What are the arts for? Why do we need them and how do they help us? How do music, movies, tv shows, novels, paintings, sculptures, plays, ballets, and all the rest of our arts contribute to human survival?

Lonnie Potter discusses the practical, social, and evolutionary function of the arts—how they help each one of us survive and thrive by growing the core skills we need to adapt and improve ourselves and the world around us.

Lonnie Potter is a multidisciplinary artist who has worked in music, drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, video, and poetry. Lonnie began his art talks in 2018, with Other Wise: The Practical, Social and Evolutionary Purpose of the Arts, a series of four talks over the course of the year. In 2020 he started his most recent project: a podcast based on a book from those talks called Arts & Survival. He lives and works in Omaha, Nebraska.