THE RIVER SCHOOL
The River School was Homeschool reimagined. In response to the pandemic and current schooling challenge, Dawn Breeze designed and co-organized a homeschool pod. The River School was rooted in interdisciplinary experiential methodologies for advanced 6th-8th graders with a Place Based curriculum. Born from the seed of needing learning that prioritizes care, well-being, and inspiration for young people during an unsettled moment in history.
The River School launched in Germantown, NY in 2020 and sailed through the pandemic with a crew of 8 sailors.
Place Corps is a progressive learning institute that designs and develops place-specific transformational education programs including: residencies, fellowships, summer intensive gap programs, and community learning.
Currently, Place Corps offers the Regenerative Design Fellowship, a 10 month experiential-learning program based on a 900-acre biodynamic farm in the Hudson Valley of New York State. It supports change-makers to cultivate a calling to know, love, and serve their places.
Over the course of the program, fellows self-design accredited study plans; engage with accomplished practitioners working at the forefront of social, ecological, and economic regeneration; and develop the skills and wisdom needed to live and work in ways that make their lives, their communities, and the Earth truly thrive.
Place Corps is a shared initiative of Hawthorne Valley Association and Good Work Institute. Breeze is a co-founder, developing the program and designing the curriculum.
Place Corps launched in 2019. Breeze is currently the Managing Director
Founded in mid-2015, The Good Work Institute runs educational programs and enterprise support services that assist local community members and their organizations as they turn their aspirations for a better tomorrow into specific actions taken on behalf of the people and places of the Hudson Valley. Dawn Breeze was honored to participate as a fellow in Fellowship Two. In Fellowship Four, she was invited to lead facilitate and coach the Hudson, New York cohort. In Fellowship Five she offered Creativity + Courage workshops in Mapping Purpose and Creativity = Capital.
“Dawn is thoughtful and thorough - a truly dedicated and talented facilitator. Anyone given the chance to work with her will find it a life deepening and enhancing experience. She is a true social artist, one-of-a-kind, generous human being who elevates everything she touches.” –Erica Dorn, Managing Director of the Good Work Institute
“Dawn's activities always created tender moments for me to feel the power of community and count my blessings. The integrity cards activity made me honor my heroes and allowed me to count myself among them. What an incredible experience in valuing your self-worth…Dawn's activities were like magic tricks. You would start by doing something really approachable and simple and then be led through an experience that revealed the deep unconscious motives of your heart. In the end I was always blown away by how transformative the activity had been. It was a wonderful lesson in trusting the process that kept me believing through the whole fellowship.” —Maria Vigna Manager Earth Designs Cooperative
Using principles from the Creativity + Courage™ curriculum, Breeze developed and facilitated custom workshops for Etsy’s senior management teams. These experiential workshops aimed to help teams develop:
• Communication Skills
• Team Building
• Courage + Kindness
• Innovative Solutions
• Enlarged Perspectives
“What’s so incredible is that despite having experienced her workshops so many times, I’m still learning and finding value. I’ve witnessed remarkable results and breakthroughs in people who are going through Dawn’s course together: deep connection with one another, a shift from overthinking to more intuitive decision making, an ability to think in deeply creative ways and see new solutions. I cannot overstate how valuable her work is, and how much Dawn has impacted the work that my team is doing at Etsy.” —Heather Jassy, SVP Etsy
“Throwing Seeds” was an intensive thematic-arts workshop series Dawn Breeze created as the founding art director at Liberi School for children grades Kindergarten to eighth in 2015. The series provided an opportunity to experience a sense of personal value made possible by individual contributions in various creative languages to a collective cause or project. “Throwing Seeds” broadened the definition of art and of the artist, recognizing art as creative action in service to positive change. The collaborative creative learning built pride and community while modeling a possible future of liberation.
“Dawn was able to adjust her approaches to the children’s developmental stage with excellent results. The children look forward to art class each week. The curriculum meets each child individually and allows each to explore his/her own idiosyncratic aesthetic, self-expression, and artistic journey. Dawn’s class engages children in art as another human language—just as The Liberi School engages children in the languages of literacy, math, science, cultural history, music, dance, and theater as means to humanistic liberation through a multi-layered understanding of humanity and mastery of diverse skills.” —Jennifer Strodl, Founder of The Liberi School
In 2011 Breeze created a unique weekly arts program for multi-aged residents of Highwatch Recovery Center, a dual diagnosis treatment center in Kent, Connecticut. Breeze facilitated her program from 2011 to 2018, leading more than 2,000 individuals in a creative practice of self-realization, resilience building, authentic expression, renewal, and re-orientation to personal purpose. Breeze’s program used the Creativity + Courage™ curriculum and methodology as a base and tailored the workshops to meet the needs of people in recovery.
“I learned that art, and the process of making mistakes and being ok with that is good. The exercises in the workshop fit in good with our treatment. I loved the chance to get my hands dirty and play, and learn, and see, and think in more than one way—I only wished for more!” — Steve R.
CREATIVITY + COURAGE
Creativity + Courage™ is a creative experiential arts and communication curriculum that emphasizes authentic self-expression, generous self-compassion, and strengthens individuals’ empathy and transformational ability. Creativity + Courage™ inspires self-discovery and produces life-changing insights through unique artistic exercises. Breeze developed this curriculum in 2011 and has since integrated it into multiple professional applications, with a wide variety of audiences and collaborating institutions.
"This is a wonderful workshop, there were many ways to access our own knowing. I left feeling stronger and internally balanced."— Alison Fox, Artist, Educator.
"These workshops have given me a chance to participate both in the joy of creating and in having a shared experience with others who brought energy and joy to the experience. It has been all good!" —Michael Colberg-Psychotherapist
Unique Workshop & Program Leadership:
2017: Creativity=Capital, designed and led unique adult workshop for Hudson River Exchange
2016: Wholeness and Integrity, designed unique adult workshop for Good Work Institute
2016: Wildlings, designed and led 8-week advanced children’s art workshop for Instar Lodge
2016-Present: Tailspinning: Designed and lead adult creative writing workshop
2015: Courage to Begin: Design and led adult creativity workshop, Waterworks, Martha’s Vineyard, MA
2015-2017: Arts Director at The Liberi School: Design and lead unique k-8 weekly studio and integrated/interdisiciplinary arts program: Throwing Seeds. Liberi School, Hudson, NY
2012-Present: Creativity & Courage™ workshops, design and facilitated unique weekly workshops, Clients include: Etsy, Hudson NY Highwatch Recovery Center, Kent, CT, Instar Lodge. Germantown, NY, Private clients throughout New England.
2012: Creative Goal Mapping: Design and led unique adult workshop for Escape To Shape