Collective Harmony – an ACA Arts & Wellness retreat
January 11, 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
$92
ACA Arts & Wellness Academy presents a full day retreat, Collective Harmony featuring local and national creatives who will share the connection of arts and health. Relax and recharge with your community during this fun and informative day featuring a variety of workshops, performances, lectures, and fascinating conversation.
Register at Eventbrite (click here)
Agenda (choose one session per time slot):
10-10:45AM: Easy Yoga with Bethany Bennett
10-10:45AM: Universal Hug with Sauda Jackson
11-11:45AM: Artist Talk – Creative Wellness Approaches with Bethany Bennett
11-11:45AM: We Are One – African Dance for All Bodies with Sauda Jackson
12-2PM: LUNCH by ACA Chef Morgan Coppola
optional Soundwalk with Eve Payor
2-2:45PM: Artist Talk – The Art of Happiness with Monica Vidal
2-2:45PM: Sacred Design – The Art of Creating Altars with Imane El Ghazouani
3-3:45PM: Soundbath with Imane El Ghazouani
3-3:45PM: Art It Through – Creative Grief Support with Monica Vidal
4-6PM: Live Sound Healing Concert with Chris Dingman (national touring artist)
Register at Eventbrite (click here)
Chris Dingman plays the vibraphone, a beautiful and unique instrument with a complex and ethereal sound. With a virtuosic, one-of-a-kind approach to the instrument, Chris has a way of playing using waves and layers of sound that bring the listener deeper and deeper into the journey. He enters a trance state, channeling music that has the ability to bring listeners along into an altered or heightened state where healing, connection, and inspiration can occur. Join Chris for an immersive music journey. Allow the waves of vibration to wash over you, with transcendent sounds that transport you to a beautiful place, where healing and connection can happen. You may find yourself going into a deepening state of relaxation, of increasing purification, or even an internal journey that unfolds like a dream. Frequently participants report a change in their perception of time during this experience. Hope is a major theme in Chris’s channeled work and participants often find themselves leaving sessions surprisingly rejuvenated, centered, and with new perspectives, as well as more grounded and relaxed.
Monica Vidal is an internationally accredited psychologist, certified NLP master practitioner, corporate trainer, and public speaker. She combines her expertise in psychology with her passion for art to help people navigate grief. By creating art, she believes we can honor loved ones and rediscover our purpose. Originally from São Paulo, Brazil, Monica has traveled the world, drawing inspiration from art in cities like Los Angeles, Paris, and Dubai. Specializing in fabric and yarn, she views art as a reflection of the soul, and is passionate about guiding and inspiring others through her work.
Bethany Bennett is an interdisciplinary artist who earned her Bachelors of Fine Arts from the University of Central Florida and her Masters of Fine Arts from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The artwork she produces question women’s equality and role in society. Her investment in the community is to boost others confidence and self-worth through artistic practices. Currently she is a professor at Daytona State College and leads community outreach at Atlantic Center for the Arts.
Sauda Jackson has used art as a way to break down barriers to communication and to provide tools for building self-esteem. She leads arts, dance and empowerment groups in her local community. Ms. Jackson has developed an empowering ritual for all to use, The Universal Hug. Through the Universal Hug, participants are given an opportunity to slow down, breathe, ground, tap into their own power, focus on gratitude, release tension, to remember their heart’s desires, to remember to be compassionate with themselves and to emotionally reset. All are encouraged to use this tool often and to share it widely.
Imane El Ghazouani trained in sound healing in 2021, and in 2022 created Energy Wheel with Jared Silvia. Born in Morocco, she moved to the US in 2009 as part of Disney’s International Program. She has a bachelor’s degree in Hospitality & Recreation Marketing Operation, and another in Mechanical Engineering. She has worked in sustainable building engineering, and is currently the program director of a wellness retreat center near Orlando, FL. Interested in psychology, neuroscience, harm reduction, community healing, Imane focuses her skills and passions into building community and creating a safe space for self-exploration. Inspired by her first experience at Burning Man in 2019, she returned to the desert in 2022 & 2023 and volunteered in harm reduction. Imane is also an avid fan of music and arts festivals.