Rhodessa Jones discusses the transformative power of her groundbreaking Expressive Therapy and Performance Methodology, which Jones developed from her 30-years of experience in correctional facilities throughout the world. The program moderator is author and actress Lisa L. Biggs, PhD. Biggs joined Jones in South Africa to work in Johannesburg Correctional Services. This program is vital to anyone with an interest in teaching art in a manner that heals and transforms our personal and social spaces.

Watch on YouTube. 

As Co-Artistic Director of Cultural Odyssey and Founder/Director of the Medea Project, Jones has been a local icon in San Francisco for over 40 years. Her co-artistic Director Idris Ackamoor and their company Cultural Odyssey have been pillars in the SF community for people of color and the LGBTQI+ community. Through job development, community development, youth services and especially promoting emerging artists and arts organizations. Cultural Odyssey is a significant participant in Mayor London Breed's Dream Keeper Initiative.

As an artist and a scholar, Dr. Biggs is interested in the role of the arts and performance more broadly within movements for social justice in the United States. Her current scholarship investigates the role of the arts in movements for social justice. Her monograph, tentatively titled Beyond Incarceration, records, and theorizes the impact of theatre programs for incarcerated women in the U.S. and South Africa and is under contract with the Ohio State University Press.

For more information on the Medea Project and Teaching Art for Personal and Social Transformation, please contact Kim McMillon at kimmac@pacbell.net.