Disclaimer: This is transcribed using AI. Expect (funny) errors.
Mindy Peterson: [00:00:00] I’m Mindy Peterson, and this is Enhance Life with Music, where we explore all the ways that music can make our lives better. What does it take for someone in their 20s to stand on one of the biggest stages in America and inspire millions of people? And what experiences help shape a young person into a leader with that kind of confidence, articulation, and influence? My guest today is Cassie Donegan, Miss America 2026. When the newly crowned Miss America chooses to use her national platform to champion music and arts education, it’s worth paying attention. Her advocacy is rooted in personal experience and a deep belief in the power of music to shape lives, build confidence, and create opportunities. Today, we’re talking about her journey, what’s informed and shaped her voice, and why she believes music education can help equip the next generation of leaders. Welcome to Enhance Life with Music, Cassie.
Cassie Donegan: [00:01:09] Hi, Mindy. Thank you so much for having me.
Mindy Peterson: [00:01:11] It’s so great to have you here. I’m looking forward to our conversation. I know the Miss America organization prides itself on its commitment to community service and social impact. You’ve made music and arts education advocacy a central part of your platform as Miss America this year. Of all the possible causes you could have championed, what made you choose this cause and why does it matter so deeply to you personally?
Cassie Donegan: [00:01:41] I think that’s one of the most important distinctions about the Miss America opportunity is that we are a service centered scholarship organization. And so there are every single year, 52 this year, 53 exceptional women who graced that stage. And they are given a platform to take their purpose nationally. And I am very blessed that I have had that be my reality this year. You know, I have worked in the arts education advocacy space for 20 years now. I started working in it when I was only nine years old. And so it was one of those situations where it kind of started to become, well, if the people who should be saying something about this for me aren’t going to, then I guess I have to say something myself. And so I kind of just took the reins and, and started bringing awareness of why as a student at the time, there was a necessity for me to have access to those things and why my peers should have that access as well, along with encouraging my peers to get involved as much as they could too. And that grew into what I’m so thankful now to even have as part of my career. I’m the founder of three arts education scholarships, and then this year as well. In addition to that, I’ve partnered with the Institute for American Musical Theater here in New York City for their summer intensive to have a full ride for one of their young people to go in the summer as well. And so I’m grateful that I have been given this opportunity in my life, but also specifically as Miss America, to be able to share that importance, because it is something that not only changed and impacted my life, but it saved my life. And when I started speaking up and working in this space, I had no idea the impact that it was truly having on my life.
Cassie Donegan: [00:03:28] And I don’t think people think enough about what the arts can do for someone. We are impacted by them every single day, and we have students crying out to us every single day that they just want someone to hear them, to listen, to give them that safe space. And the reality is, is that at only 12 years old, I had a plan mapped out of death in my own life. And yeah. And had I not had the safe space that I had that was allotted to me because other people made something accessible to me that we were financially not able to make accessible for me. I wouldn’t be here. And it has become my mission to ensure that while I am so blessed and very aware that that was my reality, that’s not the reality of the majority. Not everyone has people surrounding them in the way that for whatever reason, I did. Seeing something in them to make that accessibility possible. There’s just not enough people in the world to do that for every single student. Not in an extracurricular that is not necessarily affordable or attainable always. And so that’s really why I decided to make sure that while it’s a very uphill battle, I’ll do everything I can independently with my scholarships to make that accessible to more students. But our end goal is to make sure that every single student K through 12 has access within their public school system, because not everyone has the resources to pick a school that you have to pay for to have that given to them, because every child is owed their right to a robust educational experience inclusive of arts education.
Mindy Peterson: [00:05:05] I found it really interesting that you just said you started advocating for music and the arts at age nine, which is before you said you really consciously recognized the impact that it was having on you personally. So that’s really interesting. I also know that a lot of people tend to think of people in pageantry as having a silver spoon and growing up with everything handed to them, and that wasn’t your experience. You kind of alluded to that a little bit. Can you tell us just a little bit more about your background, what music meant to you in your upbringing and why it was so important? You said it saved your life.
