Healing Arts is a global campaign by the Jameel Arts & Health Lab in collaboration with the World Health Organization
Healing Arts is a global campaign by the Jameel Arts & Health Lab in collaboration with the World Health Organization
Monday 21 September | 6:30 – 8:30PM Gibney Dance Theater, 280 Broadway, Entrance at 53A Chambers Street, NY, 10007
Established in 2015 by Community Access, Changing Minds is a filmmaking and storytelling initiative by and for young people between 15-25 years old. It has grown to become a festival and stigma challenging community education program that sparks real-life conversations about mental health matters among young people and adults alike. Changing Minds has received over 5,000 films from young people in 100+ countries around the world—and are dedicated to keep lifting up young people’s stories and experiences.
We will begin with a screening of short films selected for the 2026 Festival. A panel discussion will follow chaired by Mikel Morado, Festival Organizer and Community Outreach Coordinator, featuring Changing Minds filmmakers Kendra Brown and Dani Ellsworth, Nils Fietje, Co-Founder of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab and WHO Europe Technical Officer, and Elisabeth Bahr, Jameel Arts and Health Lab Postdoctoral Research Associate.
Mikel Morado is a multifaceted artist—dancer, choreographer, filmmaker, and creative visionary behind the Changing Minds Young Filmmaker Festival, serving as the Festival Organizer and Community Outreach Coordinator since Summer 2024.
Kendra Brown, selected Changing Minds Filmmaker, is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied Film & TV. She creates personal narratives about individuals that dare to use their voices and imaginations to discover themselves.
Dani Ellsworth, selected Changing Minds Filmmaker, is a director and producer based in Washington, DC whose work explores emotionally resonant stories through both documentary and narrative lenses, centering the female perspective with a visually striking, character driven approach.
Elisabeth Bahr is Postdoctoral Research Associate at NYU Jameel Arts & Health Lab currently researching the intersection of arts and health. Her clinical background as an occupational therapist in addition to her expertise in neurological conditions and neurodiversity inform her scholarship, which focuses on improving health equity for people and populations historically marginalized.
Nils Fietje is Founding Co-Director of Jameel Arts & Health Lab, and Technical Officer within the Behavioural and Cultural Insights (BCI) Unit at the WHO Regional Office for Europe. He has a background in English literature and the cultural history of medicine. As part of the BCI Unit, he is leading efforts to understand how cultural contexts affect and interact with health and wellbeing across the lifespan and throughout the continuum of care.
