Created specifically for lifelong learners, whether you identify as an “artist” or not, Curiosity in Action offers eight hours of unique and immersive experiences centered around art and wellness. Together, guided by an extraordinary group of professional artists, musicians, and doctors, we’ll learn, explore, and help you rediscover your creative self.
Schedule
9:00 AM | Check In Opens
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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?
Presented by SCA Staff; Kristin Armstrong, Executive Director, Whitney Valentine, Director of Education + Exhibitions, and Maribeth Van Hecke, Producing Director of Theater + Performance
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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!
Panel discussion led by Dr. Laurie Birkholz, MD featuring John Pendleton, Elaine Sims, and Caila Conklin.
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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!
This session is sponsored by Corewell Health.
2:30 PM | Session 3: Keynote featuring Brad Montague
A Pep Talk for Wonderers and Wanderers
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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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About The Speakers
Kristin Armstrong
Kristin Armstrong is marking her 20th year as Executive Director at the Saugatuck Center for the Arts. She is passionate about building community, connecting people, and transforming lives through creativity and the arts. Kristin’s leadership and values are shaped by several decades of experience in non-profit management, fund development, board development, and team building. Her background includes higher education administration, social service nonprofit management, hospitality, and lots of writing along the way (including Michigan History Magazine, Lake Magazine, and more).
Kristin currently serves on the boards of the Saugatuck Douglas Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Lutheran Camp Association (Camp Arcadia), and is a member of the Saugatuck Douglas Rotary Club.
Whitney Valentine
Whitney Valentine is a curator and creative director with a background in education and art making. A dedicated listener, mentor, and mother of three, she has spent the past twelve years as the SCA’s Director of Education & Exhibitions, where she has ideated, curated, and collaborated with hundreds of teaching artists. Her work has brought to life interactive exhibitions, public art installations, and community-driven education programs.
A Saugatuck native and passionate advocate for arts education, Whitney forges partnerships to ensure local students have access to creative experiences that inspire self-expression. She believes in the power of creativity as a vital tool for connection and learning. When she’s not at the Art Center, you’ll find Whitney making what she fondly calls “creative messes,” exploring the outdoors with her active family, thrift shopping, or gleefully waving at strangers.
Maribeth Van Hecke
Maribeth Van Hecke is a producer and multidisciplinary creative with a background in writing and dance. She is a learner, adventurer and home chef. As the Producing Director of Theater and Performance at the SCA, she oversees the SCA theater company as well as all performers and technicians for concerts and special events. She is also active with Michigan Presenters Network, where she is currently serving the role of VP.
For her, the best part of her day is being able to collaborate with other artists, and she believes the best resource in art making is the space to be vulnerable and open to new ideas. For her, artful hospitality is about creating belonging, and it is the key to curating a space for art making. If she’s not at the SCA or on a trail towards the beach, you can find her at home in Holland.
Laurie Birkholz, MD
Dr. Laurie Birkholz is a board-certified Family Medicine physician and fellowship-trained Women’s Health Specialist. She believes in the importance of caring for the whole person through a holistic approach based in lifestyle medicine and prevention. Dr. Birkholz embraces the belief that knowledge is power and strives to educate and empower her patients to lead their healthiest and most fulfilling lives. She is committed to providing a safe space that offers compassionate, evidence-based medicine while promoting social tolerance and equality. All are welcome and celebrated in her practice.
She completed her medical degree at the Medical College of Wisconsin followed by residency and fellowship at St. Luke’s Hospital in Milwaukee and the Aurora Women’s Pavilion in West Allis, WI. In addition to her direct clinical role, Dr. Birkholz serves as the Associate Medical Director for Ms.Medicine, a national health care organization dedicated to advancing women’s health on a broader scale through innovation in care delivery models and consumer and clinician education.
John Pendleton
Originally from Grove Hill, Alabama, John Pendleton’s love for people, woodworking and flowers began with his innately creative parents. John learned the basics of design in his father’s woodshop and the power of imagination from his mother’s ability to craft at home, church, and the preschool she co-directed. This artistic heritage is his foundation for exploring what was once a seed – wood and flowers – and creating something new.
John was an overachiever and lover of academic excellence all throughout childhood but didn’t consider artistic expression as a vital part of his life until after he got married and began arranging flowers for his wife.
What started as a hobby has become a honed skill which has led him to be the founder and creative director of Planks & Pistils design studio. John’s work has been featured by Newfields: Indianapolis Museum of Art, Driehaus Museum, National Museum of Mexican Art, People Magazine, ABC7 Chicago, WGN, New City Design Magazine, and was was included in “125 Florists To Be Celebrated in 2022” by Florists’ Review Magazine. Aside from leading his design company, John has been building a more structured studio practice as he prepared for hid first-ever solo gallery show with us.
Elaine Sims
Elaine Sims is the Director of the Gifts of Art program at the University of Michigan, which brings the worlds of art and music to Michigan Medicine and has been designated a model program by the National Endowment of the Arts. Sims has been recognized as a pioneer and distinguished fellow in the field of arts and health. Sims was a founding member and past president of The Society for the Arts in Healthcare where she also served as a consultant in the field funded by an NEA Leadership Grant. Sims is also a founding member of the National Organization on Arts and Health. She served as president of the Arts in Healthcare Certification Commission and was a charter member of the Ann Arbor Public Arts Commission. An accidental artist, her work has appeared in the New Yorker magazine and museums around the world.
Caila Conklin
Caila Conklin, MT-BC (she/her/hers) is a board certified music therapist and interdisciplinary creative, passionate about the process of meeting people where they are. In her work as a music therapist, Caila strives to build adaptive music-based experiences through which people of all backgrounds, abilities, and life stages can thrive. Over the years of developing her style as a music therapist, Caila has honed her practice rooted in the belief that music holds power to unite and alchemize us.
After completing her undergraduate studies in Music Therapy and Psychology at Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI), Caila placed roots in Lansing where she has served as a music therapist in various community and healthcare-based organizations. Currently, she provides music therapy services for Corewell Health’s Cancer Care program at Lemmen Holton Cancer Pavilion in Grand Rapids and Corewell’s regional cancer centers throughout West Michigan. Outside of her work as a music therapist, Caila performs locally and is an active volunteer with various theatre organizations, as well as having served as a chorus member of Sistrum, Lansing’s Women’s Chorus.
Brad Montague
Brad Montague is a New York Times best-selling author and illustrator of books for kids and former kids. He is creator of the hit web series Kid President, the global movement Socktober, and Booked, a program bringing classrooms around the world together through literacy and creative writing. His commitment to childlike wonder and joyful rebellion has led to collaborations with The Disney Channel, Jim Henson Company, Magnolia Network, Hallmark, Rivian, Pokemon, and the United Nations. He lives in Tennessee with his wife and collaborator, Kristi Montague, and their two children.
Overview
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.
THANK YOU TO OUR CONFERENCE SPONSORS
THANK YOU TO OUR 2025 THRIVE SPONSOR
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