Cassie Donegan: [00:05:41] Yeah. I think, uh, creative spaces were the only places that I felt like I made sense. And, you know, I was undiagnosed with ADHD for all of my childhood. I didn’t know that I had ADHD until I was an adult. And I think if I had known that, I would have been a lot more gracious with myself. A lot more would have made sense about the way that my brain works. And sure, it truly. Yeah. The reason that I wanted to wake up every day, and the reason I decided to keep pushing forward when I thought that I couldn’t because there was no place for me. The arts created a place for me, and a lot of that feeling was contributed to by just not fitting in with my peers, because I came from a background that was very different than many of them. My mom’s a multi stroke and heart attack survivor. My dad’s a 100% disabled veteran, and, and both of those things alone come with many financial barriers, mental health challenges, just things that made my home life look very different. And we were a lower income family. I mean, I can recount so many times of just standing in those farm fresh lines with my mom just having her asking for one more extension, just doing everything they could, working so hard despite their circumstances to just keep our lights on, let alone figuring out how to pay for me to go to a dance class or a voice lesson.
Cassie Donegan: [00:07:01] You know, I am the product of scholarship. I wouldn’t have gone to my performing arts high school if it hadn’t been for Leon Hughes deciding that he was going to put me on that scholarship there, because we didn’t realize how expensive it was to go out of zone. I wouldn’t have had half of my voice lessons if many of my teachers had just chosen to not charge my mom when they knew she couldn’t pay for it. Mhm. For my dance academy multiple times, taking my mom’s payments really late. That’s not typical. That’s not that’s not normal. Right. And and so I’m very blessed in that reality that that was allotted to me in my family, but that did create this perception of a very different home life than we actually had. And a misunderstanding of why I didn’t know about certain experiences or didn’t know about certain shows or you know, this, that or the other that people my age did because I wasn’t experiencing them at home in the same way that they were. Right. And I had a very different thought process on life because I was digesting and regulating circumstances that were not typical. And it was hard for me to connect with people my age.
Cassie Donegan: [00:08:14] And truly, the thing that saved me was getting to go to rehearsal for whatever it was, because I got to remove myself from my reality and step into somebody else’s. In a lot of ways, I was able to play a kid in times where sometimes I didn’t feel like I could be one. And there’s a lot of misconception, I think, in the entertainment industry as a whole, because it is such a non-accessible world financially that when you’re a part of it, it’s almost assumed that you have the finances and resources to do that. Then you add on top of that that I did get involved with the Miss America opportunity shortly after my advocacy work began in arts education. So we have a Little Sisters program and it’s a wonderful program. It’s kind of that introduction to the wonder in the world that is Miss America for these little girls. And it’s a mentorship program. You’re paired with a miss and a teen delegate, and you get to go on all these really cool experiences and appearances and be on whatever your state’s pageant stage is. And then, you know, we have a program at nationals as well. And it’s just so wonderful. And, and I was able to be a part of that because I had people who helped my mom make that possible for me.
Mindy Peterson: [00:09:28] And so you were involved as a little sister and I think now as a big sister, right?
Cassie Donegan: [00:09:32] Yes. Yeah. So I was involved from 9 to 12 in our little sisters program. And then I’m originally from Virginia. And so I had the honor of serving as Miss Virginia’s outstanding teen in our teen program back in 2013. And then I stayed adjacent through the organization while I wasn’t competing until I came back this last year, and there was always that difficult perception I knew. I knew that I was standing on stage next to girls in $10,000 custom gowns, and mine was barely $200. I won Miss Virginia’s outstanding teen in a dress that was less than $200 that my mom found on the internet, and we drove to the Eastern Shore to get it. And I loved it. And I was obsessed with it. And most of my clothes were second hand. Most of them were altered by our neighbor or my mom, or my mom was sitting there with glue and stoning things herself, or I was helping. And we, we pieced things together and I never felt like I looked lesser than anybody. But you do have to get over the mental hurdle of knowing that you’re not in a $10,000 custom gown. And that was harder for me as a teen than it was for me as a miss, because I did a lot of my preparation in terms of getting my wardrobe and stuff. My mom did help me as much as she could, but a lot of that on my own this last year, and I’m really proud to say that I became Miss America, wearing a wardrobe from my rehearsal clothes all the way to my on stage competition wardrobe that cost less than $1,000 in total.
