6:30 PM // Pre-Show Discussion in North Alcove – Second Floor
7:30 PM // Performance of Millions
Please join us for a special community conversation around Millions, moderated by John Lysaker, Director of Emory Center for Ethics, with a panel featuring Jennie Lobato and Patsy Garrett Townsend. Using Millions as its foundation, this will be a community leaders engage in a discussion relating to the musical's themes and main idea of the power we have to affect change in our community. The organizations represented will speak to their work directly impacting this change and what other organizations and individuals can do to apply change in ways that are relevant and connective to them.
Community conversations are free for ticket holders. No RSVP required.
BIOS
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Jennie Lobato is the founder and CEO of drawchange. Established in 2009, drawchange is an Atlanta-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit with the mission of empowering unhoused and impoverished children through art therapy-based programming. Our programs instill essential coping skills such as Self Esteem, Imagination, Collaboration, Empowerment, Dream Building, Creation, and Stress Relief. Since our founding, drawchange has served over 16,000 children across Atlanta and beyond. Partnering with homeless shelters and community centers, drawchange has supported the mental health needs of unhoused children for 16 years and counting. Our impact has also grown beyond Georgia through our “Art Beyond Borders” program, which implements our unique curriculum and training materials to guide anyone in establishing a drawchange program anywhere in the world. This program now serves children in Florida, the AZ/MX border, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and Ethiopia. Our home office and the bulk of our direct service programs remain in Atlanta. In 2019, we launched drawchange Art & Percussion Camp. This unique summer camp implements our art therapy-based curriculum along with enrichment activities such as music and percussion exercises, team-building games, and intentional activities designed to promote self-esteem and a sense of community. We offer full tuition scholarships, transportation, and meals for all participating children, providing summer childcare for under-resourced working families along with access to therapeutic programming. At drawchange, we remain deeply committed to creating spaces where every child, regardless of circumstance, can heal, dream, and build a stronger future through the transformative power of art. Visit drawchange.org to learn more or visit us at "drawchange" on all social media outlets! |
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John Lysaker is the William R. Kenan University Professor at Emory University and Director of its Center for Ethics. Educated at Kenyon College and Vanderbilt University, he also has taught at the University of Oregon. His central interest remains the good life writ large and various phenomena that enable and/or frustrate its emergence, including the nature and import of art, serious mental illness, and friendship. Because ethical life courses through a wide field of usages and images, his work engages historical texts as well as contemporary philosophers alongside and in dialogue with poets, songwriters, musicians, and painters. |
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Patsy Garrett Townsend is a Board member for the non-profit Atlanta organization, Most Valuable Kids. An Atlanta-native, she has been involved with nonprofits from a very young age. She started amping up her volunteering efforts with United Way of Greater Atlanta back in 2011 and has since served on multiple boards centered around the arts, education, and community outreach. Outside her volunteer work, she is the Vice President & Senior Financial Advisor for The Garrett Group at Merrill, where she works with families to help simplify their financial lives, and allow them to focus on what’s most important to them. Patsy currently lives in Cobb County, with her husband Danny and their dog, Hattie. |
