Gibney Community works at the intersection of arts and social action.

Gibney Community works at the intersection of arts and social action. Community programs bring a range of social issues to the spotlight, with a focus on gender-based violence, activating the arts to address social action. We are committed to working directly with communities impacted by intimate partner violence, preventing gender-based violence, rigorous research, and advocacy through our programs:

Hands are for Holding®
Promoting Healthy Relationships through Dance

Move to Move Beyond
Healing through Movement

Research Study 
Investigating the Role of Movement in Addressing Trauma

Move to Move Beyond Storytellers 
Creating Connections through Performance

Gibney’s Community programming has received generous support from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the NYU Community Fund, and the Pierre & Tana Matisse Foundation.

A youth-centered program that uses dance to start conversations about healthy relationships.

Hands Are For Holding® is a youth-centered workshop series which uses dance and movement to engage in conversation about healthy relationships, bullying, equity, and choice in everyday interaction.

Developed in close partnership with Day One and the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic & Gender-Based Violence, Hands Are For Holding® has reached over 35,000 young people, across the nation, in the past six years. 

Movement workshops for survivors of gender-based violence and their families.

“Movement gives me wings and a sense of freedom.”

Workshop participant

Move to Move Beyond is an evidence-based program that offers the transformative power of movement to survivors of gender-based violence and their families.

Launched in 1999 in partnership with Sanctuary for Families, Move to Move Beyond provides an environment for positive physical expression and has vividly demonstrated that movement, physical awareness and creativity can play a remarkable role in healing trauma. The program has since expanded to include partners such as Safe Horizon, Barrier Free Living, Henry Street Settlement, Community Health Action of Staten Island among many other New York City organizations. 

Federally funded research project to investigate the impact of Move to Move Beyond workshops for survivors

In partnership with Teachers College, Columbia University and Sanctuary for Families, one of the country’s most prominent domestic violence organizations, Gibney is conducting a two-year research study funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund. This study aims to evaluate the effect of Gibney’s Move to Move Beyond program and looks at the impact of movement for those affected by intimate partner violence. Findings will be shared in the coming year. 

A performance series of original works based on lived experiences to promote advocacy, connection and awareness in the larger community

The Move to Move Beyond Storytellers offer performances that promote advocacy, connection, and awareness.

Gibney’s history with the Storytellers dates back to 2005. Through the Survivor Leadership program at our first partner organization, Sanctuary for Families, we connected with those who felt drawn to the power of expression and creation that movement offers. This planted the seeds for the Move to Move Beyond Storytellers. In 2019, the program was formalized and expanded thanks to support from Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.