Radical Transformational Leadership Through the Arts
NEXT Workshop Will be held in June 2025!
THE ARTS UNFOLDING SOCIAL CHANGE
Seeding CSFR Fractals for a thriving Planet and People
Check back in for more information about the 2025 workshop
Past Workshops 2021 & 2022
Two intensive 3-day workshops accompanied by group calls between sessions.
​
Participants can choose whether to attend
In-Person or online.
​
​​
-
The in-person sessions will be held
-
in Santa Cruz and Los Angeles, CA
-
COVID-19 social distancing protocols will be followed.
-
-
We will be streaming the online sessions via Zoom.
Session 1
May 21 - May 23, 2021
9:00am - 4:00pm PST
​
Location:
Santa Cruz, California
Or online via Zoom
Session 2
July 16-18, 2021
9:00am - 4:00pm PST
​
Location:
Los Angeles, California 2022
Santa Cruz, California 2021
Or online via Zoom
​
​
Workshop Description
Arts and Social Change is a learning-in-action workshop for artists, organized by RTLArts and led by Dr. Monica Sharma based on her work Radical Transformational Leadership (RTL) in partnership with Therese Adams. Through the workshop, artists source their inner potential and see themselves as changemakers to address what is not working in families, communities, nations, and the planet. The goal of the workshop is to harness the power of the arts to influence culture for the greater good.
Everyone can step into courage to create change. Drawing on more than 30 years of work at the United Nations and elsewhere, Dr. Monica Sharma presents a radical new approach to transformational leadership, one that creates cultures and systems of change where everyone can engage, called the Conscious Full Spectrum Response. The workshop covers tools and templates for artists to step into their leadership and inspire people to care for the wellbeing of all, using the arts as a powerful vehicle to stop "othering", stereotyping, and stigmatizing people based on race, class, gender, caste, tribe, nationality, and religion and start portraying individuals as who they really are--unique and worthy beyond privilege, bias, and prejudice. This workshop is in partnership with Jim Brown.
​
.jpg)
“Artist are like all human beings with the potential to discover and manifest our inner power and wisdom along with our gifts and talents. When artists journey through their own leadership and stewardship development based on universal values they stand, they see new invisible patterns and they generate spectacular images symbols, icons, and metaphors for an equitable and thriving humanity and planet.” – Dr. Monica Sharma
Our Commitment for Results Through the Arts
Our Commitment Through the Arts:
The arts influence culture for the greater good and are integrated into everyday life. Artists manifest universal values along with their gifts and talents to create art based in equity, dignity, and compassion that inspires audiences to be courageous, tap into their values, and take action towards universal equity and well being for humanity and a thriving planet.
​
The Results Through the Arts:
Using RTL in dance, theatre, film, fine arts, music, comics, photography, poetry, and literature, artists develop the tools to generate new icons, symbols, and narratives that amplify life-enhancing culture and change harmful and diminishing social norms. New narratives and stories are created through the arts using RTL to inspire people to care for the wellbeing of all beyond privilege, bias, and prejudice and address the systems and norms that are not working. Use the power of art to portray individuals as who they really are--unique and worthy to create wellbeing for all and to stop "othering", stereotyping, and stigmatizing people based on race, class, gender, caste, tribe, nationality, and religion.
What is RTL?
RTL is a unique approach and methodology created by Dr. Monica Sharma and described in her book Radical Transformational Leadership. RTL is based on the unique Conscious Full Spectrum Response model about how to source our inner capacities and wisdom to manifest change that embodies universal values of dignity, compassion, and fairness, and simultaneously transform unworkable systems and cultural norms to solve problems.
Drawing on more than 30 years of work at the United Nations and elsewhere, she presents a radical new approach to transformational leadership, one that creates systems of change where everyone can engage. Everyone has the potential to be a leader–a person who creates a new future–through actions in society, at home, and work. RTL is a pathway for unleashing our human potential to generate new futures through strategic actions for equitable and enduring results through all sectors—cultural entities, businesses, nonprofits, governments, media, etc. Dr. Monica Sharma has worked worldwide designing and delivering learning-in-action programs that equip participants with the practices necessary to generate results for the systemic and equitable individual, organizational, and community and policy change.
