Author: Sarah Filman, GPB Director of Programs

GPB and Linking Circles Academy Collaborate on Project TECI We love a good partnership. And we really love a partnership that puts play where it belongs, in a classroom. So when Linking Circles Academy came with a vision to transform how teachers in Nigeria show up for their diverse learners, we opened the door. Fewer than half of teachers in Nigeria do not receive any training on inclusive education, and there are a lot of learners with diverse learning needs and abilities. Founded by Elizabeth Adams, a brigadier, Linking Circles is an education-focused organization on a mission to improve learning outcomes in African schools through teacher development. They've already trained over 50 teachers through virtual and in-person workshops. Project TECI (The Equitable Classroom Initiative) is their boldest move yet, aimed at training and mentoring at least 1,000 primary and secondary school teachers to design and sustain inclusive, equitable, student-centred classrooms. It's ambitious. It's necessary. And it has GPB's name all over it. Inclusive classrooms need teachers who know how to meet a room full of different minds, different stories, and make every single one of them feel like they belong. And play is one of the most powerful tools for developing exactly that. That's why GPB is stepping in as a curriculum partner for Project TECI. Through our Educators Ensemble, we're bringing our play-based and experiential learning methodologies directly into the teacher training design. GPB will be providing play-based learning resources and frameworks to shape the TECI curriculum, offering advisory and technical input, and delivering a virtual training session for TECI facilitators on how to integrate play and performance-based approaches into their work. We'll also introduce GPB's work to the educators coming through the TECI programme — because once a teacher catches the play bug, there's no telling where it spreads. We're happy to be walking this road with Linking Circles Academy. We're bringing play into spaces where it has been absent for too long. And we can't wait to see the classrooms and the children that TECI helps transform. Let's play it forward!

Author: Janet Wootten, educator, developmentalist, and Creative Adviser to Lois Holzman, East Side Institute Open the Door to Global Community: On Enjoyment, Performance, and the Community We Build Together India has roughly 9,000 psychiatrists for a population of over a billion people — fewer than one per 100,000. Between 70 and 92% of people living with mental health conditions on the subcontinent receive no professional treatment. The gap between need and available care is not a policy failure at the margins; it is structural abandonment. People like psychologist Ishita Sanyal are creating revolutionary approaches to mental health using social therapeutic tools of play, performance, and group-building. The Turning Point Community, founded by Ishita Sanyal and working in partnership with the Global Play Brigade, is a powerful example of grassroots creativity flourishing in the face of profound institutional shortcomings. Over the past three years, their Open the Door initiative has evolved through this collaboration into a truly global developmental and cultural space. What began as a local effort now regularly brings together performers, audience members, family members, educators, artists, and community builders from multiple countries, creating new opportunities for specially abled performers in India to share their artistic work and developmental journeys with an international community. Propelled by the need to help her brother, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia as a young adult, Ishita organized the beginnings of a community program to help him. She enlisted the support of educators and clinicians and found the East Side Institute, where she studied the performance methodologies of social therapeutics. Over 30 years of campaigning across India to demand humane treatment for thousands of profoundly mentally ill that would otherwise languish in the streets, Ishita recruited academic, research, and public health allies. I recently attended an Open the Door event. On display for an enthusiastic Zoom and in-the-room audience were supporters of people with special abilities from different parts of India who took the stage that day. The audience itself reflected the evolving partnership between Turning Point and the Global Play Brigade. Participants from around the world were not simply observing performances but helping to create an environment in which performance, appreciation, and play could become developmental activities shared across cultures and continents. We witnessed a community of transformation , built from relationship, performance, play, and the radical insistence that everyone takes the stage that they themselves have built. Here was a community of people who were struggling with profound limitations, stretching, growing, singing, dancing, being appreciated, and bathing in the fun. The room was a love fest. There is much talk in developmental and mental health circles about inclusion, i.e., making room for those who've been left out, welcoming them in. It's a generous impulse. But it rests on an architecture built by and for others . The Turning Point community far transcends that architecture. Inclusion implies a center and a margin, a normative space and those who need to be managed into it. It’s built around creativity, play, the willingness to try something difficult in front of other people, and the irreplaceable experience of being seen when you do. When professional infrastructure is absent, what communities can build through art, performance, and sustained relational work is not a stop-gap, but its own form of wellness and development. One of the things that struck me most deeply was something one of the young performers, Omkar, shared. He said that for him, coming to enjoy performance is not natural or automatic. It's something that you have to grow into as you perform with and for others. For many of the Turning Point participants with disabilities, neurodivergence, or psychiatric diagnoses, performing in front of others is risky and bold. Omkar said, "We as performers," says Omkar, "can come to enjoy that we did it! We can appreciate our hard work and effort. But it’s not natural. It’s foreign; it’s not me.” Dr. Samip Sinchuri of Jadavpur University observed that the participants were performing a profound emotional and relational act — one in which the effort of every person on stage was appreciated. The community collectively appreciated in their laughter, shouts of affirmation, applause, and smiles of loving enjoyment. Enjoyment is development. It’s a developmental and relational achievement. The enjoyment is something experienced through the relationship with other performers, with oneself, and with the audience. And we, the audience (who were clearly enjoying ourselves !), were participants in the performers' capacity to enjoy themselves . The environment that was created was not judgmental or critical, but appreciative and collaborative. Turning Point’s deeply moving “zone of development” confronts us with assumptions most of us bring into the room; who counts as a performer? Who has the right to occupy a stage? Those assumptions are built upon a system of comparison and judgments. Judgments about performers with dyslexia? Maybe, but not left unchallenged. Matthew, performing from Nigeria, chanted and danced defiantly, "I write differently, but I think BOLD!" The stigmas never go away… But together, participants and audience members performed other than stigma. That doesn’t mean that the stigmas go away. Nobody at Open the Door was pretending that the world outside is kind, or that disability and difference are easily metabolized by a society that prefers its people legible and efficient. But together GPB participants and audience members, performers and appreciators performed other than stigma . Dr. Sinchuri noted that pretense and play make falling flat less catastrophic, and thus make performing for others within reach. The stakes are real but minimal. You can try, fall short, and try again. The magic, he said, is not in winning medals. It's in the activity of stepping out of saying "let me try." This spirit is also evident in GPB workshops such as Heart and Power , developed in partnership with Ishita Sanyal, in which participants explore the relationship between play, performance, and collective development. Rita Ezenwa Okoro, Executive Director Emeritus of the GPB, spoke to the way this work radiates outward. Turning Point isn't just performing for itself. It's demonstrating, publicly and joyfully, that a pro-health, pro-development, fully inclusive, cultural and artistic approach to mental health is not only possible– but alive and thriving in their community.

