Groundwork: Healing within Community Arts Education

This program is now completed. Guild members can access session recordings in our Resource Center. (Guild membership is pay-what-you-can!)

From October 18–November 5, 2021, we held a virtual gathering for community arts practitioners to embody radical reinvention and imagination as we process the pandemic. Through creative artmaking, learning and connection, we tended to ourselves, our collectives, and our vision of a transformed society.

Groundwork was designed specifically for people in community arts education—including teaching artists, arts administrators (from all departments), organizational leadership, young artists, and cultural workers—as well as their community partners. 

Attendees agreed to follow the Groundwork Community Agreements.

Three Weeks—Three Dimensions Of Grounding Practice

This unique gathering centered healing and wellness in the context of community arts education, as a pathway towards personal, interpersonal, and system change. We must get right with ourselves before we can work with each other to reimagine and create a more just future. To that end, Groundwork began with Healing for Self (Week 1), and then moved into Healing for Collective (Week 2), and Healing for Movement Building (Week 3). 

Learning Tracks

Learning Tracks included General Assembly on Healing, Creative Aging, Human-Centered Practices, and Creative Youth Development.

Accessibility  

Real-time ASL interpretation was provided by Pro Bono ASL, and is included in all recordings. Facilitators and presenters were asked to verbally describe what was on screen and state their name before speaking.

This program was made possible through generous support from Aroha Philanthropies, The Music Man Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.