Monica Sharma © 2020
About the Workshop
​
What will you gain from the workshop?
-
Apply cutting edge personal leadership development to unleash the powerful systems change leader in us all
-
Learn to design projects in the arts that simultaneously solve problems, shift systems & norms and activate shared values
-
Learn value-based communication practices for creating new narratives about important issues you are working to address
-
Transform everyday activities to create equity, dignity, and compassion
​
​
Who should participate?
Artists of any discipline, arts administrators, creative technologists, and philanthropists who want to use the arts to create systemic change based in equity, dignity, and compassion for all. Participants thrive when they are willing to start with a beginner's mind, are committed to equity and social justice, and value systems thinking.
​
​
Project-Based Learning-In-Action
Participants will bring a creative project to the workshop ideally something they are already working on. In addition to the two intensive sessions, participants will be paired with two other participants for a monthly call (between sessions) to further learning and accountability to practice what is learned. The expectation is that participants will continue after the program to use the knowledge, capacities and project design skills in the community for positive change
​
​
​
​
Workshop: Session 1 and Session 2 :
Two intensive 3-day workshops accompanied by group calls between sessions. Attendance at both sessions is required.
​
Workshop fee: $500
Students: $250
Artist scholarships available
​
​
Session 1 : Being and Designing Change
Session 2 : Leading Change
Date:
May 21 - May 23, 2021 9am-4pm PST
​
Location:
Online Course or
Santa Cruz, CA
Who are we as leaders as artists, and how can we create change through our work? What are our shared values? What is it that inspires us and keeps us committed to our work in the face of setbacks and negative news? Who do we need to be to create the change we want to see? How do we listen deeply for shared values and opportunities to leverage change? How do we become systems leaders empowered with the tools and templates we need to create change? How do we begin to look at our work through the three components of sustainable change (solving problems, shifting systems, and activating potential)? What type of feelings and emotional responses do we evoke from our audiences? How do we distinguish between pleasure and happiness? How do we distinguish what an emotional response to art does and doesn't do? How do we explicitly manifest values or systems and cultural norms shift in our work? How do we distinguish opinions agree/disagree from multiple perspectives based on values? How do we, as artists, make sure that we are not distant from the world, but part of the world? How do we move from symbols that are just the gimmick of the month/day to symbols that are *Conscious Full Spectrum Response (CFSR) and are enduring?
Date:
July 16-18, 2021 9am-4pm PST
​
Location:
Online Course or
Santa Cruz, CA
How do we, as artists, use the dynamic power of the arts to move people from apathy to action to create equity, compassion, and dignity and show invisible unworkable systems that stop people from thriving? How do we build upon our new learning and practice? How will we re-design our projects to align and be attuned to what we deeply care about for people and the planet? To simultaneously solve problems, shift systems, and activate our own and our community's potential for change? How do we see and address the larger systems inherent in the problems we are trying to solve? How do we plan differently to create the impact we want to see? What are the different stages of leadership development, and how do they inform our collaborative efforts? How do we talk about the change we want to create and enroll others in creating this change? How do we connect events, programs, and other activities to measurable outcomes and impact? How do we empower others to lead the change they wish to see? How do we hold multiple perspectives and transcend divisiveness while adhering to universal values?
Created by Dr. Monica Sharma the * Conscious Full Spectrum Response (CFSR) is about how to source our inner capacities and wisdom to manifest change that embodies universal values of dignity, compassion, and fairness, and simultaneously transform unworkable systems and cultural norms to solve problems.
Monica Sharma © 2020
About the Founder-Facilitators
Dr. Monica Sharma
Dr. Monica Sharma, trained as a physician and epidemiologist, worked for the United Nations more than twenty years. Currently, she engages worldwide as an international expert and practitioner on leadership development for sustainable and equitable change. She is the author of the book, Radical Transformational Leadership which one won the Nautilus Gold Book Award 2017 for Business & Leadership. She works with United Nations, universities, management institutions, governments, businesses, media, and civil society organizations. She has published and presented over 250 articles in journals and international forums. Monica Sharma created and uses a unique response model based on extensive application—a conscious full-spectrum model—which is for simultaneously solving problems, shifting systems, and creating new patterns sourced from individual inner capacity and transformational leadership. This model has generated sustainable results worldwide.