The Mental Health Ensemble is Back Picture this: a Zoom room where someone is being kept awake by a cat named Nico who apparently wants her playtime at 3 AM. Where strangers from Kenya, India, USA, Australia, and beyond are nodding along to each other's stories as if they've known each other for years. That was the latest GPB Mental Health Ensemble meet-and-greet. Last year, we launched a new ensemble, the Mental Health Ensemble. It’s a sort of incubator, as our Executive Director Emeritus Rita Ezenwa-Okoro describes it, "where people come together at the intersection of play and mental health, to see what we can co-create." The Ensemble has already begun to make its mark globally. Through collaborations with leaders such as Ishita Sanyal of Turning Point in India and Lambert Oigara in Kenya, Ensemble members have helped create developmental spaces where people are supported to perform beyond stigma, diagnosis, and isolation. The Ensemble's contribution to Open the Door, the annual celebration of specially abled performers co-hosted by Turning Point and GPB (read more about it below!), has helped bring a growing international audience into relationship with the creativity, courage, and artistry of participants across India. That same spirit informed Heart and Power, the GPB global playshop in which participants explored how play, performance, and collective activity can help people grow stronger together. In this way, the Mental Health Ensemble is helping to bring the world closer to wellness—not by offering a program to people, but by creating opportunities for people to create wellness together." And most recently, we have been gathering Brigadiers who want to explore some new ways of thinking about and playing with mental health and wellbeing. With Nico the cat and other humans around the world, we played games (of course) and also played with important questions, such as: What happens when children get to play in a center, and then go home to an environment where no one plays with them? How do we reach the parents, too? We explored this. Nobody had a full answer. That’s okay. We’re creating a space where the questions and concerns that people have can be shared and explored in some new ways.

