Episode 15: Jonathan “Courageous” Clark

For this episode of Pass the Mic: Creating a Stage For Change, we interviewed Knoxville-based performer and entrepreneur Jonathan “Courageous” Clark. Courageous has been an important figure in the Knoxville theatre community since childhood, and served as Executive and Artistic Director of the Carpetbag Theatre (CBT), Inc. He has toured nationally as a spoken word poet, has worked in nonprofit arts administration, and currently facilitates creative writing & performance workshops for groups of all ages that explore unconscious bias. He is the CEO and Founder of ART.Official Intelligence, a DEI Consulting company, which aims to foster empathy and understanding in the workplace. In this conversation, we discuss the language and rhetoric around social justice, the importance of developing understanding of unconscious bias, and ways that storytelling can strengthen Appalachian communities.