Schedule

Groundwork: Healing within Community Arts Education takes place from October 18–November 5, 2021.

Registration includes access to all General Assembly on Healing track sessions, including Opening Sessions and Make/Think/Share Studios, taking place on three consecutive Mondays (October 18th and 25th, & November 1st) and to a conclusion on the final Friday (November 5th). 

 

You may also register for additional Learning Tracks—Creative AgingHuman-Centered Practices, and/or Creative Youth Development—to take place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays respectively during the gathering.

 

Full Schedule

 

Groundwork overview schedule graphic. Session schedule is listed with columns for each learning track on its corresponding day of the week, and rows for each of the 3 weeks of the gathering.

 

View all presenter bios and headshots on the People page.

Learn more about the Session Formats—Grounding Practices, Make/Think/Share Studios, Real Talk Salons, and Armchair Travel Tours.

 

Jump to Week 1—Healing for Self

Jump to Week 2—Healing for Collective

Jump to Week 3—Healing for Movement Building

 


Week 1: Healing for Self (Monday, October 18–Thursday, October 21, 2021)

Monday, October 18—General Assembly on Healing

1–3pm ET—Opening Session

Grounding Practice

Title: Heart-Led Presence

Description: The more of our selves we can see and be present with, the more we can really see and be present with each other. This breath and sound practice will support tending to our heart space and inviting our full selves to our time together.

Presenter: Ashley Frith (Director of Racial Equity and Belonging, Community MusicWorks)

 

Featured Storyteller

Title: Journey to Self Healing and Growth in the Midst of Supporting Community Transformation

Description: While engaged in deep community work, we must consider our own journeys through self-healing. Many community workers find themselves called to make a difference, yet as they engage in their pursuits to better the world, the heavy tasks required often affect their health and well-being—no matter how much they love it.

Too often we are taught to believe that passion can carry us through to healing because of our love for the work, for the community. We are encouraged, coached, and trained by our predecessors, who unintentionally pass the torch or self-sacrifice on because that’s all they were given—their badges of doing good work were allotted once they were completely “used up”. As we work to create equity, awareness, and justice, we may find ourselves still operating in this self-sacrificing “matrix”.

To counter this paradigm, we must navigate the ever-changing road towards healing, and this requires practice, consciousness, and intentionality. Join us as Kwayera Archer openly shares her own story about how we can become stronger, truly liberated, more compassionate, and joyful through every turn along the journey towards liberation by also working on our self-healing, today and every day.

Presenter: Kwayera Archer (Principal & Chief Visionary Officer, Global Ase)

5–7:00pm ET—Make/Think/Share Studio

Title: SoulCollage®

Description: Amongst the many inclusive & trauma-informed arts practices that Cynthia Tom engages in with community through A PLACE OF HER OWN, she is a licensed facilitator of SoulCollage® (first founded by Seena Frost in 1988), a specific creative collage process for accessing intuition. In this workshop, Cynthia invites us to make our inner wisdom visible as we each create the first cards (1-3) of our personal deck of cards for guidance and meditation. In addition to making personal collages, we will also be invited to read and interpret cards for one another in an intimate reflection practice. (A detailed list or materials will be shared, but please expect to come prepared with several 5 x 7 cards, scissors, adhesive, and paper images for collage.) Journaling will also be encouraged.

Presenter: Cynthia Tom (Founder, A PLACE OF HER OWN), Julie Andersen (A PLACE OF HER OWN Alum/Advisor, SoulCollage practitioner, Community Arts Curator), Patricia Ann Zamora "PAZ" (Alum, Facilitator, Community Arts Education, A PLACE OF HER OWN), Bronwyn Shaunessy (SoulCollage® trainer, Australia / Naturopath dip HM / A PLACE OF HER OWN Adviser)

Grounding Practice (asynchronous session—registrants watch in their own time)

Title: Skimming the Surface, An Expressive Movement Grounding

Description: Dance Entropy's Artistic Director, Valerie Green will offer a nurturing practice whereby participants will be on a guided journey to ground and tune in to the inner self. Working individually while in community to: Listen, Allow, Open, and Radiate through an activating movement based experience.

