Rebecca KellyG // Harmonizing with the Self

Rebecca KellyG went from being a musical theatre college student to a civil rights attorney. Along the way, she noticed some things that felt similarly “off” about these vastly different spaces. Through establishing an artistic practice as a healing artist and facilitator, Rebecca learned that in order to challenge systems, we must first harmonize with the self for both personal and collective liberation. 

Tune in to listen as A.R.T./New York Co-Excutive Director Risa Shoup chats with Rebecca about her journey and how she found resilience by reigniting her passion for performance and soundscape artistry. 

 “I really believe the more comfortable a person is with themselves - your own discomforts, your own challenges, your own pain, your own needs - the more able you are to listen and receive when other people are expressing theirs.” - Rebecca KellyG

 

Episode Transcript

 

GUEST BIO:

Rebecca KellyG (she/her) supports individuals and groups to challenge conditioned beliefs, embrace accountability, and cultivate self-love for our personal and collective liberation. 

She is particularly invested in working with people of color to shed internalized racial oppression and its expression in BIPOC organizational practices and culture. In addition to facilitating organizational retreats and mediation, Rebecca is a sound artist and speaker. In a unique blend of public speaking and performance, she weaves vocal harmonies with percussive sounds to create meditative soundscapes accompanied by story-telling and affirmations. Rebecca has shared her sounds with spaces such as, The United State of Women, La MaMa Galleria, Theatre Communications Group, and Flux Factory Rhizome Project. As an equity consultant, she has worked with such places as HERE Arts Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Leslie Lohman Museum of Art, and Yale University Art Gallery. 

Prior to starting her consultancy, Rebecca worked as an attorney at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Washington, DC focusing on education and voting rights. Additionally, Rebecca taught as an Adjunct Professor for American University Washington College of Law and in the Wagner College Theater Department teaching her course “Race, the Arts, and Activism.”

 

Additional Links:

My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem

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“What’s Off?” Production Staff

David E. Shane, Executive Producer

Erica Wray Barnes, Associate Producer

Ashley J. Hicks & Nicky Maggio, Line Producers

Catalin Media, Audio Engineer