Make. Act. Resist.
Shalini Argawal & Ava Roy
Agrawal and Roy’s interdisciplinary studio considers the nuances of belonging and examines how identity, lived experience and environment create new understandings towards broader inclusion, diversity and community identity. Creative- and sensory-based translations of experiences act as conduits of somatic explorations that highlight a series of moments, memories and stories. Insight In Site explores how multiple disciplinary perspectives redefine possibilities of connection. Through narratives, sounds and textures, each podcast chapter activates sensory experiences that express personal interpretation of belonging.
→Shalini Agrawal is trained as an architect and has over 25 years of experience facilitating multi-disciplinary workshops between participants of all ages, races, ethnicities, and socio-economic statuses. She has dedicated her career to bringing diversity, inclusion and equity in design, art and architecture. Shalini is co-founder and co-director of Pathways to Equity, an online and in-person leadership experience that provides professional development to ensure architects, designers, planners and other professionals that influence the built environment understand what it means to design with, and not for, communities. She is founder and principal of Public Design for Equity, an equity-driven practice for equity-driven outcomes; and founder of and FIELD (Forum for Inclusive and Equitable Leadership Diversity) Design Network, which supports the next generation of women of color in architecture, design and planning. Shalini is on the board of Architects Designers and Planners for Social Responsibility, and Association for Community Design as their Director of Fellowship. She is Associate Professor in Critical Ethnic Studies, Interdisciplinary Design Studios and Decolonial School at California College of the Arts.
→Ava Roy is the Founding Artistic Director of We Players and is dedicated to transforming public spaces into realms of immersive theatre. Since 2008, she has pioneered unique partnerships with both the National Park Service and the California State Park system, creating large-scale performances at park sites throughout the Bay Area. Inspired and guided by Shakespeare since her teenage years, Ava has explored many characters from the canon including Juliet, Olivia, Henry V, Mercutio, Feste, Viola, Lady Macbeth, Cordelia, and Lear’s Fool. Her unique style of interactive, site-integrated performance aims to highlight the historical and natural treasures of the local landscape and encourage new ways of experiencing and appreciating these places. Her work is deeply inspired by the entrenched histories and energies of each site, as well as the natural environment. She strives to include site stakeholders as well as communities connected to the embedded themes of a place. Ava is an alumna of Stanford University where she earned her BA in a self-designed major: Ritual and Performance in Aesthetic Education, 2003. In addition to her performance work, Ava is a yoga teacher and sailor.
→Shalini Agrawal is trained as an architect and has over 25 years of experience facilitating multi-disciplinary workshops between participants of all ages, races, ethnicities, and socio-economic statuses. She has dedicated her career to bringing diversity, inclusion and equity in design, art and architecture. Shalini is co-founder and co-director of Pathways to Equity, an online and in-person leadership experience that provides professional development to ensure architects, designers, planners and other professionals that influence the built environment understand what it means to design with, and not for, communities. She is founder and principal of Public Design for Equity, an equity-driven practice for equity-driven outcomes; and founder of and FIELD (Forum for Inclusive and Equitable Leadership Diversity) Design Network, which supports the next generation of women of color in architecture, design and planning. Shalini is on the board of Architects Designers and Planners for Social Responsibility, and Association for Community Design as their Director of Fellowship. She is Associate Professor in Critical Ethnic Studies, Interdisciplinary Design Studios and Decolonial School at California College of the Arts.
→Ava Roy is the Founding Artistic Director of We Players and is dedicated to transforming public spaces into realms of immersive theatre. Since 2008, she has pioneered unique partnerships with both the National Park Service and the California State Park system, creating large-scale performances at park sites throughout the Bay Area. Inspired and guided by Shakespeare since her teenage years, Ava has explored many characters from the canon including Juliet, Olivia, Henry V, Mercutio, Feste, Viola, Lady Macbeth, Cordelia, and Lear’s Fool. Her unique style of interactive, site-integrated performance aims to highlight the historical and natural treasures of the local landscape and encourage new ways of experiencing and appreciating these places. Her work is deeply inspired by the entrenched histories and energies of each site, as well as the natural environment. She strives to include site stakeholders as well as communities connected to the embedded themes of a place. Ava is an alumna of Stanford University where she earned her BA in a self-designed major: Ritual and Performance in Aesthetic Education, 2003. In addition to her performance work, Ava is a yoga teacher and sailor.