2024 Celia Center Arts Festival
Our 4th Celia Center Arts Festival features the works of artists who use their creativity to express their experiences as individuals who were adopted and/or in foster care across many mediums. Entitled “Adopting Resilience, Fostering the Spirit of Creativity: The Voices of the Fostered and Adopted” the festival will feature stories and backgrounds of many, and seeks to bring together the voices that are often left out of the conversation on foster care and adoption. The Festival gives the Foster Care and Adopted a spotlight with the hopes of deepening the foster care and adoption conversation in Los Angeles and worldwide.
Art Exhibit
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2024
7:00pm – 9:30pm | Artist’s Opening Wine ReceptionMeet and greet with our featured artist, Jeff Forney, as well as enjoy fresh beverages, wine, hors d’oeuvres, poetry, musical performances, and a first glimpse at the exhibit!
Performances by:
Jenni Alpert
Amy Raasch
Roslin Real“Real Mother” Song performed from the Musical, For The Record by:
Jeanette Yoffe
Natasha NeeceThis special reception helps support the mission of Celia Center. We thank you for your support, always!
Join us in the EXHIBIT AREA
RSVP HERE
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2024
12:00pm – 8:00pm | Adopting Resilience, Fostering the Spirit of Creativity: The Voices of the Fostered and Adopted Exhibit
Jeff Forney “Innocent People Project”
Photography of Adoptees Nationwide
Los Angeles PremiereJoin us in the EXHIBIT AREA
Admission is FREE
Art Festival
Childrens’ & Teens Activities
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2024
10:00am – 11:00am | Free Yoga for the Healing Heart
11:30am – 1:30pm | Free Face Painting & Glitter Tattoo
11:30am – 12:00pm | Opening Ceremonies Storytelling with Raymond McDonald and Poetry with Viergela Horowitz
11:30am – 1:30pm | Jazwares Plushie and Book Giveaway – First come, first serve
11:30am – 12:30pm | Free Creative Awakening & Flow Fam Freestyle for Teens
1:00 – 4:00pm | Healing Arts Drum Making Workshop for Children in Foster Care and/or Adoption and their Families
Each child receives a drum making kit and learns how make their own drum by hand. They color it, decorate it, and learn how to use a drum for their healing journey. Join us in experiencing the power of social connection and being in community through the musical arts. You don’t want to miss this unique experience with your child!
Workshop led by Indigenous Healer and Musician Martin Espino.
Purchase Tickets HERE
Join us in the Yoffe Classroom
Healing Arts
Workshops
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2024
4:30-6:00pm | THE WORTH INSIDE ME For Adoptees and Foster Alumni
Immerse yourself in the expressive arts with the intent to empower and validate your experience through multiple mediums of expression. Paint, Collage, Clay, and Video. Led by Artist and Adoptee, Leigh Chapman.
Ages 18 and up.
Purchase Tickets HERE
Join us in the Yoffe Classroom
Healing Circle
Saturday, NOVEMBER 16, 2024
6:00-7:00pm | THE HEALING CIRCLE for all Members of the Adoption and Foster Care Constellation
A healing circle involves community. Connect with others within our community and connect with yourself. We all belong. Join us for deeper self awareness, relaxation, and cultivate your resilience. Led by Briana Spencer, Former Foster Youth.
Ages 16 & up.
Let’s grow and heal as a community.
Join us in the THEATRE
Admission is FREE
Films
Saturday, NOVEMBER 16, 2024
4:00pm | RECKONING WITH THE PRIMAL WOUND
This film is about reckoning with relinquishment trauma and the cultural phenomenon that is author Nancy Verrier’s landmark book The Primal Wound. It is the only film about this critical topic produced by an adoptee and first mother that features Verrier herself, psychologist Dr. David Brodzinsky and Dr. Amanda Baden.
This award-winning documentary has been deemed by child welfare workers, therapists, psychologists, and adoption professionals (including adoptees, natural mothers, and adoptive parents) the latest recommended resource for anyone interested in better understanding adopted individuals.
Post-viewing outcomes have ranged from unexpected apologies from family members and friends to healed relationships between adoptees and their adoptive and biological families. Most importantly, adoptees feel less alone. We hope that the film can influence positive legislative change in the future.
Ages 16 & up
7:00pm – 8:00pm | Free Creative Awakening & Flow Fam Freestyle for Ages 16+
8:00pm | SOMEBODY’S DAUGHTER FILM SCREENING
LOS ANGELES PREMIERE. After show Q&A with cast. Hosted by Brian StantonSOMEBODY’S DAUGHTER’ is a must see film full of beautiful individual performances which will make you laugh and cry – join Zara as she searches for the meaning of family and self!