Monica Sharma draws on more than thirty years of working for the United Nations and beyond to present a radical new approach to transformational leadership, one that creates systems of change where everyone can engage–not just analysts, policy makers, educators, artists and business leaders. Demonstrating that we all can be architects of a new humanity, Monica Sharma demystifies policy-making, planning, and implementation so that everyone can play an informed and strategic part in solving some of the world’s most intractable problems. She involved artists and media around the world in these global initiatives.
Therese Adams
​
For over 20 years, Therese Adams has held nonprofit leadership positions working in Santa Cruz, California as an executive director, fund development consultant, development director, and community organizer. Since 2014, Therese has practiced Leadership for Community Transformation with Dr. Monica Sharma and has supported the training of hundreds of leaders in Santa Cruz County and the Bay Area of California as a practitioner coach. With Dr. Monica Sharma she developed the RTL Arts initiative to transform the arts using the Radical Transformational Leadership frameworks developed by Dr. Monica. .She has been the Artistic Director of Moving and Storage Performance Company for over 20 years touring dance theatre productions in California, New York , United Kingdom and Japan. She also worked as an arts administration and an as an arts educator for the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County. In addition, since 2013, Therese has worked on the issues of homelessness as Community Organizer with the United Way of Santa Cruz County and Development Director at Pajaro Valley Shelter Services. Currently, she is the Executive Director of the Santa Cruz affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI-SCC).
About Our Partners/Presenters
Since 2003 Jim has followed his dedication to building communities that support authentic self-expression. After 15 years working as a software engineer in the semiconductor industry, Jim answered the call to focus his inquisitive and creative nature on human systems. He served as the Executive Director of both the Diversity Center and The 418 Project before joining Arts Council Santa Cruz County as Grants Program Manager. He continued his interest in grantmaking as Program Officer and Grants Manager at Community Foundation Santa Cruz County before returning to the Arts Council in 2017, where he served as Deputy Director and was hired as Executive Director in 2020.
In each of his nonprofit positions, Jim has worked to create healthy organizations that ensure that people have the opportunity to explore and express their authentic selves and see themselves reflected in the creative work of others. His work is fueled by a belief that larger social change is fueled by individuals who grow beyond rigid social constructs to express their deepest values.
Jim Brown
​
​
Executive Director & Co-Founder of the Watsonville Film Festival (WFF). Under her leadership, WFF has flourished from a grassroots collective into a non-profit arts organization offering year-round film programming. As a community-based film festival, WFF showcases primarily Latinx stories and uses film as a catalyst to inspire audiences, spark conversations and promote positive change. Consuelo was born and raised in Mexico City and graduated with honors with a Communication Sciences & Journalism BA from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. She has lived in the United States for 25 years and has extensive experience as a bilingual filmmaker, journalist, cultural activist, and translator. For several years, she worked as an editor and reporter with Nuevo Mundo, the Spanish language publication of the San Jose Mercury News. In 2010 Consuelo and her husband started Veremos Productions. Her documentary film El Andalón / The Healer screened in more than 30 film festivals worldwide, received numerous awards, and was broadcast on Mexican public television.
Consuelo Alba
Marcus “Bellringer” Bell is an American music producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, singer, social media influencer, activist and entrepreneur.He has marketed and promoted, produced, remixed and written for, mentored and developed some of the world’s superstars and brands. His list of credits include Shelita Burke, Nicki Minaj, Snoop Dogg, Timbaland, Gala, Hadise, Park Jung-Ah, Amitabh Bachchan, Sony Music, HBO, Netflix, Showtime, Discovery Network, Amazon, Warner Brothers, Arista Records, EMI and Universal Music to name a few. He has also created music for worldwide brands such as McDonalds and General Mills. Marcus Bell, the entrepreneur, is the CEO of Bellringer Productions LLC, a music sync licensing and production company that operates a catalogue of over 10,000 songs and over 300 recording artists. Bell published an Amazon #1 best selling book titled “Bellringer Branding Bible: The 5 Musician Branding Principles for Singers, Rappers, DJs, Music Producers, Composers, Writers, and Recording Artists.” Global superstar Beyonce performed to one of the songs produced by Bellringer on her "On the Run II Tour" co-headlined with husband Jay-Z.
