Upcoming
I work to create a space that de-mechanizes the mind; a space where we can move from one identity to another and realize the full potential of becoming; a space where we emerge from our daily masks and shake loose the numbing fear of isolation; a space where we can reconnect the body and the imagination and breathe deeply into the trauma trapped in our hips; a space where we rehearse revolution, compromise, rage, tolerance, strength and vulnerability.
Creative Care is a practical guide for artists—especially those without formal training in creative arts therapies or psychosocial support—who wish to offer meaningful, art-based activities in humanitarian settings. From storytelling and theatre to drumming, circus, and song, the guide outlines how creative practices can support individuals and communities across all phases of humanitarian care: preparedness, response, and recovery.
Grounded in principles of safety, cultural humility, and collaboration, this resource offers step-by-step guidance on designing inclusive and ethical arts initiatives that foster resilience, social connection, and emotional wellbeing. It also complements existing frameworks for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) by recognizing the unique role artists can play in supporting care without replacing clinical professionals.
Inside the guide, readers will find six practical modules covering ethics, program design, facilitation, emotional care, self-care, and organizational support. It also features real-world case stories from diverse global contexts and offers tools for trauma-informed and community-centered creative engagement. This resource is designed for local artists supporting their own communities, visiting or international artists working in humanitarian settings, community organizations integrating the arts into psychosocial care, and humanitarian agencies partnering with artists to promote wellbeing in crisis-affected populations.
Led by Nisha Sajnani (NYU Steinhardt), Mauricio Salgado (NYU Tisch), and Julia Puebla Fortier, the research team consists of members from the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, Arts & Health South West (UK), Arts in Medicine Projects, First People’s Fund, Foundation for Arts & Health India, Ikiringo Africa Culture Hub, ImaginAction, Khon Kaen University, Kia Mau Festival, Lund University, Masar Theatre, Rooftop Theatre, Rwanda Cultural Heritage Academy, Waipapa Taumata.
Mauricio is an Associate Arts Professor in the department of Undergraduate Drama where he teaches Introduction to Theatre Studies, Climate Action and Research Theatre and the Cultivating Change Makers Lab. He has also co-taught Approaching Indigenous Theater through the works of Hanay Geiogamah, Tomson Highway, Spiderwoman Theater Company and Larissa Fasthorse. He co-created and co-teaches this course with Emily Preis.
Mauricio currently serves as the Director of Applied Theater where he oversees the Applied Theater Minor and he is the Interim Chair for the 2025-2026 Academic Year.
In the Spring of 2023, Mauricio curated the Festival of Voices for the Drama department. The Festival featured new works by the Verbatim Performance Lab; a collaboration between Kirya Traber and Alicia Morales; a workshop of DonkeySaddle Projects’ Yo Te Esperaba: A Crimmigration Story, and a workshop of a new piece by the Arts and Culture Branch of the Poor People’s Campaign about Movement Songbook.
artEquity offers training and consulting services to individuals and organizations on creating and sustaining a culture of equity and inclusion through the arts and culture. Training topics address structural and systemic issues of identity, power-sharing language and communication, team building, and strategies to initiate and normalize equity-based approaches in organizational and community culture.
Mauricio has been a core facilitator with artEquity since the summer of 2018. He has also been a contributor for the BIPOC Surviving Predominantly White Institutions Series. The Black, Indigenous, People of Color Surviving Predominantly White Institution Series is a multi-part webinar designed to share strategies for interfacing with white leadership; what to do when sh*t goes down; how to navigate white women and their tears; how to cultivate BIPOC solidarity; and how to know when it’s time to go.
Mauricio has also been a co-leader of artEquity’s Artist + Activist Community Fund. As a response to the pandemic and in collaboration with an angel donor, artEquity organized community-giving fund that supports the artEquity community and the communities they are supporting and organizing. Since its creation, AACF has supported 172 artEquity alums, representing all five National Facilitator cohorts, and 246 emergency funds, organizations and individuals recommended by artEquity alumni and staff, totaling over $890,000. To view the impact of the fund, check out this link: https://www.artequity.org/aacf-demographics.
Mauricio is now collaborating with Shaminda Amarakoon, Yale Faculty and Chair of the Technical Design and Production, to develop a faculty/administrator working group that encourages long term strategic planning and short term problem solving for those of us fostering belonging in academic arts programs.
For more information, check out www.artequity.org
