The Art of Support: Dedicated Father, Reginald Slaughter’s outreach work with thousands of fathers in search of support is more than a job…it’s a gift, and a commitment to elevating other men (some mothers) to become productive citizens in society.  Reginald Slaughter is the Community Coordinator at Fathers and Families Support Center of St. Louis (Metro area & East St. Louis, IL) and a 22-year graduate of the very same program he now markets. With a grateful heart, his mission is to keep wayward parents from falling prey to society’s ills.  It is also his mission to help ex-felons and those on hard times see the light of day and regain safe entry back into society and in the lives of their children by encouraging enrollment in FFSC!  

The Center’s core Family Formation Program is a six-week, full-day, full-immersion transformational program. Participants—20% are mothers—are taught a variety of parenting and life skills that result in better opportunities for themselves, and brighter futures for their children. The Family Formation program focuses heavily on co-parenting. 

The program curriculum also touches upon personal development, child abuse, and neglect prevention, financial literacy, family bonding experiences, and more. Many program facilitators were once program participants themselves…including Mr. Slaughter.  Eighty percent of FFSC graduates report that learning positive parenting skills increased interaction with their children. 

Floyd Boykin Jr. is the founder and creator of the 5x award-winning publication SpokenVizions Magazine, SpokenVizions.com, and SpokenVizions Entertainment Group, LLC. SpokenVizions Magazine is a publication geared towards the lifestyles and accomplishments of poets, spoken word artists, and indie artists in the United States and Canada. The magazine became the recipient of 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2016 National Poetry Awards Poetry Magazine of the Year and Mr. Boykin also received the 2010 lifetime achievement award from
another organization for his services and commitment to the poetry community. 

In 2004, Boykin received The Keith Rodgers Foundation Award in Tallahassee, Florida. SpokenVizions Magazine has been serving the arts community since 2002 and consistently participates with Lupus Awareness, Domestic Violence Issues, and Breast Cancer organizations. Floyd
has been performing poetry professionally since July 1997. 

He is a slam champion and winner of numerous poetry competitions. He has shared the stage or opened up for the legendary Last Poets,
Jessica Care Moore, Ursula Rucker, Malik Yusef, Dahveed Nelson, and the late Gil Scott-Heron, to name a few. Floyd also released five music projects and is an author of six poetry books and three motivational books. 

He has toured Canada and was a part of a 15-city spoken word poetry tour in the United States. He is currently working on future music videos,
a short film, and a host of other positive ventures.

Andrew Gibson has been an artist, educator, and organizer since he was a teenager. As the Executive Director and co-founder of Freedom Arts, Andrew directs all fundraising and marketing campaigns participates in all programs, supports staff in day-to-day operational and programmatic tasks, facilitates workshops and classes, and mentors the youth.

He works as the Director of Partnerships with Faith For Justice through which he co-organizes national conferences and campaigns and co-leads ongoing anti-racism, de-escalation, and direct-action training from a faith perspective. Andrew also currently serves as the Music
Coordinator at St. John’s Church - The Beloved Community in North St. Louis. He has taught music at multiple area high schools, art centers, and youth organizations and keeps a steady schedule as a performing and recording musician working with dozens of regional and national artists. 

Andrew holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music with a double minor in Philosophy and Audio Production from Webster University.

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Micah Liesenfeld/BA Fine Arts from Lindenwood, University in St. Charles, MO is a Handmade Bookmaker and master of so many wonderful artistic crafts, pocket-size comic strip writer, designer, and wholistic artist whose stories and drawings appeal to the Human Spirit. He is an author of several published books and one in particular, is the Zebra and The Black Pony! 

He owns hundreds of original drawings; a husband and father of two (who often work with Micah in his home-based studio) and is the inspiration to much of his work. He also plays the guitar, occasionally! 

Micah and his wife Aicha can be found on Etsy for their Handmade Books and other wonderful products under the name Micahnova
Micah and Aicha's Shop of Handmade Books https://www.etsy.com/shop/micahnova

Micaela Griffin, originally from Swansea, Illinois, graduated with honors with a B.S. in Media and Entertainment and a Pre-Law minor from
Middle Tennessee State University, is one of the world’s top colleges for entertainment studies. Her love for arts and entertainment stems from a life lived in the midst of it and an interest in art in every form. 

Her honors thesis titled We Love To See It explores this interest as it chronicles the lack of diversity in romantic comedy films and charts its steady increase. Now working in the theater industry as the current Marketing and Administrative Fellow for The St. Louis Black Repertory Company, she spends her time doing graphic design, social media marketing, event planning, promotion, box office management, and audience development for St. Louis the premiere African-American performing arts organization.

Janelle Velten: A longtime advocate of the Arts, is the Arts Integration Specialist at COCA (Center of Creative Arts).  She currently combines her experience as an artist, teaching artist, classroom teacher, and arts administrator to collaboratively create arts-integrated programming with classroom teachers and teaching artists in the bi-state area. She believes learning in and through the arts is one of the great joys of life.

On this episode of Peggy’s Creative Arts Space Podcast! Adjunct Theatre Professor Phil Gill of Lindenwood University shares why artists travel the roads they do when going from a ton of semester courses to seasoned careers. A sustainable career in the arts can be tough for anyone with a passion for it. 

But once a person understands the rigors of mastering creative subjects, techniques training, grueling rehearsals, months of tours, auditions, and submissions; All along while appreciating and helping oneself and others thrive, identify, and sustain life through works of art you
just can’t help but advocate for the craft! Phil believes that the Arts were perhaps one of the most consequential motivators/sanity keepers during covid onslaught.

Listen to Phil’s inspiration, philosophy, tips, and suggestions on how he believes it is possible for artists to make their chosen career work for them in St. Louis and other places. A well-traveled artist locally and abroad, Phil Gill is a theatre director at Lindenwood University and works as a director, actor, and intimacy director around the St. Louis area. He holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Drake University and an MFA in Directing from Lindenwood. 

He has worked for many companies around STL and St. Charles communities: Alton Little Theatre, First Run, St. Louis Shakespeare, and Alpha Players Theatres. He just finished directing “Rent” at Lindenwood.