Presenters: Valerie Green (Artistic Director, Dance Entropy, Inc.)

Tuesday, October 19—Creative Aging Track

1–2:30pm ET—Real Talk Salon

Title: Ageism: The Last "Acceptable" Prejudice

Description: By 2035, there will be more Americans over the age of 65 than under the age of 18 for the first time in US history. Yet the majority of community arts education programs available in our communities are for people under the age of 18. Persistent ageism that sidelines and silences older adults is one of the biggest barriers to creative aging programs, partnerships, and funding—and often goes unaddressed. Join this intimate conversation between teaching artists, administrators, and older adults from Fleisher Art Memorial and Dance & Bmore.  Together, we will reflect on our own prejudices and beliefs about age and aging and the influence of different cultural values and histories on these aging attitudes;  and talk openly about ways we are undoing ageism in ourselves and our creative aging work. 

Presenters: Kukuli Velarde (Artist/Teacher, Fleisher Art Memorial), CJay Philip (Artistic Director, Dance & BMore), Maxine Hodge (Older adult student, Elder Arts Ensemble, Dance & Bmore), Vita Litvak (Director of Education, Fleisher Art Memorial)

5–6:30pm ET—Make/Think/Share Studio

Title: Adventures in Visual Storytelling: Unlocking Older Adults' Personal Power

Description: This Make/Think/Share workshop will be an interactive adventure into using memory, visual tools, and personal storytelling to unlock perception of resiliency, community, and personal power with older adult students. The adventure will include conversations, media making and presentations. This evocative process will allow you to develop unusual and cross media techniques to bring into any work with adults 55+ for creative aging programs.

Presenters: Barbara Sharon Wiener (Filmmaker, mentor, BarbaraWienerMedia and TVbyGIRLS), Leah Elizabeth Gross (Associate Mentor, TVbyGIRLS)

Armchair Travel Tour (asynchronous session—registrants watch in their own time)

Title: Igniting Joy

Description: Apply a creative, joyful lens to the work you do! Why explore joy? Research shows the significant benefits of joy to us as individuals - to our minds and bodies. Collectively, joy has helped us develop resiliency during a stressful period of life. We can learn a lot about joy from our elders and in turn, tap into creative aging techniques to enhance our engagement with older adults and colleagues. Join us to experience a boost of joy and creativity in your day!

Presenters: Jessica McCracken (Director, Creative Spark, Front Porch), Katie Wade (Director, Social Call /Creative Spark, Front Porch)

Wednesday, October 20—Human-Centered Practices Track

1–2:30pm ET—Real Talk Salon: Centering Equity Includes Our Own Wellbeing

Join us in this Real Talk Salon as presenters share their stories of how they work to help themselves and others in centering personal wellness, especially in the face of the pandemic, and reflect together in dialogue.

Title: Facing Our Dragons

Description: Healing-centered equity and belonging work, through a mindfulness-based anti-racist practice and embodiment. Our body/mind/spirit are essential to fighting oppression, and the work starts from within.

Presenters: Ashley Frith (Director of Racial Equity and Belonging, Community MusicWorks), Sarah Kim (Resident Musician, Community MusicWorks)

Title: Wellness Tactics for EDI Work

Description: Who holds space for the space-holders? Do you find yourself in constant conversations or heavily invested in shifting your spaces toward equity? We hear ya!

