Overview
Schedule
Presenters
Sponsors
Overview
- April 26, 2025
- 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
- @ Saugatuck Center for the Arts
- Cost | $125
Join us for a full day of unique and immersive experiences highlighting the intersection of wellness and creativity.
Together, we’ll use curiosity to discover how creation is a form of self-care and art-making is inherently therapeutic. We want you to spend the day with us making, thinking, connecting, creating, and just… being. We invite you to the first biannual Curiosity in Action: a conference for doing.
What’s a “Conference for Doing?” Well, it’s exactly what it sounds like: taking the conference framework and making it actionable.
Part of our aim in building a “conference for doing” is to offer all participants the opportunity to “try on” the ideas that are being shared by our presenters, so the day will follow an adult learning model that incorporates three elements: information, practice, and reflection. Each session will include all three pieces and they will repeat in this pattern:
- INFORMATION – Encouraging, thoughtful, and creative ideas will be shared by dynamic presenters during the large group sessions
- PRACTICE – Immediately following each presentation, attendees will be invited to engage a personal practice that allows them to work with the content offered in the presentation. Prompts will be provided and attendees may engage them in any way that is most helpful to them – maybe you take a quick walk outdoors and think about the prompt, maybe you’d prefer to find a quiet place to be still, or maybe you borrow a friend for a brief chat.
- REFLECTION – All conference attendees will be divided into Reflection Groups that will gather after the brief “practice” time to continue their learning in community. Each reflection group will be facilitated by trained hosts that guide conversations and activities to help the group dig deeper into the “information” offered by the presenter(s).
While information is highly valuable, we all know that information alone is not enough. If it were, we could read a book on brain surgery and immediately build a career as a surgeon! Deep learning, however, takes lots of practice and is aided by community support and insights. That is the gift that all Curiosity in Action attendees can count on – the gift of space to move beyond the information into the kind of learning that creates meaningful change.
Schedule
9:00 AM | Check In Opens
This is YOUR day! We want to encourage you to make it what you want it to be, right from the very beginning.
Doors open at 9:00 AM and the SCA Team will be eager to greet you and check you in for a day of learning, connection and discovery!
“Slow Start” activities will be available in the SCA Lobby from 9:00-9:45 AM, for those that enjoy starting their mornings with some reflection or relational connections. Enjoy a cup of coffee and inspiring sounds from our Creative Fellow, flip through a book, doodle or wake up your body with some physical movement. (This is entirely optional!)
If you prefer to sleep in a bit later or use your morning time differently, we see you. Enjoy your morning however you like! We just ask that you visit the Check In table by 9:45 AM so that you don’t miss our opening session together.
10:00 AM | Welcome + Session 1
Can art and creativity create real change?
This is a question we have been asking directly and indirectly at the Saugatuck Center for the Arts (SCA) for the past 22 years. Our experience suggests that the answer is a robust and paint-splattered, “YES!” Recently, authors Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross published Your Brain on Art, a book that reveals there is also scientific evidence to support the claim that art and creative experiences change our brain chemistry and contribute to our wellbeing.
This is news that can bring new light into our educational settings, our workplaces, and can benefit all ages! The creative team at the SCA is excited to unpack it with you and wonder out loud about the ways each of us – even those that may shy away from identifying ourselves as artists – can pursue the changes we want to see in ourselves, in our work, and in the world around us by exploring creative practices.
12:00 - 1:00 PM | Lunch
Explore downtown Saugatuck’s exquisite restaurants for lunch – or add on a box lunch on site (ordering options to follow registration).
1:00 PM | Session 2
Physicians, musicians, and creators! Oh my!
We could not be more excited about the group of professionals from varying fields in healthcare and art that have been assembled for this compelling panel discussion. Conference attendees get to listen in as Dr. Laurie Birkholz, MD, NCMP, a healthcare provider in West Michigan, hosts a conversation with this dynamic group, exploring the ways that participation in the arts can influence social cohesion and wellbeing in our communities.
Questions from conference attendees will also be encouraged!
2:30 PM | Session 3: Keynote featuring Brad Montague
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In a world that often demands certainty and perfection, it’s easy to lose sight of the magic that comes with curiosity and exploration. In a divided world, it can also be easy to forget how creativity and compassion can bring people together. Join storyteller and artist Brad Montague for an inspiring and playful finale to the Curiosity in Action Conference.
Drawing from the themes of We hope you fail better. the collaborative gallery experience created with his wife Kristi Montague, this presentation is a heartfelt celebration of dreaming, doing, and daring. Through stories, humor, and practical insights, Brad will explore how wonder can lead to deeper connections, fresh ideas, and a more joyful way of being.
Discover ways to cultivate “cultures of care” where people feel seen, valued, and encouraged to grow. Whether you’re charting your own creative path, searching for meaning, or simply trying to navigate the unknown, this is for you.
For artists, educators, students, and everyone in between, this is your invitation to be inspired, equipped, and ready to approach life with wonder—and a lot more heart.”
4:00 PM | Finale
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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
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