Ages 18 & up
Featuring Author Zara Phillips and with music by the legendary Richard Thompson ‘Somebody’s Daughter’ is produced by Yvette Rowland & directed by Liam Galvin. Jess Conrad heads the cast which includes: Daniel Peacock, Forbes Masson, Claire Toeman, Susie Ann Watkins, Eric Roberts & many more.
Zara Phillips takes us on a personal journey filled with humour, honesty & truth in this moving film based on Zara’s best selling book & one woman show. Adopted as a baby in the 1960’s, touring the world as a vocalist in the 80’s and getting sober at 22, Zara searches for the truth about her personal history while being a mother & having 4 parents!
Event Organizers
Jeanette Yoffe
Organizer & Founder of Celia Center
Jeanette Yoffe M.A., M.F.T., is the Executive Director and Founder of Celia Center. Celia Center connects all those will lived experience by Foster Care and Adoption and all those who serve the community of Foster Care and Adoption in Los Angeles and beyond.
Before dedicating her life as an adoptions and foster care psychotherapist, Yoffe was a dancer and actress. Yoffe’s desire to become a therapist with a special focus on adopted and foster care issues derived from her own experience of being adopted and moving through the foster care system. And now, after founding Celia Center two years ago, Yoffe wants to merge her background in the arts with the mission of Celia Center.
In 2006 she won Los Angeles Foster Care Hero Award for her dedication to children and families in foster Care.
She has appeared on the OWN and TLC Network, as a Psychotherapist teaching about Adoption in the shows Raising Whitley and Long Lost Family. in 1999 she wrote a one-woman play about growing up in foster care and adoption called, “What’s Your Name, Who’s Your Daddy?” and was accepted into the Los Angeles Women’s Theater Festival.
She is also the clinical director and founder of Yoffe Therapy, more info at YoffeTherapy.com
Leigh Chapman
Curator
Leigh Chapman is an Artist and Therapeutic Educator, Event Curator, Illustrator, Author and Adoptee in Reunion and has created greeting cards, illustrated note cards and books. One of her books is about her North Country Childhood summers. It is a memoir that she published widely as a grant recipient in Potsdam throughout he arts council.
She also completed her teaching certification through SUNY Potsdam. Her books are and cards are available through her website heartfirstgreetings.com. She began creating her cards with the encouragement of her parents at Christmas when she was in the 1st grade. They bought all the materials and she wrote and illustrated and original one for each person on the list. By third grade she was exhibiting art with her mother at local County Fairs.
In college she graduated with a BFA from FIT in NYC and designed for Radio city and artist Peter Max Studio. She then created murals for 3 Borders Books stores and exhibited 2 more times with her mother as part of an independent art society. A North Country Winter horse drawn sled from a family photo was on display in her grandparents home, that she later repainted from her Mom’s art and is published on the pages of her Memoir. As a gift she bought her Mom a series of paint classes along with her and they both painted a tree in the forest, inspired by the beauty of the woods. Mother and daughter, artists, two peas in a pod.
Brian Stanton
Performing Arts Programming
Brian Stanton is honored to lead the performing arts programming at the Celia Center Arts Festival. Brian wrote the play BLANK had its World Premiere in Los Angeles, CA in April of 2010. The production has since visited Off Broadway New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, D.C., Vancouver, Dallas, Kansas City, Aspen, Orlando, and San Diego, garnering critical acclaim along the way. Among its accolades, BLANK received a “Best Solo Actor” award at the United Solo Theatre Festival in New York City and two StageSceneLA awards: “Outstanding Actor in a Solo Performance” for Stanton and “Outstanding Director of a Solo Performance” for McKerrin Kelly.
Stanton’s compelling performance and the powerful narrative of BLANK have been praised for their emotional depth and raw honesty. The production explores themes of identity and belonging, resonating deeply with audiences across diverse communities. BLANK and Stanton have been featured on NPR, ABC News, and The Kansas City Star, highlighting the significant impact of the show and its contribution to the arts.
In addition to his work in BLANK, Brian Stanton is a dedicated actor and playwright committed to telling stories that provoke thought and inspire change. His passion for the arts extends beyond the stage, as he actively engages in workshops and discussions that promote artistic expression and foster community connection. Stanton’s multifaceted career reflects his dedication to both his craft and his audience.
For more information on BLANK and Brian Stanton, visit: thebrianstanton.com.
Special Thanks To Our 2024 Event Partners & Sponsors