Presenters: Aimee Espiritu (Arts Equity Consultant, Espiritu Consulting / Arts Education Alliance of the Bay Area), Mika Lemoine (Artist & Facilitator, Mosaic Collective / Arts Education Alliance of the Bay Area)

5–6:30pm ET—Make/Think/Share Studio

Title: Acting With Empathy

Description: This interactive session will explore empathy, inclusion, expression, and healing using experiences from Theatre for Social Change. Participants will engage in theatre activities designed for reflection and emotional expression. While our work is challenge by choice, we encourage our friends to step out of their comfort zones and toward each other in order to process events of the last year in a safe and supportive environment. Past participants in this work have called it "Eye-opening, inspiring, powerful, thought-provoking, and authentic". Through the experience, individuals craft the topics being explored through their own creative expression. Every session we do is unique, as it is an organic experience based on the people involved. It is always deeply meaningful.

Presenters: Will Bonfiglio (Director of COCAbiz, Center of Creative Arts, St. Louis, MO), Lee Anne Mathews (COCAbiz Program Assistant/Teaching Artist, Center of Creative Arts, St. Louis, MO), Tabari Coleman (Social Justice Advocate/Teaching Artist, Center of Creative Arts, St. Louis, MO), Kathryn Bentley (Theatre Professional/Teaching Artist, Center of Creative Arts, St. Louis, MO)

Thursday, October 21—Creative Youth Development Track

3–4:30pm ET—Real Talk Salon

Title: Artistic Youth Revolution: Empowering each other and ourselves

Description: This all young artists panel will share the ways they navigate power struggles with adults and tips to empower yourself. 

Presenters: Afroetic, Brianna Bryant, Trinity “Trini” Lugo, Seamus Schwaba

6–7:30pm ET—Make/Think/Share Studio

Title: Unpacking Adultism

Description: We will be showing a short documentary created by youth called ``Adultism vs Ageism: The Prejudice against Young People". We will then lead attendees through a reflective jamboard collage making space, and give everyone an opportunity to share their collage.

Week 2: Healing for Collective (Monday, October 25–Thursday, October 28, 2021)

Monday, October 25—General Assembly on Healing

1–3pm ET—Opening Session

Grounding Practice

Title: Bugsay, Bugsay (Paddle, Paddle): Water ~Reconnect ~Align ~Transform ~Heal

Description: Through a Bisayan islander Bugsay song and dance led by Mylene "r.a.d. Leng Leng" Cahambing, we will be led through a movement and visioning process to honor our sacred, precious human life. r.a.d. Leng Leng will share a story of resistance that connects dreams with seafaring ancestral wisdom and ask that you consider a gift that you have received from your ancestors for which you are grateful.

Presenter: Mylene "r.a.d. Leng Leng" Cahambing

 

Featured Storyteller

Title: Collective Healing, Care, and Community Arts Education 

Description: Please join Groundwork advisor Karla Estela Rivera as she moderates a dynamic conversation amongst community arts education practitioners who center collective healing and community care in their work and with tremendous heart—with representation from a well-established theater company that practices care internally amongst staff and outwardly in community (Coya Paz), an individual teaching artist whose social practice centers community in public spaces (William Estrada), and from a newly founded urban retreat center and social practice experiment in holistic health, leadership development, Indigenous arts and culture (M. Carmen Lane).

Presenters: Karla Estela Rivera (Executive Director, Free Street Theater), Coya Paz (Artistic Director, Free Street Theater & Interim Dean, The Theatre School at DePaul University), William Estrada (Faculty, UIC School of Art & Art History), M. Carmen Lane (founder/director, ATNSC: Center for Healing & Creative Leadership)

5–6:30pm ET—Make/Think/Share Studio

Title: How to Support the WE when the ME is Tapped Out: A Toolbox for Action

Description: An experiential workshop using movement, meditation, tapping and reflective processes shared as accessible tools for self-care and to inspire taking action in this pandemic environment. Participants will move, write, tap, meditate, breathe and reflect, energizing both the body and the brain; our inner and outer selves. By experiencing a deeper mind/body connection, we will gain tools to access individual power and motivation within a collective group. Too often we neglect our own wellbeing, and as a result are stressed and overworked. We'll learn self-care when listening to our own voices, affirm values, clear negativity and clarify next steps to make a difference in our new challenging environment. Participants will leave, GIVING  themselves permission to take action.

