Teachers at Mississippi School of the Arts joined in a book study over the past several weeks. The book, entitled "The Everyday Work of Art," introduces its readers to the real concept of art as a human being. Culminating the study was a workshop with the author of the book, Eric Booth. In this podcast, Suzanne Hirsch (executive director) engages in conversation to find out Eric's thoughts on the work of art and everyday expression over the course of 22 years the book has been in existence. Eric also shares how teachers can engage the arts in their classroom by infusing the arts with academia.

Eric Booth has performed in many plays on Broadway and around the country. He created the company Alert Publishing, analyzing research and trends in American lifestyles and publishing newsletters, books, and reports. He became a major figure in trend analysis, frequently quoted by the major media with interviews often appearing in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. He appeared as an expert on NBC News, Sunday Today, and several times on CNN. He was given a syndicated radio program on the Business Radio Network, and was a frequent speaker to business groups. He sold his company in 1991 in order to work full time on passion projects in arts learning.

He has published six books as an author and referred to as one of the nation's most creative teachers and a father of the teaching artist profession. He is the first person to receive an honorary doctoral degree (New England Conservatory, 2012) for teaching artistry. He received Americans for the Arts 2015 Arts Education Leadership Award, the most prestigious award in U.S. arts education -- the first teaching artist ever to receive this award. He was named in the "Top 50 Most Powerful and Influential Leaders in the Nonprofit Arts (USA) for 2015" in Barry's Blog, the only teaching artist, and only freelancer on the list.

• Eric Booth web site
• Books on Amazon.com

Suzanne Hirsch (Host), Eric Booth (Guest), Instrumental music by Imani Skipwith (Literary c/o 2020).