GPB’s Pivot: Listening and Evolving The thing about play? It teaches us to pay attention. The kind of attention that makes you actually hear what someone is saying, feel the energy in the room, and respond to what's actually happening. At the beginning of the year, we mentioned that we are making a pivot. 106 countries, over 650 playshops, six years of building, a load of laughter, and we are at an exciting crossroad. Before anything else, we came back to the people who matter most: you. We asked a simple question: What has been most meaningful or distinctive about your experience with GPB? And you responded. The reflections that poured in were rich and honest. You spoke about connections across continents, you talked about the moment play cracked something open in you, and you reminded us that GPB feels like a homecoming. We read every word. And then, we got to work. A number of Brigadiers came together to go through the reflections. They dug for the essence of GPB. Creating our “unique selling proposition” (USP) as we step into this new chapter. It was, predictably, a very GPB kind of process: spirited, full of "yes, and" moments and the occasional productive argument. (We wouldn't have it any other way.) And that work is complete (for now)! What emerged from the process was a clear articulation of the opportunities for people to play across difference. At its core, GPB helps grassroots leaders amplify their impact by equipping them with the tools, community, and resources of a global play movement. People from across the world — separated by geography, culture, language, politics, religion, and ability — are brought together in well-designed, play-based experiences where connection becomes desirable. The invisible borders between them — fear, bias, assumption, and unfamiliarity — begin to dissolve through shared activity, laughter, and co-creation in real time. Play engages people at every level — in their bodies, their imaginations, and their instinct to connect — creating experiences that go beyond what conversation or analysis alone can reach. This leads to shifts in behaviour, perspective, and perception that do not stay in the session but follow participants into their work, families, and communities. People become more open, more responsive, and more capable of navigating difference. Grassroots leaders, educators, and practitioners carry this capacity back into their own communities, multiplying impact far beyond GPB’s direct reach. Over time, this contributes to a world where play is recognized and resourced as a serious tool for reducing inequality, building peace, and strengthening human connection across borders. Going forward, this “USP” becomes our theory of change and will be used to convey the message of how we do what we do at GPB to prospective partners and allies of our revolutionary work of play. Thank you for helping us discover, articulate, and strengthen the heart of GPB. Together, we're creating many streams of play – so we can make play mainstream. 

CHANGEMAKERS PLAYFEST 2025: Creating Power Through Play If there are two things that define Global Play Brigade, it’s this: First, we love to experiment. We breathe it, build with it, and follow through. GPB isn’t just curious; we are invested in the process and its lessons. Secondly, we love partnerships. Whenever we see an organization dreaming in the direction we dream, we run toward them joyfully, arms open, ready to build something bigger, wider, and wilder. These two parts of who we are collided beautifully at the Changemakers Playfest 2025. GPB featured on Day One of the Performing The World (PTW) 2025, titled: Meandering Through the Mess . It was a conference within a conference, a global playground nestled inside another. Woven into the PTW ecosystem, the energy was electric. GPB’s Executive Director, Rita Ezenwa-Okoro, opened the Changemakers Play Festival with words that set the tone. She spoke of faith and turning mess into message, how changemakers need to navigate complexities without succumbing to burnout, and how play offers a radical way to imagine new possibilities and create hope. Watch Rita’s speech here! One of the participants reflected: “Rita’s speech didn’t just inspire; it was tactile, lived, and actionable. Her words invited participants to sit with complexity without fear, to recognize that navigating mess isn’t chaos, it’s courage in motion.” One of the facilitators added: “Her remarks slowed everyone down, encouraging a collective meandering, turning abstract ideas into lived experience. The festival began not with instruction, but with invitation: to play, to explore, and to build together.” The Art of Connected Conversations playshop turned ordinary talk into bridges. Led by Cathy Salit (USA) and Kahlil Bagatsing (Philippines/USA), participants discovered that listening can be playful, bold, and transformative. “I never knew a conversation could feel like a bridge,” one participant reflected. Their conversations became a space for curiosity, care, and co-creation. Teamwork Makes the Dreamwork sparked laughter and delightful absurdity. Hikaru Hie (Japan), Yvette Alcott (Australia), and Toto Carandang (Philippines) invited participants into improvisational chaos. Everyone became experts at impossible tasks, discovering that teamwork thrives in trust, surprise, and shared play. Power Games in the Workplace / Los Juegos de Poder en Ambientes de Trabajo made invisible dynamics visible. Viviane Carrijo (Brazil), Jordan Hirsch (USA), and Carlos Gaviria (Colombia) guided participants through theater games exploring dominance, influence, and collaboration. One participant reflected, “I’ve been both the oppressor and the oppressed, and play can help us imagine new ways forward.” Power became something to explore, understand, and transform together. Connection and intimacy unfolded in unexpected ways. In one exercise, participants shared the (his)story of their names and responded to each other with curiosity and reflection. Strangers became collaborators within minutes. The festival showed that play isn’t just fun, it’s a strategy for building trust, creativity, and global community. Across continents and cultures, laughter, improvisation, and shared curiosity revealed our common humanity, while playful experimentation offered new ways to imagine, collaborate, and lead with care.