Cassie Donegan: [00:10:58] Mhm. And it’s just a testament of if you have it, use it, use those resources, girl. Like I’m not saying if you if you have it, don’t use it. But if you don’t, it doesn’t mean you can’t do it. There is not a price tag on on success when you set it for yourself. And, and I knew going into Miss America, success for me would have been being myself 100% authentically. And so that didn’t matter if I was in a $400 gown or a $10,000 gown, you know what I mean? And, and pushing against that narrative at times has been hard. And it’s really hard, sometimes even more so to tear down the walls and just let people in and be vulnerable about your reality. But I think it’s really important to do that because I didn’t often see as a little girl in this organization. People with my reality are one similar, and it is a top priority as Miss America for me to show little girls who may come from a similar background, that they’re capable of doing this, and then also showing the little boys who come from a similar background, that they’re capable of doing whatever they want to do, too. Sure. And the only person that’s going to tell you you can’t is yourself. Not your financial status, not your family, not your friends, not your people around you, not your circumstances because you’re in control of how you respond to them. And you are the only thing that’s going to stop you. Mhm.
Mindy Peterson: [00:12:25] You mentioned voice lessons, and it sounds like maybe you did some acting or musical theatre or something. Tell us just a little bit about what your music and arts background is.
Cassie Donegan: [00:12:34] Yeah. So it’s pretty it’s pretty broad, which I’m grateful for. So I started dancing first. I took numerous styles of dance. Loved it. That was my first introduction to really being on stage in a shared space like that collaboratively. And then I did my very first show on a tiny little cafetorium stage. It was The Jungle Book. I was only four and I played Kaa the Snake. And I oddly, despite, you know, it being slightly before our brain really starts to store those like core memories. I have multiple, like very vivid memories of that, that process. I remember not understanding in my head at four years old that the snake was like such a bigger deal than being the baby elephant, because I didn’t understand with my very literal child brain, but I was the shortest person in the room. Why was I not the baby elephant? Like, I just remember having those thoughts and I remember the snake head that I had to wear and how I really did not like the snake head and all of that. And that’s when I started my voice journey after that and started singing after. And so I started taking voice lessons at only five, at the same place that I did The Jungle Book. And I have been very blessed to have been able to have continuous vocal training since then, as well as I started playing in our school’s orchestra in the seventh grade, sixth grade or seventh grade, and I played the tuba.
Cassie Donegan: [00:14:03] Um, so yeah, and I wanted to play the flute and our director was like, we have too many. I’m gonna stick you on the tuba. And I fell in love with it. I fell in love with it. I was the only girl in the low brass, and I loved it. And I think it really helped strengthen my musicianship because as a soprano, I was so used to reading the treble clef, and I learned how to play the tuba and the bass clef. And so it helped me. Then when I started doing more piano and, and things of that nature of that note recognition, and I’ve kind of been all over as a performer myself. But then on the flip side of that, I’m very grateful now to be on the educator side, too. I’m still a professional performer. That’s what I get to do for a living, which I’m very grateful for, primarily in the musical theater realm. But I do write a little bit of my own music too, now these days, but I teach theater and voice primarily, as well as music, directing and directing a lot of camps and settings like that. So I get to do a little bit of everything in the arts and music world.