​
Marcus "Bellringer" Bell
About Our Presenters
Nameeta Premkumar
“The creative adult is the child who has survived”.
Nameeta Premkumar is a Bollywood Film Producer/Director, the Founder/Educator of Film Bug and a Creative Director for content in Children’s Museums. She is an out-of-the-box thinker and doer. Nameeta studied Film in New York. She uses her education and opportunities to pursue her dreams; and worked her way up from scratch. Nameeta collaborates with world renowned musicians and artists and produces acclaimed independent feature films. Nameeta chooses to spend 25% of her professional time teaching world-class filmmaking to children who are in very difficult situations. ‘Imagik Media Pvt. Ltd’, Nameeta’s film production house, produces feature films, commercials, music videos and series across various platforms like Netflix, Dutch Television, The BBC, TV Today and challenges stereotypes. For example, Imagik Media’s first independent feature film with Nameeta as the Producer, the radical Hindi film 404,addressed bipolar disorders and the human mind. It garnered 5 stars across all reviews; immense support from the Bollywood Film fraternity; was awarded ‘Best Screenplay’ at the prestigious screen awards; and was often compared to "A beautiful mind".
​
She was recently nominated for the Filmfare 2020 in the category of Best Director for ‘Kaash’ and awarded the Certificate of Excellence at the Dadasaheb Phalke Awards 2020. TigerIvory Films. Nameeta’s film production company, boosts regional cinema locally and internationally. Nameeta Premkumar founded FILMBUG (www.filmbug.in) to teach professional world-class filmmaking to children who are marginalized by society across India in order to bring social change and foster youth leadership. Youth and children learn hands-on professional filmmaking at a twelve-day workshop, culminating in showcasing 2 short films that children or youth write, storyboard, produce and direct themselves. These films are showcased at an annual film festival for children: “The India Alive Short Film Festival” before a credible jury comprising of eminent Bollywood personalities like Shekhar Kapur, Kabir Bedi, Prakash Jha, Farah Khan, Sudhir Mishra, Jackie Shroff, Satish Kaushik, Shaan, Emraan Hashmi, Varun Dhawan, to name a few.
The Filmbug family has grown and mentored many children, given them employment, put them through education. 350 children have been taught filmmaking over 2 years in Bihar, Odisha, Maharashtra, Himachal, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh from various communities like rag pickers, sexually abused girls, children who work in brick kilns, orphans and HIV positive abandoned children. Their films find a voice, and they have emerged as child and youth leaders; brought about change in many areas; and now in-turn, teach and mentor other children. Nameeta Premkumar worked with Tropenmuseum in the Netherlands, an ethnographic children’s museum showcasing different cultures innovatively to the world in order to engage and teach children to respect different cultures using infotainment and novel methods. The museum is visited by children from Europe and the world. The exhibit is now showing in Surinam and Brazil. Nameeta’s work was awarded and felicitated by the Princess Maxima of Netherlands and the Dutch consulate.
Nameeta Premkumar is a proud mother of a 10-year-old daughter, and continues to work with children because they are the future and she believes that their foundation needs to be strengthened with wholesome, enriching experiences.
My name is Ram Murari. I am a student in 12th grade. Education has always been a privilege for me. I did my Matriculation from Shoshit Samadhan Kendra, a non-profit organisation based in Patna, Bihar. This organisation works for the kids of Mushar community, often referred to as "rat eaters community”. Filmbug came into my life when I was studying at Shoshit Samadhan Kendra around 4 years ago. I happened to be a part of the workshop organized by Filmbug and ever since there's been no looking back. I've had experienced and witnessed things I wouldn't have, had it not been for Filmbug. This noble initiative has given me a much needed platform to grow and evolve myself as a person I always wanted to be. I've realised my potential because of the trust everyone at Filmbug has in me and the opportunities it's given me and others.. More often than not, I feel like Filmbug is all I've been waiting for all these years. It's given me a direction, meaning and a purpose to my life.
