All Dates and Times Listed Are in the Eastern U.S./Canada Time Zone | | | | |
Join this 6-week immersive introduction to social therapeutics and discover how to create hope with two of its leading practitioners. This global, relational approach is transforming communities, building new possibilities and organizations through play, performance, and collective creativity. This is your invitation.
Sat, April 12 - May 17 | 11am - 12:45pm
Fee: $195 | $145 | $85 | Pay What You Can
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From Festivals to Classrooms. From Hospitals to Shelters: Building Community Through Play & Performance in India.
Institute leader of education and research, Carrie Lobman, along with faculty members Chris Helm and Jeff Aron, and social therapist and fiction writer Nancy Green, just returned from an exhilarating 3-week journey through India. Partnering with ESI associates, International Class graduates, NGOs, schools, and performance spaces in Delhi and Kolkata, the US/Indian development community created some new emotional, social spaces deepening our connectedness. Catch some of the beautiful moments captured by Carrie Lobman with pictures and stories from this amazing journey!
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Richard Schechner has revolutionized how we understand performance—not just on stage, but in everyday life. A founder of Performance Studies, an innovative director, and longtime editor of TDR: The Journal of Performance Studies, his work has shaped generations of artists, scholars, and activists.
Join Richard Schechner in conversation with Dan Friedman for a rare 3-week deep dive into performance as a way of seeing, doing, and transforming the world. This is a rare chance to study with one of the foremost voices in performance theory and practice—don’t miss it!
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April 4, 11, 25 | 12 - 1pm
Fee: $195 | $145 | $75 | Pay What You Can
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Choose the Session You Want:
Friday May 2 | 7:15pm
or Saturday May 3 | 10:00am
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| Shared at the March Open House | | |
The Developing Across Borders open house in March brought together voices from 10 countries for an intimate, globally connected conversation. Led by coaches Lea Csikos, Elyse Mendel, and Melissa Meyer—along with current DAB members—their rich exchange inspired A Tapestry of Emotions, a poem woven from one-word reflections. Join their 3-week introduction to experience this dynamic group for yourself (attendance at all sessions required). Sign up here!
Fee: $225 | $150 | $75 | Pay What You Can.
Wed, April 9, 16, 23 | 1:30 - 3:00pm
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Dr. Omar H. Ali, the Dean of Lloyd International Honors College, Professor of Comparative African Diaspora History and a Research Associate in the Medicinal Chemistry Collaborative at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro sits down with host Desire Wandan to discuss the importance of play, performance and improvisation to teaching and learning. They focus on the innovative online global educational community Let’s Learn!, a joint project of Lloyd Honors College and the East Side Institute. Dr. Ali also shares his personal journey from a community organizer to world renowned historian and college dean—remaining a play revolutionary throughout. Listen in to hear their conversation. | | | | Among multiple happenings across central India, Institute Associate, Steven T. Licardi, interdisciplinary designer Diksha Pilania, and narrative strategist C. Meranda Flachs-Surmanek led a workshop on mental health and courage with Ek Prayas, a Siddharth Memorial Charitable Trust program in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. They engaged spirited youth—whose sharp questions showcased their wit, brilliance, and relational awareness—in theatre games and resource-sharing that center courage in the face of adversity. As part of their design and consulting studio WhyWOW, the three further built relationships with AlagAngle community art center in Nagpur, Maharashtha and SlumSoccer, a national organization offering mentorship through soccer to youth living in slums across India. | | |
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New Zealand and Australia recently welcomed Mary Fridley, co-creator of The Joy of Dementia (You Gotta Be Kidding!) and coordinator of Reimagining Dementia: A Creative Coalition for Justice, who led what she calls “very enjoyable and emotional” workshops with over 250 people living with dementia, care partners, helping professionals and advocates. Mary travelled “down under” at the invitation of NZ Society for Diversional and Recreational Therapists, Dementia Wellington (where Institute Associate Nicola Pauling co-led the workshop), Dementia Canterbury and Entelechy Living.
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Meet Esben Willstrop, a visionary performance activist and educator from Denmark. As a co-founder of an experimental boarding school and leader of an educational consulting firm, Esben has introduced social therapeutic play and performance to educators across Denmark—including the Danish Ministry of Education. In this video, Esben shares how the International Class transformed his perspective and fueled his passion for community building. Discover how connecting with activists from around the world sparked his journey from academia to creating spaces for growth and social change.
🌐 Visit the ESI website for program details.
| | East Side Institute Initiatives & Alliances | |
Sun, April 13; 2pm
Let's Learn Arabic!
Zinia Rahman
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Sat, April 26; 6pm
Discord and Harmony: The Struggle for Freedom in the USA Through Blues, Jazz, Soul and Hip-Hop
Allen Cox & Dan Belmont
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Sat, May 3; 1pm
The Joy of Dementia (You Gotta be Kidding!)
Mary Fridley
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Emotional support group, 2nd Saturday of each month, at 2pm
Be a part of creating an online emotional conversation that supports well-being, connection and development. Led by Harlem-based physician Jessie Fields, and social therapists Hugh Polk and Rachel Mickenberg. Free Registration.
Learn the skills of creating conversations, 3rd Wednesday of each month, in person, at 11am
With Harlem physician Jessie Fields, Community Health Advocate Allen Cox and Social Therapeutic coach, Marian Rich. Free at St. Philip's Church, 204 West 134 St., NYC
| | Friends of the East Side Institute | |
New Self-Paced Course:
Provocative, unsettling, liberating, inspiring… all have been applied to the dialogues on the social construction of knowledge. The ideas have swept across the academic world and into personal and professional life. For many, they contain the ingredients for a promising life together on this planet.
In 6 modules, each with 3 short videos and reading materials, Ken Gergen introduces the transformative ideas of social construction, challenging traditional notions of objectivity, truth, and knowledge. Emphasizing that our views of reality emerge through our relationships, the course explores the powers and limitations of language, the design of dialogues, and the transformation of conflict. Learn more.
| | Creative Director: Ann Green | Graphic Design: Mieke Lippstreu | Video Production: Desire Wandan | | | | |
