In this workshop we’ll spend a couple hours working with the concept of scale. We live in an Information Age that demands our awareness of everything happening everywhere, all at once. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the vastness of the world and feel powerless, losing sight of what’s right in front of us.

So what happens if we shift perspective and zoom back in? Get local. Very local. Get small. We’ll take some time to practice zooming in with writing and drawing exercises. We’ll consider the small worlds all around us, in every little thing, and get comfortable with feeling small. We can’t possibly be responsible for the world; we can consider how to better engage with the smaller worlds all around us.

Come spend a couple hours with Daniel and Shayna exploring zooming in through writing and visual art. No previous writing or art experience is necessary. This workshop is process-oriented and fun for any level. Your facilitators are empathy-led educators focused on making a safe and inclusive working environment for everyone.

Your facilitators:

Daniel J. Cecil is a writer and teacher in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. His work has appeared in The Rumpus, The Heavy Feather Review, The LA Review of Books, Barrelhouse, Miracle Monocle, and The Stranger among other notable publications. His fiction has been nominated for a pushcart, was long listed for the Dzanc Fiction Prize, short-listed for the Yes Yes Books open reading period, and has received the support of several residencies. 

Daniel teaches travel writing and literature for Emerson College at their Limburg campus and is the founder of Honing House, an English-language, community-centered, and empathy-led educational resource that was built for writers all over the world.

Shayna Schapp is a queer Artist Educator based in Amsterdam. She has over 20 years experience working at the crossroads of creativity, pedagogy and social justice. Most notably, she spent 10 years as a core instructor with Interactive/Media/Design (I/M/D) at The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, and 6 years as the Community Art Developer for LEAD, an after-school arts program in Amsterdam.



Shayna’s artistic focus is photography and drawing. Her work has been in solo and group exhibitions in the USA, NL, and UK, is part of public and private collections, and has appeared in publications such as Versal Journal, Pigeonhole, and SMART Papers.