Asmi International builds the resiliency of survivors in post-conflict and post-disaster communities by creating arts-based programs within existing local organizations. Our methods currently include theatre workshops and drama teacher training as well as other forms of self-expression and community-based psychosocial work.
By partnering with local organizations and providing free training and curricular support, Asmi International gives displaced individuals the opportunity to use education and art to move beyond trauma and fear, reclaim their personal identities, and transform their communities.
Azza Satti
Azza Satti is a freelance teaching artist and film curator. She graduated with a B.A. in Media Studies from Hunter College and an M.A. in Arts Politics from New York University. She has worked at Japan Society in NYC and Rashid Diab Arts Center in Sudan.
A Khartoum, Sudan native, Azza is deeply connected to Asmi’s mission. As part of the African Diaspora affected by post-colonial conflict, she was concerned by the wars and famines that took place in her home country. Azza believes that investing in arts and education in conflict regions will improve social, economical and political development there. She will be leading Asmi’s partnership with Al-Masheesh in 2011.
How do you think Asmi will change the world?
We can empower people to empower themselves. We provide the platform for young leaders to express themselves and become active and influential members of society.
What social issue are you most passionate about?
I want to change the way people view “The Other” and those on the peripheries. I want to tell their stories through film, theater and art, and start a dialogue that will help individuals and communities be better understood.
Why do you make time for Asmi?
I love our board members and I connect with them personally. The people involved in Asmi are charismatic and creative.
Christine Witmer Powers
Christine Witmer Powers joined the Asmi board in June 2010. She holds both a B.F.A in Drama and an M.A. in Performance Studies from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She began her exploration of the power of intercultural theater while performing in the NYU Mainstage Production of Death and the King’s Horsemen by Wole Soyinka. This transformative experience was the beginning of her journey to explore embodied performance techniques and their connection to empathy and community. Christine’s ongoing performance art piece, “The Borderline Project,” was presented at the Friedrich Petzel Gallery in New York City, and her first play, “Are We There Yet?” debuted at the Initiation International Film Festival in Singapore in 2007.
Christine became a rape crisis and domestic violence advocate in 2007. Her training and experience with victims of sexual assault in the Emergency Room provided her with new strategies for coping with and processing trauma. She is currently Asmi’s treasurer.
What surprises people most about you?
I’m an artist, but I also have a freelance book keeping business as my day job!
How does your volunteer life influence your artistic life?
My work as a rape crisis and domestic violence advocate has taught me a practical approach to dealing with trauma. As I suspected (and hoped), the training I received dealt heavily with narrative and empathy. As a bridge between my practical life and my artistic one, I began an exploration of a performance technique called Playback Theater. Actors improvise using stories volunteered by the audience and play them back on the spot.
Danielle Levanas
Danielle Levanas is co-founder of Asmi International. Originally from Santa Monica, California, Danielle graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2004 with a B.F.A. in Drama. She is currently attending the International Trauma Studies Program run by Jack Sauls, PhD at Columbia University. Danielle is a teaching artist for Opening Act, an organization that offers free theater programs to underserved NYC public schools, as well as a member of the Big Apple Playback Theater Company.
Danielle has participated in international volunteer activities in both Thailand and South Korea, but her interest in empowering victims of trauma in Africa began in 2006 while working in Ghana at a camp for Liberian refugees. She helped build and fundraise for LYDIA (Liberian Youth: Determination in Adversity), a refugee-run organization in Monrovia that provides arts programs to young adults. After recognizing LYDIA’s need for curricular support and teacher training, she gathered a group of diverse and inspired New Yorkers whose ideas grew into the organization Asmi.
What gets you up in the morning?
Coffee! That, and the fact that I love what I do and who I work with.
What’s your favorite Asmi moment?
I remember thinking, “Oh, this’ll be easy!” when the idea for Asmi came along. Prentice and I partnered up and he brought my attention to all of the legalities and paperwork we’d need to go through to form a legit organization. I haven’t stopped laughing at my naïveté since.
How are you personally connected to Asmi’s mission?
I’ve always identified with people who are on the fringe. I have also dealt with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Going through that type of trauma allowed me to see the benefit of community arts and theater on myself. I wanted to make that option for other people in the healing process.
Why do you make time for Asmi?
It’s what I do for fun in my free time!
