Connecting It All: Expressive Arts Contemplative Pedagogy for Community, Inclusion, and Belonging

This workshop is part of the Contemplative Practices Summit series.

How can we welcome all our parts to co-create connection and community through simple arts practice? 

How can we widen the circle of belonging to acknowledge what is and include ourselves, one another, and all living beings in a circle of interconnection?

How do we work with whatever resistance or dissonance arises in the process?

This experiential workshop will lead participants through a simple but layered expressive arts practice (No artistic skill or experience needed!).  As we explore the process, participants will experience a practice they can use in their own pedagogy and how it can deepen social justice, inclusion, and belonging in these challenging times.

Participants will be sent prompts in advance for what to bring to the workshop. 

Facilitator’s bio

Beth Berila, Ph.D., ACC is the Director and Professor of the Gender & Women’s Studies Program at St. Cloud State University. She is the author of Integrating Mindfulness into Anti-Oppression Pedagogy: Social Justice in Higher Education (2nd ed, Routledge, 2024).

She is also a Transformational Leadership Coach, and Equity and Belonging-Focused Consultant, and a mosaic arts practitioner. She created and hosts the podcast ChangeMaking Connections, where she talks with social change leaders about the joys and challenges of social justice work.