ART + COLLECTIVE WELL-BEING: A Conversation on Why + How Creativity Heals

ART + COLLECTIVE WELL-BEING

Sunday, January 25th
11AM - 12:30PM
W San Francisco I 181 3rd Street
Great Room 1 I Level 3

Step into an inspiring afternoon at W San Francisco as we explore the powerful intersection of creativity, wellness, and community with this meaningful conversation.

As part of SF Art Week, a citywide celebration that unites museums, galleries, nonprofits, and creative spaces across the Bay Area to highlight San Francisco’s rich artistic landscape and strengthen connections among artists, collectors, and the public, Art + Collective Well-Being is a conversation that roots itself in the belief that art is a vital tool for collective healing.

Our panel, ART + COLLECTIVE WELL‑BEING is a conversation on Why + How Creativity Heals. The conversation will be guided by neuroscientist, choreographer, and mindfulness expert Dr. Nkechi Njaka. Together, we’ll explore how creative expression supports emotional regulation, mental clarity, and community connection—especially in moments of individual and social transformation.

This gathering is part of our Wellness Weekend, a two‑day journey designed to nurture mind, body, and creative spirit through movement, intention, and meaningful dialogue.

Spotlight on Our Nonprofit Partner: Creativity Explored

We are proud to uplift Creativity Explored, a San Francisco–based progressive art studio supporting more than 140 artists with developmental disabilities through opportunities to create, exhibit, and sell their work. Founded in 1983, the organization plays a vital role in shaping a more inclusive contemporary art world.

During SF Art Week, Creativity Explored will present its CE x Open Invitational Art Fair at the East Cut Pop‑Up (215 Fremont Street), showcasing artwork from progressive studios across the country. The fair expands the cultural dialogue around who is represented, collected, and celebrated in today’s art landscape and is free and open to the public.

We also invite guests to explore their Open Invitational gallery exhibition, highlighting neurodiverse artists and offering a rare opportunity to collect deeply expressive, one‑of‑a‑kind works that directly support artist empowerment.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Dr. Nkechi Deanna Njaka

Nkechi Deanna Njaka (she/her) is a practice-based researcher, neuroscientist, choreographer, leading mindfulness expert, and meditation guide whose interdisciplinary work intersects science, art, social and contemplative practice. She is the founder of The Compass, NDN lifestyle studio and the co-founder of DreamWell, a sleep app. As a 2021 Kennedy Center Artist in Residence and 2022 Garrison Institute Fellow, she also serves as an Advisor to Chorus Meditation, is faculty at Esalen, and is a lululemon ambassador for her leadership in mindfulness.

Nkechi has devoted her life to investigating the relationship between the brain and body, understanding their integration as a pathway to healing and liberation. She studied neuroscience and dance at Scripps College and completed an MSc in Neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Practice-based Research at Transart/Liverpool John Moore’s University. She self identifies as BIPOC/ WOC.

Through her research and practice, she affirms mindfulness and creativity as essential tools for sustaining individual and collective well-being. Nkechi is a sought-after, dynamic speaker and her expertise has been recognized by Google, goop, Salesforce, Black Girl in Om, Wanderlust, Calm, Apple, and Forbes, among others.

When not publicly speaking on mindfulness, guiding people in embodied or somatic practices, Nkechi is the co-host of the podcast Dating White and the other 1/2 of the music and mindfulness project RESONANCE.

w: www.nkechinjaka.com

ig: ndnlifestylist

PANELIST
Michelle Favin

Michelle Favin (b. 1989) is a mixed-race Korean American painter based in San Francisco. Guided by Buddhist principles and Korean shamanic traditions, her work explores the intersection of meditative practice and modern life. Through intuitive layers of natural pigments, oil, and ink, her paintings are an intimate record of this self-excavation — each mark a response to the push and pull between stillness and movement, presence and distraction, interconnection and individuation.

Drawing from her spiritual lineages in an increasingly fractured world, Favin's studio practice seeks to unearth inherited wisdom to help guide how to make a life feel whole. Her paintings emerge as sites of contemplation, where personal excavation reveals threads of collective resonance and collective questioning — how do we pause in the space between stimulus and response and what emerges when we do?