Presenters: Diane Jacobowitz (Executive/Artistic Director, Emeritus, Founder, Dancewave and currently Teaching Artist), Teri Lynn Gandy-Richardson (Visual Artist, Writer, Yoga Teacher, Owner Park Slope Yoga Center, Yoga4Cancer Foundation & Board of Directors)

Grounding Practice (asynchronous session—registrants watch in their own time)

Title: From Self-Care to Community Care: 7 Steps to a Transformational Practice

Description: Simple steps to building an embodied, arts-based, contemplative practice that can be used for self-care, community care, and leadership development.

Presenters: Rachelle Archer (CEO/Founder, Artful Leadership Coaching & Consulting), Ann Davis (CEO/Founder, Mistakes Welcome)

Tuesday, October 26—Creative Aging Track

1–2:30pm ET—Real Talk Salon

Title: Pathways to Creative Aging: Building Community Alliances through Artmaking

Description: Creative aging programs—when rooted in authentic collaboration—can be paths for older adults to feel fully seen and heard as vital contributors to our communities. In this Real Talk Session, representatives of creative aging programs at Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana and Ping Chong + Company talk openly about how they are using dance and storytelling to deepen connections among local elders. Join us to discuss how these kinds of transparent and human-centered approaches to creative aging can build alliances among your older adult students, your staff and teaching artists, and your community partners and spark broader advocacy. 

Presenters: Leslie Roybal (Program Director, Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana), Elisabet Torras Aguilera (Teaching Artist, Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana), Carly McCollow (Teaching Artist, Ping Chong + Company), Cory Michael Herman (Director, Alliance Stage Company), Sarie Teichman (Older Adult Student, Ping Chong + Company), Courtney Surmanek (Cultural Organizer, Educator, Joker, and Multidisciplinary Artist, Ping Chong + Company)

5–6:00pm ET—Make/Think/Share Studio

Title: Joyful Singing, Healthy Living

Description: Experience and reflect on the power of choir participation for older adults. In this hands-on studio, faculty and older adults from Community Music Center's nationally renowned, multilingual, Older Adult Choir will lead you through exercises from their program and discuss the potential impact similar programs can have on older adults' well being, health, and connection to community. 

Presenters: Martha Rodríguez-Salazar (Founding Director, Older Adult Choir, Community Music Center), Jennifer Peringer (Faculty, Community Music Center), Students from CMC's Older Adult Choir: Claudia Anderson, Audrey Groomes, Estela Moreno, and  Carmen Wong

Wednesday, October 27—Human-Centered Practices Track

1–2:30pm ET—Real Talk Salon: Centering Black Learners & Educators

Join us in this Real Talk Salon as presenters share stories of cultivating, centering, and uplifting Black learners and educators in their work. Moderated by Groundwork Advisor Calida Jones, stories include:

Title: Overview of Afrocentric Social Emotional Learning

Description: Black learners have long-since been left out of Eurocentric curriculums and colonized ideologies of success across the globe. Melissa Parke’s Afrocentric SEL framework seeks to engage arts educators from all disciplines to incorporate and prioritize the empowerment of Black youth in their teaching practices, and it gives them the tools to do so.

Presenter: Melissa Parke (Founder, Black Teaching Artist Lab (BTAL))

 

Title: Press Play: How Hip Hop Art, Culture & Education Carried On!

Description: Continuing the Cipher by using creativity, transformation and Hip Hop culture. How cultural wisdom informs process and commitment to who & what we stand for. Participants will hear a transparent reflection of how a Hip Hop artist, arts administrator and advocate accepted the call to be responsive, accountable and unreasonable on behalf of communities disproportionately impacted. 

