Cara Hagan, Founder and Workshop Facilitator
(BFA UNC School of the Arts, MFA Goddard College)
Cara Hagan is a professional artist of many genres, including dance, music, storytelling, film and community engaged arts. She believes in the power of art to provide safe space for dialogue and healing, to connect people of diverse backgrounds and initiate change in communities and society at large. Through The Wedding Dress Project, Cara has the opportunity to address the societal conditions that perpetuate violence and discrimination and assist those who are victims, as well as those who would be described as abusers. For this, she is very grateful. Cara believes that when one person is hurt through the actions of another, physical or emotional, we are all affected. Through the Wedding Dress Project Cara has worked with a broad range of local community partners including Family Services of the Piedmont, Family Services of Winston Salem, Bethesda Shelter for the Homeless, Guilford County Parks and Recreation, Salem College, High Point University, Authoring Action, First Friday Art Walk, Smart Girls Leadership Academy, among others. Cara also travels nationally for The Wedding Dress Project.
As an independent artist and university educator, Cara has had the privilege of sharing her work across the United States and abroad. Recent awards include a 2009 NC Dance Alliance Fellowship Award, a 2010 Best Short Film Award from the Indie Grits Film Festival, a 2010 Best Dance For Camera Award at the Foursite Film Festival and a 2011 Graduate Scholar Award from the 6th Annual Arts in Society Conference in Berlin, Germany. At High Point University, Cara has received a 2012 Cultural Enrichment Grant for the staging of her most recent dance theatre work, "Eve at the River," a work that depicts concepts of women's work and female relationships through original music, dance and stories. She is also the recipient of a 2012 Silvershein/Gutenstein Family Service Learning Grant for her development of a community engaged arts class where students have the opportunity to explore how the arts can enrich the lives of very young people in low income communities. Cara is currently on faculty at Appalachian State University in the Department of Theatre and Dance.
(BFA UNC School of the Arts, MFA Goddard College)
Cara Hagan is a professional artist of many genres, including dance, music, storytelling, film and community engaged arts. She believes in the power of art to provide safe space for dialogue and healing, to connect people of diverse backgrounds and initiate change in communities and society at large. Through The Wedding Dress Project, Cara has the opportunity to address the societal conditions that perpetuate violence and discrimination and assist those who are victims, as well as those who would be described as abusers. For this, she is very grateful. Cara believes that when one person is hurt through the actions of another, physical or emotional, we are all affected. Through the Wedding Dress Project Cara has worked with a broad range of local community partners including Family Services of the Piedmont, Family Services of Winston Salem, Bethesda Shelter for the Homeless, Guilford County Parks and Recreation, Salem College, High Point University, Authoring Action, First Friday Art Walk, Smart Girls Leadership Academy, among others. Cara also travels nationally for The Wedding Dress Project.
As an independent artist and university educator, Cara has had the privilege of sharing her work across the United States and abroad. Recent awards include a 2009 NC Dance Alliance Fellowship Award, a 2010 Best Short Film Award from the Indie Grits Film Festival, a 2010 Best Dance For Camera Award at the Foursite Film Festival and a 2011 Graduate Scholar Award from the 6th Annual Arts in Society Conference in Berlin, Germany. At High Point University, Cara has received a 2012 Cultural Enrichment Grant for the staging of her most recent dance theatre work, "Eve at the River," a work that depicts concepts of women's work and female relationships through original music, dance and stories. She is also the recipient of a 2012 Silvershein/Gutenstein Family Service Learning Grant for her development of a community engaged arts class where students have the opportunity to explore how the arts can enrich the lives of very young people in low income communities. Cara is currently on faculty at Appalachian State University in the Department of Theatre and Dance.