Welcome to Spirit/ARTS! Project
"Creativity is a sacred pathway to connection, healing, belonging, and transformation." Ouida Joi
Spirit/ARTS! Project explores the intersection between the creative/expressive arts, culture, and sacred traditions across race, ethnicity, age, religion, culture, gender expression, and sexual orientation to bring about peace, understanding, acceptance, healing, and transformation, in ourselves, our communities, and the global community."
Utilizing, primarily improvised, “in the moment” creations of music, poetry/spoken word, storytelling, chanting, drumming, dance, visual art, photography, and video, the Spirit/ARTS! Project takes participants on a magical "Trans-formance" (trans-formative participation-art performance) journey that heals the Heart, lifts the Spirit, touches the Soul, and transforms lives. Audience participation is a key component of all Spirit/ARTS! events.
Spirit/ARTS! Project provides opportunities for cross-cultural, inter-generational, and inter-spiritual collaboration between emerging and professional musicians, vocalists, poets, spoken word artists, dancers, and visual artists to collaborate on innovative projects, thereby learning from and creating with those they may not otherwise meet. We create a sacred mosaic of experiences for belonging, understanding, acceptance, community, and self expression.
Spirit/ARTS! Project
Founded in 2012 by Ouida Joi Cooper-Rodriguez, M.A., Spirit/ARTS! Project has evolved over time, reflecting its founder's deepening vision of blending spirituality and the arts to create deep community - a community where spiritual creatives, artists, seekers, friends, and neighbors come together through shared creative experiences rooted in genuine connection. Today, the vision continues to expand to embrace new expressions of creativity, spirituality, and community while remaining true to its founding vision.
Our artistic goals are:
* To cultivate welcoming, supportive spaces where people of all backgrounds, generations, cultures, sacred paths, identifies, and abilities are invited to connect, create, participate, and belong while sharing their artistic talents and gifts.
* To create inspiring events, workshops, and performance experiences that blend the arts with timeless wisdom and diverse cultural traditions, cultivating belonging, understanding, creativity, and community.
*To provide a platform for artists to explore, present, collaborate, and share their gifts through innovative and experiential events and gatherings to bring healing to our local and global communities, and ourselves.