In Tending the Perennials, master teacher Eric Booth provides the architecture and understandings you need to create a “personal religion” that brings greater meaning and happiness to your life. He guides readers toward engagement with the perennial truths of art and religion—truths that are grounded in the same deep human principles. Truths that can get lost in the distractions and pressures of daily life, and in the institutions of art and religion. Tending the Perennials is a successor and companion book to Booth’s 1997 bestseller The Everyday Work of Art. Both books focus on the verbs of art and spirituality, not the nouns that distract and separate us. What we do when we engage artistically is very close to what we do when we engage spiritually. By consciously practicing these behaviors, we can create a personal religion that makes us more centered and contented as we navigate life’s challenges. Tending the Perennials shows you how: Booth gets you started with specific suggestions for active involvement that you can use right away. You will meet up with powerful personal stories in these pages—and with incisive philosophical perspectives you haven’t heard before, sentences you will want to underline and copy into a journal, and simple activities you can try. You’ll spend time with a wide-ranging and ceaselessly creative mind; Booth has been named one of the 25 most influential people in the American arts. You will meet up with the Ten Commencements (not commandments), which offer ways to consciously apply the artistic and spiritual skills you already have, and with the Seven Deadly Sins, which show how we often fail to focus on the little habits that make the biggest difference. You will find entertaining digressions into etymology. (Did you know that the etymological root of the word “sin” means “misalignment”?) Beyond that, you will have the sense that your own personal experience is being shown to you in a mirror. You will receive an eloquent language for describing experiences and ideas that you didn’t have words for before. “You’ve given me a language for what I always felt and knew, but didn’t know how to say”—this is what Booth’s readers tell him, again and again. Eric Booth is America’s foremost teaching artist. His entry into that world was preceded by separate successful careers as a Broadway actor and then as an entrepreneur. He gives keynote speeches around the world, works with the world’s foremost arts institutions, and is the only artist ever to receive the nation’s highest honor in arts education. All of Booth’s work has a spiritual aspect, and his accumulated wisdom has now been distilled into a clear, cogent, inspiring book that lays out a path to greater happiness. Tending the Perennials is a “best friend book.” Read it, and you’ll want to give copies to your friends.

Tending the Perennials: The Art and Spirit of a Personal Religion

Booth, Eric

Religion & Spirituality

Betteryet Press

Teaching Artists work directly in every kind of community (e.g. schools, hospitals, neighborhoods, companies), using their distinctive skills to create change at the individual and community level. Teaching Artistry is the sleeping giant of social change, and Making Change shows us why.\nWhat is a teaching artist? If you don’t know—or if you do and would like an advocacy tool to help you spread the word—this book is for you.\nWritten by the man frequently described as “the father of the teaching artist profession,” Making Change shines a light on this powerful global workforce that is largely invisible but astoundingly effective.\nLearn how Teaching Artists can activate anyone’s innate artistry to achieve a wide variety of positive goals. Enjoy stories about the surprising impact of their partnerships in health, government, education, corporations, environmentalism, social justice, and peacebuilding.\nThis inspiring book will leave readers — both inside and outside of the arts — with an awareness of new possibilities for shaping a better world.\n“Teaching artists amplify the power of the arts—and no one better than Eric Booth to share these stories.” 
Clive Gillinson — Executive and Artistic Director, Carnegie Hall\n“Making Change is absolutely riveting! 
Sangeeta Isvarin — Founder, Wind Dancers Trust; Co-Founder, Katradi Method: Arts for Conflict Resolution, India\n“a profoundly useful and provocative book — stories from the exuberant front lines of teaching artistry.” 
Jamie Bernstein — Author, “Famous Father Girl”; Filmmaker, “Crescendo: The Power of Music”\n“Every parent, leader, teacher, and therapist would benefit from the clarity of the insights and practical know-how contained in this succinct but powerful manifesto.” 
John Zweig — Chairman, Neuro-Insight; Director, Foundation for Art and Healing\n“Eric Booth expands our sense of what’s possible for a beacon for a brighter, creatively rich future.” 
Stu Warshawer — CEO, ArtistYear\n“ artists can be healers, educators, and advocate-- new solutions to making the world a better place.” 
Carla Dirlikov Canales — 2022-23 Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School Center for Public Leadership Social Innovation + Change Initiative\n“An incredibly useful resource for organzations around the world. 
Elizabeth Njoroge —Founder of The Art of Music Foundation, Kenya

Making Change: Teaching Artists and Their Role in Shaping a Better World

Arts & Photography

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Betteryet Press publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Betteryet Press

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Betteryet Press publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Tending the Perennials: The Art and Spirit of a Personal Religion

Making Change: Teaching Artists and Their Role in Shaping a Better World