Samantha Williams-Gray

Professional Summary

Independent Artist and Body Wisdom Facilitator resolutely using artistic tools for individual and community healing, empowerment, and cultural restoration. My work weaves together Indigenous worldviews, somatic practices, and community-based collaboration to create safe spaces of belonging, creative expression and transformation. Skilled in developing and achieving impactful artistic expression through theatrical and educational workshops spotlighting the voice of youth. Experienced in cross-cultural facilitation, trauma-informed arts education, theater arts, and the development of programs and workshops that honor traditional knowledge through contemporary expression.

Core Competencies

• Expressive and somatic arts facilitation

• Theater arts training and direction

• Youth empowerment and expression

• Culturally responsive program design

• Embodied leadership and creative direction

• Community engagement and collaborative creation

• Indigenous and intercultural storytelling

• Research and needs assessment for arts programming

• Workshop and event development

• Trauma-informed and restorative practices

• Budgetary and administrative proficiency 

Professional Experience

Dell’Arte International

Arts in Corrections Teacher / Theater Program at Pelican Bay State Prison
January 2023 – Present | Blue Lake, California

• Co-develops and facilitates transformative theater programs for three Arts in Corrections classes within Pelican Bay State Prison, fostering rehabilitation through theater and expressive arts.

• Designs and delivers Trauma Informed Storytelling training and practices to participants of Arts in Corrections Theater Program.

• Fosters emotional regulation and compassion through psychoeducation and mindfulness practices.

Community Engagement Specialist / Body Holds Story & Winter Youth Workshop Series, Collaboration with Two Feathers Native American Youth
April 2021 – July 2021 & November 2021 - March 2022 | Blue Lake, California

• Collaborated with the Community Engagement Director and led workshops uplifting Indigenous youth perspectives within community arts education.

• Co-produced two stage performances showcasing the work of youth participants, which was open to the public. 

Guest Faculty / Indigenous Consulting
October 2021 – November 2024 | Blue Lake, California

• Designed and delivered Cultural Sensitivity, Diversity Training and Trauma Informed Storytelling practices for faculty, community partners, and students of Professional Training Program.

• Designed and facilitated a multiweek class for students of the Professional Training Program fostering personal somatic connection and community development.

Director
November 2021 – April 2024 & September 2022 - December 2022  | Blue Lake, California

• Co-directed Work is Ceremony, one of four short film projects of The Bartow Project.

• Directed choreography and storytelling movement of the film, Work is Ceremony.

• Co-directed and co-facilitated Nightlight, the collaboratively developed annual holiday show.

Wusatoumuduk “We Make It Burn” - Collaborative Project of Wiyot Tribe & North Coast Repertory Theater

Co-Director
May 2024 – June 2024 | Eureka, California

• Worked collaboratively with Wiyot Tribal and North Coast Repertory Theater leadership to authentically present Indigenous storytelling.

• Co-directed a multidisciplinary performance integrating Wiyot cultural narratives, puppetry, and animation.

• Facilitated community dialogues and post-performance discussions to deepen cultural understanding.

Playhouse Arts

Teaching Artist / Body Wisdom Facilitator
January 2023 – 2024 & March 2024 | Arcata, Hoopa, and Big Lagoon, California

• Designed and implemented theater-based learning experiences in local elementary schools through the Artist in Schools and Skue-Yech Son-ee-nah programs.

• Partnered with the Yurok Wellness Coalition, Yurok elders, and traditional Yurok storytellers to integrate Indigenous wellness into youth education.

• Lead teacher for teams of artists who interactively worked with elementary aged school children, whom learned traditional Yurok stories, created individual shadow puppets and storyline scenery, then worked together to create a community performance and dinner. 

• Designed and facilitated an expressive arts workshop for the Zero to Fierce Women’s Festival, Exploring Menopause through Expressive Arts, allowing women an opportunity to somatically and creatively explore what their menopause journey meant to them.

Training & Certifications

Trauma Research Foundation — Traumatic Stress Studies Certificate Program
In Progress | Virtual

The Embody Lab — Somatic EMDR
2025 Certified | Virtual

• Studied EMDR (Eye Movement and Desensitization Reprocessing) practice to repair psychological and physiological effects of trauma.

The Tamalpa Institute — Personal Embodiment of the Life/Art Process & Embodied Leadership
2019 – 2021 Certified | San Rafael, California & Virtual

• Studied the integration of movement, drawing, and performance for healing and transformation.

• Trained in the facilitation of the Tamalpa Life/Art Process for individual and group work.

Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) — 2016 | Eureka, CA
Mending Broken Hearts: Healing Unresolved Grief  — White Bison Facilitator Training — 2010 | Fortuna, CA

Education

Meridian University — M.A., Psychology
2017 – 2021 | Petaluma, California & Virtual

Humboldt State University — B.A., Native American Studies
2001 – 2005 | Arcata, California

Professional Memberships

• International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA)

• Society of Indian Psychologists (SIP)

Selected Areas of Impact

• Community Healing through Arts — Facilitating creative expression and restorative practices within correctional, Tribal, and educational settings.

• Indigenous Cultural Revitalization — Supporting community-led arts that uplift Native voices and storytelling.

• Arts Education Equity — Bringing accessible, culturally rooted arts programming to rural and underrepresented communities.

• Youth Support, Education, and Advocacy — Integrating professional experience of working with youth into artistic advocacy and training within the community.