Complete Programs List
Creating our Culture: A 50-minute interactive stage program designed for opening conferences and school assemblies.
Advanced Leadership Training: A life-skills and personal empowerment program.
Word Emancipation: This writing workshop is a fun and interactive look at the way language creates culture and organizes environment and perception.
Two Handed Simultaneous Automatic Drawing: This is a hilarious and challenging look at the many artistic voices we all have, and particularly examines the difference in the voices of our dominant and non-dominant hands.
Alone in a Crowded Universe: A guided short story workshop and discussion about how we all can see different parts of the same experience.
Songs for large groups: Bringing the community together in song at conferences, in choirs or anywhere.
Vocal Improvisation: A series of fun and easy structures where groups connect through voice in playful, melodic, and rhythmic ways. If you have a voice, you'll have fun in this workshop.
Beat Choir: One third singing, one third rapping, one third body percussion. Choirs will never be the same.
Diversity through Hip Hop: Workshops and multi-day programs with a focus on youth empowerment, team building, leadership, and Hip Hop.
Beatbox101: Participants may never stop!
Oral Spontaneous Rhyming Poetry: A freestyle rap workshop for everybody!
Acrobalance: Yoga meets Circus: an all-level, fun, safe, physical and interpersonal experience for groups of all sizes.
Vision Planning: Practical structures to get everyone on the same page.
Facilitation Training; Tips, Tools, and Techniques: With a hands-on approach, we look at and discuss learning styles, personal awareness, preparation, intention, openings and closings, creating safety in the room, ice breakers, setting up group activities, debrifing, and awareness of the group.
Facilitating a Community Forum: Creative and engaging structures useful for tapping into the intelligence in the room, creating safety, ownership and inclusion as well as meaningful dialogue around specific themes.
Film Making: Don't buy into popular movie culture? Make movie culture!
Claymation; A Plaster Scene: A facilitated exploration of stop motion animation. It is a journey into the process of creative collaboration and an opportunity for youth to speak up about issues that concern them in their lives, their community and the world. Each group will receive a hard copy of their end creations.
Games and Activities Teens Like to Play : This is a fun workshop!
Warm Up Activities for Groups Over 100 People: Whether your audience is standing in a large field, or seated in an auditorium, these are activities that activate the masses. Great for opening conferences.
Creative Visualization: Relax into enjoyable guided fantacy journeys, make discoveries, be amused and take away learning.
Letter to the Editor: This writing workshop is about empowerment and action. Discover deeper what you are passionate about and learn effective techniques to get your points heard in wide audiences.
Great Presentations: Creative brainstorm techniques, structures for speeches, and tips for speaking in front of audiences of all sizes.
Theatre Quest: Series of fun and engaging theatre exercises that touch on multi-sensory exploration, group awareness, and performance techniques.
Conference Planning: Explore popular organizational structures that work and customize a plan for the specific needs of your gathering.
Open Space Technology: Take a mourning, afternoon, or a whole day for a practice in instant democracy, inclusion, and information sharing for large groups.
Inter-Generational Bridge Building Program: Youth and adults work and play together through a series of experiential games and activities that are sure to be fun, interesting, and positively connecting!
High Powered; Building a tool Kit for Youth Workers: A series of activities and methodologies designed to engage underserved and at risk youth.
Teaching with Metaphor: A hands-on workshop of group activities linked to metaphors, exploring issues such as perspective, diversity, stereotypes, and limiting beliefs.
Life Forums: A fun theatre workshop exploring the principals of the Earth Charter. The Earth Charter is an exciting global movement that promotes environmental and economic sustainability and social justice. Check it out! www.earthcharter.org
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“ There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom”. --Anais Nin
Objective: Develop critical life skills, enhance interest in learning, envision a positive personal future, understand and experience the benefits of being a member of a healthy community, and develop the tools and desire to take these lessons out of the classroom and into everyday life.
