Global Network

Here are links to people doing amazing work in the field of Art, Activism, and Spirituality. Please scroll down to read about cultural artisans, see inspiring videos, and find activist networking links.

Animas Valley Institute

At Animas, our focus is nature-based initiation, whose central goal is the descent to soul for the purpose of maturing the ego so that it becomes a vessel for a person’s deepest, world-transforming gifts. Rare in today’s world, our programs are not designed to transcend the ego, to solve everyday personal problems, or to help people better adjust to — or be happier in — the surface world of contemporary Western culture. Instead, our intent is a foundational shift that elicits each person’s most creative, soul-rooted response to our precious, critical moment in history.

Derrick Jensen

Derrick Jensen has been called the philosopher poet of the environmental movement. He is the author of fifteen books including A Language Older Than Words, Endgame, and Deep Green Resistance. He writes, "If we wish to stop the atrocities, we need merely to step away from the isolation. There is a whole world waiting for us, ready to welcome us home."

Dunya

Dancemeditation™ is a unique, integrated movement meditation system for self-discovery & evolution. Through the cultivation of embodied awareness and present-ness, Dancemeditation™ explores relationships between self-&-other, self-&-cosmos, self-with-Self, and self-to-the Divine Eternal, and ultimately dissolves relationship into non-duality, into One-ness.

Frank Natale

A master teacher and natural healer, Frank Natale has been a prominent figure in alternative education for over thirty years. He was known as a charismatic and provocative teacher who had the capacity to draw from the complex realities of psychology, spirituality, shamanism and music and combine the essence of those in a powerful way.

Lesley University

Lesley's Expressive Therapies Program trains students to engage clients in the healing process through the therapeutic use of the arts. Expressive therapists integrate the modalities of dance, drama, literature, music, poetry and the visual arts with the practice of psychotherapy.

Sherif Baba

Originally from Istanbul, Turkey, Sherif Baba (Shaykh el-Haj el-Fakir er-Rifa'i Mehmet Sherif Catalkaya) was born in 1944. His formal education at the Vefa Imam Hatib and the Fatih Mosque Medrese was traditional Islamic and his first teacher was of the Nakshibendi path. Sherif Baba taught Koran studies in various mosques in Istanbul and Bursa before he met his true teacher on the path of humanity in Izmir.

Thich Nat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, a poet, a scholar, and a peace activist. His life long efforts to generate peace and reconciliation moved Martin Luther King, Jr. to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. When not traveling the world to teach “The Art of Mindful Living”, he teaches, writes, and gardens in Plum Village, France, a Buddhist monastery for monks and nuns and a mindfulness practice center for lay people.

Wilbert Alix

Original home of Trance Dance, The Trance Dance Experience Technique, Professor Trance music, professional trainings, experiential learning and ritual-dance journey programs happening in 23 countries.

Video

Inspiring Projects

Andrew Harvey: The Institute for Sacred Activism - http://www.andrewharvey.net/
Sacred Activism is a transforming force of compassion-in-action that is born of a fusion of deep spiritual knowledge, courage, love, and passion, with wise radical action in the world.

The Arlene Center for Spirit, Art, and Politics - http://arlenefranciscenter.org/
The Arlene Center for Spirit, Art, and Politics houses educational, cultural, ethical and green business activities united by a common purpose ~ the development of a theory and practice that will foster the creation of a better world.

Awakening the Dreamer - http://awakeningthedreamer.org
Our mission is bringing forth an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just human presence on Planet Earth.

Chapel of Sacred Mirrors - http://www.cosm.org
The Mission of the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, CoSM, is to build an enduring sanctuary of visionary art to inspire every piligrim's creative path and embody the values of love and perennial wisdom.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes - www.clarissapinkolaestes.com
Poet, psychoanalyst, and trauma-specialist, Clarissa Pinkola Estes' works aim to bring forth the feminine wild soul.

Common Vision - http://commonvision.org
Common Vision brings relevant and inspiring earth education to diverse communities to cultivate dynamic leaders in sustainability practice and education by incorporating traditions, music, and art of cultures that live or have lived in harmony with the earth.

Earth Spirit Wisdom - www.earthspiritwisdom.com
Earth shares the spirit of its wisdom with us at all times. All we have to do is be still and listen to the silent voice of the EarthSpeak.

Earthdance - http://www.earthdance.org/
Earthdance is the world's largest synchronized music and dance festival for peace.