Favin holds an M.Ed. in Arts and Education from Harvard University and a B.A. in Sociology from New York University, which inform her view of artistic practice as a space to imagine and enact equitable futures. She has exhibited at Glass Rice in San Francisco and completed residencies at Project Zero at Harvard and PADA in Portugal. Her work is held in private collections worldwide.

PANELIST
Leia Layus

Leia Layus is a yoga teacher, integrative therapist, and contemplative artist whose work resides at the intersection of psychology, Eastern philosophy, somatic movement, and contemplative spirituality.

Blending Vinyasa, Hatha, and restorative SATYA Yoga with her love of poetry and East–West psychology, she creates classes and experiences that offer both grounding and subtle refinement. A longtime student of Tias and Surya Little of Prajna Yoga, Leia integrates ancient wisdom with modern science to support the intelligence of the subtle body. Her studies of Cha Dao—the Way of Tea—under WuDe of Global Tea Hut, along with her graduate training in Integral Counseling Psychology at CIIS, deepen her devotion to ritual, embodiment, and presence across all of her artistic and healing work offerings.

PANELIST
Dr. Sará Yafah King

Dr. Sará Yafah King is a neuroscientist, artist, political and learning scientist, education philosopher, social impact entrepreneur, and certified yoga and meditation teacher. She is also the CEO and Co-Founder of MindHeart AI, a liberatory technology company dedicated to advancing collective well-being, intergenerational and planetary healing by bridging the neuroscience of well-being and collective-healing with AI.

BOOK YOUR STAY AT W SAN FRANCISCO

Looking for the full staycation experience? Make sure to book your room at W San Francisco using this link for a VIP Discount & an extra special Wellness in-room amenity.

MORE INFORMATION FOR WELLNESS WEEKEND
*Click here for your All-Access Pass *

Join us at W San Francisco for a rejuvenating weekend of self-care and relaxation. Experience a variety of wellness activities, from yoga classes to meditation sessions, all designed to help you unwind and recharge. Connect with like-minded individuals and discover new ways to prioritize your well-being.

Over these transforming three days, we invite you to a sanctuary of energy, balance and elevated self-care while you explore local wellness offerings, movement classes, nourishing cuisine, and brands that inspire intentional living.

Don't miss out on this opportunity to treat yourself to a weekend of wellness!

TICKET INCLUSSIONS:
ALL-ACCESS PASS INCLUDES:

• Welcome Meditation with RESONANCE (Friday @6PM)
• Silent Disco by DJ Works Productions (Saturday @9PM)
• One mini-wellness treatment by The Nook. Your choice of reiki, accupuncture or facial. (Saturday Availability)
• Access to the Sunday Wellness Panel Discussion. (Sunday @11AM)
• Winter Sound Garden by the Sound Healing Project. (Sunday @5PM)
• Wellness classes throughout the weekend including dance, yoga, HIIT, Community Walks and more.
• One wellness brunch from TRACE Restaurant on either Saturday or Sunday. (open 7AM - 2PM)
• One mocktail of your choice from Living Room Bar.
• One Wellness Goodie Bag curated by local brands.

SCHEDULE OVERVIEW

Friday, January 23rd

6PM Evening Wellness Welcome with RESONANCE: Setting intentions for your wellness journey.

Saturday, January 24th

9AM - 5PM All-Day Body Activations: From sound baths, mini massage sessions to an epic silent disco. Let this be the beginning of your reset.

9PM - 12AM Silent Disco in Living Room Bar hosted by DJ Works Productions.

Sunday, January 25th

11AM - 12PM ART + COLLECTIVE WELL-BEING Panel Discussion moderated by neuroscientist, choreographer, leading mindfulness expert Dr. Nkechi Deanna Njaka, joined by Dr. Sará Yafah King, Michelle Favin and Leia Layus.

12:30PM - 4:30PM Wellness Pop-Up Market: A curated vendor fair where guests can discover their next favorite wellness brands in skincare, activewear, and everything in between.

5PM - 7PM Winter Sound Garden hosted by Erica Nguyen and the Sound Healing Project.

All Partner Details and Event Times Coming Soon