Netherlands Expressive Arts Association - NEXAA

08/10/2026

https://www.centrumvoortransitie.nl/cursus/herfst-verwelkomen-20261003/

Autumn is one of the two transition seasons in the year: we are traveling from the pinnacle of light and abundance towards the darker, more meagre Wintertime. Various cultures handle this period in different ways, but all of them have used personal and community ritual as a key component of how we manage to face our fears and insecurities. In this half day workshop, geared towards mental health professionals and those on a well-trodden path of personal development, we will employ the age-old expressive arts techniques of symbolism, metaphor, mythology/storytelling, rhythm and voice, and expressive movement, to help us to navigate this path into the darkness with more ease, insight, and Grace. We will learn about and explore ways we can hold the fear that comes from change, uncertainty, and narratives that sometimes don’t tell the whole truth. And we will find how we can give shape and containment to the very real and sometimes overwhelming facts of loss, change, and grief that are a part of every human life. Autumn is the perfect moment for all of this!

No experience using the arts within a psychotherapy setting is required; you will be guided through the process by Suzan, who has more than 40 years experience guiding groups and individuals grappling with all things that being human entails: the good, the uncomfortable, the messy. All materials are provided except for a personal notebook or journal if you choose to use one (recommended). It does help to have some experience of introspection/self-reflection, and an openness to new things. The nature of this workshop as a combination training and framework for personal development makes it inappropriate for those who are in the midst of intense grief or metamorphosis, but is very suitable for clinicians who have clients who are in that process.

You can register here (text is in Dutch but the workshop is in English):

workshop zondag 01.11.2026 van 13 - 17 uur

25/06/2026

Still time to send me/us a message and claim your spot for this wonderful workshop on working with visual card systems in a phenomenological and intermodal way. It's DONATION based so no worries about affordability. Come and learn about all the healing and artful ways you can work with Tarot, Dixit and other visual card systems. You might even end up in the book I (Suzan Lemont) am writing on the topic (expansion of my Master's thesis).

Tarot, Dixit, Soul Cards and other visual card systems lend themselves beautiful...

03/06/2026

The first of 4 offerings in my temporary playspace is coming up in 10 days! This is part of NEXAA's ongoing series of experiential and training workshops.

For everyone who loves mythology, grounded personal development, storytelling, and artistic expression. This workshop was a big success at the IEATA conference last year.

For too long western mythology has focused mainly on the male hero, and his jour...

14/04/2026

"The monsters we will never encounter, if we do not carry them within our soul." — C.P. Cavafy

What if our internalized monsters aren't defects, but ensouled images with wisdom to share? They may be just adaptive strategies, brilliant survival tools that have become static burdens.

On the 3rd of May, we gather for a two-hour experiential journey to creatively dialogue with our internalized monsters. We’ll use repetitive cycles of dismantling to break down these giants and transform them from static threats into a dynamic teaching resource. The goal is to meet these inner figures not as enemies, but as sources of wisdom, helping us explore what we already know deep down.

Through a low skill-high sensitivity approach, we use:

🌿 Embodied Movement to find where distress lives.
🏺 Clay & Paint to give physical form and color to the internal monster.
✍️ Creative Writing to talk back and transform these burdens into resources.

Come with curiosity to see what ally awaits to emerge when we reclaim the radical right to define our experience in our own terms and create a somatic anchor of our own resilience. ⚓

📅 When: May 3rd, 11:00 - 13:00
📍 Where: Zeeburgerdijk 265, 1095 AC Amsterdam
🎟️ Sign up here:

Transforming through Systematic Deconstruction and Reconstruction Grounded in t...

20/03/2026

There is a specific, quiet power in the State of Suspension; the moment the tide is turning and the new landscape is being reshaped by the water. While today marks the Spring Equinox as the Sun crosses the celestial equator and aligns directly with the Earth, this Sunday we gather in its resonant wake. Our workshop, Not Here, Nor There, is an inquiry into this no man’s land and the aftermath of the shift. It is an opportunity to engage with sensory awareness, community connection, and the gifts of attention and creative play in a supportive environment.

The Space: 🌿 A themed 3.5 hour experiential journey.
🌿 A container for intermodal expression: poetry, creative writing, movement/dance, and collage-making.
🌿 Open to everyone (16+) navigating their own thresholds.

🗓 Sunday, March 22 | 10:00 – 13:30
📍Location: Common Ground, Zeeburgerdijk 265, 1095 AC Amsterdam
🔗Tickets here: https://clkr.me/ktxymn

10/03/2026

Tell me, she said:
What is the story you are telling?
What wild song is singing itself through you?

