Perspectives:
Leveraging the Power of Art to Enhance Personal Wellbeing for Social Impact Leaders
The School and Systems Leadership Team at Teach For America is implementing a new program called PowerHour5 (PH5) Learning Series. PH5 is a 5 week, cohort-based learning and collaboration series for school and systems leaders. Each series will focus on a different theme/topic relevant to the moment, integrate learning from experts, and provide collaborative space for participants. Participants will meet weekly for 5 weeks. Participants will meet for 2.50 hours each week. Participants will complete 1-2 hours of additional reading/engagement weekly. PH5 will be held virtually 4 times throughout the year with cohorts starting November, January, March, and May. This program is open to all school and system leaders.
The November series theme that I facilitated was "Adult Wellness and Sustainability.”
“Your point of view is not your art. What that point of view generates is. Don’t just have an opinion, let it inform something the world can interact with.”
Strategy, Vision & Leadership
Experience Design // Facilitation
Research performed by Maslach and Leiter in 2016 recognized burnout as an occupational hazard in various people-oriented professions such as human services, education and health care. The therapeutic or instructional services provided by such professionals necessitate the maintenance of interpersonal relationships with recipients, which are characterized by intensive levels of emotional contact. Although such relationships can be rewarding and engaging, they can also be quite strenuous.
In this session entitled, ‘Perspectives: Leveraging the Power of Art to Enhance Personal Wellbeing for Social Impact Leaders,’ school and systems leaders will be guided to understand how their views on and engagement in consistent practices of wellbeing directly influences the quality of their well doing – in and out of the workplace.
Session Objectives
Explore various mediums of art as a tool to:
uncover our personal wellbeing habits and their influence on our ability to lead others
nonjudgmentally reflect on the global happenings that inevitably impact our personal and professional selves
sharpen our ability to be mindful observers without immediate reaction(s), and
empathetically connect with others using mindful dialogue
Parallel Universe
Adapted from an in-person experience I designed for students at Arizona State University, this PH5 session explored the practice of self-compassion using art as a way to reflect on our own perceptions of life, circumstances, others, self as well as create an opportunity to be open to the perceptions and experiences of others.
One of artistic mediums we used for this session was photography, a highlight being the ‘Parallel Universe’ series by Ugur Gallenkus. Through his photo series, Turkish artist Ugur Gallenkus depicts contrasting realities of the western world and war-torn countries by juxtaposing pictures in one frame. What started as a hobby for Gallenkus in 2014 turned out to be a medium to shed light on jarring aspects of an otherwise inequitable world. The Turkish artist often portrays the consumerism of the western world and juxtapose it with the horror and trauma of the underprivileged nations.