Structure: This program can be customized to fit specific needs around content, frequency of visits, length of sessions, and program duration. Here is a suggested outline:
• Program runs 2 hours a month for 8 months
• Sessions are most effective with 12-50 participants
• Follow up activities are provided to teacher/supervisor (where applicable) to increase continuity between sessions
• Credit suggested for participants who successfully complete program
Method: In a fun and safe learning environment participants make life-enriching discoveries through an engaging series of arts-based games, activities, and exercises. In combination with teaching metaphors, participants are encouraged and supported to share their ideas and learning through facilitated group discussions that are interspersed throughout the program. The activities and discussions are designed to:
• Enhance creative thinking abilities
• Promote self-expression and reflection
• Encourage teamwork and co-operation
• Develop listening and communication skills
• Explore conflict resolution tools
• Encourage creative risk-taking
• Build self-esteem
• Increase awareness of self and others
• Celebrate diversity and respect of others
• Move thoughts beyond judgment and stereotypes
• Support participants to search for win/win solutions to complex problems
'Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.' --Yeats
Behavioral outcomes:
• Increased ability to focus
• Imagines new possibilities and takes steps towards future goals
• Rejuvenated interest for learning
• Demonstrates healthy methods to relieve stress
• Increased interest in people who are different than themselves
• Makes new choices which serve their best interests
• Improved relationship with self and others
Components: (Each workshop session is 2 hours in length)
Beginings – Introductions, community agreements, creating safe space, trust and team building. Often when a young person realizes they are part of a community without putdowns or competition their willingness to take creative risks increases - this is where the fun and learning begins.
Awareness of Self and Others – A series of non-verbal activities and a series of non-sight activities bring participants to a new playing field allowing them to make new observations about themselves, others, and the group as a whole. Only when we become aware of a pattern within our self do we get a choice, either cultivate that pattern because it brings useful results or try anything different in that situation because that pattern is not helpful. We also explore the meaning of personal responsibility and how it’s connected to personal power.
Learning styles and Communication – Interesting demonstrations, games and exercises useful in determining how an individual likes to learn. This workshop also includes activities designed around personal voice, body language and awareness of how much non-physical space people take up in a room.
Conflict Resolution – This session explores Non-Violent Communication and other conflict resolution models participants can apply in times of inter-personal challenge. Group discussions, partner work with role playing and demonstrations allow participants to internalize new frameworks for getting their needs meet in a peaceful way.
Beyond Limiting Beliefs & Celebrating Diversity – A series of innovative group activities and discussions connected to metaphors designed to inspire new perspective and enhance the value of difference. The classroom is a mosaic and each person is a tile with a unique and important role in revealing the picture.
Women’s and Men’s Group – For every woman who is tired of being perceived of as weak, a man is afraid to show his vulnerability. For this session the young women and the young men meet separately to discuss what it means to them to be a Woman or a Man. The two groups come back together and ask each other questions in a facilitated forum.
Goal and Dream Building – Every choice has two questions; if I do this what will it get me and what will it cost me? In this workshop we explore interactive and reflective personal discovery models involving multiple art forms. We learn to articulate what we truly want, break getting it into bite size chunks, and find the courage to start getting it through group discussions on statements like this: Future is as present does.
Taking it back to the Community – This workshop is about community identity and community vision. In small groups, participants are asked to describe their community. Through a series of theatre exercises participants unravel creative presentations and performances about their community, how they'd like to see it change, and what steps need to be taken to make that change. (This workshop can be designed as an interactive presentation for an audience.)
“And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give
other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated
from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others”.
--Marianne Williamson
References and Testimonials:
I have had the opportunity to observe, participate and co-facilitate with Mike on multiple occasions. I can say unequivocally that my experiences in Mike's workshops have been liberating.
He is a dynamic and creative spark that super charges a room and brings people into a place of exploration and risk-taking beyond the norm. Yet his compassion and care raises this energy in a safe and grounded manner. I've witnessed youth explore and express in ways I did not think possible through Mike's support and encouragement
He is masterful in his creative tricks and tools. Mike is very self aware of the structures and systems of oppression and is able to facilitate very difficult topics. He is brave and bold, which I feel comes from a place of honoring and celebrating the youth he works to support. Keith Moen -- Youth & Family Counsellor Lansdowne Middle School kmoen@sd61.bc.ca
Mike Sheehan is dynamic, masterful weaver of words, music and magic, with an outstanding ability to reach out to people of all ages. Shivon Robinsong – Founder and co-director of The Gettin' Higher Choir www.shivon.com
" I had a lot of fun. I liked that everything was interesting and interactive and challenging. I learned a lot about things like trust and listening and communication skills." ~youth participant
" I found the whole workshop amazing! I opened up a lot and learned a lot about myself and others." ~youth
" I really enjoyed the activity with the question such as: Who are you? Etc. It made me feel as though I could really open up, which I have never really done on that level before." ~youth participant
Please ask about ideas for funding sources if needed.
Mike Sheehan
Beatboard Programs
Victoria, BC
mikesheehan@beatboard.org
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