Join us in our atrium for a free community event of performance and artmaking! We recognize that art can serve as a source of healing and point to more restorative solutions to critical community issues. Creative expression offers us the ability to process and unite. In conjunction with our loan of Félix González-Torres’ installation Untitled (L.A.) in Ruminations on Memory and in collaboration with community partners, we aim to provide a safe and welcoming space for all to reflect/connect.

Reflect/Connect presents poetry readings, dance performance, and audio recordings, as well as an opportunity to participate in collaborative artmaking.

12:00-12:45pm: Poetry reading, dance performance, audio recordings

12:45-2:00pm: Collaborative artmaking

Poetry readings: Readings by a select group of high school students participating in week-long poet-in-residence programs, Power of Youth, led by Torre White.

Dance performance: Watch the performance or be part of it! Register for the free re-connect movement workshop on 3/5/22 to participate in a cathartic experience of collaborative dance making and performing with Kathy Leiner and the Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre. Participants are invited to perform the movement created in this workshop as part of the community event Reflect/Connect.

Audio recordings: Dancers will perform to a powerful and moving backdrop of layered audio recordings of individuals sharing “A moment of love I remember is…” statements. Recordings were collected by Liz Williams; audio was compiled and edited by Shana Adams.

Collaborative artmaking: Create art with Liz Williams of Campaign for Southern Equality’s Southern Equality Studios! Individual artworks will be used together to create a community-based vision board that will take the form of a healing tapestry that speaks to the future while reflecting on the past. You can also view tapestries previously created by groups from Stephens-Lee Recreation Center, Western North Carolina Aids Project, and Queer Artists Meet-Up.

Generous funding for this program is provided by Art Bridges.

About our partners:

• Torre White is the owner and founder of Tor White, LLC, a mental health training and consulting firm. Her certifications include Peer Support Specialist, Alcohol and Drug Counselor, Mental Health First Aid Instructor, and Recovery Coach. Tor is an Asheville native, single mom, millennial, and social justice and mental health activist. After battling depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation alone, she decided to make it her life’s mission to normalize the conversation surrounding mental health and empower others to use their voice to tell their story. Tor’s experience with adversity also led her to dive further into the lack of awareness in the Black community. She hopes to help individuals like her become unstuck and heal by using her experiences and trainings to teach others how to discover, understand, and accept who they are in order to live in their truth.
• Kathleen Meyers Leiner has been teaching, performing, and creating dance for 40 years, and draws inspiration from literature, social issues, and personal stories to develop workshops, performances, and participatory events. She is the Dance Program Director and Chair of Fine Arts at the Asheville School. Kathy holds a Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts: Choreography & Visual Arts from Wilson College.
• Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre (ACDT) is a non-profit professional dance company created in 1979. We believe that everyone is a dancer and through art and inspiration, the company illuminates the points of intersection that exist on both intellectual and emotional levels, and our diverse repertory reflects both traditional and experimental forms of modern dance.
• Campaign for Southern Equality (CSE) has been working since 2011 to build a South where LGBTQ people are equal in every part of life.  A South where your zipcode doesn’t determine your rights. Where all of us are free to be who we try are and love who we truly love. CSE’s Southern Equality Studios is a project that explores how the arts can be a catalyst and force in achieving those rights. Southern Equality Studios has worked at the intersection of personal narrative and political organizing, working with LGBTQ people and families to share the stories of their lives, whether through the written word, film, or photography.
• Shana Adams loves collaborative opportunities to create, share, and promote collective healing through sound. Struggling with severe anxiety for many years, a long-time friend prompted Shana to investigate sound healing. Since this discovery, she has devoted over 5 years to personal sound healing practices and has facilitated sound and vocal meditation workshops to encourage others in healing through sound.  Growing up in a family of music lovers, Shana studied classical voice at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She received a MA in Arts Administration at the University of New Orleans. Her work for Arts nonprofits spans 18 + years, with museums, arts councils and performing arts centers. In 2018, Shana completed her Sound Healing certification through the Academy of Sound Healing based in Cornwall, UK.