By Meany Center for the Performing Arts
At Meany Center, we believe that art-focused, youth-centered, mental health today is a key ingredient in an equitable and inspired social future. Our 2023–24 season engagement with Marc Bamuthi Joseph begins our journey of imagining Meany as a cultural hub that facilitates accessible pathways from artistic joy to collective wellness.
In this coming year, our engagement team will be gathering various communities of practice together with Marc — who is engaged for five separate virtual and in-person residency visits — to imagine ways to normalize arts spaces as hubs for mental and emotional wellness for young people of all kinds.
We began our partnership with Marc Bamuthi Joseph in 2021, with Sozo Vision’s Healing Forward program, through which Meany Center staff identified the mental health of our student population at UW to be a top priority and a place where we felt we were well positioned to make a meaningful impact. This season we will explore the various ways that Meany’s programs can support the wellness of young people in our region, together with our partners who are committed to these values in their work with students on the UW campus and with youth in our surrounding communities.
Look for opportunities to engage with us around these ideas, including Marc’s UW Public Lecture at Town Hall on March 5, 2024. Marc’s residency with Meany will also include the premiere of his newest piece, Carnival of the Animals, at Meany Center on Saturday, April 6, 2024.
To learn more about this initiative, please contact our engagement manager, Kristen Kosmas: kkosmas@uw.edu.