What are You All Going to Do to Keep Black Women in Art Therapy?

Leah Gipson,Anna Hiscox,Marisol Norris,Johanna Tesfaye,Leah Amaral

doi:10.15845/voices.v21i1.3200

Abstract

In this viewpoint, the authors describe their impressions of a 2018 conference and the significance of participating in a learning environment that centered on arts therapists of color. Collectively, two art therapy educators, a music therapy educator, one new professional art therapist, and one art therapy graduate student, question the maintenance of professional norms that have at times motivated BIPOC students and practitioners to leave the creative arts therapies in search of other professional places to thrive. The article concludes with a Womanist Manifesto for Arts Therapies Education.

Highlights

Gipson (2019) proposed the womanist strategy of place making to describe Black women’s regular practices of leadership that sustain people of color in the art therapy profession
Black women have explored the role of mentorship by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and the influence of social movements in sustaining their development in the field of art therapy (Dobby-Copeland, 2006; Farris, 2006)
In keeping with this tradition, three authors of this commentary describe their reflections on education in the arts therapies after participating in a conference that highlighted the 1974 American Art Therapy Association (AATA) publication, Art Therapy and the Third World, edited by Cliff Joseph

Summary

Introduction

Gipson (2019) proposed the womanist strategy of place making to describe Black women’s regular practices of leadership that sustain people of color in the art therapy profession. A Womanist Manifesto for Arts Therapies Education chooses Black women and their communities as its priority to inspire emancipatory creativity, criticality, and care.

Results

Conclusion