Presenter: Purple S. Norris (Director, Hip Hop Arts & Culture Education Programs, New Jersey Performing Arts Center)

 

Title: No Substitute for Authenticity: Recruiting and Centering Black Teachers

Description: Learning communities benefit from the input and leadership of Black teachers. Here’s how to recruit, retain, and center Black teachers in school music programs.

Presenters: Gregory Greer (Mad Beatz Methods), Marina Nir (Mad Beatz Methods), Katikka Harris (Program Coordinator, North10 Recreation Center)

5–6:30pm ET—Make/Think/Share Studio

Title: Spittin' the Unspeakable- Spoken Word to Cope with Trauma

Description: Spoken word is an artform that embodies the power of the voice. This session teaches how to use spoken word to develop resilience. Participants can expect to hear poems constructed by teens and explore the intersectionality between being a young person being told to be quiet and being a person of color who must speak up for justice. Participants will be taught how this artform helps combat depression and bullying. Writing remains a solid coping tool for stress and trauma. Spoken word poetry builds confidence and resilience. Community organizations look to youth for participation and input in social forums where the youth has made a concerted effort (through spoken word) to have their voices heard.  

Presenters: Ashanti Files (RN, BA Political Science, Urbana Poet Laureate), Danyla Nash, Achly Ramos, Kayla Files

Armchair Travel Tour (asynchronous session—registrants watch in their own time)

Title: The Trust Transfer Project

Description: The Trust Transfer Project centers BIPOC artist voices and directs key community resources to support artistic messaging in neighborhoods disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

Presenters: Vanessa Ford (Program Director—Trust Transfer Project and CMSS Vocal Teaching Artist, Community Music School of Springfield), Eileen Marie McCaffery (Executive Director, Community Music School of Springfield), Karen Finn (Executive Director, Springfield Cultural Partnership)

Thursday, October 28—Creative Youth Development Track

3–4:30pm ET—Real Talk Salon

Title: Building healthy relationships between youth and adults

Description: Whether building an organization, creating an event, or organizing a local network, youth leadership must be centered from the beginning. Come here for this intergenerational panel. 

Presenters: Delashea Strawder (Adult Accomplice in Detroit, MI, Mosaic Youth Theatre), Tanykia (Diamond) Davis (Youth Leader in Detroit, MI, Mosaic Youth Theatre), Karolina Bermudez (2021 National Young Artists Summit Planning Team Member), Lissette Martinez (2021 National Young Artists Summit Adult Accomplice)

6–7:30pm ET—Make/Think/Share Studio

Title: When art and gardening come together healing happens

Description: Youth will discuss the impact of art and gardening and how they have used it in an impactful way of healing and self-expression while working alongside adult mentors.

Presenters: Earl's Garden Mae's Kitchen Community Garden

Week 3: Healing for Movement Building (Monday, November 1–Friday, November 5, 2021)

Monday, November 1—General Assembly on Healing

1–3pm ET—Opening Session

Grounding Practice

Title: The Creation of Affirmational Mantras

Description: During this facilitation, Afroetic will guide participants in movement, breathwork using sound healing, and teach participants how to create an affirmational mantra.

Presenter: Trinity Miracle (AKA Afroetic)

 

Featured Storyteller

Title: Stepping into Embodiment —Self to Collective Healing and Movement Building

Description: We are here to heal ourselves and our communities. The systems of oppression that steep through the context of our histories have impacted our social systems, cultures, relationships, personal experiences, perspectives, and communities - including the community arts ecosystem. We are building for change, in the face of generational legacies of trauma. We are being called into greater accountability. To bring humanity together, and make our movements stronger, we must learn what it is to embody purpose, equity, well-being, and creativity - personally, organizationally, and in our approaches to overall systems design.

This workshop will provide a set of guiding principles and frameworks, to help ground and equip you to dig deeper into your own work. We will engage in an exercise centering on the embodiment of your purpose and path forward, toward creating systemic change.

