Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts and MUSE Winston-Salem Announce Workshop with Civic Imagination Leader Michael Rohd

The Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts (Kenan Arts) and MUSE Winston-Salem (MUSEws) present nationally recognized theater-maker and civic imagination practitioner Michael Rohd leading "Building Trust, Imagining Futures," a three-day facilitation workshop for educators, artists, community leaders and others who guide groups in civic, organizational and creative settings.

Taking place May 27–29, 2026, at MUSEws’ newly renovated facility at 226 S. Liberty Street in downtown Winston-Salem, the workshop will explore curiosity, deep listening, boundary setting and strategies for navigating group dynamics and collaboration. Registration is now open here. 

Designed for individuals who facilitate, teach, lead, or guide groups across a range of contexts—including classrooms, arts organizations, public engagement initiatives, community meetings, and civic or organizational settings—the workshop invites participants from all sectors, both within Winston-Salem and beyond. The workshop will focus on curiosity, deep listening, boundary setting, the transformative power of understanding context and purpose, and specific strategies for navigating the challenges your participants will encounter within themselves, and with each other.

Rohd brings more than 35 years of experience as a theater-maker and facilitator, working nationally to support dialogue around complex public issues and to train municipal and nonprofit leaders in designing effective, inclusive engagement processes.

Rohd returns to Winston-Salem and Forsyth County following an impactful three-year collaboration on the One Nation/One Project’s Arts for EveryBody initiative with a local site team including Kenan Arts, the Arts County of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, United Health Centers, City of Winston-Salem Neighborhood Services, and Forsyth County Department of Health and Human Services. Arts for EveryBodyOne Nation/One Project was a national arts and health effort designed to activate the power of the arts to repair the social fabric and support community well-being.

“Many of the challenges facing our communities today require thoughtful, cross-sector solutions,” said Kevin Bitterman, Executive Director of the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts. “We’re honored to partner with MUSE Winston-Salem in welcoming Michael Rohd back to Winston-Salem—building on our previous work together—and to share tools that help artists, educators, and civic leaders create space for dialogue, trust, and collective imagination.”

Dr. Mike Wakeford, Executive Director of MUSE Winston-Salem and faculty member in the Division of Liberal Arts at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, emphasized the alignment between the two organizations. “There is a deep kinship between Rohd’s use of the arts to foster civic dialogue and MUSEws’ mission to build community through history and storytelling,” he said.

Registration for the workshop is $200, with participants responsible for travel and lodging. Lunch will be provided each day by the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts.

For more information about Michael Rohd, the workshop, and to register, visit here.

Michael Rohd

Michael Rohd is a theatre-maker, educator, facilitator, and process designer whose work bridges artmaking, civic practice, and public engagement. For more than 30 years, he has led cross-sector initiatives that bring cultural strategies to education, community planning, and public health, with a focus on advancing civic imagination and dialogue. 

He has trained K–12 educators nationwide in facilitation and classroom culture, and his book Theatre for Community, Conflict, and Dialogue has been widely used since 1999. In higher education, he has held tenured faculty positions at Northwestern University and Arizona State University, and currently serves as a Professor at the University of Montana, where he leads the Lab for Civic Imagination.

Rohd’s public health work began with founding Hope Is Vital in 1992 and has expanded to partnerships with national health institutions. From 2022 to 2025, he served as Civic Collaborations Director for One Nation/One Project, supporting arts-based initiatives in 18 U.S. communities. 

Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts (Kenan Arts)

Artists change the way we see the world. At the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts, we make space for that change to happen. From our home at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, we support artists, spark collaboration, and connect creative communities across the Southeast and beyond. For more than three decades, Kenan Arts has backed bold ideas, nurtured partnerships, and helped the arts thrive in times of challenge and transformation. By expanding pathways to creativity for artists, students, and communities, we continue that work with a clear vision for a world where artists are valued, and creativity is a driving force for change. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu/kenan.

MUSE Winston-Salem

MUSE Winston-Salem is a history museum for Winston-Salem and Forsyth County located at 226 S. Liberty Street in Winston-Salem, NC. Our mission is to connect, enrich and enlarge the community through history, storytelling and informed, balanced perspective that leads to acceptance, understanding and belonging. For more information, visit www.musews.org.

Contact Kenan Arts 

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