Updated details about workshop content:

The workshop will be broken down into the following tentative format

15 min- Setting the stage: Why is this workshop important?  Introduction to the concepts of embodied transformation, creative capacity, and agency

30 min- Introductions and ice breakers: Creating a shared safe space for exploration

3 rounds of sharing & brief meditations in between; noticing how your internal and external environment changes after each round

1. one thing that scares me about the future
2. one thing that brings me hope
3. one thing that I am grateful for

30 min- Theatre warmups; Discussion of the roles we play in society; how to remove the masks we wear before being able to play new characters; Intro to Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed (concept of spect-actors; agency as co-creators of the society we live in)

30 min-  Getting into groups; selecting topic; preparing a scene using Forum Theatre Technique

30 min- Performances and interventions by the audience; experiencing the “embodied transformation” that comes with engaging emotionally with sustainability challenges; reawakening a sense of agency when directly intervening and transforming a scene

15 min- Group reflection: What was the experience like for you? What was it like to be engaged with your bodies? Does this differ from other experiences you’ve had engaging with environmental issues?

20 min- Personal reflection: Space for personal creative exploration; Participants will be invited to express themselves in any way they wish- writing, drawing, movement…

10 min- Optional sharing: Whoever feels guided to share is invited to do so

Close with guided group meditation

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Sustainability challenges are inherently wicked problems that require multi-dimensional responses. Rather than continuing to be overwhelmed by the perspective of crisis and urgency, we can transform our social and environmental challenges as opportunities to co-create the world we wish to live in. Social and environmental justice work has historically focused on problems, inadvertently diminishing our sense of creative capacity to overcome current challenges. Alternatively, we can focus on re-inspiring creative work, sparking meaningful experiences among communities, artists, social and natural scientists, and policy makers.

Creative work engages individual’s internal power, reminding one of the critical self that plays a role in societal co-creation. Theatre, poetry, nature-based visual arts can be combined with mindfulness techniques in collaborative spaces to foster experiences of empowerment, sense of purpose, and sense of connectedness, all fundamental to well-being and toward co-creating a culture of sustainability.

The workshop I am proposing will be part experiential and part discussion of my experience with creative tools for sustainability education and transformation largely at Arizona State University. Educational institutions are perfect hosts for creative work that can foster a sense of agency in among students and faculty to translate sustainability ideals into lifestyles.

As human and planetary health are intimately interconnected, a reawakened appreciation must come for the importance of self-care and understanding our linked physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual selves. Integrating creative practices into sustainability education, government initiatives, and community development can support the type of inspiration and imagination needed to navigate such times of uncertainty. To ensure the sustainability of environmental, social, cultural, and economic systems, we must reawaken the richness of creative expressions revolving around the human-nature relationship.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO551w4PD_4