Mindy Peterson: [00:14:57] Well, speaking of voice, you talk a lot about music, helping students find their voice. You’ve said that music helped shape your voice. Tell us a little bit about what that means to you. What does finding your voice mean to you, and how has music shaped your voice and your confidence?
Cassie Donegan: [00:15:15] Well, I always say that confidence. People can use it often as a character trait, but it’s a learned skill. And I think that, yes, it comes more naturally to some than it does others. But music challenges that because yes, we can control our volume, but only to a certain extent. You have to play loud enough on certain instruments for any sound to come out right. And so sometimes you’ve just got to be loud and proud. And even if it’s wrong and strong, you know what? That’s great because that’s how we make that progress. And you have to learn to build that confidence to be wrong, to be able to really hone in on your craft. And when you are able to literally create something out of nothing, whether you’re playing an instrument or like myself as a vocalist, my body being my instrument, we are having to use our being to create something out of nothing, and we are having to share that with others. And when you get to and you successfully do that and it resonates with people, that is when we start to have that realization and that that, you know, mind to muscle connectivity of, oh, that thing that I just did, that art that I just created is making an impact. It’s making a difference. And then you get to decide, what does that sound like? Right? What words or what notes, what messaging do I want to try to get across in my art form? And who is my audience? And I think that’s one of the most beautiful parts of the journey, especially for young artists and musicians, is them figuring that out, figuring out who they are through their art, but then also what they want to do with that.
Cassie Donegan: [00:16:52] And it’s so cool to watch. I love watching the puzzle pieces come together for students of all ages, and they get to say, I did that, and I, I’m going to keep doing that. Or, you know, I did that. Not exactly what I wanted to do. Let’s try something else. And I think that’s where building of the voice really comes in, because you have that full creative freedom to take liberties, to write something completely from nothing, and make a whole new piece and share it with the world. Or don’t. If you don’t want to, let that be something just for you and yourself. But when you have decided, I am proud of this work, I want to share it. And then when you really decide and it doesn’t matter if it makes someone else happy, it makes me happy. I think that’s when you’re really, truly finding your voice and who that is rooted in and what it’s rooted in. And it’s, I don’t think there are many other things in this world you can go on that journey through like you can in music.
Mindy Peterson: [00:17:47] Well, it’s so transferable to other areas. Once you find it in one area and you mentioned confidence is something that can be developed. It’s not just something you’re born with or not. And it is like a muscle that can be exercised. The more you use it, the more it grows and develops and strengthens.
Cassie Donegan: [00:18:06] Yeah, absolutely. And and people, I think especially young people, it’s like we go through these phases of like no inhibitions and like we’re not afraid of anything. And then all of a sudden we come to like realization of, oh, people are perceiving me. And then we get scared to share. And then at some point, you hope everybody hits that point of not caring how people are perceiving you in your art because it’s yours and it’s so special that it’s yours and it’s unique, and we need that. If all art was the same, it would be so boring. And so having that diversity in it, and I love that as an educator, being able to tell people like, no, say it. Don’t take that thought back. I want to hear what you’re about to say about what you were about to do or what you did. Tell me about it. Talk about it more. And that also kind of forces the finding of the voice, because your opinion on what you just heard or did is also important. And let’s have a conversation through it. How can we make it be what you want it to be?
Mindy Peterson: [00:19:00] Mhm. I know you mentioned music in K through 12 schools. Being accessible to all students is something you’re very passionate about. I work with a lot of K through 12 school music educators, and I know that a lot of schools are facing really difficult budgeting decisions right now. It does seem like music and the arts can be the first thing on the chopping block when that happens. What do you wish more policymakers, educators, parents understood about the long term impact of music and arts education? And maybe another way to say this is if you had five minutes with every school superintendent in America, What would you want them to understand about music education?