Presenter: Phoenix | Sun Park (Founder, Voice of Purpose)

5–6:30pm ET—Make/Think/Share Studio

Title: Play Filled Leadership

Description: How might one integrate Play into their leadership to further collaboration and bolster creativity for an authentic community? B4 The Other Creations (B4) believes Play is the process of becoming. Join us in an engaging 90 minute exploration into the unknown world of Play, supported by the research of Dr. Stuart Brown. Maximizing the “Zoomground” to see and be seen amongst this virtual community, in this workshop players will be guided through light theater/clown games, written exercises, and discussion that blends observation, reflection, and bubble popping questions. B4 will also introduce their innovative six Buoy & Anchors system that navigates the feelings inside of Play. Please bring a journal, pencil, and an open mind/heart. Be prepared for breakout rooms and breath filled surprises along the way!

Presenters: Malia'Kekia Nicolini (Co-Founder, B4 The Other Creations), Christopher Joseph Beaulieu (Co-Founder, B4 The Other Creations)

Tuesday, November 2—Creative Aging Track

1–2:30pm ET—Real Talk Salon

Title: Cross Movement Solidarity in Creative Aging: Anti-Ageism + Anti-Ableism + Anti-Racism

Description: To restore a society where older adults are realized as essential culture bearers and creatives with full opportunities to thrive, the creative aging movement requires cross-movement solidarity. Join us as we talk honestly about the overlapping systemic issues of ageism, ableism, and racism and how these issues can show up in creative aging practice and movement building work. This session is a call for unlearning and collective activism to create language and models for creative aging that support elder's diverse experiences and creativity, build trust, and amplify the voices and stories of older adults, especially those who have been historically marginalized. 

Presenters: Elizabeth Merritt (VP Strategic Foresight & Founding Director Center for the Future of Museums, American Alliance of Museums), Toya Northington (Community Engagement Strategist, Speed Art Museum), Erin Perry (Executive Director, Legacy Arts Project), Cynthia Edmondson (Older Adult Artist/Student, Healing Art Program)

5–6:30pm ET—Make/Think/Share Studio

Title: Life’s Narratives: Creating Personal and Cultural Legacies

Description: The art of storytelling can provide closure, help clarify values established throughout life, and provide a personal and cultural legacy for future generations. Storytelling also helps to measure the effect and longevity of a culture. In this hands-on workshop, you will experience some of the practices that S-Ankh Rasa facilitated with older adults and young people in Bishop Arts Theater Center’s  intergenerational program, “My Life’s Narratives on Canvas,” a collaboration between students at an adult daycare center and high school in Dallas, TX. Join us to co-create music and reflect on the power of storytelling to connect generations, foster a greater sense of empathy and humanity, and carry on legacies within our communities.

Presenter: S-Ankh Rasa

7–8pmET—Creative Aging Track Reflection Space

Description: Join in on a collective reflection space to share takeaways and insights from all Creative Aging track sessions. What have we learned to deepen our practices and commitment to the work? What affirmations have we seen reflected in the stories we've heard and the dialogues we've shared? What calls to action do we wish to make as we look to the future? 

Wednesday, November 3—Human-Centered Practices Track

1–2:30pm ET—Real Talk Salon

Title: Hold a Light to the Arts Education Ecosystem

Description: As we realign and redefine how we work within the unpredictable and all-encompassing pressures of Covid and make space for the world that emerges in its wake, it is imperative that we also come to terms with the illusions of what was once our "normal". How do we reckon with the inequitable systems upon which our field was built and has adapted, and how might we reshape it for our holistic well-being, as workers and as community members ourselves? Join us in this Real Talk Salon amongst community arts education practitioners who represent experiences from multiple vantages and functions within the community arts education ecosystem: as independent artists & teaching artists, as arts administrators, city arts council staff members, and as foundation personnel.

