Join Megan Kee and artist, Shanina Dionna for a conversation on reducing mental health stigma through art.
Shanina Dionna is an Oahu, Hawaii born and Greater Philadelphia based visual & performance artist, mental health advocate and non-profit youth arts educator. Since 2011, her works have built a platform raising mental health awareness through the annual "Embryo" art exhibition series. Her personal mental health and wellness journey through diagnoses, hospitalization, therapy and creative healing help inform her artwork.
Her stride in cultivating social change through the arts is strengthened by growing relationships with the wellness community including the Department of Behavioral Health & Intellectual disAbility Services, a local chapter for the National Alliance on Mental Illness and BeWell Philly. In 2016, she helped found "ARTbuds Philly," a free youth visual arts program, where she integrates expressive arts therapy into the curriculum - currently housed at the Urban Art Gallery in West Philadelphia. She is a recipient of The Dean Collection 20 Grant presented by Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys (2018) and in March 2020, Philadelphia Magazine declared her the "Philly Artist [who is] Creating a Positive Space for Mental Health Conversations." Shanina Dionna currently serves as a guest lecturer for Temple University's Urban Affairs course and is in pursuit of an expressive arts therapy certification in Sonoma, California.