ABOUT.
Molly W. Schenck is a multi-hyphenated artist and somatic practitioner whose work is rooted in a quest to understand humans. She is fascinated with human movement and what interrupts its full expression. This has guided the evolution of her studies and career.
She specializes in the intersection of creativity and trauma. She is the creator of Trauma-Informed Creative Practices and author of Trauma-Informed Teaching Practices for Dance Educators. Her writing on the arts has also been featured in HowlRound and Inside Higher Ed. She has presented workshops and trainings for individuals, organizations, and arts leaders on the intersection of trauma and creativity locally, nationally, and internationally. She has been interviewed about this work on the Smartistry and Femme On podcasts.
Most recently, her solo work as a performing and visual artist has been featured at the Art D’Core Gala, FOUND:RE Hotel, and Phoenix Center for the Arts. She was a recipient of the Arizona Commissions’ Research and Development Grant where she focused on blending dance and painting practices on canvas.
She worked in higher education as a professor and administrator in the arts for ten years. She taught in the fitness industry for twelve years. She earned a BA in Theater, an M. Ed. in Educational Psychology (student development theory), and an MFA in Dance (somatics). She is a NASM personal trainer, certified Trauma Support Specialist and Registered Somatic Movement Educator/Therapist with the International Somatic Movement Educators and Therapists Association.
She the Founder and Creative Producer of Grey Box Collective - an interdisciplinary, experimental, post-dramatic arts organization that produces projects around social and emotional wellbeing i.e. makes weird art about tough stuff. GBC is in its eighth year and has been supported by the City of Tempe, Scottsdale Arts, Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture, Arizona Commission on the Arts, and Arts at the Center Foundation at Mesa Arts Center.
