“The people who survive—the people who end up thriving, even—are the people who have the power of imagination. If you think about it, imagination is actually a radical act. Because if you have an imagination, you can imagine yourself in a different future.”
~Rene Denfeld~
Founding organizers
Shabrae Jackson, a trained expressive arts facilitator and practitioner works in diverse communities internationally & domestically. She believes in the power of the arts to expand personal and collective narratives, renewing spaces for connection and healing - exploring how the arts, play and transformation can meet. Shabrae has in-depth experience implementing grassroots community-led projects and lived in Mexico for over 15 years. She is co-founder of UMBRAL, an organization engaged in arts-based psychosocial trauma & healing in Mexico City and at the border with migrants & refugees.
Shabrae has facilitation certifications from Training for Conflict Transformation (TCTT) and EXIT (Expressive Arts in Transition). Her undergrad work is in the area of Social Work, a MA in Expressive Arts for conflict transformation and peace and a postgraduate degree in Sports for Peace. Shabrae has recently begun her doctoral process at the European Graduate School where she is exploring ritual and restoration in groups and communities through cultural & contextualized resources and pedagogies for healing and peace.
Elisabeth Yupanqui Werner is a founding member of adis e.V., a collective leadership institution that focuses on empowerment and antidiscrimination work within organizational development, training and counseling. She is a trained expressive arts in Transition facilitator and practitioner and works with different empowerment-groups and communities in Germany.
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She works as a supervisor and coach (DGSv) with diverse teams and grassroots organizations in transformational processes towards social justice. Elisabeth believes that spiritual practice is foundational for personal and inter-generational healing in order to embody liberating realities that bring deep change.
Her background lies in social work, adult education and psychodrama.
Pia Thorsby has worked in the field of design, art, communication, media, and education. She now works for the foundation We Play Green, as a project manager and concept developer. She is a co-founder of Moovit an organization working with empowerment projects for youth and elderly communities in Oslo, Norway, activities including expressive art.
Her Academic path has been a BA Fine Arts & communication, later years various graduation courses within Expressive Arts, digital media and is a certified coach and has facilitation certifications from Training for Conflict Transformation and EXIT (Expressive Arts in Transition).
Chelsea Wilkinson is a PhD candidate in the Peace Studies program at Trinity College Dublin. Her academic background consists of religious studies, psychology, conflict transformation, and the expressive arts. Ultimately, her research goals are to further bridge the practice of expressive arts with conflict studies to better understand community dynamics in times of social change with the hopes to address systemic issues such as racism, nativism, extremism, and sectarianism in societies around the world today. Her specific areas of interest are how the arts are used as both a tool for peacebuilding as well as propaganda in the contexts of ethno-sectarian separation and border walls, far-right extremism, and the rise of Christian nationalism and militant Christianity in the United States.
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We will shape the path forward with others, creating a community of practice as we go.
If you are a Change Agent in your context, contact us to become a part of the collective!