Provoking Powerful Change: Dev’n Goodman on the Power of Art and the Community

Last October, an art exhibition called A Good Gathering opened at the Pool Near Southside, a gallery and art space on 8^th Avenue.

This, in and of itself, was not earth-shaking news. After all, art exhibitions and shows frequently open in the Near Southside. It is, after all, a major artistic hub for our city.

But A Good Gathering was different than most art shows that we see in Fort Worth. It wasn’t just a collection of art hanging on walls. It was a series of events for artists, entrepreneurs, communicators, and the public to connect and engage, to learn and collaborate, as well as a collection of art (by 20 local artists, both new and established) hanging on walls.

Photo credit: Walt Burns

It’s probably not news to you, Dear Reader, that we Fort Worthians love our art. We’re justifiably proud of our museums. Most cities our size are lucky to have one decent museum. We have three world-class museums. We have theater and ballet companies that perform both traditional and avant-garde works. Look at the sheer number of art-related events and festivals in Fort Worth every year. From the Main Street Arts Festival and Spring and Fall Gallery Nights, from ArtsGoggle to Lost ‘n Sound, Fort Worth is more engaged with its artistic community than most cities of our size.

But back to this unique art experience we were talking about.

A joint exhibition between A Goodman’s Education and Art Tooth (see page 16), A Good Gathering was structured around four “pathways.” Art Tooth explained, “The Art Pathway highlights creative expressions that celebrate the joy of gathering. The Entrepreneur Pathway connects attendees with innovators shaping community engagement. The Cultural Pathway, presented with the Fort Worth Film Club, offers a curated selection of films. And the Community Pathway brings together all the elements through hands-on activities designed for all ages.”

“Art speaks to our souls,” said Dev’n Goodman, the founder and presiding genius of A Goodman’s Education. “It can facilitate conversations that need to be had, and it’s harder to put up barriers to keep people out when you’ve experienced their soul.”

In their series, “52 Faces of Community,” in which they honor “unsung heroes for making extraordinary differences every day: the people who are our neighbors and who quietly make our lives better every day,” the Fort Worth Report describes A Goodman’s Education as an “events business” and Dev’n as an “events planner.” While strictly true, these descriptions fall far short of the mark. Yes, Dev’n plans and hosts events across the city, but she is more than just an events planner. She is an entrepreneur, a cultural communicator, and an educator.

I first met Dev’n at an open house at I.M. Terrell Academy for STEM & VPA. She was my older child’s humanities teacher, and she impressed me from the get-go. My older child is very much a STEM kid, into math and computer science and at the time had little interest in anything else, and yet, Dev’n was able to get them excited about literature and history, something I had been trying to do for years. She created a safe, creative space in her classroom for her Gen Z STEM and arts kids to connect with the material and, more importantly, with each other.

In fact, longtime readers of Madeworthy may recognize Dev’n from our 2020 feature, “Top Teachers of Fort Worth.” These top teachers were voted on by members of the Tanglewood Moms Facebook group. “As a teacher who always taught outside the boundaries, I really appreciated that you all welcomed me like that,” she said.

Education and communication come honestly to Dev’n. Both of her parents are/were educators. Her father, Patrick Goodman, is the offensive coordinator for the football team and the head boys’ basketball coach at New Waverly High School in New Waverly, Texas. Her mother, Crystal Goodman, is a retired education administrator who once served as principal of Dunbar Middle School. (It’s because her parents were educators that young Dev’n did not skip from kindergarten directly to the sixth grade, no matter what the school and various tests said was possible. They recognized that her physical and emotional maturity needed time to catch up with her intellectual maturity.)

It is my firm belief that every child should have That Teacher – a teacher who sparks a fire, who expands that child’s mind in unexpected yet profound ways, who makes connections that create new understanding. Dev’n’s That Teacher was a science teacher who understood the value of the humanities. “Our science projects were also art projects,” Dev’n remembered. “Each project had to use a different medium. I loved it. My model of a cell was a cake. My DNA double helix was made out of sugar cubes.”

Not only did that science teacher combine art into the science curriculum, but she also read to her students. Dev’n said, “When we came into her class, she read to us. She had a massive rain stick for white noise, and when everyone sat down, we were expected to be quiet, and then she read for the first 15 minutes of class.”

Numerous studies have been done on the importance of reading to children. Not only does reading literature to children help with language development and important cognitive skills, but it also helps develop their imagination, emotional skills, and empathy. Dev’n absorbed far more than just scientific facts in that science class. And she took the imagination and empathy from that classroom with her into her career as a teacher.

While she was a teacher in the Fort Worth Independent School District, Dev’n started a relationship with the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, which eventually led to a series of discussions called “Listening for a Change.” For five months in 2021, participants were invited to listen to two specified podcast episodes, chosen to provoke curiosity and introspection, and then take part in a discussion.

