October 16, 2024
We are excited to announce our Plenary Session for the AATA2024 Virtual Conference.
Recent cultural shifts toward greater mental health awareness have helped bring needed attention to the psychological needs of individuals of all ages and backgrounds. At the same time, the power of art, creativity, and art-making is finally and rapidly being recognized as fundamental to improving overall health and well-being. From the White House to the World Health Organization, policy makers have begun pushing to integrate arts in physical health care—beyond mental health and well-being. For the art therapy profession, these trends provide an opportunity to reassess our guiding principles and chart a dynamic future.
In this plenary session, panelists will discuss how the arts are emerging as the next frontier in health and well-being, as more federal and local governments, healthcare systems, and cultural institutions are increasing their arts and wellness programming. They will also explore how public health administrators, community leaders, and arts and culture educators can better address the widespread and under-treated mental health needs of diverse populations by harnessing the power of the arts.
Join AATA President Nadia Paredes as well as Dr. Nisha Sajnani, Director of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab; Dr. Marygrace Berberian, NYU Graduate Art Therapy Program Director and AATA Board Member; and Yazmany Arboleda, New York City’s inaugural People’s Artist at the Civic Engagement Commission on Oct. 26 at the AATA2024 Virtual Conference Plenary Session.
About the Panelists
Nadia Paredes, AATA President
Nadia Paredes, MA, LMFT, ATR, is an art therapist with more than 15 years of experience working in the mental health field and is the 2024 – 2025 President of AATA. She earned her degree in Psychology from the University Iberoamericana in Mexico City and earned her master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy with a specialty in Art Therapy at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA.
She has a license as a bilingual art therapist and marriage and family psychotherapist in the United States in the state of California. She is certified as a facilitator of Intuition Painting® and as a Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapist. She has experience giving bicultural services to older immigrants, pregnant adolescents, and as a consultant in the area of preparation for natural disasters. Nadia also works in corporate wellness as a speaker and workshop facilitator, and an Adjunct Professor and Art Therapy Supervisor at Loyola Marymount University.
Dr. Nisha Sajnani
Director of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab
Nisha Sajnani is an Associate Professor and Director of the NYU Steinhardt Graduate Program in Drama Therapy, Chair of the NYU Creative Arts Therapies Consortium, and Founder of Arts & Health @ NYU.
Nisha received her PhD in interdisciplinary studies, combining drama therapy and community economic development, from the School of Community and Public Affairs at Concordia University in Montreal. An award-winning author, educator, and advocate, her body of work explores unique ways in which aesthetic experience can inspire equity, care, and collective human flourishing across the lifespan.
Dr. Marygrace Berberian,
NYU Graduate Art Therapy Program Director and AATA Board Member
Marygrace Berberian, a licensed and registered art therapist and licensed clinical social worker, is the NYU Director of the Graduate Art Therapy Program.
Marygrace has invested most of her career in establishing community based art therapy programs in New York City.
As the Director of NYU Art Therapy in the Schools program, she oversees school-based art therapy interventions in public schools in New York State. She works with teachers and parents to support young people through creative intervention as her clinical work has focused on children, adolescents, and community wide crisis recovery. Marygrace has more recently focused on the rehabilitative benefits of community-based art therapy for adults struggling with degenerative diseases.
Yazmany Arboleda
NYC People’s Artist at the Civic Engagement Commission
An architect by training, Yazmany activates communities with large-scale art projects that seek to build heartfelt connections that lead to meaningful relationships. He believes that art is a verb, not a noun. Over the past two decades, he has created public art projects with communities in India, Japan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Afghanistan, Spain, Colombia, and the United States.
He has collaborated with Carnegie Hall, the Yale School of Management, and the United Nations. He is a co-founder of limeSHIFT, the Future Historical Society, Remember 2019, and the Artist As Citizen Conference. He is currently the Senior Artistic Advisor for the Community Arts Network.