Albany, New York, April 2016

The arts can be used to address the needs of the refugee women in a culturally competent manner. This project is a traditional dance exchange and art-making pilot program that meets weekly to develop a community support structure, learn coping techniques, and to improve mental and social health needs for the refugee women.

This project was a 5 hour pilot program using arts and traditional dance exchanges by the women who studied English at Refugee and Immigrant Services of Emmaus (RISSE) in Albany. Each woman shared their artwork and also performed and taught their own traditional dances to the group.

Collaborators: Rifat Nazir, Director of RISSE and the Dance Flurry Organization

Research presented at North American Refugee Health Conference in 2017 and published at the BMJ Medical Humanities Blog.