About this Session
Each week of Groundwork: Healing within Community Arts Education (“Groundwork”) began with a General Assembly to open the weekly theme. In keeping with the second week’s theme of Healing for Collective, this session begins with a Grounding Practice by Mylene "r.a.d. Leng Leng" Cahambing in which she shares her story of resistance in connection with seafaring ancestral wisdom and leads us through a Bisayan islander song and dance in honor of our sacred, precious human lives. Lastly, a Groundwork Advisor, Karla Estela Rivera, moderates a dynamic conversation amongst community arts education practitioners who center collective healing and community care in their work and with tremendous heart.
This session was held on October 25, 2021, with American Sign Language interpretation provided by Pro Bono ASL.
Week 2 | General Assembly on Healing: Healing for Collective
Session Presentations
- Grounding Practice: “Bugsay, Bugsay (Paddle, Paddle): Water ~Reconnect ~Align ~Transform ~Heal” with Mylene "r.a.d.” Leng Leng Cahambing (
- A Message from Groundwork Advisor Karla Estela-Rivera
- Featured Storytellers: “Collective Healing, Care, and Community Arts Education” with William Estrada (artist & Faculty, UIC School of Art & Art History), M. Carmen Lane (founder/director, ATNSC: Center for Healing & Creative Leadership), Coya Paz (Artistic Director, Free Street Theater & Interim Dean, The Theatre School at DePaul University), in conversation with Karla Estela Rivera (Executive Director, Free Street Theater)
About the Groundwork Program
Groundwork was a 3-week virtual gathering that centered healing in the context of community arts education, as a pathway towards personal, interpersonal, and systemic change, informed by the idea that 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’s themes unfolded each week as: Healing for Self (Week 1), Healing for Collective (Week 2), and Healing for Movement Building (Week 3).
For more information about the gathering, please visit the program details, here.
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.