Presenters: Jordan Medley (Medley of Moves Creative Consulting), Barbara Mumby-Huerta (Vice President, Programs and Partnerships, Native Arts & Cultures Foundation), Deonté Griffin-Quick (Actor and Arts Administrator)

5–6:30pm ET—Make/Think/Share Studio

Title: Connect the Dots: Disability Justice IS Social Justice

Description: Ensuring access for people with disabilities is essential for creating inclusive communities. In this workshop, we will make art and explore connections. Participants will be guided through a visual arts experience. Please be sure to have at least paper and something to make marks with such as a pen/pencil, markers or paints. Other arts materials are also welcome.

Through a series of prompts, makers will be invited to create connections within their art, access practices and colleagues. Alexandra and Heidi approach this as co-learners and will use a variety of accessibility practices including verbal description, while honoring the skills and experiences participants bring. Discussion will blend observations, reflection, and resource sharing. The presenters will also introduce Bridging Justice, a tool in development that connects accessibility practices with antidotes to white supremacy culture characteristics.

Presenters: Heidi Swevens (Director of Community Partnerships, Inclusive Arts Vermont), Alexandra Turner (Director of School and Community Programs, Inclusive Arts Vermont)

7–8pm ET—Human-Centered Practices Track Reflection Space

Description: Join in on a collective reflection space to share takeaways and insights from all track sessions around Human Centered Practices. What have we learned to deepen our practices and commitment to the work? What affirmations have we seen reflected in the stories we've heard and the dialogues we've shared? What calls to action do we wish to make as we look to the future? 

Thursday, November 4—Creative Youth Development Track

3–4:30pm ET—Real Talk Salon

Title: Mobilizing Your Community With Art

Description: Hear young artists and their adult allies express their stance on a certain issue affecting their community and allow them to truly describe how it makes them feel, and what they’re doing about it.

Presenters: Art and Resistance Through Education (ARTE), Mosaic Collaborative 

6–7:30pm ET—Make/Think/Share Studio

Title: Social Circus: Flipping Creative Youth Development Strategies

Description: Participate in circus-inspired engagement activities while surfacing challenges of incorporating CYD values and practices within existent community arts education organizations.

Presenters: Audrey Spinazola (Program Manager, American Youth Circus Organization), Magnificent Farrell (Social Circus Committee Member, American Youth Circus Organization), Indi McCasey (Social Circus Committee Co-chair, American Youth Circus Organization)

8–9pm ET—Creative Youth Development Track Reflection Space

Description: Join in on a collective reflection space to share takeaways and insights from all Creative Youth Development track sessions. What have we learned to deepen our practices and commitment to the work? What affirmations have we seen reflected in the stories we've heard and the dialogues we've shared? What calls to action do we wish to make as we look to the future? 

Armchair Travel Tour (asynchronous session—registrants watch in their own time)

Title: Latino and African American Voices in a Mural: Disrupting Space

Description: How the intentional and exclusive use of Spanish language in program development leads to disruptive spaces and community in a youth mural project.

Friday, November 5

1–3:15pm ET—Concluding Session

Grounding Practice

Title: Spiral Exploration

Description: From breathwork to journal work, please join Raji to process what you’ve learned together through spiral. Spirals teach us that we never arrive, just find new depth — what lessons will you be taking to heart to radiate outwards? Or vice versa?

Presenter: Raji Ganesan

 

Title: Concluding Reflection + Remarks with Groundwork Advisors

Description: Join us in a call to action and affirmation with Groundwork advisors as they reflect on the design process of collaboratively creating the Groundwork gathering and participating in the program throughout. Following advisors' closing remarks, we will hold a 15-minute break, after which all attendees will be invited to share in a final, collective reflection space to share takeaways and insights.

Presenters: Groundwork Advisors Ashley Hare (Deputy Director of Equity and Human Development, National Guild for Community Arts Education), Calida Jones (Vice President, Arts Consulting Group), Paula Ortega (CYD National Youth Coordinator​, Creative Youth Development National Partnership and National Youth Network), Karla Estela Rivera (Executive Director, Free Street Theater), and Cynthia Tom (Founder, A PLACE OF HER OWN)