Psychoanalysis, Creativity, and the Arts Program


Chair: Rosa Aurora Chavez, MD, PhD
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Washington DMV metropolitan area is the home of a cultural and intellectually vibrant community. Magnificent museums and galleries; theater, dance and music performances from all schools and styles; international cinema festivals; audacious chefs with flavors from all over the globe; writers, artists, academics... and psychoanalysts. 

The aims of the Psychoanalysis, Creativity and the Arts program are facilitating dialogues between artists, psychoanalysts and the community; enhancing our understanding from psychoanalytic perspectives about the intrapsychic and interpersonal processes that make creativity and art possible, and developing new ways in which art can expand and deepen our understanding of psychoanalysis and enrich our practices and our lives.

For years the Theater Program offered post-show discussions after theater plays in the DC area. Psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and scholars from our center engaged in lively conversations with actors and actresses, directors, writers, and other members of their production team, and with the audience. We are now extending this program to all the arts, and transforming it into a more complex program that includes: post-show conversation panels after diverse artistic performances such as theater, music, dance, visual and plastic arts, film, poetry,  literature, culinary arts, martial arts, and other artistic manifestations; action seminars to discuss relevant psychoanalytic theories (related to these artistic fields and to the creative process) and to develop strategies for the program; planning and implementation of events; and fund raising.     

With this new program we hope to find multiple ways to contribute to the understanding and appreciation of art from psychoanalytic perspectives, and at the same time open ourselves to new ways in which art can expand our understanding of psychoanalysis and enrich our practices and our lives.  

Advisory Team:

Marshall Alcorn, PhD
Literature Advisor

Johanna Arenaza, Psy.D.
Dance Advisor

Bernard Arons, MD
Music Advisor 

Robert Fenton, M.S.W.
Theater Advisor

Joanne Gold, M.A., M.S.W., M.A.Ed.
Arts and Aesthetics Advisor

Silvana Kaufman, M.S.W.
Film Advisor

David Miller, M.D.
Visual Arts Advisor