Art2Be works creatively with low-income community groups who experience discrimination and social marginalization.  Our aim is to enable such groups to have a stronger voice and more visibility within their community.

Art2Be’s program cromprises:

• Research and development of creative approaches and tools for group work towards positive living and social change.
• Facilitation of Art2Be workshops which provide participants with a creative and safe space in which to remember, artistically explore and share their life experiences and future dreams.  The workshops build self-esteem and compassion for others as well as provide community groups with high-impact tools for community awareness campaigns.       
• Local and international exhibition of participants’ art work in order to challenge social myths and stereotypes and to promote the use of art for social transformation.

Art2Be is a collaborative project by visual artist Xavier Verhoest and movement psychotherapist Annette Schwalbe.

• Xavier Verhoest:

  Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo (ex Zaire) in 1964, he studied cinematography-editing in Belgium.

  In 1992, he joined the international medical organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) as a volunteer and worked in Burundi, Azerbadjian, Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Laos, Palestine and Kenya.

  In 2003, he decided to settle down in Nairobi where he works as an artist and a curator of Fine Art exhibitions in collaboration with Rahimtullah Museum of Modern Art (RaMoMA).

  He encountered Body Mapping for the first time in 2003 in Cape Town during an exhibition commemorating world Aids day, and decided to introduce Body Mapping to Kenya.  Since 2005 he has been collaborating with Annette Schwalbe in Art2Be.

   

• Annette Schwalbe:

  Born in Munich (Germany) in 1972.

  She graduated in French and Social Policy & Development Studies in the UK and went on to work in social development projects in Martinique and Mali.  Annette later trained as a Dance Movement Therapist at Laban Centre / City University London, UK. 

  She has been working as a movement psychotherapist (SRDMT) for the past 9 years in community and educational settings as well as in private practice in the UK, Pakistan, Uganda and Kenya.  Her approach combines creative and body/movement - centred methods in therapy with individual clients and groups such as homeless teenage mothers, victims of sexual and physical abuse, and people living with HIV/Aids.  For the past 2 years she has been collaborating with Xavier Verhoest in Art2Be.

  Annette lives with her husband and two children in Nairobi, Kenya.