Art can be a way to broach hard topics. But sometimes, in our desire to “have the conversation” or “be relevant”, we cause harm.
The 2024 Creating Change Conversations are focused on taking our learning on anti-racism and unsettling, disability justice, LGBTQIA2+ equality, and education and integrating them into our art making- whether in professional spaces or classrooms.
CONTENT NOTICE: below will be mentioned topics of artwork that have caused harm in the past and may cause harm in the future. These words may be activating to some.
How do we ethically create art that addresses difficult topics like racism, school violence, sexual assault, domestic violence, body and eating issues?
How care for our collaborators or students during the creative processes of these artworks?
Join Lee Myles, Nicole Perry, and Molly Schenck in a conversation moderated by Brianna Fallon.
Virtual and Recorded. PWFF. Registration required.
Meet the Moderator:
Brianna Fallon, (she/hers) or affectionately known to many as “Miss Bri,” to her students, is a theatre artist around the Valley of the Sun in Phoenix Arizona doing things like acting, writing, directing, sound design and some light graphic design. She is the Academy Manager at Childsplay, a professional TYA orgination, where she manages dozens of classes and hundreds of students. In the evening she pursues all kinds of theatre projects that keep her busy. She studied acting at the Scottsdale Conservatory Theatre and the Megaw Actors Studio. Some of her favorite roles have been Dragon in “Shrek the Musical”, Tituba in “Crucible”, Lady in Brown in “For Colored Girls…”, and Sour Kangaroo in "Seussical the Musical".
Brianna has directed several plays and musicals for adults and young people. She's received AriZoni nominations for directing, writing, and sound design. Brianna is passionate about working with young people whether that be teaching, directing, or mentoring. Additionally, Brianna is an advocate for antiracist practices in the theatre world. She works to spread helpful, practical information on the topic in a kind, digestible way.
Meet the Panelists:
Lee Myles (she/they) is a dance artist, movement facilitator and educator, singer/songwriter, and podcaster based in Nashville, TN. After studying Dance Performance degree at Illinois State University, Lee moved back to her home in Nashville to dance professionally with Found Movement Group for several years. During that time they co-launched The Toolbox with Stacie Flood-Popp, a choreography program for artists wanting a safe container to expand their creative practice. They also co-founded and co-hosted with Alicia Tarver, Misfits & Mystics, a podcast centering voices on the margins around deconstruction, spirituality, mental health, and social justice. Leading up to the pandemic in 2020, Lee felt a calling to shift focus and returned to her love of music and songwriting. Their music embodies a soulful calling back to their Black church roots with a sense of mysticism that trickles in an eclectic variety of genre influences. Divesting from the need to perform to appease elitist or capitalist expectations, Lee’s work invites folks to bear witness to storytelling, testimony, and be an active participant in the embodied response to being moved by art. Lee currently facilitates various community emergent movement practices that seek to invite others to be aware of self, community, and their environment. In addition to her current podcast, Lee has also begun crafting another, I Don’t Know What I’m Doing. Both platforms create an invitation for curiosity, mystery, and brave conversations led by folks who are rooted in liberation work. As a queer Black artist, Lee hopes to provide safe and brave spaces for those considered the “least of these” to find their authentic voice and utilize creative practices to invoke social healing and change.
Nicole Perry she/her(s) Besides being the founder of Momentum Stage, Nicole Perry, MFA is a Silver Palm award-winning intimacy director, as well as intimacy coordinator and dance choreographer in South Florida. Career highlights include 2 Broward County Artist Investment Grants for KINesphere (site-inspired dance works), intimacy coordination for God Forbid on Hulu, and a Carbonell nomination for the intimacy direction of To Fall in Love at Theatre Lab. She is currently the Miami Unit Intimacy Coordinator for two new series filming in South Florida. She is on the SAG-AFTRA Intimacy Coordinator pre-registry, with 25 days of eligible work.
Nicole is a Certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst. She apprenticed with Intimacy Directors International, and is certified by Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (IDC).
Nicole has taught Movement and Dance at Florida Atlantic University, Lynn University, and the University of Miami.
Memberships: Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Dance Studies Association, National Dance Education Organization, Association of Theatre Movement Educators TikTok and IG: @intimacychorefl
Molly W. Schenck is fascinated with human movement and what interrupts its full expression. This has guided the evolution of her studies and career. She specializes in the intersection of creativity and trauma. She is the creator of Trauma-Informed Creative Practices and author of Trauma-Informed Teaching Practices for Dance Educators. She has presented workshops and trainings for individuals, organizations, and arts leaders on the intersection of trauma and creativity locally, nationally, and internationally. Most recently, her solo work as a performing and visual artist has been featured locally at the Art D’Core Gala, FOUND:RE Hotel, and Phoenix Center for the Arts. Her dance film "This isn't what we planned..." premiered at the Trans(m)it : Lost Dances film festival and University of Auckland's Choreographic Research Aotearoa series in New Zealand. Her photography was featured in 4bid Gallery in Amsterdam, NL. She was a recipient of the Arizona Commissions’ Research and Development Grant where she focused on blending dance and painting practices on canvas. Her dynamic career has been influence by trainings with Susan Marshall & Company on Systems for Understanding Movement and Choreography, Beth Morrison Project's Creative Producers Academy funded by the Mellon Foundation, The Kennedy Center's Teaching ArtistProgram, and community participation with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zanes Company. She worked in higher education as a professor and administrator in the arts for ten years. She taught in the fitness industry for twelve years. She earned a BA in Theater, an M. Ed. In Educational Psychology, and an MFA in Dance. She is a certified Trauma Support Specialist and a Registered Somatic Movement Educator/Therapist. In 2016, she founded Grey Box Collective - an arts organization that makes weird art about tough stuff.