Today we’d like to introduce you to Mimi Ferrie.
Hi Mimi, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I was born and raised in beautiful Colorado in a family of performing artists. Music, theater, visual art, and dance were the play of my childhood, setting me on a path to careers in performance and dance education.
With twenty years working in arts education, I’ve seen the positive impact of arts participation in child development, community building, and health. The field of arts in public health is expanding rapidly, and I wanted to be a part of it.
I founded my organization, Anima Arts, in 2022, bringing these passions together as an arts in health practitioner.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Early childhood art education, and the arts and education more broadly, are challenging fields because they are highly needed but are often undervalued.
So many incredible artists and educators dedicate their lives to helping others find awe, inspiration, connection, and belonging. They work tirelessly to do so with little recognition or structural support.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Anima Arts is a public health organization supporting the health and well-being of children and their families through creative movement and arts education. We partner with schools and community organizations throughout Colorado to facilitate art and health classes and events.
My professional values are rooted in honoring every child’s inherent worth, dignity, and gifts. They are guides for health, justice, and hope. When we create safe spaces for children to flourish, we lay the groundwork for compassionate worlds centered around well-being. Our earliest experiences, relationships, and environments impact the trajectory of our physical, mental, social, and spiritual health. In childhood, there is magic in experiencing the world through the lens of wonder, connection, and love. Creativity, movement, and play are the “work” of childhood and we strive to create the space for children to do this work.
As a new organization, our initial goals include creating more equitable access to nourishing movement and health education for children and their caregivers. In the long term, I hope to empower current and future generations to create cultures, policies, and practices for children, families, and caregivers to thrive.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I suspect folks might underestimate the layers of learning, and development within the lighthearted play of a child’s creative dance or art class.
Within the fun of these experiences, educators are very thoughtfully facilitating moments for emergent learning, problem-solving, empathy building, brain plasticity, and neural connections and overall health.
Contact Info:
- Website: animaarts.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/animaartsorg/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpGC_prTzwS-wOgDg849qqA
Image Credits
Grace Creative Studios, Heather Gray Photography, Drummond West, and Anima Arts
