is an Emmy-award winning writer, a producer, and a Theater of the Oppressed trainer. She works with NGOs, government agencies, and community organizations in using in story-based strategies for mobilization, engagement, and education
In 2010 Kayhan won a New York Emmy award for best writing for We Are New York, a 9-episode broadcast TV drama used as an English language and civic engagement tool for immigrant New Yorkers. She created a linked, community-based conversation initiative that brought thousands of immigrants, throughout the five boroughs, together to practice English in volunteer-led conversation groups. She also created comic books based on the series which were translated into five languages and distributed in NYC public hospitals, courts, CBOs and local meeting places. In 2012-2013 Kayhan was a Fulbright-Nehru Senior Researcher in India working on her new play, Tree of Seeds. Her one-woman show, We've Come Undone toured nationally and internationally, telling stories of Arab, South Asian and Muslim-American women in the wake of 9/11. She has trained hundreds of groups in Theater of the Oppressed and participatory storytelling tools over the years, both nationally and overseas, in Afghanistan, India, and Iraq. Her published work includes Telling Stories to Change the World: Global Voices on the Power of Narrative to Build Community and Make Social Justice Claims (Routledge, 2008), and Culturally Relevant Arts Education for Social Justice: A Way Out of No Way. (Routledge, 2015). Kayhan was one of ten artists named as a White House Champion of Change for her art and storytelling work in 2016 by the Obama administration. Her website is www.artivista.org and her email is kayhan@artivista.org.
Photo: Jasmine Rashid
