The focus of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth’s new virtual program is not about art. Instead, it aims to have in-depth conversations about educational inequality, gender inequality and other systems of oppression. 

The program, called “Listening for a Change: Podcast-Based Discussions,” is a monthly gathering hosted by Fort Worth teacher, public education advocate and podcaster Dev’n Goodman.

“We had the conversation of how do we really help people take what they have learned and take the answers to the questions that they have gotten and make sure that it moves way far outside the comment section or the direct messages on a social media platform,” Goodman said.

Headshot of Dev’n Goodman. Photo by: Olaf Growald

Each month participants are assigned two selected podcast episodes. At each meeting, the conversation will begin with Goodman and a member of the museum’s staff based on the topic for the month. An open discussion among participants will then follow.

The goal is to help attendees “apply it to actionable steps for change,” Goodman said 

Goodman, who’s partnered with the museum before, welcomes people who aren’t traditionally brought up in elite museums. In a past educational program, Goodman helped start the Dunbar High School Community Night. Students spent two months at The Modern sharing artwork and giving a tour of the museum’s permanent collection in English and Spanish. 

This year, she hopes the discussion-based conversations will not be limited to those people who regularly attend the museum’s programs. 

“Let’s make this the most inclusive, diverse conversation possible and make ourselves really stand in the in-between of ‘I’m moving from here to there to make sure this is no longer’,” Goodman said. 

The first meeting will take place on Jan. 9. The program will discuss school segregation and redlining, from podcast episodes by NPR’s Code Switch and Black History for White People, a Denton-based podcast.

Listening for a Change: Podcast-Based Discussions is limited to assure productive conversations. Sign up before the first session.

Take a look at the lineup for each month: 

January 9—Separate but Equal

Black History for White People, “Redlining”

Code Switch, “A Tale of Two School Districts”

February 13—The Duality of Activism

Making Gay History, “Bayard Rustin”

BackStory, “Fighting Jane Crow: The Multifaceted Life and Legacy of Pauli Murray”

March 13—The Unlearning

Deviant Women, “Ida B. Wells”

Armchair Expert, “Isabel Wilkerson”

April 10—All the Systems

Ologies, “Agnotology (Ignorance) with Robert Proctor”

Ear Hustle, “The SHU”

May 8—Sustaining the Changes

1619, “How the Bad Blood Started”

Black History Year, “Destroying the Narrative White Hollywood Created”

Got a tip? Email Mia Estrada at mestrada@kera.org. You can follow her on Twitter @miaaestrada.

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