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Compose for Change:
Healing Arts–discover your voice as an arts activist!

Dear Compose for Change: Healing Arts Participants,

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Welcome to the Compose for Change: Healing Arts course series!

 

Participants in the pilot class at the University of Michigan described this course as

"cathartic, healing, validating,"

"the first time I felt like I had a voice," and

"the most important class I've ever taken."

 

Personalized to your choices: In this class, you will choose which series you'd like to explore (Arts Activist, Arts & Scholar Activist, or the Healing Arts Certification–see below). Then, you'll choose which social issue you would like to explore, research it, and interview people impacted by the issue. Throughout the class, you will develop your voice as an arts activist by learning to write compellingly, create artistic expressions that give a fresh voice to addressing the issues, and practice presenting. The course is designed build confidence and to foster a supportive community.

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Learn insider Healing Bells methods: In the class videos, I will provide an inside view of organic and collaborative methods we developed as we created Healing Bells' artistic works. Deconstructing artistic storytelling music, theatre, dance, and visual arts will help you discover diverse ways of creating art to tell your stories. Along the journey, you will create and present drafts of your artistic expression, research and writing, and receive constructive feedback on ways to clearly communicate the issue that matters to you. Your journey will culminate in an original creative work such as music, creative writing, dance, poetry, theatre, handwork, artisan work, film, or visual expression.

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Arts-infused topics that can enhance your communication skills: To inform and empower you as activists, we'll cover the essential topics listed below through the lens of the arts. We center voices that have been left behind: global-majority, women-identifying, and LGBTQ+ people, and their wisdom and healing arts. Previous participants report that these discussions stick with them and positively impact their personal and professional lives. In your draft presentations and in class surveys, you will learn to describe how you apply each of these topics into your artistic and research work. ​

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Community Standards: Each participant is required to read and agree to the Community Standards, Terms & Conditions–including copyright restrictions–prior to accessing the course. At Healing Bells, we practice compassionate listening and respect. We seek to foster communities of support. We have zero tolerance for hate or dehumanizing in any form. Healing Bells personnel are not health care professionals or therapists, and we cannot diagnose, prescribe for, or cure anyone. Always seek professional help when you need it, and do not rely on Healing Bells' website or courses as therapeutic or medical advice. We offer events, resources, and courses that demonstrate how people can engage with the arts to express social injustices, different ways in which artists and storytellers can find their voices and opportunities and prototypes to discern solutions. 

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Join us for Compose for Change: Healing Arts: where learning meets transformation and art becomes a force for change. I look forward to seeing you there!

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Dr. Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra

Artistic Director, Healing Bells

Compose for Change: Healing Arts Course Designer & Developer

Choose your course series!

Arts Activist
20 classes + 2 individual meetings for $299
 📅 Includes monthly group office hours; extra individualized meetings are available upon request for $72 each.

You’ll learn Healing Bells techniques; read, witness, and draw inspiration from the work of arts activists of the global majority; focus on creating a piece of art––music, film, dance, poetry, visual art, fabric art, theatre, collage, slideshows, posters, or more—that responds to a social issue of our time; and share your creation with classmates and in collective spaces.​

 

Introduction: Welcome, Overview, Community Standards & Disclaimers

  1. What Helps You Heal?

  2. "Your Silence Will Not Protect You" -Audre Lorde

  3. Celebrating Cultural Roots: Whose Voice is It?

  4. Doña Sara's Story & What I Learned from My Mistakes

  5. The 8 Levels of Listening

  6. Single-Story Blindness: Flip the Narrative

  7. Intersectionality: Our Whole Beings

  8. The Essential Roles of Empathy and Compassion

  9. The 5 Stages of Healing from Trauma

  10. Trauma-Sensitive Interviewing Techniques

  11. Reliable Resources: Steer Clear of Mis- & Disinformation

  12. The Architect: The Structural Design of Your Project

  13. The Weaver: Writing Compellingly for Change (Short Form)

  14. The Wordsmith: Speaking Compelling for Change

  15. Rest & Restoration: Grounded in Nature

  16. Vulnerability & Courage: Humility & Empowerment

  17. Solutions & Accountability

  18. Arts Activism & Community

  19. Community Engagement

  20. Consultations & Presentations!

Arts & Scholar Activist
31 classes + 4 individual meetings for $399 
📅 Includes monthly group office hours; extra individualized meetings are available upon request for $72 each.
For the Arts & Scholar Activist, you'll complete all requirements from the Arts Activist course series (see the 20 essential topics above), and learn more in-depth research and writing strategies (see the 11 intriguing topics below). The Scholar portion will empower you give strong presentations about the issues you care about, and their causes. You'll also learn how to approach narratives about obstacles, and offer compelling work-arounds and short- and long-term solutions. Throughout, you'll continue building skills to infuse the transformative power of the arts into your writing, speaking, presenting, and artistic expressions. In your culminating research paper and presentation, you will integrate your artwork, your research, interviews, and findings: the eco-friendly fuel you need as a Scholar Activist!
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  1. The Hook: Capture Your Audience's Attention
  2. The Architect 2.0: Advanced Structural Design of Your Project
  3. The Archeologist: Reliable Resources & Meticulous Documentation 2.0
  4. The Bodyguard: Fact Checking 1, 2, 3... 24
  5. The Weaver 2.0: Writing Compellingly for Change (Long Form)
  6. The Storyboard: A Mesmerizing Game
  7. The Wordsmith 2.0: Speaking Compelling for Change
  8. The Text Painter: Metaphors, Similes, Sensorial Descriptors
  9. The Editor x 24: Flip the Narrative 
  10. The Rehearsal Room: focal points, body language, video documentation, repeat.
  11. Let Your Passion Shine Through: You've Got This!
Healing Arts Certificate Program

Pre-requisite: Arts & Scholar Activist course series completed at an excellent level (paid separately).
Healing Arts Certificate Program & 6 individual meetings for $480

📅 Includes monthly group office hours; extra individualized meetings are available upon request for $72 each.

After you've successfully completed all of the requirements from the Arts & Scholar Activist course series at an excellent level, you may apply for admission into the Healing Arts Certificate Program. This program is simultaneously the most individualized program (6 individualized meetings) and the most independent. You will have fewer classes and more time to develop your 3 projects. The goal is that you demonstrate that you know how to cycle back through the 31 Arts & Scholar Training Concepts and apply them to 3 new issues. Each of the 4 new concepts here build larger practical and analytical skills needed to become a Certified Healing Arts Practitioner.

 

In the Healing Arts Certificate Program, you will expand your reach by investigating these questions:

  1. How to become an expert? Through training and practice. You will co-create a minimum of three high quality art works and research papers—each in collaboration with at least one storyteller and three interviewees.
  2. How to prove the effectiveness of arts engagement? We'll compare, contrast, discuss, build, test, and document strategies for social change and make resources available for the general public.
  3. 5 W Qs: who, what, when, where, why? As a Certified Healing Arts Practitioner, you will be asked to provide evidence of how arts engagement can help people in specific ways. You’ll design and administer surveys for each project for you and your participants to reflect on and assess your work: what resonated most, what did you learn, what you would transform, and why. You'll include your analysis in your research papers.
  4. How to communicate with impact and make it memorable? Finally, you’ll share your artistic creations and presentations with classmates, on video, and in collective spaces where you'll put into practice community engagement and community building.
  5. Upon successful completion of all of the requirements, you will receive a Healing Arts Certificate along with a hearty congratulations from our Healing Bells team. We'll talk about what certification means from Healing Bells and for you in class and individualized meetings.

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The information you share with Healing Bells will only be used to contact you and provide personalized content.

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