Third Place Books welcomes Alissa Schwartz to our Seward Park store! Schwartz will be discussing her new book,
Organizational Performance Art: Holding Space for Joy and Possibility. The presentation will include a percussion performance by Andrew Drury. This event is free and open to the public.
For important updates, registration is highly recommended in advance. This event will include a public signing and time for audience Q&A. Sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book!
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The workplace, in both its physical and virtual manifestations, offers productive possibilities and space for joy. Organizational Performance Art: Holding Space for Joy and Possibility is a vibrant memoir and inspirational manual that examines how the concepts and practices of several performance arts traditions and philosophies—avantgarde theater, social constructionism, and shamanic practice—support organizations and communities in communal thriving and liberation.
An artistic stance towards organizational change does not just offer band-aid solutions to complex challenges; it is a way of harnessing imagination and a willingness to dance with the unknown in service to social justice and equity. Organizational Performance Art shows how to turn drab workplace routine into creative performance, isolation into positive connectivity, anxiety into openness, and hierarchal rigidity into collaborative teamwork.
In a world teeming with trauma and inequity, Schwartz offers her readers space to thrive. To imagine. To dance.
“Organizational Performance Art is a radical approach to transforming organizations. Alissa brings her ideas to life with stories from theater, performance art, political protest, parenting, shamanism, and her work with organizations to challenge the frames and limitations of traditional organizational development. We are invited to be and work in ways that are more collaborative, real, present, intuitive, uncertain, passionate, and emergent. Open the book, open your senses, and come take the journey!”
—Robert Gass, EdD, Co-founder, Rockwood Leadership Institute
Alissa Schwartz, MSW, PhD, Principal of Solid Fire Consulting, is a master facilitator and organizational culture builder with over 25 years of experience working with groups. In addition to writing Organizational Performance Art: Holding Space for Joy and Possibility, she is co-editor and chapter author of a special issue of New Directions in Evaluation that focuses on the intersectionalities of evaluation and facilitation and holds a PhD from Columbia University, where she studied organizational psychology and behavior. In an earlier iteration of her ongoing fascination with group process, Alissa created and directed avant-garde theater and performance. This early influence sneakily shows up in her current consulting work, as well. Alissa is based out of Lenapehoking/Brooklyn, where she parents, grandparents, bikes, practices yoga, and occasionally performs with Bread & Puppet Theater and in her own work. Learn more about her work and writing at www.solidfireconsulting.com.
Want a signed edition of the featured book, but can't make it to the event? Order through our website or over the phone, and write your request for a signature or personalization in the comments field at checkout. Please call the hosting store if you're placing your order within 24 hours of the event.
Third Place Books Events Code of Conduct: Third Place Books is committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of event attendees and guest authors, during both online and in-store events. By registering for this event, you are agreeing to refrain from engaging in inappropriate behavior and harassment of any kind throughout the course of this event (i.e. racial slurs, profanity, hate speech, spam comments, etc.). Please note that any participants who engage in inappropriate behavior or harassment of any kind will be immediately ejected from the event.
For media inquiries, access inquiries, or questions about our Covid-19 policies, please email events@thirdplacebooks.com or call our Lake Forest Park store at (206) 366-3311.
