Dr. Shanaé R. Burch (she series/NaéBur) is a theatremaker, published poet, contemplative collagist, and artist-researcher committed to listening and creating healthful narratives towards “community euphoria” — a shared feeling of wellbeing. Her poetry as scholarship appears in Health Promotion Practice, where she serves as a Board member and co-associate editor of Poetry for the Public’s Health, and in an edited volume on racism and public health. She is an alumna of Emerson College, Harvard University, and Columbia University. Before becoming the first postdoctoral researcher at the University of Florida’s Center for Arts in Medicine—where she journeyed with the ON/OP Arts for EveryBody campaign and contemplated community accountability—she was a stage actress, part-time nanny, and Instacart shopper. She previously developed Rutgers University’s inaugural Introduction to Arts in Health course, partnering with NJPAC to create more accessible curricula. Now serving as President/CEO of Community Conversations: Sister to Sister, she focuses on intergenerational gatherings for health. She further bridges liberatory work and creative health through her consulting practice, Creating Healthful Narratives, LLC. She is a proud member of the 2024-2025 Public Theatre’s BIPOC Critics Lab and Actors Equity Association. Her praxis is informed by her spiritual practice as Deacon of Double Love Experience, her 3-world majors marathon training, extended practice with new play development, and playing her favorite Kokoroko records on her Victrola. www.shanaeburch.com

Cam Busch is the owner of the Art Therapy Consults and Studio, Private Practice, Chattanooga, TN. Committed to the value of utilizing arts in healing and wellness with children, adults and geriatrics with physical and emotional challenges and life adjustment disorders.

Modern day pioneer and bridge builder for the arts and health among interdisciplinary organizations, including the creative arts therapies, the visual and performing arts and holistic nursing. Nominated for the highest award of the American Art Therapy Association, the Honorary Life Member. Received the Tennessee Art Therapy Association Distinguished Service Award and HLM.

Licensed, registered and board certified art therapist ( 28 years to present ). Supervisor and mentor to rising arts therapists and arts in healthcare practitioners.

Licensed, registered and board certified Psychiatric and Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist, retired 2015. ( 20 years practice ).

Exhibiting artist and photographer ( 50 years to present ). Extensive solo and group exhibitions, state, national and international, including the Washington National Cathedral, the1996 0lympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, and Russia, China, Ireland and Italy.

National Arts in Healthcare Consultant NEA/SAH Leadership Initiative Grant training recipient, 2001. Inaugural Creative Center for Women with Cancer, New York City Hospital Artist in Residence training recipient, 2002.

Benefactor of the arts in healthcare through ( 30 years to present ) elected voluntary board and committee service local, national and international. American Art Therapy Association, Inc., Tennessee Art Therapy Association, Inc., Society for the Arts in Healthcare, Global Alliance for Arts in Health, CHI Memorial Healthcare Foundation, Association for Visual Arts, AIM center, The Sophia Institute, Racial Justice Council, in Charleston, SC, Sculpture Fields at Montague Park, Arts Based Collaborative, University of TN at Chattanooga, National Advisory Freedom Sings USA, National Organization for Arts in Health ( NOAH ) founding member, Core Curriculum writer, Juror for the Hamilton Awards, inaugural steering committee for NOAH founding board of directors.

Created the Cam Busch Endowed Arts for Health Lecture Series for CHI Memorial Healthcare, Chattanooga, TN, now in its 21st year. Partners have included the Chattanooga Theatre Center, Hunter Museum of American Art, and the University of TN at Chattanooga. Founding member of the CHI Memorial Arts in Health Program (1996) and the Tennessee Art Therapy Association (1993).

Marcel W. Foster, MPH (they/them), is the Research & Evaluation Associate at NYU Steinhardt. They also serve as adjunct faculty with the Center for Arts in Medicine at University of Florida, and are the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Performance Hypothesis.

They evaluate health initiatives for clients including the US Agency for International Development, Ministry of Health – Sierra Leone, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health. Currently, they lead evaluation initiatives for vaccine confidence programmes, Creative Forces: NEA Military Healing Arts Network, and Dance for Parkinson’s.

Marcel is an Emory University 40 Under 40, and serves as the Co-Chair for Arts, Culture, and Museums at the American Evaluation Association. Marcel brings over 10 years of experience as a dance-theatre creator and performer, working  with the Guthrie Theater, Pig Iron Theater, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, Pasion y Arte Flamenco, Susan Rethorst, and David Gordon.