Working with Groups in Creative Arts Practice

An onsite Professional Development Workshop for creative arts practitioners and students who are running or intend to run groups.

This experiential 3.5 hour workshop focuses on building engaged groups.

It is grounded in the assumption that group members are a resource to one another in fulfilling their purpose for getting together…whether that be creative expression in the form of voice, movement and/ or theatre which largely takes place in groups, or through visual arts making and writing, which is often done individually, alongside each other. What naturally flows from this assumption is the importance of building a group in which connections between group members are seen as central to creating an atmosphere in which creative expression can flourish. This is an emergent process, where the group leader both creates structure and responds to the emerging life of the group.

The workshop will engage participants in action techniques, arts making, reflections and process elucidation.

Learning Outcomes:

On completion you will be able to:

• Identify ways to encourage interaction and build relationships in groups
• Describe the impact of positive interactions on group cohesion

About the presenters:

The workshop will be led by Hilde Knottenbelt. 

Jan Allen will engage participants in reflection on the process.  

Jan and Hilde have worked together for several years, and in this context Jan’s role will be to support participants to attend to and consider present moment happenings in the workshop that build relationships.

Hilde Knottenbelt is a Voice Teacher and Psychodrama Practitioner. She has run Creative Voice groups in the community for 35 years. She is a trainer, educator and practitioner of Psychodrama and a Director of Psychodrama Australia. Hilde began her involvement with MIECAT in 2006, bringing group work and voice work to MIECAT processes.

Jan Allen is currently a part time visual artist/gardener who has worked as an educator for 40 years. She has taught in mainstream universities, alternative education settings with at risk youth and adults, and more recently at The MIECAT Institute. Jan retired from her position as Director and Academic Leader of MIECAT a few years back and since then has been supervising doctoral candidates, marking PhD theses, and from time to time running staff professional development workshops.

Who is this Professional Development event for?

This is a Professional Development workshop for creative arts practitioners and students who are running or intend to run groups in Creative Arts Practice, including community and therapeutic groups. All participants must have some experience of working in the creative arts.

This event is designed to run on-site, as an in-person event. Should public health circumstances require us to reschedule the event you can either get a full refund or your ticket transfers to the new date.

Photo credit/ artist: Mel Rodnight @melinda_rodnight_artist