(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- Windows of Understanding, Rutgers University, and AARP New Jersey present a free workshop and seminar, Honoring our Differences in a Diverse and Changing World, led by internationally renowned diversity trainer Lee Mun Wah on Wednesday, February 6 from 6:00pm-9:00pm. This workshop-seminar is a part of the programming for the city-wide social justice public art project Windows of Understanding: We See Through Hate.
The workshop-seminar will take place at the Busch Student Center at Rutgers University. A reception for all participants will immediately follow the seminar. The workshop-seminar is free and open to the public. Reservations for this free event can be reserved online.
This dynamic three-hour workshop led by internationally renowned diversity trainer Lee Mun Wah — recommended for ages 16 and over— will engage participants in a rich intergenerational and intersectional dialogue about ageism, racism, LGBQ/Trans-issues, and other issues and challenges that are faced today in our communities, neighborhoods, institutions, schools, and sometimes even our homes. In a historical moment filled with ever painful inequalities and growing divisions, how we listen to one another, and how we see though hate and fear is of ever greater urgency. Together, workshop attendees will explore what it will take to walk across the room—what they can learn in that journey about themselves, and in the process, develop an authentic and meaningful understanding of others. Disrupting aging will also be addressed in the program as an integral part of the dialog.
Lee Mun Wah is an internationally renowned Chinese American documentary filmmaker, author, poet, Asian folkteller, educator, community therapist, and master diversity trainer. For more than 25 years he was a resource specialist and counselor in the San Francisco Unified School District. He later became a consultant to private schools, working with students that had severe learning and behavioral issues. Today, Lee Mun Wah is the Executive Director of Stirfry Seminars & Consulting, a diversity training company that provides educational tools and workshops on issues pertaining to cross-cultural communication and awareness, mindful facilitation, and conflict mediation techniques. Since its founding in 1994, StirFry Seminars & Consulting has revolutionized the field of diversity through its internationally acclaimed documentary films and seminars. Millions of viewers worldwide have seen The Color of Fear, as well as many of the other groundbreaking films produced and directed by Lee Mun Wah, In 1995, Oprah Winfrey produced a one-hour special on Lee Mun Wah’s life and the impact of The Color of Fear.
Windows of Understanding is a public art project envisioned to transform our “main street” spaces into literal windows of understanding; spaces in which the community can learn about the positive strides being made by local organizations around a wide array of social justice issues that don’t make daily headlines. Windows of Understanding is a creative, community-building response to the negativity and hate being perpetuated in today’s media landscape. Our belief is that through visual language, artists can communicate methods of understanding in powerful ways that cut across cultural boundaries. In this second iteration of the project, over 30 non-profit organizations have been paired with an artist facilitator to create an original work of art that answers the question: “How do we see through hate?” The Windows of Display artwork will be on display in venues throughout New Brunswick and Highland Park, NJ from January 21- February 28, 2019. Programming such as walking tours, “Tables of Understanding” events at local restaurants, poetry readings, performances, educational workshops, and film screenings complement the visual displays throughout the run.
The Workshop and Seminar with Lee Mun Wah is co-sponsored by AARP NJ and Rutgers University – New Brunswick, Division of Student Affairs.