Cassie Donegan: [00:19:45] What’s so hard? I think as a part of the superintendent’s job is that they can have influence, they can have discussion, and they can really push for certain things with the budget. But at the end of the day, the budget they’re given is the budget they’re given. And while they then decide what to do with the non allocated funding, everyone’s priority is different. There are so many priorities that are screaming for everyone’s attention and they’re all valid. I think that’s what’s hard about education is every program is important. And so it’s it’s having the understanding all the way at the top of why that funding to back our programming is of the utmost importance. And people like to come at it from many different ways. But no matter what angle you try to come at it, the arts are necessary, right? If we want to look at the whole student, which I think is the first thing we should look at on this conversation, is that kids don’t decide where they go to school. They don’t decide their circumstances, the family they’re born into, and every single one of them deserves the exact same educational experience as the person next to them. And so how are we going to make that possible? It’s not why our children are our why. That’s a non-negotiable. How are you going to do it? You have to figure it out.
Cassie Donegan: [00:20:51] That’s our responsibility as the adult here. We have to do it. And so I don’t think, you know, we’re seeing a lot of programming on the chopping block right now through reduction of sub categories and combining of different things like we are seeing with for a and things of that nature in terms of our different title schools. And I think we have to keep that in place. And one thing I would say to those, anybody making a decision is advocate for those programs, those different types of schools to stay in place. We need our title one. We need our title two, we need our foray. All of them are doing very different things, and they need to be fully funded, but that is because it is a domino effect, right? Even if someone does not decide to go into an art form as their profession, that whole child, that whole student is owed that experience to creative freedom and expression. And discovering that in a place where they are there to learn. Right. They shouldn’t have to try to learn something else outside of school. They’re there to learn in school for a reason. They’re there eight hours a day. They have to have the opportunity to learn everything they can. And in many states, New York included, Arts education is not a core subject in the statewide curriculum.
Cassie Donegan: [00:22:04] And I think that’s the a major thing that needs to change. It needs to be weighed the exact same way as every other subject that is being handled within a school building, because we see our test scores and everything else go up. When we have arts involvement, we see better emotional regulation in our student body, which therefore creates a better social climate. That in turn helps teacher retention because it’s a better school environment to work in all of these things, right, that happen within the school. But then you have a student who does decide to go into it in their profession. That person is now part of an industry that creates millions of jobs a year and billions of dollars in our economy. And while we may not be the most consistent, we are one of the highest return on investment industries in our economy. And that’s really important. But then if they go into a different profession, every single quality that they want to say they look for in the corporate world is bred and cultivated in arts. And that’s not the same for any other subject. And that is not putting anything down on those subjects, but it’s just the honest reality. The arts are incredibly necessary for the success of every other element of society.
Cassie Donegan: [00:23:13] And so why do we need to find that funding? Because we want a strong human going into society to contribute. However they decide to contribute to society because someone else’s quantification of a child having promise should not decide their right to access. And I think that’s where we get confused. Just because you may not think that kid has a future, you don’t know if they’re five. They could decide from kindergarten to 12th grade, and they can work really hard, and they could become the next best musician you’ve ever heard of who changes the world? I mean, let’s look at Taylor Swift. She contributes to our economy in ways that I don’t think I can name another person who does that right now in today’s society. And and had she not had access to those arts classes, that would be detrimental in a lot of ways. And so the why is because you never know who’s going to come out of your school. And at the end of the day, even if they decide to not use their talent as their profession, I promise you they are going to use every single one of those skills. And whatever they do decide to go into, and they are owed that right to have that kind of an educational experience.
Mindy Peterson: [00:24:26] Yeah. You mentioned that you started advocating for music at the age of nine, and part of that was driven by the fact that you felt there was a little bit of a vacuum. It sounded like in that advocacy space. And it was like, well, if other people aren’t going to advocate, I will. If people are listening to this thinking, yes, I’m I’m the choir. Like she’s preaching to the choir. I’ve heard that choir. Um, but you know, what can I do to advocate? What do you recommend? Maybe it’s a parent who has a child in a K through 12 school. Maybe it’s a teacher who is teaching, whether it’s a music class or not. Maybe it’s an administrator. Maybe it’s somebody who’s not vocationally in music, but they really agree with what you’re saying about how this contributes to the whole person, the development of the whole child. What are some first steps, some recommendations that are kind of low hanging fruit that you can recommend to listeners?
