How can Nonviolent Communication - a form of listening and speaking based on empathy and needs - help shape our work relationships and our work itself?
Our communication within teams, groups and collectives, with participants of projects or colleagues as well as ourselves is part of how we shape our work and often impacts what we arrive at in the end.
This workshop is an invitation to learn some basics of NVC based on situations and questions related to our work as art workers in any field or context.
We will look at:
NVC with ourselves as a means to gain clarity and develop self empathy.
NVC as a creative strategy for our work: Questions, intentions and needs as orientation within creative processes.
NVC to facilitate group processes and foster honest relationships.
NVC within participatory processes and projects: both in preparation processes and during active work with participants.
Your questions, experiences, situations …..
- Sat. 7.11. + Sun. 8.11.26 // 10 am - 4 pm
- Dock 11 EDEN, Breite Straße 43, Berlin Pankow
- You do not have to be working in a team or group in order to participate.
- Feel free to contact me if you are not sure if this course is for you!
- The workshop takes place with a minimum of three participants.
- Costs: Between 120-200€ based on what you can pay.
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Nonviolent Communication (NVC) based on Marshall Rosenberg’s work. The workshop also incorporates Social Sculpture practices from my master’s studies, as well as a critical engagement with NVC.
REGISTRATION: drain.sarah@gmail.com
Please register by: 3.11.2026
LANGUAGE: English with the possibility of translating parts and doing working groups in german.
Feedback from previous participants
This workshop was a turning point for me. It opened the gate to new ways of thinking, experiencing and responding. Sarah’s expertise in making everyone feel welcome, safe and valued was deeply inspiring. Her ability to guide people and empower them in their interactions, while sharing factual research was eye-opening. I left feeling a refreshed sense of self, empathy for myself and others and equipped with concrete tools to engage with challenging situations. Many years on, I continue to feel its effect in my life.
Esther, dancer and community facilitator, UK
Sarah supported me throughout a decision-making process. Through her systematic and clear approach, she helped me gain clarity and find my own position. She creates an open, non-judgmental space in which I have always felt safe and supported.
Cecilia, bookstore manager, DE
I also felt comfortable not wanting to say anything. People were able to be vulnerable and felt held and supported. They could simply be themselves.
Adrian, university-workshomanager photography, UK
About me:
Sarah Drain (sie/ihr)
I am a visual artist working in installation and sculpture as well as participatory projects. I am part of the group DA SIND WIR* who focus on the experience of FLINTA and queer persons in public space. Having worked in different contexts and groups as a self employed artist for the past 10 years, one of my questions has been how we work and communicate with each other. How can our working structures be nourishing and aligned with values rather than exhausting?
As a dramaturge I also have experience in the field of contemporary dance. I have been part of multiple theater productions. After completing my MA in Social Sculpture in Oxford I worked as part of the Social Sculpture Research Unit team at the university and gained valuable insight and experience in the teaching and tutorial methods developed by Shelley Sacks as well as facilitation and creative strategies.
With a background in psychology (BSc.) I am also a trainer of NVC (trained among others by Gabriele Seils and Tashy Endres). I have facilitated NVC and Social Sculpture Workshops at Oxford Brookes University, the Bristol Cable (Newspaper in Bristol) and for the Leitungsteam of Karneval der Kulturen, Berlin. I am part of an ongoing NVC supervision group.
I facilitate workshops on NVC open to everyone and especially for art workers. I also give workshops on shame, especially shame in the process of working together, for artists and groups working together based on shared values.
I live in Berlin with my partner and child.
sarahdrain.com
@sarahdrain_