Arts and Healing

The creators of After, There Will Be Flowers want to shift the narratives of intimate partner violence from perpetration to healing. Lizzie Rajchel, the project’s co-creator, describes some of the dramaturgical and practical moves the production made to center healing and care.

Through one-on-one transformational encounters, Oakley Boycott’s SENSES build community in the mountains of Wyoming. Anne Mason tracks the development of the series—including SILENCE, ECHO, and NOISE—and the ways SENSES makes space for participants to rage or write or sit in contemplation and collectivity.

Drawing from their experiences creating the Arts for EveryBody campaign, Christina D. Eskridge and Michael Rohd explore the concept of co-design in artistic, civic, and community contexts. Their experience with the initiative models ways for artist-led practice to build trust and guide processes within community development efforts.

Pluralism is inherent in community partnerships, whether hyperlocal or national. As the One Nation/One Project team built public arts partnerships in eighteen sites across the country, they sought pluralistic strategies to respond to a question of growing importance: What future is possible at the intersection of our increasing diversity and diminishing cohesion? And how do we reach it?

In Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day, a mumps outbreak draws private school parents into heated debates about vaccination requirements. Dr. Nisha Sajnani, co-director of the Jameel Arts and Health Lab, positions the play as a much-needed salve to one of the most polarizing public health issues of our time.

Equity specialist Quodesia D. Johnson shares about her experiences facilitating racial healing circles in performing arts spaces. She argues that theatres should be spaces of truth-telling, connection, and racial healing for everyone.

Keelin Sanz discusses the development of WOMI, which she created to explore the healing capacity of art. By rooting WOMI in the work of choreographer Anna Halprin and memoirist Sarah Ramey, Sanz crafted a performance that worked to a mend the relationship between body and sense of self for those with chronic illnesses.

Although healthcare clowns have existed for more than forty years, their work isn’t widely understood. Amelia Parenteau discusses the substantial patient benefits that healthcare clowns provide while diving into their history and current practices.

Viviana Vargas shares what it’s been like transitioning their Bogotá-based arts, culture, and healing storefront, Balistikal, into an online space during the pandemic./Viviana Vargas comparte cómo ha sido la transición de su espacio físico en Bogotá, de arte, cultura y sanación, llamado Balistikal, a un espacio en línea durante la pandemia.

To make theatre with forced migrants in Serbia, Dmitrii Zenkov knew he had to slow down. He reflects on the ethics of tempo in the slow-motion Phiz-Drama project and offers exercises for others to bring into their own work.