Cassie Donegan: [00:25:25] I mean, I think something that’s wonderful about the arts and entertainment world is that we’re so resilient, right? And we will never back down on this mission in terms of making sure that we will always survive and we have time and time again. And part of that is because we never stay quiet. And I think the easiest thing that you can do is stay loud and speak up. No one’s going to advocate for you like you do. But when it comes to a child, I think the next best person to advocate for them are their parents. No one’s going to advocate for your kid like you are, right? And so say something. Say what you’re seeing and it’s going to fall on deaf ears. Sometimes they’re not going to listen always. But that’s why we have to keep saying it. We have to keep pushing the priority of arts education, showing them the relevance, the necessity. They know the statistics well. You we hope that those making decisions know the statistics. Oftentimes they do. It’s. The statistics are not always what they need to hear. The stories are what they need to hear. The tangible realities are what they need to know about, because they don’t know the lives of every single child in those schools. The ones who do are the educators and the administrators, but those are not the people who are often making decisions, right? So those educators and administrators and those parents say what you see, right? You have to talk about it. You have to bring it up. And sometimes it is being vulnerable enough to share your own story.
Cassie Donegan: [00:26:53] I am no longer in our K through 12 educational realm, right? But my story is still valid as someone who existed in an educational experience. So it doesn’t matter how separated you are from your time, your story is still valid because there’s probably a student who is experiencing something similar to you. Say it. Don’t be afraid to share that reality. I mean, I know, I know, it catches people off guard when I drop something as big and as serious in a conversation as the fact that at only 12, I was ready to take my own life. But that was my reality. And that is the reality of hundreds of thousands of young people. We see suicide rates going up every single day as young as elementary school. And it’s important to talk about. So the easiest low hanging fruit that you can do is, is be loud and say something. And then after that is if you have the, the time and ability yourself showing up and helping to do something to create some sort of opportunity for these young people, or reaching out to our cultural arts partners who help make those possibilities a reality for young people, for schools that don’t have programming every single day, you can do the legwork even though you shouldn’t have to. You can help do that legwork to make those things possible within your child’s school or within your own school, or whatever it may be, to kind of help bridge that gap while we’re on that journey.
Mindy Peterson: [00:28:17] I love what you said about statistics and how sometimes stories are a better way of convincing your audience. And I think one thing that I was just thinking of as you were speaking was how impactful it can be to know your audience. And with some people, the stories are what is going to connect with some people, they want the statistics, right? And so I think just knowing that knowing your audience can really make a big difference. I know some teachers will say, well, why should I have to advocate for myself? Why should I have to justify my existence? Well, maybe theoretically you shouldn’t have to. But in the if the reality is that you do need to, then yeah. Or, you know, some people will say, don’t talk to me about how music improves math scores. People should be experiencing music class just for the sake of music. It’s like, okay, idealistically, maybe you’re right.
Mindy Peterson: [00:29:11] But if the person making the decision about your budget doesn’t care about that and wants to see some cold hard data, then get the cold, hard data. Like know your audience and give them what is going to be meaningful to them. If they’re the decision makers, you know, be, I guess I’m pretty pragmatic about it.
Cassie Donegan: [00:29:29] No. And that you have to be a lot of the time. And I remind people, often our decision makers are often not people who are. Experiencing the public school system. And so you have to take that into consideration as well. This is not a direct issue for them in their family, and that’s okay. But we have to bring them what the reality is and, and show them that reality.
Mindy Peterson: [00:29:49] Yeah. Well, and if those administrators aren’t musicians, they’re not in that music world. Why should they understand the value that music brings to the whole child, the whole child development. It’s on us to explain that to them. Yeah.
