THE CONFERENCE
The upcoming 13th Biennial IEATA Conference will be held in Berkeley, California. The San Francisco Bay area is a historically diverse metropolitan hub that has a reputation for supporting change-makers and social justice movements that address issues which impact the quality of life for its most vulnerable citizens and ecosystem.
Rise Up is a call-to-action for us in the expressive arts field to build bridges and strengthen our collaborative efforts across race, culture, nationality, citizenship status, sexual orientation, abilities, and gender to hold the collective’s longing for wholeness. This conference will ask us to explore intersectionality—to acknowledge that injustice can exist on multiple levels for many people and that shared oppression does not mean shared life experiences.
Rise Up: The Evolution and Revolution of Expressive Arts highlights and supports the work of diverse practitioners in the field whether they are Expressive Arts therapists, consultants, teachers or community advocates. Pre-conference days will feature opportunities to explore expressive arts as a cross-cultural practice, as well as workshops that focus on community building using creative arts applications.
The conference will feature expert keynote presenters, collaborative panels and various plenary workshops highlighting developing knowledge in the area, outstanding initiatives, and innovative programming. This conference will be of particular interest to therapists, teachers, artists, social workers, psychologists, social service agency workers, politicians, social justice advocates, and anyone interested in creating a more ethical, healthy and socially conscious community.
