Penumbra Equity Programs

Catalyze Change P E N U M B R A EQ U I T Y P RO G R A M S

About Penumbra Honoring the emotional, physical, and spiritual power of Black cultural expression to advance racial healing.

The Penumbra Center for Racial Healing is a dynamic performing arts, wellness retreat, and learning center. We nurture ethical expressions of the human spirit to inspire creativity, enact justice, and build more compassionate communities.

Our Equity Training Work Penumbra has been on the leading edge of innovative and transformative solutions for equity work for over twenty years.

We offer a holistic, integrated approach to racial healing that supports discovery, belonging, and reciprocity, while offering practical tools to support organizational and communal wellbeing.

Penumbra Center for Racial Healing • EQUITY PROGRAMS

What Makes Our Work Different?

Penumbra’s equity work springs from theatre practices that traverse the psychology of human behavior.

Our trauma-informed trainers are constantly learning so that we can stay at the forefront of equity efforts. We use our expertise in theatre to create spaces where nuance and complexity can emerge, while still holding our collective focus on healing. Penumbra’s embodied process sparks empathy through the power of personal testimony and story facilitated by seasoned artists. Our unique cultural grounding as a Black institution means that we center race as our primary lens, bringing deep historical and contemporary analysis to our equity work. Our signature curriculum helps clients explore the social, psychological, and physical consequences of various forms of racism, while custom wellness modalities help learners feel resilient at their growth-edge.

Photo by Hulki Okan Tabak on Unsplash

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

The entire discussion gave me so much to think about. It was personal and moving and encouraged selfexamination in a productive way.”

Penumbra Center for Racial Healing • EQUITY PROGRAMS

Why Train with Us? Penumbra means partial shadow.

It is a phenomenon that happens when an astrological body casts a shadow during a partial eclipse.

Our name urges us to explore both the shadow and the light. Penumbra has the experience and expertise to facilitate courageous conversations while also offering clients hopeful, practical, and tactical solutions.

Penumbra Center for Racial Healing • EQUITY PROGRAMS

Map Your Healing Journey Racial Healing Penumbra is the only organization licensed to train clients in The 4A’s Equity Framework™ developed by Penumbra’s president, Sarah Bellamy, to make the work of racial healing clear, practical, and possible.

Our team of artists, equity leaders, and wellness experts guide participants through racial healing work in an integrated, holistic way that will benefit not just our clients’ lives, but the lives of those around them, too.

This workshop covers: • The 4A’s Equity Framework™, a process to build confidence, competence, and dexterity in racial equity and racial healing work • A primer on how racial trauma affects the body, mind, and spirit, as well as methods to restore and repair • Trauma informed practices that can empower individuals and organizations to begin or advance their racial healing

The Psychology of Race Race is complicated.

While race is a social construct without biological meaning, racism has made the experience of race very real. This training invites participants to explore the complexity of race and how humans have found both profound belonging and encountered extreme terror due to how race is made real in society. This workshop covers: • Connection through racial identity • Racism, trauma, and effects on mental and physical well-being • Trauma informed practices that can increase psychological safety • Powerful storytelling and expert facilitation

Belonging Belonging is a fundamental human need and lifelong work.

As social creatures, human beings are biologically driven to create groups held together through attachment and identity. While this creates a sense of security for some, others may experience ostracization, prejudice, even exile.

This training invites participants to contemplate how we can learn to belong to ourselves first, creating spaciousness and energy to help others belong, too.

This workshop covers: • The biological importance of belonging; primal and contemporary practices of reciprocity • Connection through identity; empathy, and the construction of in-groups and out-groups • Trauma informed practices that can increase belonging • Powerful storytelling and expert facilitation

Allyship Penumbra’s practice of allyship is rooted in compassion.

True compassion urges us toward action when others are suffering. It is an orientation, a frame of mind that influences behaviors, rather than a series of finite actions. This training focuses on strategies to support besieged communities and vulnerable individuals by deepening our historical analysis and leveraging our privilege to interrupt oppression. Everyone can be an ally for someone else. This workshop covers: • Identity and social location work • Understanding privilege and strategies to leverage it for social impact • Trauma informed practices that can increase resiliency and regulation • Powerful storytelling and expert facilitation

Each Module Includes: • Compassionate, inclusive facilitation • Wellness modalities designed to increase regulation and resiliency • Artistic offerings and practices that open creative channels • Tools and techniques that are adaptable to a wide variety of equity concerns

Penumbra Center for Racial Healing • EQUITY PROGRAMS

Clients Every year Penumbra trains a diverse array of organizations from nonprofits to corporations, from K-12 schools to faith communities.

Clients include: Nonprofits Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity HealthPartners New Jersey Child Support

Business and Corporations 3M Best Buy Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid

Minnesota Association of Realtors

National Juvenile Defender Center

Minnesota Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company

Indiana Repertory Theatre

Target

Build Initiative

Brandlab

National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges

Meet Minneapolis Convention & Visitors Association

Schools and Universities University of Minnesota School of Medicine Saint Paul Public Schools St. Olaf College

Government Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development Carver County

Carleton College

Minnesota Department of Human Services

University of Wisconsin – Stout

Minnesota Department of Health

Indiana University – Bloomington

Minnesota Department of Commerce

St. Paul Academy and Summit School

Hennepin County

Perpich Center for Arts Education

MN Prairie County Alliance

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Photo by Danny Lines on Unsplash

Our work with Penumbra has made a substantial impact on the diversity and inclusion initiatives at our school, moving us further along the continuum of understanding and respect among the many different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences of everyone in our community.”

Penumbra Center for Racial Healing • EQUITY PROGRAMS

Book Your Training For more information, or to book an equity training workshop, visit us online at penumbratheatre.org/equity or contact us at: Phone: 651.224.3180 Email: equity@penumbratheatre.org Web: penumbratheatre.org/equity