Fostering meaningful youth-adult partnerships is an essential part of supporting youth agency in arts, cultural, and creative learning environments and beyond. Young people are capable community contributors with the right to participate in the creation of projects and programs that affect their lives directly.
Read moreBRIDGING: Acceptance of Multiple Truths
What authorized and mobilized me to be able to do exactly what I am doing right now - writing this blog - was the practice of acceptance. Radical, radical acceptance. I have been fixated on a lesson I am borrowing from Dialectical Behavioral Theory (DBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), both of which are rooted in Zen Buddhism (and subsequently Buddhist Psychology - a topic I’ll save for another time). The lesson is simple: Acceptance ≠ Approval.
Read moreLearning Unlearning: Dear Diary, Why Does Learning Art Hurt?
I believe the creative space to be healing. I believe it to be sublime. It is intrinsically validating and reflexive of life. It is a place where one can be enough by providing exactly what you have.
Read moreMODERN MENTORSHIP: Reflecting on Mentorship as a Twenty Something Year Old with No Answers
“I hope someone takes a chance on you.”
Carole G. Dodson called out to us by way of virtual graduation commencement. Her story stirred me and invoked in me a gratitude for every person who had taken that chance on me.
Read moreIntimacy Choreography and Youth Empowerment
I recently had the opportunity to attend a workshop led by Nicole Perry, an intimacy choreographer and coordinator, held by my university’s theatre program. Perry was brought in to educate students, faculty and artists in the area of the importance of her role in creating safe and equitable theatrical spaces.
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