WomenArts Staffer Will Offer Writing Workshops on Healing

Deborah Steinberg

For the past four and a half years Deborah Steinberg has served as the Director of Artist Services for WomenArts. She has been responsible for compiling our free monthly Theatre and Film/Video Funding Newsletters and helping people with their profiles on the WomenArts Network.

Many of you have corresponded with her, since she has also been the person who answers the steady stream of emails that we receive. She has done an excellent job, and we are sorry to see her leave this month, but we share her excitement about her new venture, Heal Write, where she will be teaching writing workshops with a focus on healing.

Deborah is a writer who’s been living with rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disorder, since she was eight years old. As she explains, “Writing is one of the best ways I’ve found to express and make sense of the challenges of managing a chronic condition and leading a full life in spite of the limitations I sometimes face. . . Exploring fresh new metaphors for understanding the body, health, and illness both led me to a deeper sense of peace with my own body and opened deeper wells of creativity in my writing. ”

Deborah’s Heal Write creative writing workshops will be offered in the San Francisco Bay Area. The workshops are open to anyone whose life has been touched by illness, injury, or loss, whether directly or as a caregiver for others.

WomenArts has been blessed to have this extraordinary and multi-talented artist on our staff, and we wish her the best in her new work. You can read more about Heal Write at: www.healwrite.com. You can also read more about Deborah’s writing and music at: deborahsteinberg.wordpress.com.

If you would like to send Deborah a note, you can contact her through us or write to her through her website.

Deborah’s Open Letter to the WomenArts Community

Dear WomenArts Community,

It has been my honor to serve as Director of Artist Services for WomenArts for the past four and a half years. I have truly enjoyed corresponding with you, learning about the amazing art and activism you are doing in your communities, and watching you grow SWAN Day from the grassroots up.

It is because of women like you – women who are creative and courageous, who believe in the power of art to change the world – that the WomenArts/SWAN movement is growing and thriving and, ultimately, creating more opportunities for our diverse voices to be heard. My experience at WomenArts has connected me to a worldwide community of incredible women, and you have consistently inspired me and reinforced my belief that when we put our talents together, anything is possible.

I am moving on from WomenArts in order to fully focus on my own writing and on teaching writing workshops for healing – if you live in the Bay Area, I would be delighted to have you come participate in a workshop! (More information and schedule available at www.healwrite.com).

I hope to remain in touch with many of you both online and in person, and I will always be part of WomenArts and the SWAN movement. Thank you for all your kind words over the years, and thank you for the beauty and change that you are creating in the world through your art.

In Solidarity,
Deborah Steinberg

P.S. This letter would not be complete without a big shout out of gratitude to the amazing Martha Richards, who works with incredible dedication to make WomenArts and SWAN Day what they are!