​
Ram Murari
I have become a mentor and teacher to other children in Filmbug. I want to use my ideas and creativity to go back to my village and make a difference. I believe education is the only solution and want to work in that area. I have used my skills to speak and motivate people in villages through Nukkad Nataks (street theatre with powerful messages). I've been given an opportunity to study in an institution like Pace just because of Filmbug. It's been an absolute blessing. I want to take this initiative to altogether a whole new level and greater heights. I want to make a difference in people's lives the way it's done in mine. I am a part of the Filmbug talent pool that nurtures us and gives us opportunities .
Samite Mulondo
Samite Mulondo, a world-renowned musician, humanitarian and photographer, was born and raised in Uganda. His experiences under Obote and Idi Amin's brutal dictatorships, his time as a refugee in Kenya, inform his music and humanitarian work. He founded Musicians for World Harmony in 2002. Samite fosters leadership, e.g. with child soldiers, bringing new perspectives to the way we look at child soldiers, orphans, refugees and the endangered silverback mountain gorilla. Samite conducts programs at prestigious universities and colleges in the United States, including Berklee College of Music, University of Saint Joseph, and Oberlin Conservatory of Music-- inspiring students to put equality and fairness at the center of their lives.
​
Samite composed soundtracks for award-winning films, including Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai (Nobel Laureate). Song of the Refugee, shown on PBS and filmed in East and West Africa, chronicles Samite's life. He has released 11 CDs internationally; and Resilience was nominated for a Hollywood Music in Media Award in the fall of 2019. He is the recipient of the IVOH (Images and Voices of Hope) Award. Samite is working on the soundtrack for Old Oyta? to be released as a CD this year.Samite is contributing to RTLArts, a conscious full spectrum approach, using the arts as a lever for challenging systems and cultures that do not support our wellbeing; and offers compassionate alternatives for personal and planetary transformation.
Vernice Miller
Vernice Miller is an international theatre artist with a life-long mission to investigate, uncover and share the soul of performance. In addition to being an award-winning actor, she is an educator, director, writer, and social justice activist. Born in Jamaica, Miller has worked in London, Scotland, Wales, Denmark, Switzerland, Netherlands, France, Ukraine, Poland, Slovenia and most recently South Africa. In the U.S. she is an adjunct lecturer and mainstage director at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Her work on the world stage includes long-term collaborations with jazz musician, Wynton Marsalis on Eatonville, a Zora Neal Hurston Project, and with directing anthropologist, Dr. Omotayo Jolaosho’s Three Women (Break the Silence). The theatrical performance of Three Women began at the Market Theater Laboratory in Johannesburg then toured underserved communities throughout South Africa.
Its performers address what it means to find one’s voice amidst gendered repression and urge us to “break the silence” regarding women’s bodily and sexual autonomy.
Vernice Miller and Joann Yarrow co-founded A Laboratory for Actor Training Experimental Theatre Company (ALATetc) as a destination to evolve the work they began with Roberta Carreri at Eugenio Barba's Odin Teatret in Denmark. ALATetc is now a collective of artists and activists who create work for the stage that provokes dialogue, inspires action, and heightens awareness of personal ethics. ALATetc is in residency in the Theatre Department at John Jay College, offering a rigorous actor training technique to students and professionals alike. With Kobi Skolnick, Vernice Miller offers training to support emerging and established leaders, generating positive and sustained impact in the communities and organizations. Vernice Miller collaborates with Dr. Monica Sharma; and now, along with her and Therese Adams, is engaged in contributing to RTLArts. RTLArts is a conscious full spectrum response to using the arts as a lever for challenging systems and cultures that do not support our wellbeing; and instead offer compassionate, courageous alternatives for personal and planetary transformation.
