun. We really need this good news today ! Thanks for providing.

Sincerely,

Dorothy Graden

Thanks !!
https://www.dorothygraden.com

Dorothy Graden Artist LLC

2/3/2023

I have listened to Art on the Air with Larry and Ester for several years. Their show makes an essential contribution to the art ecosystem of our region and opens the possibilities of engagement in the arts to their audience. In the past year, my partner and I have been guests on the show to speak about exhibitions we curated; it was a wonderful experience; they were informed about our topic and asked great questions. As interviewers, they are warm and curious, which makes the show fun for everyone.

Linda Dorman

DORMAN + TORLUEMKE

Facebook / Social Media comments

Gretchen Maguire ( https://www.facebook.com/gretchen.maguire )
I will do so [make a pledge of support]
Thanks for all the great interviews you bring to the public Larry [and Ester].

Carrie Miller Bedwell
Last week I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Larry A Brechner and Ester Golden on Art On The Air regarding
Listen to your Mother Northwest Indiana !

Thanks so much for having me! Your dedication to the arts is outstanding and appreciated!

Listen to the interview here: Listen to a ART ON THE AIR interview about "Listen To Your Mother" with Carrie Miller Bedwell at: https://brech.com/aota/spots/Spot_Carrie_Bedwell_Listen_Mother_3-29-2023.mp3

Meg Demakas
Thanks for your wonderful radio show.

Edda Taylor Photographie
With every good wish ! don’t stop we need your program !

Karen M. Maravilla
I really appreciate and enjoy your interviews! In a world filled with so much negativity, your shows are uplifting!

Suzy Vance
Karen M. Maravilla totally agree!

Edda Taylor Photographie
Love your shows !!! We all do ! please don’t stop !!!

Karen M. Maravilla

I am looking forward to tuning in!
So glad that you were featured Chad Clifford
I just saw Chad Clifford perform at Northwoods Falls! Dana Conti and her hubby are hosting great music there!
Chad has been one of my faves for many years! Looking forward to tuning

Patti DeNucci
Congratulations! And thanks for your service, Larry A Brechner!

Karen M. Maravilla
A GEM in N.W. Indiana...including you!

Carri Cole
Congratulations! You've done great

Mary LeVan Lakeshore Public Radio Member
You do good work!
We love what you do!

Leslie Green Schlesinger
I just listened to the interview!!!! It was SPECTACULAR! You and Ester are amazing,
you really ask great questions and you work so well together!
It flows so beautifully! I know that doesn't "just happen" that's called talent and skill!