Theme: building community together

This event’s theme, BUILDING COMMUNITY TOGETHER, will inspire and challenge youth in the greater Monadnock Region to get more involved in their local environment. We are looking for stories, performances, and experiences that shed light on the questions and topics below in a unique and unexpected way.

How do we serve/support each other?
What and how do we celebrate together?
What are our community ideals? What is our ideal community?
How does information build or harm the community?
Who are the truth-tellers? What do they have to say?
How can technology bring us together?
Who are the missing voices? What do they have to say?
What spaces shape our community?

The Internet!
149 Emerald St
Suite UP 3
Keene, New Hampshire, 03431
United States

Emily Martin

Mechanical Engineer

Emily is a mechanical engineer in the life safety industry and a debt specialist-in-training. She lives in Rhode Island with her family and is a Harrisville, NH native.

Jac Clark

Youth Program Coordinator

Jac Clark is a theater educator, poet, aspiring “forest witch,” and new step-mom living on "Bapple Hill" in West Brattleboro, VT, land that had been known as Wantastegok by the Sokoki Abenaki people. She has followed her calling for being in and creating spaces for sacred self-expression, particularly with young people. Theater, Renaissance faires, DJing queer dance parties and drag shows, gardening, writing poetry, and supporting leadership training have all been places she has had a lot of practice. She is currently working with Building a Positive Community in Brattleboro, VT as the Youth Programs Coordinator. You can find her wandering local Southern Vermont mountains and forests writing poetry, touching wild water, leaning back with some trees and maybe some other humans, or howling with the wind and coyotes. Many times, she will be joined by her Love, Rose and/or her step-daughter, Robin.

Jamison Curcio

movement artist, choreographer, and multipotentialite

Jamison Curcio (she/her) is a movement artist, choreographer, community curator, and multipotentialite. Making the connection between activism and art, Curcio created her own major and graduated with a BA in Performance Art for Social Justice from Goucher College. During her time at Goucher College, Curcio co-founded the Dancers of Color Coalition (DOCC) which provides a safe space for dancers of color and worked as a Program Assistant at the Center for Race, Equity, and Identity (CREI). In her senior year, Curcio’s dance work Aheym was awarded the Phi Beta Kappa Brooke Pierce award. This work asked the cast members and audience to engage in conversation around patriarchy, mainstream and intersectional feminism. In October of 2019, Curcio moved to Washington D.C. to dance with Christopher K. Morgan and Artists, a contemporary dance company and teaches with CityDance DREAM. Currently, Curcio’s work draws from themes around Black feminism, collective liberation, and truth.

Jude Grophear

trainer, writer, vocalist, activist

Jude Grophear focuses her life and work on social justice and is a creative soul who loves animals and nature. As someone who has had lived experience with mental health from a young age, she has found her place in the nonclinical peer support world. After college, she went on to become a NH State Trainer Advanced Level WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) Co-Facilitator, an Organizational Trainer in IPS (Intentional Peer Support), a Hearing Voices Network-USA Facilitator, and a Monadnock Youth Peer Support Organizer.

Karen Carrien

Assistant Program Director, MPS

Karen is the Assistant Program Director of Monadnock Area Peer Support Agency in Keene, NH and has been working with teenagers for the past few years. She is a Keene State College alumnus and holds an undergraduate degree in History. She has experienced both clinical and non-clinical mental health and understands what it’s like to be a teenager and struggle with a diagnosis. She is a group facilitator and is trained in WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) and IPS (Intentional Peer Support).

Katrina Nugent

Prevention Education Program Director

Katrina Nugent is an educator who provides a compassionate and realistic approach to learning. She believes youth can accomplish anything when given knowledge and a voice. Currently, Katrina is working on building empowerment with MCVP: Crisis & Prevention Center, domestic and sexual violence crisis center, where she serves as the Prevention Education Program Director. Katrina holds a master’s degree in Education from Franklin Pierce University and a bachelor’s degree in English with a certificate in Leadership and Women’s studies minor.

Laura Garrett

Choreographer, dancer, videographer

Laura Elaine Garrett (she/her) is originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico, and is a recent graduate from Goucher College (2020) where she earned a BA in Dance and Spanish with Cum Laude honors. She is a dedicated choreographer, dancer, videographer, and curator. Her work, Junto a ti, was awarded the Phi Beta Kappa Brooke Pierce Award in the Fine Arts and was chosen to perform in the American College Dance Association’s National Gala. In March of 2020, she directed, produced, and curated an art gallery and performance called “Mujeres Fuertes”. For this production she brought together ten different Latina artists and performers from Baltimore to showcase their work centered on the theme of honoring influential Latina women from history. Now, as a choreographer and teacher at Moving Arts Española, Garrett continues to explore how dance is a tool to empower and uplift voices who are far too often overlooked.

Sarah Foucher

Moving Artist and Performer, Student

Sarah Foucher is from the Monadnock region of NH and currently a student at Goucher College in Baltimore MD. As a moving artist and performer, she has a passion for socially engaged art and uses both dance and visual art mediums in her work. She recently started a group called The Pod Project as an effort to remain in collaboration with artists and continue to support and inspire each other and our communities.

Yves Gakunde

City of Keene Sustainability

Dr. Yves Pacifique Gakunde currently works for the City of Keene, New Hampshire. He is a member of many organizations including the Keene Elm City Rotary Club, the Regional Network for Conservation Educators in Albertine Rift (countries including Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, and Uganda), and the National Geographic Society Explorer family. Dr. Gakunde enjoys sharing his knowledge, serving his community, and he only wishes there were more hours in a day to do more activities. If you cannot find him, a high probability is that he is watching a good movie while having a glass of wine, or he is in the woods hiking or biking and connecting with Mother Nature.