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The DB Approach, 2018 Baltimore Ave, Kansas City, MO (2026)

05/31/2024

Final session of Season 2! 🙌🏾

Centering the Margins: COALESCE
Wed., June 12
4-6 PM CT

04/05/2024

Creatives, join us this eclipse season for Centering the Margins: COMMUNICATING w/ special guest, Lydia Cheshewalla! 🙌🏾

Wed, April 17, 2-4 PM CT
Virtual & In-Person
Register @ tiny.cc/ctmseason2

Want to host a watch party?! 👀 Limited stipends for refreshments. Email [email protected]

This space is for & by BIPOC* creatives from AR, KS, MO, NE, OK, and TX. ✊🏾

* This includes Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, SWANA (SW Asian & North African), and mixed-race folks.

Lydia Cheshewalla is a transdisciplinary artist from Oklahoma, living and working in motion throughout the ecological landscape of the Great Plains. As an Osage woman, her work primarily focuses on community, emotional awareness, environmental justice, ephemerality, kinship, and art as healing action. She is currently working on becoming.

Diane Burkholder (she/her) is Black mixed-race, q***r equity consultant, and community organizer who considers herself Half Midwesterner / Half Californian. She is the founder of The DB Approach, providing anti-oppression and social justice facilitation, coaching, and training to NPOs, universities, arts organizations, and healthcare agencies. When not chasing sunsets, she lives under the rule of her cat, Rosa (Parks).

Desiree Kane (she/her) is a Miwok multimedia journalist and media producer. Lately, she can be found working to combat disinformation in the news. You can see lots of her documentary photography now in the New Mexico Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe, NM at the Beyond Standing Rock exhibit. She was with the Firestarter Films crew as an Associate Producer, Camera Operator, and Investigative Journalist on the feature-length documentary film Akicita: The Battle of Standing Rock, premiering at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Desiree builds Indigenous language immersion metaverses, organizes Missing Indigenous Sisters Tools Initiative (M.I.S.T.I.), and is on the board of Natives In Tech.

For ASL interpreters, please request by 4/12. 🙏🏾

Supported by:
More info @ bit.ly/maaablog

Final session of Season 2
COALESCE- June 12, 4-6 PM CT (Virtual)

03/06/2024

New date. Next Thursday!

Register @ tiny.cc/ctmseason2

Please join us on March 14th for our next Centering the Margins: SHAPING. We'll be exploring this theme and creating an even more interactive experience with opportunities to meet other Black & Brown artists and creatives from Nebraska down to Texas 🙌🏾

October's Centering the Margins event was as fascinating and engaging as it was wonderful. As we move into 2024, many of us are thinking about how our new year is shaping up to be; we are shaping our worlds; our worlds are shaping us...

Co-facilitated by Diane Burkholder (she/her) and Desiree Kane (she/they), the Centering the Margins series is entering into it's 2nd year of community-centric programming serving BIPOC arts professionals and emerging creatives in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.

ASL interpretation available with RSVP by March 11.

Supported by:
More info @ bit.ly/maaablog

Register for our upcoming sessions!
COMMUNICATING- April 17, 2-4 PM CT (Hybrid for KC folks)
COALESCE- June 12, 4-6 PM CT

03/04/2024

New date! Thursday, March 14
Register @ tiny.cc/ctmseason2

October's Centering the Margins event was as fascinating and engaging as it was wonderful. As we move into 2024, many of us are thinking about how our new year is shaping up to be; we are shaping our worlds; our worlds are shaping us...

Please join us on March 14th for our next Centering the Margins: SHAPING. We'll be exploring this theme and creating an even more interactive experience with opportunities to meet other Black & Brown artists and creatives in the Midwest.

Co-facilitated by Diane Burkholder (she/her) and Desiree Kane (she/they), the Centering the Margins series is entering into it's 2nd year of community-centric programming serving BIPOC arts professionals and emerging creatives in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.

ASL interpretation available with RSVP by March 11.

Supported by:
More info @ bit.ly/maaablog

Register for our upcoming sessions!