Ildi Sebestyen
Ildi Sebestyen joined ASMI’s board in 2011 and serves as its event coordinator. Originally from Hungary, Ildi lived in both Barcelona and Copenhagen before moving to New York in 2009. She holds a masters degree in Biology from the University of Szeged, Hungary, where she first became involved in event planning for an international youth organization.
Ildi is currently involved in two other non-profits: RightRides, in NYC, which aims to prevent gender-based violence, and Mezitlab, a Hungarian non-profit that promotes better living conditions for HIV orphans in Malawi and Kenya.
Why did you get involved in ASMI?
ASMI is unique amongst the many non-profit organizations. No other looks to actively help post-disaster communities through reframing their emotional challenges.
Favourite ASMI moment?
When I helped organize my first ASMI event at the Gutter and saw so many people come to support us. It was great to see it all fall into place!
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
The opportunities and challenges that a new day can bring… and my husband’s persistency!
Jill Nawrocki
Jill Nawrocki joined the Asmi board in May 2010. She holds a B.A. from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where her coursework focused on Media’s role in the formation of cultural memory. After writing for a newspaper, a magazine and an online travel site, Jill joined the U.S. Peace Corps and spent two years in Namibia working as a community health volunteer. She developed and implemented after-school programming related to HIV/AIDS and life skills in conjunction with Namibia’s Ministry of Health.
Jill continues to write freelance, but her true passion is service. In addition to her work in Africa, Jill has volunteered with HIV positive men and women at Housing Works in New York City, abandoned youth in Mumbai, and inner-city adolescents as a part of Girls on the Run International. She was also involved in Post-Katrina building with Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans and is currently pursing a Masters in Social Work at Hunter College.
Why do you make time for Asmi?
Between work and school there aren’t many free hours, but I love being a part of an organization with such an incredible mission. It’s an honor to collaborate with a group of young people who are so passionate and really believe in the possibility of change.
What was your best volunteer experience?
Without a doubt, my two years of Peace Corps service. It opened my eyes not just to the world, but to myself as well.
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
The sunshine. I’m an early riser, and always have been. People are amazed to hear I’m up by 6 a.m.—even on the weekends!
Prentice Onayemi
Prentice Onayemi is co-founder and chair of Asmi International. The Chicago native holds a B.F.A. in drama from New York University, where he focused on applied theater and African Studies.
Prentice’s passion for Asmi’s mission arose during a 2006 trip to Ghana, where he witnessed art’s ability to change and empower a group of Liberian refugees first hand. Moved by this experience, Prentice committed to finding a better way to address the non-physiological needs of displaced people.
How did you get involved with Asmi?
I was touched by the plight of the Liberian refugees Danielle and I met while working in Ghana. Her passion for the cause pushed me over the edge. I stepped up because Danielle laid a solid foundation and I couldn’t help but support her efforts.
What’s your favorite Asmi moment?
Our first official board meeting was on Halloween. A few people showed up in costume. It was great to knock out business while folks were in full regalia.
What was your most memorable experience as a volunteer?
Finishing off 20 kitchens for the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development in the Bronx as a volunteer for Brooklyn Woods.
Why do you make time for Asmi?
I think Asmi stands to have a solid impact on our world. Also, it’s fun. And I’d rather spend my free time making things happen than twiddling my thumbs.
Sabrina Lau
Sabrina Lau is one of the original Asmi board members. She holds a B.Sc. in Environmental Science from the University of British Columbia, and a M.Sc. in Urban Planning from the University of Toronto. She currently works in community outreach and transportation planning in NYC.
The Vancouver native has always had a strong interest in global affairs – from participating in anti-logging campaigns as a child, to working with a worldwide research team on bioethanol policy as an adult. At Asmi, she played a key role in developing the logo, brand, and messaging platform and continues to oversee marketing materials and brand development. She also photographs Asmi’s events.
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
Literally, the cold wet nose of my cat in the small of my back.
What’s your most memorable volunteer experience?
I worked for Conservation Volunteers Australia at Uluru (Ayers Rock). I slept outdoors on an aboriginal reserve under the stars and saw rocks glow red with sunrises and sunsets. I learned about how the aboriginals glued rock to sticks by banging the crap out of dried plants and heating them in the fire. Amazing.
What’s your favorite Asmi moment?
There are so many! The launch party in December 2009 had such a good vibe. I pumped a keg of Brooklyn Lager in elbow-length gloves inside an awesome, vintage-y haberdashery in the Lower East Side while the first snow of the year fell outside.