Violence Transformed
Creative Community Engagement & Violence Transformed
My longstanding interest in the arts as a vehicle for social activism and promotion of resiliency led me to work with Dr Mary Harvey, Ph.D., the founder of the Victims of Violence Program, in her newest venture, Violence Transformed (VT). Violence Transformed is an annual series of visual and performing arts events that celebrate the power of art, artists and art-making to confront, challenge and mediate violence. I supported its beginnings in 2006 and have been an active participant ever since.
My contributions to Violence Transformed include Co-Directorships with Dr Harvey of the Arthur P Gold Foundation’s 2014-15 and 2015-16 Presidential Awards to Violence Transformed, and of the 2016-17 and 2017- 18 Victim Services Training Grant from the Massachusetts Office of Victim Assistance for two community-based series of trauma-informed workshops entitled “Perspectives: Transforming Violence through Mindful Artmaking”.
Our most recent Violence Transformed collaboration is on a generous grant from The Kresge Foundation called "Stable Ground Boston". This grant was designed by Northeastern University Law School's NuLawLab, in partnership with Boston's Office of Housing Security, The Domestic Violence Initiative of Northeastern University School of Law and Violence Transformed. It will address the complex relationship between chronic housing insecurity, its traumatic psychological impact, and municipal housing policy, through participatory community-based art and culture programming that is structured to inform the work of the City of Boston’s Office of Housing Stability. The grant will embed artists, legal designers, and trauma experts into community/municipal settings to generate outcomes that contribute to local visual and performing arts exhibits and art-making events. These events will include facilitated conversations among artists, residents, activists, organizers, experts, and municipal leaders, all structured to inform existing housing services and those in development.
If you are interested in bringing the Perspectives Workshops or other creative community engagement activities to your team or organization please contact me either by phone or email.