Department of Art Education Hosts “The Art of Courage” Lecture and Workshop with Guest Speaker Dr. Nisha Sajnani
Vincent V. & Agatha Thursby Lecture Series Presents:
The Art of Courage Lecture & Workshop
Lecture: Thursday, February 13th at 6:30 PM in WJB G40 with light refreshments served
Workshop: Friday, February 14th at 9:00 AM-12:00 PM in WJB 3003
Nisha Sajnani Ph.D., RDT-BCT
Dr. Nisha Sajnani is the Director of the Program in Drama Therapy and the Theatre & Health Lab at New York University. She is a founding member of the Critical Pedagogy in the Arts Therapies Think Tank, the World Alliance of Drama Therapy, and the NYU Creative Arts Therapies/Arts in Health Working Group.
Dr. Sajnani is the Principal Editor of Drama Therapy Review, an international journal for research on how improvisation and performance promote health and wellbeing. She is also on faculty in the Rehabilitation Sciences Ph.D. and Educational Theatre Ed.D and Ph.D. program.
Dr. Sajnani’s primary research areas of interest include the health benefits of improvisation and performance, therapeutic theatre, scalable drama therapy interventions in schools, and sustainable mental health care in humanitarian contexts. She has also published in the areas of culturally responsive pedagogy in the arts therapies, embodied and performance research, trauma-informed care, depression, and global mental health.
Lecture
What is the role of the artist, art therapist, art educator, and arts organizations in promoting and practicing the art of courage? We cannot talk about diversity without considering inequity and addressing it requires creativity and bravery to change rather than curate the status quo. This talk will offer questions and challenges that arise in the attempt to express the art of courage in personal and professional practices.
Workshop
Arts advocates from across disciplines are invited to reflect on the art of courage in their own lives and professional practice. The arts, with their capacity to elicit lived experience, contain and direct strong emotion, and stimulates reflection, offer pathways to addressing systemic and internalized oppression.
For more information, or to RSVP, email Tori Cole through the link below.