"What If Personal Growth Isn’t Personal at All?"
📺 Watch this clip and meet Majo Castrillo—a psychologist, social therapist, activist, and co-founder of the Latin American Hub for Social Therapeutics.
Majo is passionate about breaking the mold of traditional mental health approaches—moving beyond the focus on self-improvement and individual transformation to something radically different: collective, social development.
In this clip from last year’s Creating Communities of Hope, Majo challenges the idea that growth happens in isolation and asks us to think differently about what it means to develop as human beings.
✨ Could it be that the key to growth is not in perfecting ourselves—but in creating together?
Join Majo Castrillo and Carrie Lobman for the next Creating Communities of Hope class—a six-week, hands-on exploration of how development, play, and performance can be powerful tools for transformation.
📅 April 12 - May 17 | Saturdays, 11 AM - 12:45 PM (Eastern US)
📍 Live & Online | Led by Majo Castrillo & Carrie Lobman
🔗 Register Here: https://ow.ly/gEum50Vm4x4
East Side Institute
Share
An international center for the study of social therapeutics and performance activism — bringing h
Operating as usual
03/21/2025
🎬 A Gift for You: PTW 24 Videos & Watch Parties! 🎬
The Performing the World 2024 sessions inspired over 800 people last September, and now they’re yours to share! 🌍✨
With the theme Create the Power, PTW 24 broke new ground—bringing together a global community in new ways. Now, you can keep that momentum going by hosting a watch party—whether it’s a small gathering or a big event. Each one sparks grassroots connections, fresh conversations, and creative activism.
📺 All 16 session videos are available on the Performing the World playlist on the East Side Institute’s YouTube channel. They’re free and ready to inspire! Here's the link: https://ow.ly/iUqS50VkXcb
PTW is evolving into a year-round, global, community-building movement. Let’s keep performing the world together. Who will you invite? 💡🎭
Performing The World | Opening Session Welcome to the opening session of the 2024 East Side Institute's Performing The World conference! In this session, we kick off an exciting journey exploring ...
03/19/2025
For decades, an international community of scholars, educators, and activists has been developing and practicing a revolutionary methodology for human development and social change—social therapeutics!
We invite you to Creating Communities of Hope, a six-week, hands-on introduction to the methodology of social therapeutics and performance activism—and to the leaders and communities that have been shaped by them.
Led by Carrie Lobman & Majo Castrillo, this course introduces key concepts and practices that are reshaping how people grow, learn, and create change together. Join them and explore:
🔹 Development as a collective, creative activity.
🔹 The role of play & performance in human growth and social change.
🔹 How to break out of rigid ways of knowing and responding—and engage in "non-knowing growing."
Join us and explore new ways of relating, learning, and building together.
👉 https://ow.ly/agIy50V7brO
03/17/2025
Become a Developmentalist (Or Maybe You Already Are) Become a Developmentalist (Or Maybe You Already Are)Developmentalist: It's a very simple thing for me. I think a developmentalist is someone who helps people...
Take a listen to Vera Erac
🌍✨ What is it to be human? ✨🌍
Conventional psychology tells us we are—fixed, defined by our past and circumstances.
In Creating Communities of Hope, Carrie Lobman introduced another way of seeing who we are:
🔹 We are not simply determined by our world—we create it.
🔹 We are not just shaped by our environments—we shape them.
This shifts how we see and relate to what’s possible, how we grow, and how we build community.
📢 Want to explore this methodology with Carrie Lobman and Majo Castrillo? Join us for this year’s Creating Communities of Hope, a 6-week journey into social therapeutics where we study, experiment, and build together.
Learn more and register 👉 https://ow.ly/9ZSQ50VgyAs
📺 Watch the clip & share your thoughts below! ⬇️
03/11/2025
🎭 Learn from a Legend: Richard Schechner in Conversation 🎭
What if performance isn’t just something we watch—but something we live? Richard Schechner, a pioneer of Performance Studies, has spent decades exploring how performance shapes culture, identity, and social change.
For three weeks he joins Dan Friedman to dive into the radical power of performance—on stage, in daily life, and as a tool for transformation. This is a rare chance to engage with one of the most influential voices in performance and activism.
📅 April 4–25
🎟️ Don’t miss this chance to study with one of the foremost voices in performance theory and practice!
👉 Register here: https://ow.ly/BEFI50V4I1N
Rita Ezenwa Okoro, Exec. Dir., Global Play Brigade
On the Move in New York City!
All the way from Nigeria, Rita Okoro made powerful waves in NYC. At the International Society of the Performing Arts (ISPA) Congress, she led an onboarding for 50+ global fellows and made history as the first Nigerian on their board. She joined Dr. Jessie Fields for two Creating Our Mental Health workshops—one at the TOP Club House, supporting individuals with mental health challenges, and another at a Brooklyn Sanctuary site for migrants from Africa and South America. She then took the stage at the National Action Network, where Rev. Al Sharpton welcomed her as she delivered a powerful speech on play, justice, and creativity. 🎥 Watch her inspiring talk!
03/02/2025
https://www.facebook.com/share/1Fpfq8YSip/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Thank you to The Guardian for this feature article on the Salam Music Program and the beautiful arts center in the Bidibidi refugee settlement in Uganda! In partnership with Sina.Loketa and .org
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/feb/19/the-ugandan-arts-centre-bringing-harmony-to-africas-biggest-refugee-camp
02/28/2025
📢 A Rare Opportunity: Study with Richard Schechner 🎭✨
Richard Schechner has transformed how we understand performance—not just on stage, but in everyday life. A founder of Performance Studies, an experimental theater director, and longtime editor of TDR: The Journal of Performance Studies, his work has influenced generations of artists, scholars, and activists worldwide.
From April 4–25, he joins Dan Friedman for a three-week conversation on how performance shapes relationships, crosses boundaries, and reimagines the possible.
📅 April 4–25
🎟️ Don’t miss this chance to study with one of the foremost voices in performance theory and practice!
👉 Register here: https://ow.ly/BEFI50V4I1N
Click here to claim your Sponsored Listing.
Videos (show all)
Location
Category
Website
Address
387 Park Avenue South, 5th Fl
New York, NY
10010