Tessa Mendel has over 20 years of experience as a theatre director, educator and community-based arts facilitator from Nova Scotia, who has worked in communities on the east coast and in Toronto. In Using the Creative Arts for Transformational Learning, Mendel candidly describes her own personal journey and experiences with the creative arts and education in a Canadian context. This engaging book is built on critical reflection, individual exercises, and group activities mixed with critical theory and frameworks for change. A key theme is how we can use the arts in holistic ways, to affect change that is transformational and inclusive of our whole selves.

The exercises included can be adapted to specific learning contexts such as classrooms, workshops, and larger community-based projects. They incorporate a diverse mix of creative arts approaches, including sound, movement and dance, theatre, visual arts, poetry, storytelling, and more.

Using the Creative Arts for Transformational Learning is a mix of personal reflection, hands on exercises, and background theory that will be of interest to facilitators, organizers and educators who use the creative arts to support transformational change. Also included are appendices with more tools and background information, such as a Creative Arts Learning Cycle template for planning, facilitation tips, and introductions to key principles of community-based anti-oppressive work and community arts.

Halifax Book Launch:
Wednesday October 21st 6:00 – 7:00 PM
The Company House, 2202 Gottingen St.
Free! Open to all! Refreshments served!

Tessa Mendel is a theatre director, community-based theatre facilitator and educator who has worked throughout much of Canada and internationally. She has taught in theatre programs at Memorial University in Newfoundland and at Acadia, Dalhousie and Mount Saint Vincent Universities in Nova Scotia and has directed over thirty productions at theatre and universities in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Newfoundland and New Brunswick. Tessa was the founding director of a company that worked with youth to create plays about social issues in Toronto’s public housing communities. In 1995 she founded the Women’s Theatre and Creativity Centre of Nova Scotia with a mandate of connecting women and community, creativity and social change. Tessa is currently the Co-Artistic Director of Halifax Theatre for Young People. She received a Nova Scotia Established Artist Recognition Award in 2014.

To purchase a copy or learn more about workshops and speaking engagements please visit https://usingthecreativeartsfortransformationallearning.wordpress.com/ or contact the author at creativeartsfortransformation@gmail.com.