Arts for Social Cohesion (ASC) draws on artistic processes, and crafts powerful artistic experiences, to strengthen belonging and ways of honoring a multiplicity of backgrounds and experiences.
We combine excellence in creating, directing and performing multidisciplinary productions with pedagogies of listening, learning and situation-crafting.
We partner with visionary leaders in civic, cultural, business and academic spheres who help communities navigate complex challenges — and opportunities — with creativity and adaptability.
Our interdisciplinary team contributes to social cohesion by:
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Crafting situations that build people’s sense of belonging through powerful artistic experiences
ASC helps people become more visible to one another by engaging with each others’ stories in ways that are moving, dignified and alive.
ASC’s belonging building projects are not about agreement. But they are about understanding, and being understood: What are the backstories leading you to be who you are, see what you see, know what you know?
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Producing live, original multidisciplinary performances
Our productions explore real-word tales of choices people make in times of personal or society change, especially unexpected grace in upheaval.
Through emotionally powerful experiences, our performances help people feel connected to what may have previously seemed unrelated or irrelevant.
This helps illuminate what is at stake in the choices people make, in personal, human terms, cultivating celebration of backgrounds and perspectives different from one’s own.
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Leadership clinics focused on principles and strategies of belonging in the workplace
Studies in organizational psychology suggest that psychological safety — a culture of iteration in which members feel safe candidly expressing ideas, concerns, questions, and admitting to mistakes — is a leading contributor to teams’ abilities to solve problems more creatively and maintain relevance, especially amidst uncertainty.
ASC draws on artistic processes to help current and future leaders refine their skills in advancing such belonging in the workplace.
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Assisting cultural organizations with powerful program / project design & organizational storytelling
ASC applies methods of nuanced listening and dynamic exploration to help cultural organizations hone their visions and strategies. ASC assists organizations to develop impactful language for foundational proposals, clearly demonstrating how investment in these organizations’ work improves the lives of people and communities.
ASC’s Stances
Social cohesion is an ecoystemic framework for thriving and flouring on individual, community and institutional levels.
Social cohesion’s core components — Belonging, Pluralism, Equity — interact with, and are shaped by, each other in dynamic ways.
Being seen and understood is a basic human need. Dismissal and indifference incurs heavy social, psychological and physical costs.
We may be wired to “Other.” But we are also wired to “Us.”
As artists, we have tools, outlooks and skills that can contribute in necessary, unique ways to seemingly disparate realms like Social Cohesion.
Excellence necessitates rigorous artistic/production standards, and emotionally resonant content, and relevance to people’s lived experiences. All three must be present.
The 4C’s:
How Moving Artistic Experiences Can Affect Change
Why This Matters
Sustained, deepened inquiry strengthens awareness of our own and of others’ often-tacit assumptions about how we relate to the world and to one another.
Once we have heard someone’s story and understand more about how they have arrived at their beliefs and viewpoints, it becomes more difficult to dismiss/dehumanize them, even when we sharply disagree.
The process is dynamic and multi-directional.
Core Commitments
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Dignity
Every person has a story that matters.
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Generous Listening
The human encounters enabled by the willingness to listen to others’ stories, perspectives and experiences — especially when different from our own — often open opportunities for transformation.
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Exploration
We are fascinated with the unspoken norms, values and emotional geographies through which we interpret events around us. These are stories we unknowingly tell ourselves about ourselves and how we relate to each other and our surroundings.
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Learning
We continuously push the boundaries of our skills, understanding and operations to heighten our contributions.
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Partnership
We commit to listen actively, communicate clearly and invest in our partners to build long-term relationships of generosity and trust.
Who We Are
Learn about the remarkable artists, educators, designers and production teams
bringing ASC’s work to life