Deep Dive on Hard Conversations & the Art of Collaboration

Kelly Corrigan Wonders

Kelly Corrigan Show

Society & Culture

4.8 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2025

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this finale of our Hard Conversations series, Kelly explores how making things together - singing, stitching, creating art - might be the key to deeper connections and better conversations across differences. Recorded in Bozeman, Montana, the day after our live collaborative event, Kelly is joined by musician Cava Menzies, who is a music educator and leads community singing experiences; artist Jen Bloomer, who has spent over two decades with her organization Radici Studios using art-making to help people connect across differences and embroidery artist Diana Weymar, known for her "tiny pricks" needlework (and popular Instagram account of the same name) which creates space for reflection and conversation. Together, they discover how the collaborative principles needed in all art forms - whether it's harmonizing voices, listening deeply to someone's story before making art about it or slowing down to stitch meaningful words - mirror what we need in our relationships, communities and democracy. It's about how art disarms us, creates space for surprise and vulnerability and reveals the surprising truth that you can't be cynical and creative at the same time. Listen in to hear soundbites from the live event. This episode, the Bozeman, MT live event and the entire Hard Conversations series were all made possible by a grant from Templeton Religion Trust. You can learn more by visiting templetonreligiontrust.org. Check out the previous episodes from our Hard Conversations series: Deep Dive with Bob and Amy Allnutt on Hard Conversations https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deep-dive-with-bob-a nd-amy-allnutt-on-hard-conversations/id1532951390?i=1000683888545 Deep Dive with Isaac Slade and Gregg Latterman on Hard Conversations https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/deep-dive-with-isaac-slade-and-gregg-latterman-on/id1532951390?i=1000684803329 Deep Dive with Simon Greer and Saad Soliman on Hard Conversations https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deep-dive-with-simon-greer-and-saad-soliman-on/id1532951390?i=1000686080499 Deep Dive with Sisters Amy and Meg on Hard Conversations https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deep-dive-with-sisters-amy-and-meg-on-hard-conversations/id1532951390?i=1000688777654 Deep Dive with Karen McKinney and Joseph Herrera on Hard Conversations https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deep-dive-with-karen-mckinney-and-joseph-herrera-on/id1532951390?i=1000691018234 Deep Dive with Rabbi Sharon Brous on Hard Conversations http://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/deep-dive-with-rabbi-sharon-brous-on-hard-conversations/id1532951390?i=1000704424738 Deep Dive with Ami Dar on Hard Conversations https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deep-dive-with-ami-dar-on-hard-conversations/id1532951390?i=1000705376939 Deep Dive with Amy Griffin on Hard Conversations https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deep-dive-with-amy-griffin-on-hard-conversations/id1532951390?i=1000708296163 Deep Dive with Brad Porteus on Hard Conversations https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deep-dive-with-brad-porteus-on-hard-conversations/id1532951390?i=1000709108674 Deep Dive with Miroslav Volf on Hard Conversations https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deep-dive-with-miroslav-volf-on-hard-conversations/id1532951390?i=1000710067256 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Kelly Corrigan Wonders. I'm Kelly Corrigan. And today I'm wondering about how making things together, a song, a piece of writing, art of any kind might be the key to having better conversations and deeper connections, especially when there's tension. Today's episode is the finale of our
0:22.3	hard conversations series, supported by Templeton Religion Trust, where we explore how people
0:28.4	bridge differences and create meaningful connections. After recording 10 episodes for this series,
0:34.2	it was clear that intellectual hospitality and humility were our best hopes,
0:40.4	since they require non-judgmental curiosity and active listening.
0:45.0	So we had an idea.
0:46.6	What if we could model those virtues live in person together in a collaborative, creative space?
0:53.3	What if the very act of singing or stitching or crafting
0:56.7	or writing alongside strangers from 28 different states could naturally cultivate the environment
1:03.2	and the attitudes we need to bridge differences? A few weeks back, I had the incredible
1:09.0	experience of testing the theory at a live event in Bozeman, Montana, with a live audience and three remarkable women who are using art and making as tools for connection.
1:20.3	They're my guest today, and they are musician Kava Menzies. Kava leads community singing experiences and believes in the idea of harmony as a
1:29.9	skill that we need for healthy relationships and democracy. Artist Jen Bloomer, who has spent over two
1:36.2	decades with her organization, Radici Studios, using art making to help people access their
1:41.6	creativity and connect across differences, and Diana Waymar,
1:45.2	an embroiderer and a craftivist. You may know her from her popular Instagram account Tiny Pricks,
1:51.3	who uses needle thread and everyday textiles to create spaces for reflection and conversation,
1:57.5	often incorporating the words of people she wants to honor into her stitch pieces.
2:02.4	Here's my conversation with Kava Menzies, Jen Bloomer, and Diana Weimar, recorded the morning after our live event at Tinworks in Bozeman, Montana.
2:12.6	Note, you'll hear some snippets of audio from the live event throughout this episode, just to give you a feel for what was happening in the room.
2:25.1	We, the four of us, made kind of an interesting and weird connection, perhaps, between making and hard conversations.
2:32.5	And in my mind, it was something about collaboration
	...

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