ART AS ADVOCACY: ACADEMIC- AND COMMUNITY-BASED CSA PREVENTION/MITIGATON AND TRAINING PROGRAMS
OVERVIEW:
Stop the Silence has now packaged all the work that it has done over the years – in awareness, education, outreach, and training – and developed the Art as Advocacy Program. Our ever-growing Art as Advocacy Program uses film, theatre, dance, music, and books to introduce and forward a movement to prevent and mitigate child sexual abuse (CSA) through localized activities (“think global, act local”) while also providing training and outreach nationally and internationally.
Each of our programs have been vetted and evaluated in and through a number of venues over the past years and have been shown to greatly increase awareness, knowledge, and intent to act.
PLAYS/DRAMA/THEATER
The use of plays and the after-show presentations/discussions have been tested and shown to increase awareness and promote healing by tapping into the audience’s emotions/feelings after the play or film, readying them to receive and process information. The Art as Advocacy Program has been provided in the UK and in the U.S. and elsewhere during an evaluative phase when Stop the Silence took the Scottish-born play To Kill A Kelpie, written by Matthew McVarish, on tour in 2011 and then to Off-Broadway in 2012. The Director, Edward M. Smith made “Kelpie” into a film, and it and we have provided it, the after-show and evaluated it since the fall of 2012, first at Cornell, Emory, Indiana, and George Washington Universities, and then in 2013 and 2014 at the University of Maryland, at Bethany College, WV, and elsewhere. Currently, Michael Broussard, the writer, director, producer and actor in the interactive one-man show Ask a Sex Abuse Survivor, brings our information forward in collaboration with Stop the Silence. Mr. Broussard’s shows are packed with emotion and truth, showcasing the power of the human spirit to overcome trauma.
For further information or to book Ask a Sex Abuse Survivor (or any of our other art-as-advocacy programs) for an event in your community, please click here or contact Dr. Pamela Pine directly.
ART OF SELF-EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM
Stop the Silence is currently collaborating with Herb Cohen, founder of the Art of Self-Empowerment, a powerful program designed for children and adults alike. This colorful advocacy program is currently being introduced in partnership with Stop the Silence.
It is our plan to move this program forward on a myriad of fronts. Check back for more updates as we take this powerful art-as-advocacy program to other nations over the upcoming months. To visit the Art of Self-Empowement website, click here.
FILMS/MOVIES & MEDIA
Stop the Silence also use the films: Lost Sparrow by Chris Billing, which helps underscore the cultural divides possible in CSA; Devil in the Doorway by Chase Tarca that has a university-age audience at heart; and Flesh, which highlights human trafficking. Additionally, we use the book Father Figure by Sumi Mukherjee and the professionally-rendered music video Hit by Lightning by Tamora Pellikka, written by Amy Pine. We often bring a survivor speaker/advocate and we always have a local expert or panel available to address the audience’s immediate and/or later issues and needs. For more information about the Hit by Lightning Project, click here.
The full Stop the Silence Art as Advocacy program “package” involves the promotion and establishment of on-going academic- and community-based programming through formal university- or college-based clubs that are encouraged through the use of the “hook” of a screening of a relevant film and the after-show presentation and discussion designed by Pamela Pine, PhD, MPH, Founder and CEO of Stop the Silence, and often implemented with other Stop the Silence staff/advocacy specialists. Then, with and through outreach to universities and local non-profit and other groups, we raise awareness about CSA and its relation to other forms interpersonal violence, and educate in the vicinity of each showing. We collaborate with others for the training of service providers in the community and surrounding schools.
DANCE/EXPRESSIVE ART AND MUSIC
Stop the Silence uses and promotes lyrical/artistic dance and musical performances (on many levels and across a myriad of platforms) to offer comfort, encouragement and inspiration to survivors of abuse and trauma.
Dance and other forms of expressive art are often used in conjunction with trainings, conferences, conventions, and other CSA-related events, providing an outlet and “safe place” for survivors to more effectively confront their past traumas and embrace the “next step” in moving forward toward wellness.
INTERACTIVE EDUCATION AND PROGRAMMING
Dr. Pine and other Stop the Silence advocates and associates are readily available for tailored lectures to enhance the art-as-advocacy/ educational aspects of the program. The overall program also uses a unique computer-based Benefits Visualization model that provides the means to keep programs on track to deliver quantifiable social and economic goals. Programming is interactive, contextual, scalable, and relevant to systems strengthening. The overall program integrates arts and culture with public health information and programming in order to move forward a highly innovative awareness, education, training and community-building and public health prevention/mitigation effort while maintaining highest standards of artistic merit.
OTHER ADVOCACY PROGRAMS
For more information about our other art-as-advocacy partnerships/collaborations, please go to our Resources Page.
We believe in the power of community and art. You can make a difference in stopping child sexual abuse! To watch a video about Stop the Silence Arts as Advocacy, click here.
Say something! Watch this Stop the Silence video to learn the importance of speaking up about child sexual abuse, here.
Contact us here at Stop the Silence for more information on these programs and/or to book your next event: