The Role of the Arts in Building and Nurturing Health Equity

Venue: Posner Center | Main Floor Commons

Join us for Health Equity in the Arts, led by André Carbonell of RedLine Contemporary Art Center, for a vibrant conversation about the powerful role of the arts in nurturing and sustaining healthy, connected communities.

Together, we’ll explore how creativity, culture and community engagement can contribute to improved public health and greater health equity. We’ll sharpen our skills and expand our knowledge by learning from a local leader and one another, to share ideas and explore opportunities to bring the arts more meaningfully into our communities. Meet our Speakers:

• André Carbonell, RedLine Contemporary Art Center
• Franklin Cruz, ELK Kids
• Marissa Morrow, Lighthouse Writers Workshop

Light snacks and beverages will be served. Posner Center has a parking lot behind their building, plus there is plenty of street parking, although everyone is encouraged to car pool. Attendees should enter through the front door of the Center, not through the door off the parking lot.

Meet the Speakers:

Andre Carbonell, Development Manager, Redline Contemporary Art Center

André Carbonell, B.K.A Hakeem Furious, is an international performance artist/writer, facilitating artist, and community organizer. Originally from Jacksonville, Florida, he’s developing his talents in the Rocky Mountains.

He graduated from a Southern performing arts high school as a theater major, and developed a knack for words as he got involved with the spoken word community established at Florida A&M University, an HBCU that cultivated his understanding, appreciation, and preservation of black culture and resilience.

Currently, he travels the country performing poetry & comedy, curating shows, and fundraising as development coordinator at RedLine Contemporary Art Center.

Franklin Cruz, Education Coordinator – Community Programs, ELK Kids

Franklin Cruz is a queer latin dancer, poet and environmental nerd born in Idaho, raised Texan and polished in Denver. Born from an immigrant family their work has placed them in science museums, as an emcee for dance & poetry competitions, conferences and environmental spaces. A Tedx Mile High performer and Nature of Cities residency his worked throughout the southwest, Peru, Puerto Rico for universities and environmental leadership camps. Their work encompasses self love, immigration, culture, conservation and more. Franklin always aims to address intersectional liberation, confronting our complicity to privilege and oppression and the lesson of specificity over simplicity.

Marissa Morrow, Community Engagement Program Manager, Lighthouse

Marissa Morrow (she/her/hers) joined Lighthouse as the Administrative Associate in 2021 and started as the Community Engagement Program Manager in August of 2022. Previously she worked as a legal advocate for victims of domestic violence in Colorado's 18th Judicial District. Marissa has a BA in human development with a minor in sociology from MSU Denver. With a steadfast passion for poetry, literature, and social justice, she has always found joy and freedom in the literary arts. Her poetry has been featured in Denverse magazine and at the Reading Den series. When she is not working, you can find Marissa doing street/portrait photography or re-watching comfort shows at home with her husband, Austin, and two cats, Rayland and Billie.