In a time of weaponized narratives and communication, it is vital to reclaim our words and stories as pillars of connectedness, healing, and community.

Join Emmy-award-winning artist Jon Boogz and TIME magazine-featured storytelling activist Mohsin Mohi Ud Din for an immersive gathering called S.A.L.T., which will explore how stories are living things that shape our health, rights, and culture.

The storytelling ceremony will offer live dance, spoken word, and guided storytelling activities by artists Jon Boogz,, and practitioner Mohsin Mohi Ud Din. The featured artists will also screen short films and lead you through interactive and communal storytelling and healing practices. An exclusive panel and Q&A on the role of art in mental health will follow the gathering. This panel will also include insights from For Freedoms co-founder Michelle Woo. 

This Stories Are Living Things (S.A.L.T) event is funded by and part of #MeWe International's storytelling and community health series. Follow @meweinternational for updates.

To RSVP please email hello@mcasantabarbara.org, space is limited.

JON BOOGZ BIO

Emmy Award-winning movement artist, choreographer, and director Jon Boogz is a groundbreaking force in the global dance community. Renowned for his visionary storytelling through movement, Boogz is on a mission to shift perceptions of dance as a powerful narrative tool across film, theater, and fashion. He made history as the first African American street dance choreographer to win an Emmy for his work on Lionsgate/Starz’s Blindspotting. Boogz is currently directing and writing his first feature film with Spike Jonze as executive producer. He’s also developing a Broadway show and a dance-driven action-adventure TV series with Anonymous Content. His directing and choreography credits include icons like Mikhail Baryshnikov, Naomi Campbell, and Gloria Estefan. He has also worked with Pharrell, Adidas, Louis Vuitton (Virgil Abloh tribute), Banana Republic, the NFL (Emmy-nominated), Apple, and Lexus. Boogz’s collaborators include Netflix, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hulu, TEDx, Flying Lotus, and filmmaker Terrence Malick.

MOHSIN MOHI UD DIN BIO

Mohsin Mohi Ud Din is a multidisciplinary artist, community builder, and founder of the global storytelling non profit, #MeWe International Inc. (#MeWeIntl). #MeWeIntl is a global network of artists, scientists, and community-builders who design methodologies and tools for creative expression and communication skills-building to advance the healing, equity, and social cohesion in a fragmented and polarized world. For over 15 years, Mohsin has scaled his storytelling methodology across more than 20 countries, from the valley of Kashmir, to Gaza, to the Syrian refugee camps in the Middle East, to the mountains of Morocco, Honduras, and Mexico. His movement has supported more than 20,000 vulnerable youth and caregivers and dozens of community building organizations fighting violence, forced displacement, incarceration, and poverty. His work has received honors from SOLVE MIT at the UN, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, Open Ideo and Moleskine Foundation, and others. Mohsin’s documentary films are featured in TIME Magazine, and have premiered at more than 7 international  film festivals. Mohsin was named to the 2024 Tallberg Leadership Network. In 2009, Mohsin received a Fulbright Scholarship to pilot his methodologies in Morocco. Over the years his words and visual pieces are featured in VICE News, Al Jazeera, Huffington Post, and The Nation. You can follow his organization’s at www.meweintl.org (http://www.meweintl.org/).