This art exhibit will consist of artwork from individuals struggling with mental health disorders. These pieces will depict how they have learned to use art to cope with and/or overcome their mental health struggles and showcase that they are more than just their mental health journey.

Exhibit Objectives:

·  Bring empowerment to the artists and allow a safe space for them to express their feelings toward their mental health or to showcase how art is a coping skill

·  Bring enlightenment to attendees to look past the stigma of mental health diagnoses and truly see the individual

·  Allow attendees to connect with these pieces and feel empowered in their own journey to improving their own mental health

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This art exhibit is a safe space, open to all conference attendees regardless of past experience with art. This is a place to learn about the psychological, emotional, and physical benefits of art as well as allows for the attendee to experiment with various art mediums and methods. This room also provides a place for general relaxation to allow for the attendee to process the information they have absorbed through the conference. We encourage attendees to take advantage of this special space in order to find a relief from the heavy topics of the day, discover with their own creative capabilities, and to walk away with knowledge of art-based interventions.

Exhibit Objectives:

·  Share the benefits of art based therapeutic techniques

·  Provide a space for processing and relaxation

·  Create an environment for learning and discussion

·  Give attendees a place to experiment with art and discover their own creative capabilities

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Issue Box Theatre would like to invite all conference attendees to an evening of theatre by presenting Every Brilliant Thing “a play about depression and the lengths we will go for those we love.” This play, written by Duncan Macmillan, and developed by Jonny Donahoe is about a 7-year-old who creates a list of brilliant things to help their mother with her depression. The list starts after her first attempted suicide. Dad suggests mom has “done something stupid” but that doesn’t help the child understand what has happened. Through the hour-long solo performance, attendees will learn of the impact of depression and suicide on both family and the relationships that are formed. The brilliant list begins: 1) ice cream, 2) movies, 3) staying up past your bedtime and being allowed to watch TV, and 4) the color yellow. Though it sounds like a downer, attendees will be surprised at how often they laugh and relate to this inspiring performance. This is being presented in special arrangement with Dramatist Play Service, Inc. New York. Tickets available at www.issueboxtheatre.org.

Performance Objectives:

·  Discuss the impact of suicide and depression on family members

·  Explore the use of a specific coping mechanism in relation to depression and suicide

·  Present one person's story as they deal with their mother's suicidal attempts and completion

·  Explore the impact of mental health issues on survivors

·  Provide resources for those who relate to this story on a variety of levels

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Momentum is a three-day festival celebrating the transformative vibrancy of the arts for our city and region. Momentum supports local artist and musicians and invites international creatives to perform and exhibit in Toledo. The festival runs from September 19-21. Momentum Kick Off at the Art Loop will be on Thursday, September 19th and will feature the “Faces of Trafficking” art display.

Festival Objectives:

·  Bring art awareness and opportunities to the local community

·  Support local artists and musicians

·  Showcase the “Faces of Trafficking” art display

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This art exhibit shares the experience of a survivor of sex trafficking and how she has used art to cope with the trauma of these events in her life. Through her art, she has learned how to strip away the negative labels that were created through her trauma and begin to redefine herself on her own terms - transforming her pain into a life full of freedom. This exhibit showcases that survivors are more than a "story"; they are a friend, a spouse, a parent, a student, a worker, an artist, an individual, and so much more. This exhibit hopes to bring light to the ways in which this artist has redefined herself and aims to celebrate her individuality.

Exhibit Objectives:

·  Showcase the ways in which art has been used as a coping mechanism for this survivor

·  Educate attendees to understand that survivors are more than their stories and to see them as individuals.

·  Create place for self-reflection and learning

·  Provide a space to highlight the talents of survivors

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A partnership between the Institute and the College of Arts and Letters, Faces of Trafficking is an art exhibit featuring portraits of people from the area who are leading the fight to end trafficking. Our goal is to raise awareness through art and bring the issue out of darkness. The exhibit also features, A Thousand Hands: A Million Stars, a collaboration uniting visual art, poetry, music and dance, survivor artwork, student response pieces to trafficking stories and the winners of a high school art competition.

Exhibit Objectives:

·  Feature portraits of advocates in the community

·  Feature a collaboration of various art forms

·  Raise awareness through art about human trafficking and social justice issues

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This art exhibit will consist of artwork from local high school students depicting how they are breaking stereotypes and living a life for their own truth and purpose, while rising above social stigma. Their pieces will not only tell their stories, but also be an example of how they use art to identify themselves and showcase the true potential of the talents they possess.

Exhibit Objectives:

·  Discuss how stereotypes are formed and broken in today's youth

·  Empower others to rise above the stereotypes that surround them

·  Show art through the artists’ eyes.

·  Showcase how art is used as a form of coping, learning, and strength

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A Thousand Hands: A Million Stars is a creative, collaborative effort uniting visual art, poetry, music, and song created and performed all by women as a vehicle to bring awareness, empowerment, and a voice to those that have been rendered silent and hopeless by their experience in human sex trafficking. In doing so, the women artists are partnering in a cause championed by multiple organizations dedicated to the healing of survivors of trafficking. Outside of awareness, the artistic, literary, and musical project is designed to illicit a genuine, emotional response and empathy for an often misrepresented and misunderstood issue. An in-person experience of the cross-collaborative efforts may serve as a force for change in perceptions, support, and help for the survivors of human sex trafficking. The artists of A Thousand Hands: A Million Stars have taken inspiration through survivors’ experiences and stories, contributing to personal narratives of their journey in, through, and out of human sex trafficking in hopes of providing visibility to the invisible victims and the power of recovery and healing. This project is interactive, community-driven, and collaborative and speaks to civil and city issues with human trafficking.

Exhibit Objectives:

·  Bring awareness, empowerment, and a voice to victims of trafficking through art

·  Illicit a genuine, emotional response to those who are often misrepresented and misunderstood

·  Provide visibility to the invisible victims

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