Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
AATA DEI Organizational Questionnaire
December 1, 2020 | Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
The AATA DEI Committee is gathering information about the culture and climate of the American Art Therapy Association (AATA) related to DEI. We invite everyone in the art therapy community to complete this questionnaire to help us in this process. Your responses are anonymous.
Honoring Native American Heritage Month
November 22, 2022
National Native American Heritage Month is a reminder each year to celebrate Native American people, arts, culture, and heritage. There are 3 million indigenous people in the United States, belonging to 574 federally recognized Indian Nations (variously called tribes, nations, bands, pueblos, communities and native villages) in the United States.
We Invite You to Participate in a DEI Listening Session
October 20, 2020 | Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
The American Art Therapy Association (AATA) has opened registration for the first three of twelve Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Listening Sessions. Similar to focus groups, these listening sessions are facilitated discussions with groups of art therapists, students, and other stakeholders in the art therapy community. Our goal is to learn through hearing diverse experiences, views, and responses to questions about DEI in the field.
AATA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee Progress Report
October 8, 2020
We want to update our members about AATA’s Strategic Priority of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and share some upcoming next steps—and how to get more involved.
Leading with Intention to Promote Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
September 8, 2020 | Margaret Carlock-Russo
After July’s virtual member meeting, members told us they wanted to learn more about AATA’s next steps in promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I)—and hear more from Gary Smith, our DE&I consultant. In response, we are excited to share with you this webinar, “Leading with Intention to Promote Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.” Gary put our conversation into this current reality, referring to the Coronavirus pandemic and the unprecedented activism after George Floyd’s horrific killing. While we are defining diversity broadly, he posited in this moment, we may consider focusing on race.
A Colorful Canvas
July 30, 2020 | Louvenia Jackson
Why do we need racial diversity, equity and inclusion? Let’s think about a muslin canvas frame. Many painting frames are created for white canvases. What if the creation existed on a colored background, with many colors depicted on it? The narrative of the art changes, allowing for different perspective to arise with complexity, intrigue, and without colonization. We must not just add color to a white base; we need to change the base. One perspective cannot be the base for all others to exist or be cultivated by.
It’s Black, Indigenous, People of Color Mental Health Month
July2, 2020
July is known as Minority Mental Health Month and, more recently, people have been using the more inclusive term, Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) Mental Health Month. As Mental Health America puts it, “The continued use of ‘minority or marginalized’ sets up BIPOC communities in terms of their quantity instead of their quality and removes their personhood…The word ‘minority’ also emphasizes the power differential between ‘majority’ and ‘minority’ groups and can make BIPOC feel as though ‘minority’ is synonymous with inferiority.”
Honoring Pride and BLM: An Art Therapy Perspective
June 30, 2020 | Gabrielle Cooper
As art therapists, it is our duty to stay up to date on social issues and how they affect our clients. Black people, LGBTQIA+ people, and those with intersecting identities are especially traumatized by the videos and knowledge of the what is continuing to happen in America today. Right now is a perfect time for art therapists to show how much we care and support this movement by centering the voices of the most marginalized, evaluating our personal biases, and advocating for our clients.
The Healing Quilt: A Project to Benefit the Pearlie Roberson Scholarship Fund
June 17, 2020 | Multicultural Committee
Coming soon! AATA’s Multicultural Committee is launching a digital art project for which we encourage art therapy professionals, students, local chapters, and graduate and undergraduate programs to contribute a digital copy of an artwork for our project, The Healing Quilt.
Statement by the American Art Therapy Association on the Death of George Floyd
May 28, 2020
As mental health professionals, art therapists see the dreadful effects of racism in our communities every day. This week, our nation witnessed via bystander video the exceptionally horrific death of George Floyd. A police officer pinned Mr. Floyd down to the ground with his knee, applying his full body weight to his neck for four more minutes after he had stopped moving. Mr. Floyd’s last words were, “I can’t breathe.”