OVER THE COURSE OF SIX YEARS,

ARTS ED NEWARK (AEN) has stewarded a movement to align arts education and traumainformed care practices in partnership with The Greater Newark Health Care Coalition (GNHCC), My Brother’s Keeper Newark (MBKN), and other community-based health, safety, education, and arts organizations. Through a continuous process of researching, developing, and advancing best practices, AEN has developed an inspiring training program and aligned a team of teaching artists and social workers who are coaching others to understand trauma, incorporate arts-based strategies that reduce the impacts of trauma and promote healing-centered engagement for students, education and healthcare colleagues, and workers in cultural institutions and community-based organizations.

This report documents an extraordinary experience that was built from a common belief in possibility, opportunity, ingenuity, creativity, and accountability. The ongoing process of collaborative learning and a collective sense of responsibility included players from different domains, leaders, activists, disruptors from different sectors, and large and small organizations. The evolving product was built on core values and structures that delivered relevant and useful knowledge to facilitators and participants. At the same time, strong relationships among planning team members allowed for flexibility and the capacity to rapidly respond to changing contexts and situations.