HEART & POWER: Bringing the World Closer to Wellness In a world where over 1 billion people are living with mental-health disorders and only one in five get the help they need, Global Play Brigadiers converged this past August at our Heart and Power Playshop to explore the question: How can we bring the world closer to wellness through play? Our carefully curated playshops included: In Embodied Empathy , people didn’t just talk about feelings; they moved them. One participant described the moment they felt another person’s sadness through a simple hand gesture, saying, “It was like my body understood before my mind did.” Guided by Christopher Ellinger (USA) and Jacek Kulkuk (Poland), the Zoom room softened. People softened. Empathy became physical. In What Is Wellness? , a big shift happened. Someone said, “I always thought wellness was personal, but now I see it’s something we build together.” With Lambert Oigara (Kenya), Jeff Gordon (Israel), Jenn Bullock (USA), and Muneeb ur Rehman (Pakistan), wellness became communal, a shared construction site where everyone created new tools. Imagine watching someone’s story turn into choreography; a literal dance of lived experience. Led by Ruben Reyes (Spain), Zara Barryte (USA), Sally Oimbo (Kenya), and Prudence Omale (Nigeria), Story-o-graphy gave participants a chance to see their stories move through another person’s body. It wasn’t just creative. It was healing. Rainbows of Emotions gave us the full colour spectrum of human feelings, from joy to grief to curiosity to frustration. It finally made sense that emotions aren’t good or bad… they’re information, one participant reflected. Steered by Ishita Sanyal (India), Manisita Khastagir (India), Rick Horner (USA), and Medhavi Parmar (India), people painted emotional rainbows with movement, sound, and imagination. Heart & Power didn’t end when Zoom closed. It ignited a new awareness that wellness isn’t a luxury, but a shared responsibility. People walked away with softer hearts, deeper breaths, and a renewed sense of connection across borders, cultures, and personal histories. It reminded us that play can be a global mental-health intervention. It can be one that honours the emotional, cultural, spiritual, and embodied realities. To every participant who danced, moved, cried, laughed, breathed, and played with us, we say THANK YOU. To our brilliant Playcilitators, thank you for guiding the world with courage and creativity. To our hosts, Rita Ezenwa-Okoro (Nigeria), Charly Ford (USA), Murray Dabby (USA), and Medhavi Parmar (India), your presence set the tone on both days. And to our indispensable tech team, you made HEART AND POWER come to life! Click to listen to the insightful musings on Heart & Power by Rita, our Executive Director! Click here to read the collaborative poem created by Heart & Power participants!

Heart and Power You can count on me in a more peaceful world, where collective power rises softly our heart, our strongest muscle, working our whole life. Playing is the outward evidence of wellness, listening to the rhythm of your heartbeat, because play heals. Try to have joy in life every day inhaling the wind, opening our lungs, laughing together. Sing, sing, sing reaching out to join our hands and hearts with courage and grace. Having heart is a meaningful start, so do your part together we co-create new possibilities for wellness in the world. Listening into creating responses, fly… Physical presence, or a respectful, trustful distance both create space for new possibilities. Play with our heart while empowering others with love, because we’re in it to win it, and the heart is a source of power. Flow freely in the world together we are powerful, together we heal. We dance our stories together, breaking vicious cycles together, with courage and kindness, we walk together. together we heal. Our heart rules our health and our evolution. Power comes from full hearts dancing together tender hearts, caring minds together we love and embrace differences with joy. (This poem was created from the chat comments of Heart and Power.)