Gulan Kripalani
Gulan Kripalani’s special interests include Transformational Leadership development, human rights, gender issues, films, theatre. Gulan researched and directed India’s first documentary film on domestic violence (titled Char Diwari: Behind Closed Doors). She directed and acted in short, improvised plays to address patriarchy and question gender roles for general audiences and school students; and continues to do so. Gulan set up and ran SOMAC (Social Marketing and Communications) the development communication division of Lowe Lintas ( one of India’s premier advertising agencies) to provide professional communication support to NGOs; as Former Executive Director of Citizens for Peace, she worked to promote peace, communal harmony and pluralism. Gulan is on the Advisory Board of History for Peace – a project of PeaceWorks. The initiative works on teaching history to build understanding and peace within and between countries.
Gulan Kripalani is a practitioner-coach of the Radical Transformational Leadership Programme and has been working with the process for over 17 years. She was a communications consultant for the HIV/AIDS project at the UNDP and worked with artists and media people in several countries in Africa, Arab States and Asia and a Master Trainer for the all-India project of Tata Institute of Social Sciences to build youth leadership among students in universities. She has worked with NGOs, corporate organizations, educational institutions, Forum for Responsible Building etc. using the RTL methodology to address a wide range of issues including domestic violence, identity, sustainability, child rights, education, environment and health.
Pervin Varma
Pervin Varma’s work has spanned a diverse range of organizations and roles, from a short stint in the corporate sector with an advertising agency to spending over 28 years in the development sector first with one of India’s pioneering child rights organizations – CRY- Child Rights and You. In advertising she discovered her life-long belief in the power of communications and the arts to transform society. And it has been integrated into all her subsequent leadership and organization building work. Her work as CEO of CRY was focused on building the institution after the premature death of its founder Rippan Kapur. Her leadership approach was and continues to be based on the knowing that an organisation’s values, vision, mission, goals, ethos and convictions have to be shaped collectively and lived through every member, every action and every outcome
Pervin discovered the Radical Transformational Leadership work in 2009 when Dr Monica Sharma trained peace activists brought together by Citizens for Peace in Mumbai India and that transformed the way she looked at leadership and designing for large scale change. Since she has brought this approach into all the areas of her work specifically her work on NGO Boards. Currently she serves as a Trustee on the Boards of CRY, Dream a Dream, Pratham Books and Citizens for Peace (CFP). Music and more specifically song has been an essential part of her being from the time she was a child and she has now woven that into her work with senior citizens. Starting a choir in a retirement home that is about restoring hope, meaning and joy into the lives of the members and breaking the myth that age is in any way a limitation to living the abundant life. The core value that has underpinned her life work has been a deep commitment to people’s agency and potential to be extraordinary changemakers in the world. And she has spent her time enabling people to discover their unique voice and gifts and providing them with the tools and frameworks to go out and live and work to their full potential. Pervin is based in Bengaluru, India.
Production Team
Julie Burr
Workshop Coordinator
Julie Burr is a public health professional with a varied background in finance, research, writing, and community organizing, and focused on prevention of chronic disease, community violence, and addressing systemic inequities. She is a RTL alum and practitioner coach. Her passion lies in working towards equity and thriving for all through individual and collaborative action.
Sophia Kilroy
Tech Team Leader
Sophia is ‘an almost graduate’ of Cal State Monterey Bay with a Public Administration and Non-Profit Management degree. She cares deeply about the freedom and inner peace of all individuals without exception, including financial and education dimensions. She manifests this every day in in her academic and personal studies, at home with her partner and her job as a nanny.
Julian Lopez
Tech Team
Julian Lopez deeply cares about people, focusing on health and fitness. Julian says that I was put on this planet to contribute to our humanity; and spread his knowledge of fitness and the importance of nutrition and health. As obesity rates continue to rise, he plans on reducing obesity by supporting whoever is driven to prioritize and invest in their health; and open a facility in the future. He aspires to become a role model to many people who need an extra boost toachieve their goals. Julian says ‘Growing up, I really didn’t have anyone to look up to in regard to fitness, so I plan on being there for individuals who were once in my shoes’.
This workshop is sponsored in part by the Arts Council of Santa Cruz County
