THERE IS potential FOR transformation in all of us
FOUNDER'S story
My elders carried their experiences and trauma of the public school system in Italy, Lithuania, and the US. Some could not attend beyond third grade. Some had their names changed without their consent. Their struggle became part of my desire to be a loving, caring presence infused with a willingness to struggle, too. I call this a kind of commitment to social justice. The use of art-making and imagination support careful attending to what is difficult as well as what is possible when co-creating relational, systems change.
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As a white-identified, Jewish, Italian, cis-gendered female without a documented disability, I endeavor to center humility in the process of co-creating spaces, relationships, and bodies for social justice and antiracism. Every human being has the capacity and potential to find something they love to do, want to learn, and become. It is in relationships that we often discover what those desires might be. It is access, opportunity, and challenge that can urge us onward. Growth often requires some tension. Inquiry and play allow us to continue the co-creation of structures where learning, discomfort, and growth have historically been used to break apart harmful binaries.
The arts and relationships have helped me bear witness to the complexities of experience. Making music, for example, actualizes my hope in choices, possibility, and amplifies a willingness to receive someone else's story. The following artists-writers-mentors-teachers-scholars don't know that I have been their student: bell hooks, James Baldwin, W. E. B. Du Bois, Billie Holiday, Michalinos Zembylas, Megan Boler, Django Paris, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Gloria Ladson-Billings, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, John Dewey, Sara Ahmed, Billy Joel, Paolo Freire, Antonia Darder, D.W. Winnicott, Sidney Poitier, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Carl Rogers, Rosa Parks, Isabel Allende...
Creating and relating continue the legacy of those who reared, taught, mentored, and nurtured me with their care, curiosity, and love. I feel their holding when I offer holding to others.
Dr. karen bagnini, EdD, mA, lCAT, lCSW
FOUNDER & FACILITATOR
Since 1998, a strength-based, imagination-relationship-focused sensibility has sustained my practice in NYC, Boston, and rural PA. Intersectionality and historical context have shaped my personal and professional choices. I earned an MA in Expressive Therapies from Lesley University, an Master of Social Work from the Hunter College School of Social Work in New York City, and a doctorate in educational leadership at East Stroudsburg University. I enjoy singing, playing piano, guitar, being with family & friends, watching movies, growing things, reading, laughing, & cooking.
