Jess Godwin
Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alum Jess Godwin ’05, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Acting, is profiled in an interview with VoyageChicago, an online publication devoted to lifestyles, entertainment, and “Chicago’s Most Inspiring Stories.” In an article titled “Conversations with the Inspiring Jess Godwin,” posted February 19, 2019, Godwin discusses her work as a self-described “singer/songwriter/DIY music video maker” and exults: “I LOVE being the artist I am today!”
Jess Godwin
Speaking candidly and eloquently, Godwin recounts how her trial-and-error path as a recording artist brought her to her current professional focus as a teaching artist: “I do a lot of outreach with middle school and high school students through my programs, The Shameless Workshop (a songwriting workshop) and Nobody but You (an in school performance). Both use my personal story and music to teach kids to fight shame through vulnerability and learn how to have their own agency in art and life. In Shameless, we do free writes and discussions to get the kids’ own stories out. In Nobody But You, I tell my own story of isolation, body dysmorphia, depression, sensationalism, but it’s all packaged into a super loud, funny, upbeat, incredibly engaging school performance. . . . I want to visit MORE schools and help MORE students, but at the same time, I want to remind myself that in order to be good for these kids, I need to be good for myself, and that means finding time to be quiet and creative.”
Jess Godwin
Adds Godwin: “Right now, I’m in this wonderful place of creativity and rest. I don’t feel like I’m racing the clock any more – racing to stay ‘relevant’ as a woman, because all of the people who made me feel like 36 was too old to be an artist . . . are no longer relevant to me.”
Jess Godwin
To read the full interview, click here.