COMMUNICATING- Hybrid for KC folks
April 17, 2-4 PM CT

COALESCE
June 12, 4-6 PM CT

02/01/2024

Feb. 14, 2-4 PM CT
Register @ tiny.cc/ctmseason2

October's Centering the Margins event was as fascinating and engaging as it was wonderful. As we move into 2024, many of us are thinking about how our new year is shaping up to be; we are shaping our worlds; our worlds are shaping us...

Please join us on February 14th for our next Centering the Margins: SHAPING. We'll be exploring this theme and creating an even more interactive experience with opportunities to meet other Black & Brown artists and creatives in the Midwest.

Co-facilitated by Diane Burkholder (she/her) and Desiree Kane (she/they), the Centering the Margins series is entering into it's 2nd year of community-centric programming serving BIPOC arts professionals and emerging creatives in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.

ASL interpretation available with RSVP by Feb. 12.

Supported by:
More info @ bit.ly/maaablog

Register for our upcoming sessions!
COMMUNICATING- April 17, 2-4 PM CT
COALESCE- June 12, 4-6 PM CT

11/12/2023

Mostly due to limited capacity, I have used this platform to primarily share my public offerings. My personal life & sociopolitical commentaries are shared on my other platforms (with many public posts on FB). However, I've connected with many of you THROUGH my consulting work.

Today, I realized that I've been doing a disservice to my students, my clients who aren't connected to my personal pages, and other community members by NOT sharing more social justice info on here.

I've seen utter SILENCE from white & BIPOC-led orgs regarding the humanitarian crisis in P@lest!ne. I've witnessed the agony that my P@lest!nian folks have been enduring over the past month (and YEARS)- people who've had MY Black q***r back time & time again.

I've been deeply disappointed in many former clients who have been utterly silent about the ongoing gen0cide of P@lestnians paid for by OUR tax dollars, especially Jewish orgs that I ONLY worked with because they were willing to have the P@lest!nian convo, to combat white supremacy & zionism.

Talk is reeaal cheap when it's time to take a public stand. I know what it feels like to be ignored during times of crisis, in my personal life, and community-level activism, including a damned lawsuit.

Hell, I've even been pushed out of more than one org for doing the very thing I was brought in to do - speak truth to power & push for lSTRUCTURAL change. Gotta love misogynoir. 🙄

I will NOT be bullied into silence, and I hope those reading this find a bit more courage to publicly ACT.

~In Solidarity~
Diane Burkholder, The DB Approach

10/16/2023

Join us this Wednesday!

Centering the Margins: Show & Tell
Oct. 18, 2-4 PM CT

Tap into the power of connection and creativity in an intimate online forum for BIPOC* art professionals and emerging creatives in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.

*This includes folks who identify as Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Pacific Islander, SWANA (SW Asian & North African), Arab, Middle Eastern, and mixed-race

https://bit.ly/ctmshowandtell

Your cohosts:

Diane Burkholder (she/her) is Black mixed-race, q***r equity consultant, and community organizer who considers herself Half Midwesterner / Half Californian. She is the founder of The DB Approach, providing anti-oppression and social justice facilitation, coaching, and training to NPOs, universities, arts organizations, and healthcare facilities. Diane co-founded One-Struggle KC as well as the Missouri HIV Justice Coalition, which focuses on improving the state's HIV-criminalization laws. When not chasing sunsets, she lives under the rule of her cat, Rosa (Parks).

Desiree Kane (she/her) is a Miwok multimedia journalist and media producer. Lately, she can be found working to combat disinformation in the news. You can see lots of her documentary photography now in the New Mexico Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe, NM at the Beyond Standing Rock exhibit. She was with the Firestarter Films crew as an Associate Producer, Camera Operator, and Investigative Journalist on the feature-length documentary film Akicita: The Battle of Standing Rock, premiering at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Desiree builds Indigenous language immersion metaverses, organizes Missing Indigenous Sisters Tools Initiative (M.I.S.T.I.), and is on the board of Natives In Tech.

Register at:
https://bit.ly/ctmshowandtell

Produced in partnership with Mid-America Arts Alliance.

Check out M-AAA’s blog post about the series!
https://bit.ly/maaablog

Accessibility: The sessions will be held virtually on Zoom. Captioning and live transcripts are available during the sessions. There will be a 10-minute break. We will practice audio descriptions.