Cassie Donegan: [00:30:04] And it’s so different when your career and your passion are wrapped up in part of your being. And I think that’s something that makes it so different for what we do than others.
Cassie Donegan: [00:30:18] Because we know what it feels like to fully, in every sense of the word love what we do. And that’s unfortunately not the reality for every other career field, you know, and they can be passionate about it. They can love it, but it’s not. It doesn’t literally run through your veins in the way that being an artist does. And we lost that world. I think that’s made advocacy even better post Covid 19, because we lost everything we had. We could create at home silently in the presence of no one. But it was not the same as it was. And we lost our industry because it was almost impossible for live entertainment, right? Especially, but then also mass creation of art because people were losing their jobs left and right and digestion of what people saw as not necessary. Purchases were going out the window, and we saw people’s art forms start to get silenced and squashed and not digested. And so we know, we know what it feels like to be in the same circumstances as these students who are given no outlet for their creativity. We were like that for a year plus. And I think on the other side of it, something positive, if you can find anything that came from that experience of the pandemic was we saw this resurgence of the arts world really start to stand up and advocate for itself and its existence in all spaces even more.
Mindy Peterson: [00:31:43] Yeah, well, you definitely make a good point in there that as musicians, as artists, our vocation is uniquely intertwined with our identity in a way that not a lot of vocations are. Yeah. Well, I know we’re running out of time. One thing I do want to save time for is I understand you offer a steam master class. Can you tell us about that program and and why integrating the arts into Stem. If people aren’t familiar with that steam, you can maybe explain the STEM vs. STEAM. But why integrating the arts into Stem is so important?
Cassie Donegan: [00:32:18] I very specifically made it a steam Master class, rather than just an Arts master class, to show the relevance and importance of the fact that you cannot have any other letters of that acronym without the Arts, and we forget that a lot. I think Stem is so important. It is incredible. And I love seeing women go into it especially. But we cannot forget. We have to have the a present because everything. It doesn’t matter. If you walk into a doctor’s office, you’re filling out some form. I promise you there’s probably a graphic that an artist designed at the top of that form for that particular office, for their branding. It doesn’t matter if you’re going into a board meeting, you’re wearing some sort of suit that some designer designed, and then another artist created it and then put it out. And then they marketed it because another artist was smart enough to create marketing that made you want to buy it, right? It’s this whole element of it doesn’t matter where you are, what you’re doing, the arts are involved. But let’s talk about how you as a student can figure out how they all connect and how they all work together beautifully to make our world go right. And so there are versions of it, K through 12 that I get to utilize and, and the, The little ones are always so cute because we are getting to utilize things with our hands a lot.
Cassie Donegan: [00:33:33] So we’re using a lot of water. We’re learning about how sound travels, and we’re doing that through our musical instruments and learning about how there are different kinds of sound systems that are, you know, does it bounce back because the space is big or is this a contact speaker system where it’s hearing it come here and now it’s going to the next part? And so talking about all of these different elements of practicality, of seeing our artistry work in day to day life and letting them create that sound, create that music going through. How is this water having to do with art? How does this paint have to do with this? And it’s really cool because they’re not just listening to someone talk at them, they’re experiencing what we’re doing at the same time. It’s a very hands on experience for them, but they’re also getting to make that correlation of, oh wait, I really like this art form, but I also really like science or I also really like math or hold on. I really also like creating, you know, X, Y, and Z in the technology world. I can still do the thing in art that I really like and do that.
Mindy Peterson: [00:34:39] And the art will enhance what they’re doing in technology or engineering or math or science. Yes.