Also in 2021, Dev’n created and produced a virtual theater show in collaboration with Fort Worth theater company, Amphibian Stage. A video anthology of music, poetry, and personal histories, This Is My Story aimed to record and amplify the voices of Black men in Fort Worth, including such figures as Fort Worth ISD’s Dr. Carlos Walker and local event coordinator/caterer Henry Wasonga Abuto.

It was during the production of “Listening for a Change” and This Is My Story that Dev’n realized that her interest in the intersection of art, education, and community could be more. She left teaching in 2022, worked for about a year as an engagement manager at TechFW, and then struck out on her own with A Goodman’s Education.

Photo credit: Chelsea Davis

Throughout 2024 and 2025, A Goodman’s Education hosted or co-hosted events centered around art, culture, and community. Whether it was a panel discussion exploring the roles of women and community or a Black art tour done in conjunction with Art Tooth, each event served to connect and educate.

“Everything I do with A Goodman’s Education is centered around art, culture, and community,” Dev’n said. “Art connects us and can provoke powerful changes.”

Dev’n is possessed of a powerful intellect, and she is a mesmerizing speaker. Our conversation in the lobby bar at the Hotel Dryce lasted for over two hours. It ranged over such diverse topics as the relationship between first cousins Richard II and Henry IV of England, the differences in the concept of “family” in white, Black, and Brown communities, and the history of the connection between hip hop and Ralph Lauren. (We might have gone down a couple of rabbit holes.)

When asked about Art Tooth’s collaboration with A Goodman’s Education in A Good Gathering, Shasta Haubrich, Executive Director of Art Tooth (see page 16), said, “Together, [we built] on years of working individually with the creative community. Bringing together more than two dozen artists—including many we’ve each admired and collaborated with—is a powerful way to celebrate Fort Worth and its art scene.”

Traditional art shows and exhibitions usually include an opening reception, where art patrons view the works and mingle while sipping warmish glasses of sparkling wine. They may listen to some remarks by the artist and/or the gallery owner, which (hopefully) will spur patrons to purchase the art.

Selling art was just one of the goals of “A Good Gathering.” Patrons were encouraged to engage their bodies in movement and mindfulness sessions, make their own works of art in hands-on workshops led by art educator Natalia Margarite, view films in a series of screenings curated by TCU’s Dr. Marcellus Perkins, and participate in a panel discussion led by Kaci Merriwether-Hawkins, founder of Black Girls in Art Spaces, and Dr. Stacie McCormick, professor of English, Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies, and Women and Gender Studies at TCU. There was even a door raffle in which an attendee won one of those pieces of art hanging on the walls.

Photo credit: Walt Burns

Glasstire, an online arts magazine that promotes Texas’s visual arts on a regional and national level, named A Good Gathering one of the top art shows in Texas for 2025.

After the success of A Good Gathering, Dev’n isn’t resting on her laurels. She took some time to rest at the end of last year, but she’s back. Starting in February with a screening of the 1991 film Daughters of the Dust at The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, followed by a panel discussion, A Goodman’s Education’s 2026 calendar is punctuated by events incorporating music, literature, film, and art, with an emphasis on education and community.

During March (which is, of course, Women’s History Month), Dev’n is hosting a Women’s Writers Book Swap at Hotel Dryce, featuring a book talk and signing by Jeanette Settembre, author of the acclaimed debut novel Little Red Flags. (There is also going to be a silent book club for introverts who want to read the book but don’t want to attend a talk.)

In June and July, A Goodman’s Education is collaborating with Bodega South Main to produce the Vibe Music Series (exact dates were still pending at the time of publication). There is another Black art walk planned with Art Tooth, and another art show in the spirit of A Good Gathering is scheduled for October.

“I’m a Libra,” Dev’n grinned. “You know, as a Libra, I love me some art.”

Dev’n hopes to expand A Goodman’s Education. She’s looking for partners who are focused on building community and hosting events centered around art, culture, and “just having a good time.” Her long-term goal is to turn A Goodman’s Education into a brick-and-mortar venue with space for events, shows, and lectures.

“I’ve always been fascinated by salons, you know, like Parisian salons,” Dev’n said. “I love the idea of having cultural talks in interesting places. You know, having a lecture on art or music or something is a big thing in the Northeast. I’d love to get that trend started down here.”

Our conversation came to an end, not because we had run out of things to say, but because the organizers of an event later in the evening at Hotel Dryce needed the space. The event was to introduce what was described as a “local boy band.” In a full-circle kind of coincidence that only happens in books or movies, that local boy band is made up of Dev’n’s former students at I.M. Terrell.