07/24/2023

Centering the Margins: Vision Session

Monday, Aug. 7 @ 2 PM CT

Help design Season 2, starting Fall '23! For Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas BIPOC art professionals and emerging creatives.

Join us in person or online
http://tiny.cc/ctmvisioning

This series aims to create an online space where BIPOC artists and creatives can connect with one another to share space and expand their support networks.

Co-hosts:
Diane Burkholder (she/her) is Black mixed-race, q***r equity consultant and community organizer, who considers herself Half Midwesterner / Half Californian. She is the founder of The DB Approach, providing anti-oppression and social justice facilitation, coaching, and training to NPOs, universities, arts organizations, and healthcare facilities. Diane co-founded One-Struggle KC, a Movement for Black Lives affiliated organization, as well as the Missouri HIV Justice Coalition, which focuses on improving the state's HIV-criminalization laws. When not chasing sunsets, she lives under the rule of her cat, Rosa (Parks).

Desiree Kane (she/her) is a Miwok multimedia journalist and media producer. Lately, she can be found working to combat disinformation in the news. You can see lots of her documentary photography now in the New Mexico Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe, NM at the Beyond Standing Rock exhibit. She was with the Firestarter Films crew as an Associate Producer, Camera Operator, and Investigative Journalist on the feature-length documentary film Akicita: The Battle of Standing Rock, premiering at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Desiree builds Indigenous language immersion metaverses, organizes Missing Indigenous Sisters Tools Initiative (M.I.S.T.I.), and is on the board of Natives In Tech.

This event is made possible with support from the Mid-America Arts Alliance.

03/14/2023

This Thursday!

Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas BIPOC artists and creatives are invited to join us for Centering the Margins: FLUIDITY on Thursday, March 16, 4-6 CT.

http://tiny.cc/dbapproachfluidity

Co-facilitated by Diane Burkholder (she/her) and Desiree Kane (she/they), this intimate online forum is for art professionals and creative emerging artists. We come together to learn about, share and celebrate movement art history and its contributions to contemporary art practice.

This is the 3rd event of its kind in the Centering the Margins series focusing on the experiences of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) artists in our own words. FLUIDITY’s focus will be on Social Movement Art history in a way that informs and grounds our own experiences in participating in the arts through many mediums.

There are so many Black and Brown peoples creating art across so many communities with little to no access to resources such as opportunities for making money off of our talents or being known outside of our local networks.

This series aims to create an online space where BIPOC artists and creatives can connect with one another and share space, expanding the support networks that can very difficult for artists to form in the face of a pandemic.

If you are unable to attend this session, you're welcome to join us at our upcoming discussions!

* April 6: Emergence - Regrowing & Renewing
Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMtc--gqD0qEtYb1ZfnK0G4K8ehTEty6hJY

* June 13: Groundswell - Synthesizing what we know
Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcodeCoqzooHt0XCThvGAg_FaOa_rdQLgzU

This event is made possible with support from the Mid-America Arts Alliance’s Artist Services program.

02/04/2023

Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas BIPOC artists and creatives are invited to join us for Centering the Margins: FLUIDITY on Thursday, Feb. 23, 4-6 CT.

http://tiny.cc/dbapproachfluidity

Co-facilitated by Diane Burkholder (she/her) and Desiree Kane (she/they), this intimate online forum is for art professionals and creative emerging artists. We come together to learn about, share and celebrate movement art history and its contributions to contemporary art practice.

This is the 3rd event of its kind in the Centering the Margins series focusing on the experiences of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) artists in our own words. FLUIDITY’s focus will be on Social Movement Art history in a way that informs and grounds our own experiences in participating in the arts through many mediums.

There are so many Black and Brown peoples creating art across so many communities with little to no access to resources such as opportunities for making money off of our talents or being known outside of our local networks.

This series aims to create an online space where BIPOC artists and creatives can connect with one another and share space, expanding the support networks that can very difficult for artists to form in the face of a pandemic.

This event is made possible with support from the Mid-America Arts Alliance’s Artist Services program which explores how to bridge gaps across regional and socio-economic divides by building community with the grassroots centered.

The DB Approach

05/31/2024

04/05/2024

03/06/2024

03/04/2024

02/01/2024

11/12/2023

10/16/2023

07/24/2023

03/14/2023

02/04/2023

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