The Elders - http://www.theelders.org
The Elders are an independent group of eminent global leaders, brought together by Nelson Mandela, who offer their collective influence and experience to support peace building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity.

The Global Oneness Project -- http://www.globalonenessproject.org
The Global Oneness Project is exploring how the radically simple notion of interconnectedness can be lived in our increasingly complex world.

Imagine Peace - http://imaginepeace.com
Think PEACE, Act PEACE, Spread PEACE

Imani - http://www.myspace.com/mzimaninrhythmshamans
The Rhythm Shamans collaborate and co-create sonic, visual and ritual landscapes that carry a message of renewal, harmony and freedom, to honor the earth and her people. Their art in action empowers the collective soul to burn so bright that the visions and dreams of the individual are reflected in the soulfires of the collective.

International Expressive Arts Therapy Association - http://www.ieata.org
The International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA) is a non-profit, professional organization founded in 1994 to encourage the creative spirit.

Interplay - www.interplay.org
Interplay is an active, creative way to unlock the wisdom of the body.

Living in the Fire of Change - http://www.livinginthefireofchange.com/
Conference and community forum of sacred activism and social transformation.

Mosaic Voices of Community - www.mosaicvoices.org
As a network of artists, healers, social activists, and community builders, Mosaic formed to create cross-cultural alliances, creative mentoring relationships, and educational projects.

Musical Missions of Peace - http://www.musicalmissionsofpeace.org
Musical Missions of Peace champions a non-violent way to peace worldwide through the power of music.

Joanna Macy - http://www.joannamacy.net/
For peace, justice, and life on Earth, fresh ways of seeing arise, and ancient ways return. This web site opens doors to the new bodies of thought, time-tested spiritual practices, and pioneering group methods, that I find to be powerful inspirations to understanding and action. I share these resources in service to the revolution of our time: the "Great Turning" from the industrial growth society to a life-sustaining civilization.

Our Future Now - http://www.ourfuturenow.org
Our Future Now is born of the desire to spread environmental and social awareness by combining art, science and community.

Playback Theatre - http://www.playbacknet.org
The spontaneous enactment of personal story in Playback Theatre Builds connection between people by honoring the dignity, drama, and universality of our stories.

Playing for Change - http://www.playingforchange.com
Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music.

Spiritual Cinema Circle - http://www.spiritualcinemacircle.com
Spiritual Cinema Circle is the home of uplifting stories that inspire love and compassion, films that connect us with the world around us.

Spirit Drumz - http://www.spiritdrumz.org
In 1996, Afia Walking Tree founded Spirit Drumz, a Bay Area Drum Sanctuary & Institute for cultural activism, empowerment and leadership.

The Tamalpa Institute - http://www.tamalpa.org/
Tamalpa Institute offers classes and workshops for the public throughout the year and a comprehensive training program in movement-based expressive arts education and therapy for people who wish to incorporate embodied creativity through the arts into their personal lives and professional practices.

Thirteen Grandmothers - http://www.grandmotherscouncil.com/
We, the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, represent a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Mother Earth, all Her inhabitants, all the children, and for the next seven generations to come.

Tom Block - www.tomblock.com
Artist and writer dedicated to art, activism, and spirituality.

Values - http://www.values.com
No matter where we live, we live by values. Because they are worth more when we pass them on, The Foundation For a Better Life chose these values to share. Explore each value or suggest your own.

Vegas Vortex - http://vegasvortex.com
The Vegas Vortex is an intentional community of friends, artists, musicians, performers and wisdom-keepers, centered in Las Vegas, NV.

Velcrow Ripper - www.velcrowripper.com
Filmmaker exploring sacred activism through three films: Scared Sacred, Fierce Light, and Evolve Love.

Venus Project - www.thevenusproject.com
The Venus Project advocates an alternative vision for a sustainable new world civilization unlike any socio-economic system that has gone before. It calls for a straightforward redesign of a culture, in which the age-old inadequacies of war, poverty, hunger, debt, and unnecessary human suffering are viewed not only as avoidable, but totally unacceptable.

UCanDanc' - www.ucandanc.org
UCanDanc' African Healing Arts- Using the Arts to Change the World.

Zuleikha - http://www.storydancer.com
In the mesmerizing flow of living traditions and the humor and sparkle of the ancients, Zuleikha reveals the soul of our common humanity.

Do you know of a related project not listed here? Let me know!