Listen:
In the silence between there is music;
In the spaces between there is story.

It is the song you are living now,
It is the story of the place where you are.
It contains the shapes of these old mountains,
The green of the rhododendron leaves.

It is happening right now in your breath,
In your heart beat still
Drumming the deeper rhythm
Beneath your cracking words.

It matters what you did this morning
And last Saturday night
And last year,
Not because you are important
But because you are in it
And it is still moving.
We are all in this story together.

Listen:
In the silence between there is music;
In the spaces between there is story.

Pay attention:
We are listening each other into being.

— Sally Atkins

On March 22, in the upcoming workshop Not Here, Nor There, we use the arts to navigate the "no man’s land" of change. By moving between poetry, movement, and visual art, we explore the neurological flexibility required to thrive in the intertidal landscapes of change.

🗓 Sunday, March 22 | 10:00 – 13:30 📍 https://surl.li/vanjep

03/03/2026

The Vernal Equinox approaches and Netherlands Expressive Arts Association dives into the realm of "the in-between" with an in person workshop at Common Ground in Amsterdam. Sunday, March 22 from 10:00-13:30. Join us for an interdisciplinary arts exploration of being in a state of suspension and tuning in to how we can better navigate this sometimes-difficult space. Get your ticket here:

Not Here, Nor There. Navigating the Spaces of In-Between - an expressive arts wo...

18/02/2026

Following on from our successful in person workshop this past Sunday, Netherlands Expressive Arts Association - NEXAA is excited to present our first online gathering for those who are scattered far and wide or could not join us in person. Same theme: Shaping the Landscapes of Belonging but now adapted to a screen format. Curious? We've made it very accessible! All proceeds help us to continue our offerings at such an accessible level, and to grow the community.
Tickets on sale now! https://hipsy.nl/event/188116-shaping-a-landscapes-of-belonging-online

p.s. It ill be recorded to access later if you can't make that time.
p.p.s. There is a handout coming soon with a list of materials and other information that will make participation more informative and enjoyable. This will only be sent out to registered participants though, so don't wait if you're interested. Join soon!

The March-June events will be up soon too so check out our Hipsy page and/or our website nexaa.org

Shaping the Landscapes of Belonging: an interdisciplinary expressive arts worksh...

12/02/2026

Irish poet and philosopher John O’Donohue tells us “The hunger to belong is at the heart of our nature. Cut off from others, we atrophy and turn in on ourselves. The sense of belonging is the natural balance of our lives.. Our hunger to belong is the longing to find a bridge across the distance from isolation to intimacy.”

In this 3-hour interdisciplinary expressive arts workshop we will explore through various forms of artistic expression what ‘belonging’ means to us as individuals, as part of the human collective and as a part of Nature. Using movement, voice, poetry, collaging, and storytelling we will move out of ‘thinking about’ and into ‘moving with, through, and in the world’.

The workshop is open to everyone 16+, regardless of artistic experience, gender, spirituality, sexual orientation, nationality or heritage. We work in a spirit of peace and non-violence, with acceptance and care for one another.

The Details: ✨ Sunday, Feb 15 | 10:00 - 13:00 📍
🔗 https://hipsy.nl/event/188112-workshop-shaping-the-landscapes-of-belonging

06/02/2026

Introducing Monthly Interdisciplinary Expressive Arts Gatherings!
The Netherlands Expressive Arts Association (NEXAA) team is excited to announce that in February we will begin offering a series of once a month community interdisciplinary expressive arts experiences.

Version 1 - happens around the middle of each month from February to June and will take place on Sundays from 10:00-13:00 in person at a physical location in an urban hub.

Version 2 will follow each in person gathering by around 10 days or so, and will take place on Wednesday evenings online through Zoom, from 20:00-22:00.

The themed 3 hour in person workshops will include brief-but-important explanations of the function/role of the arts in human development, followed by an experiential to demonstrate how to shift between the various arts modalities in order to stimulate the imagination and create better integration possibilities.

The online gatherings have the same theme as the Sunday gatherings but adapted to a shorter and on-screen format. The online gatherings will contain a longer learning or teaching component, and an abbreviated experiential. These gatherings will be recorded.

The first in person event is already coming up next week Sunday. Check it out!

Shaping the Landscapes of Belonging: an interdisciplinary expressive arts worksh...