Marina's NYATA Conference Experience

Hello Class,

We’re back from the NYATA conference and it’s great to process. Ting, Erin and I really can give varied opinions of the conference because we all have different interests and attended very different lectures. I was able to carve out my path of interests amidst a huge conference brochure. There was oh-so-much to take in. I ran into people in the field, which was nice (past supervisor, NYU art tx. alumni, etc.), and I made great connections from the USA and Europe.


To some extent if you wonder how it would be to go to the conference alone, I think it would be fine. You end up following your interests anyhow and meeting people along the way. It’s nice to have a friend there too. After the long day the three of us met to discuss and share. Ting attended a lot of Multicultural lectures, which was great for her future career possibly going back to practice art therapy in Taiwan. Erin was able to combine her current interests in starting up programs and education. I was happy to have a wide range of courses to attend so that I could really see and understand our field.

Some of the panels I attended: Art Critique, Essential Components on Doctoral Level Education, an Artist presentation, Neuroscience topics. Referenced topics were trauma and the left-right brain connection like Prof. Ani Buk referenced in her excellent weekend class.


Consider:
There is so much to attend. Being that it was my first time I might’ve overdone it. It was mostly lecture format, workshops cost extra so be prepared if you want to go the cheaper route. Your brain might want a vacation after the conference. Not that you can’t handle it, but it’s a lot of Art Therapy.

Pro’s:
~Being grateful for my Art Therapy at NYU education and for the Psychoanalytic frame of mind- reference vantage. Also, I believe my classmates can present at the conference, if moved to do so.

~It is great to connect the literature with actual people- I found I was drawn to great audience comments and came to realize they were for PhD and art therapist Paola Luzzatto who has a background in Philosophy and Comparative Religions.

~ I was happy with different panelists, especially Michael Franklin, MA, ATR-BC, who is the director of the Graduate Art Therapy Program at the Naropa University in Boulder Colorado. He gave a lecture on mirror neurons and studio work.

Frustration:
~I was disappointed in the 'Research in Art Therapy' panel and walked out. The guest lecturer was Bessel Van der Kolk, who was a great mediator. I was so frustrated that I brought it up in the ‘Governmental issues’ panel. Unbeknownst to me I was speaking to Cathy Malchiodi. From what I gather, in order to better the art therapy field we need the research being done by David Spiegel at Stanford University. My complaint was that I would have liked to hear from David Spiegel.


As for New Orleans, outside the NYATA Conference, I was happy to go to a Blues Festival when we were there. Happy to ride with Anderson Cooper’s very own driver through town, (by pure chance). Happy for the food! Happy to talk to people there because after all the conference was named ‘Rebuilding Communities’.

~Marina Masic