Cassie Donegan: [00:34:44] Yeah. And it’s great because my long term goal with it is, I would love to put it to print and offer it for free to standardized classrooms and schools that don’t have robust arts education programming for them to be able to integrate in small but really beneficial and impactful ways of these art elements into the classroom, but just already incorporating them into their lesson planning that would already exist for these other subjects. And that’s important to show for that stem versus steam argument that some may call it is that it’s okay to have that a in there because it’s really necessary. And whether you want to acknowledge it, it’s going to weasel its way in there anyway. So we might as well just call it what it is on the steam element, because let’s give them all their recognition and all their glory that they deserve, because they all work hand in hand across the industries.
Mindy Peterson: [00:35:36] So right now you’re seeing master class that’s designed to take place within a K through 12 classroom.
Cassie Donegan: [00:35:43] Yes. So you can do it in a classroom or I’ve done it in assembly version as well. I can modify it in different ways. There’s a couple of different versions, which is great about it because it can kind of be pushed and pulled and swapped in and out. However, is going to work best for your space and the necessary programming.
Mindy Peterson: [00:35:58] And is that something that you administer, or is this a curriculum that teachers purchase and use themselves.
Cassie Donegan: [00:36:04] At this time? It’s something that I administer. I’m in the process of opening my own nonprofit, the Arts Legacy Foundation. And in that realm, when we have appropriate funding, is when I would love to put it to print and be able to provide it for free to educators. I never want an educator to have to purchase it or a school at any time to have to purchase it from me, but I’m always welcome. You’re always welcome to reach out. And I’m happy to to share it with any classroom that may may want to try integrating it at this time.
Mindy Peterson: [00:36:31] Great. And where can listeners find out more about that masterclass? Is that on your website? Cassie donigan.com.
Cassie Donegan: [00:36:38] Um, yes, they can go there. That’s the best way to like reach me. Also, if you were wanting something in correlation to like Miss America coming and doing that, we love to partner with our schools as well and that you can easily find at Miss america.org. Yeah. Any way that we can get these these arts elements into these schools, I’m more than happy to, to work with any administrator or teacher and make that happen.
Mindy Peterson: [00:36:58] Wonderful. Well, we’ll have those links in the show notes. Of course. Thank you so much for your time, Cassie, for your advocacy for music and the arts in schools and other parts of our communities as well. As you know, I ask all my guests to close out our conversation with a musical ending, a coda, by sharing a musical tool you wish more people knew about. This could be a book, a blog, an app, a therapeutic tool, or anything that enables you to enhance your life with music. Do you have a tool that you can tell us about today in closing?
Cassie Donegan: [00:37:30] Yes. So it’s I think this is probably a bit of a stretch on the tool, but it’s definitely very good for the heart and the mind. I think as someone who’s experienced it, if you’re local to the New York area, the New York City area, we have this really incredible program called Free Arts NYC. And I think it’s mutually beneficial for both the volunteers and the students. We have so many schools here, despite being the arts and entertainment Mecca of the world that don’t have any. They have none, zero arts education programming in their schools. And so Free Arts NYC partners with these schools, as well as with both corporate entities and individuals to go into these schools and have these free arts days. And so you as the volunteer, whether it is your workplace and it’s all of your employees going and doing this on a day, or the individuals who can just sign up at their leisure to go in different time slots like I have done, you go and you help to administer these activities and to do this with them and with the Free Arts NYC staff who are there to guide everybody, and you help them create something at the end of their day and help give them this artistic experience.
Cassie Donegan: [00:38:35] They do them both in the schools. Sometimes they do public days where, uh, you go to the park and they have all of these kiddos coming and, and you get to really collaborate with them, show them, guide them through their artistic journey on this day. And you can do it as many times as you would like to do it. But it’s so, like I said, mutually beneficial for the student in the school, but also for you as the artist and you as, as just a human to be able to go and, and there’s no end goal here other than a child finding creativity in themselves. You know, we’re not striving for any perfect product to put on a stage or a screen or an easel or whatever it may be. We are just there simply for the joy of creating. And I think that’s so important that we don’t lose that. But even more important, that when we can do that and give it to somebody else.
Transcribed by Sonix.ai