Exploring the Use of the Arts in Times of Crisis, Conflict and Displacement:

An International Research Group Presentation

Date & Time: January 12 (Sunday), 2025  

**This event will be recorded. Registrants will receive the recording link via email after the live session.**

Introduction:

This group of international experts proposes a 2-hour experiential webinar with the International Association of Creative Arts in Education and Therapy (IACAET), focusing on the use of the arts as a tool for expressing, healing, connecting, and the building of resilience in times of crisis, displacement and conflict. Bringing together an inter-disciplinary group of artists, educators, therapists and researchers from around the world, we will talk about approaches for developing, and supporting arts-based projects, programs, performances and other forms of artistic expressions that relate to current crises, displacements and conflicts across the globe. We are exploring the role that the arts play in the building of resilience and hope in troubled areas of the world, fostering empathic understanding, deep listening, connection and equilibrium as a way of countering the destructive elements that arise within the human species.

We believe that the language of art is a universal language that transcends barriers, speaking directly to the heart and allowing a space to express the gamut of emotions in the face of unbearable suffering. We came together as a group to share our passion, concerns and research and to engage with furthering the understanding of the role the arts can play in expressing the inexpressible towards the building of resilience and hope in a troubled world. We believe that engagement through artistic expression, as facilitated and witnessed with others, has profound and transformative healing potential. The arts can contribute towards the rebuilding of trust in a world marred by global disparities, ecological challenges as well as disasters, displacements, and conflicts.

Prepare to immerse yourself in this experiential webinar：

We encourage participants to have art materials, personal instruments, and creative supplies or objects ready at hand.

Objective of the Webinar:

• To offer presentations and experiential activities that immerse participants in arts-based practices that support expression, healing and the building of resilience.
• To showcase how creative expression can be used by individuals and communities in conflict and crisis situations.
• To create a platform for dialogue and exchange.

Webinar Structure:

• Introduction and Overview: Welcome and framing the importance of the uses of the arts in crisis situations.

• Presentation and experiential engagement by presenters in arts -based approaches used in crisis-affected areas, illustrating the tangible impact on individuals and groups, of creative practices used towards support, healing and the building of individual and community resilience.
• Closing Remarks and Next Steps: Summary of key takeaways and a discussion on how participants can continue integrating arts-based methods into their work, along with potential opportunities for further collaboration.

Target Audience:

• Creative arts therapists, educators, community workers and researchers.
• Professionals in trauma recovery, conflict resolution, humanitarian aid, and community development.
• Artists, cultural workers, and others interested in arts-based approaches to crisis intervention.

Expected Outcomes:

• Participants will gain an understanding of some practical tools and strategies for using the arts to address trauma and build towards resilience in communities affected by disaster and conflict.
• Increased understanding of how creative expression can foster expression, understanding, empathy and opportunities for healing in crisis situations.
• Opportunities for continued dialogue and global collaborations on using the arts to address social and emotional support needs and recovery in times of crisis, conflict and displacement.

This 2-hour webinar will allow participants to engage deeply with the healing potential of the arts and explore some practical applications. We are excited about the possibility of collaborating with IACAET to bring this important work to a global audience.

Curators:

Phillip Speiser, PhD, REAT, RDT/BC, is an artist, expressive arts educator/therapist, drama therapist, and psychodramatist who has developed integrated arts therapy, wellness/health and educational programs for over four decades. He is currently Director of Parkside Arts and Health Associates in Haymarket, Virginia where he does supervision and project development/management around the globe. He is also a research associate at the University of the Witwatersrand and a lecturer at the art therapy program at the University of Johannesburg. After the tragic events of 9/11 he developed the Healing Arts Project, a trauma recovery/prevention program in Boston and New York City.

Vivien Marcow Speiser, PhD LMHC, REAT, BC-DMT, is professor emerita and co-director of the Institute for Arts and Health in the Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences, Lesley University. Marcow Speiser has directed and taught in programs across the United States and internationally and has used the arts as a way of communicating across borders and across cultures. She believes in the power of the arts to create the conditions for personal and social change and transformation. Her interests and expertise are in the areas of working with trauma and cross-cultural conflict resolution through the arts and she has worked extensively with groups in the Middle East and in South Africa. She is a Fulbright Scholar (1920,23 and 24) and had a Salzburg Global Seminars Fellowship in 2020. She received an honorary JAAH Lifetime Achievement in Arts and Health Award in 2019, the 2014 Distinguished Fellows Award from the Global Alliance for Arts and Health, as well a 2015 Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award from the Israeli Expressive and Creative Arts Therapy Association.

Dr. Tony Zhou holds a doctoral degree in biomedicine and has been working and living in China and Europe for many years.  He is the Co-Founder and CEO of Inspirees Education Group (Netherlands/China). Though trained as a scientist, he has been greatly intrigued by modern dance and dance therapy since 2002 and has played an important role in driving the development of dance therapy and creative arts therapies in China.  Dr. Zhou serves on an international advisory board for the journal Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy. He founded Inspirees Institute and Creative Arts Education and Therapy (CAET) – Eastern and Western Perspectives, the international open access journal. He is also a certified movement analyst (CMA) trained by LIMS in New York. Dr. Zhou is the team leader for the Chinese Group of Arts Therapy, Chinese Psychological Society, Guest Professor of Beijing Normal University, Chinese Central Academy of Fine Arts, Co-founder and core member of the World Alliance of Dance Movement Therapy (WADMT). He is the founding member and CEO of the International Association of Creative Arts in Education and Therapy (IACAET).

Research Group Participants List:

1. Paul N. Animbom, PhD, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Performing and Visual Arts at The University of Bamenda, Cameroon
2. Kim Berman, PhD, Professor in Visual Art and founding director of the art therapy program at University of Johannesburg (South Africa)
3. Krystal Leah Demaine, PhD, Professor of Expressive Therapies, Endicott College, (USA)
4. Rainbow T.H. HO, PhD, Professor and Director of the Center on Behavioral Health, Hong Kong University, China
5. Jun Hu, PhD, Dean of A/r/tography Research Center, Hangzhou Normal Univ, (China)
6. Debra Kalmanowitz, PhD, Head of the Art Therapy programme, Sapir Academic College (Israel))
7. Michal Lev, PhD, Faculty Lecturer at the graduate art therapy program at Ono Academic College (Israel)
8. Vivien Marcow Speiser, PhD, Professor Emerita Lesley University USA, and Distinguished Research Associate, University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa)
9. Nsamu Moonga MMT, Music Therapy Doctoral Candidate, at the University of Pretoria (South Africa), and music therapist from Zambia.
10. Nathalie Robelot-Timtchenko, MA, founder and director First Aid of the Soul (Ukraine & US)
11. Raymond Saner PhD, titular professor Department of Economics and Management Basle University & co-founder of Centre for Socio-Eco-Nomic Development CSEND, Geneva
12. Lichia Saner Yiu PhD, President and Co-Founder, Centre for Socio-Eco-Nomic Development CSEND, Geneva Switzerland
13. Dr Ilene A. Serlin, PhD, Associated Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, USA
14. Celeste Nazeli Snowber, PhD, Professor of Education at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada
15. Phillip Speiser, PhD, Research Associate, University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa
16. Petro Janse van Vuuren, PhD, Head of Drama for Life Department, at the University of the Witwatersrand South Africa
17. Rebecca Zarate, Professor of Arts and Health, and Associate Dean for Research at the College of Fine Arts, the University of Utah USA
18. Tony Zhou PhD, Co-Founder and CEO of Inspirees Education Group

This event is free for IACAET Registered members