We were lucky to catch up with Madison Girifalco recently and have shared our conversation below.

Madison, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Holding Space is the culmination of my personal journey through grief and loss, deeply influenced by my own experiences and the collective challenges of our time. The sudden loss of my father marked the beginning of a profound period of mourning, compounded by the deaths of friends, colleagues, and family members.

As I grappled with my grief, I became acutely aware of the societal taboo surrounding discussions of loss and the lack of spaces for communal healing. This awareness was further heightened by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the looming threat of climate change, and the upheaval of world events, which underscored the need for supportive environments to navigate collective trauma.

Inspired by these experiences, I started Holding Space as a movement to provide solace and connection to individuals navigating grief amidst the complexities of modern life. Holding Space uses immersive art to help communities confront their pain openly and find solidarity in shared experiences.

In a world that often demands we suppress our emotions, Holding Space offers a place where grief is not only acknowledged but embraced as a natural part of the human experience, an experience that includes sadness and pain but also joy and pride for the people and things we’ve loved and lost.

Through art, mindfulness, community, and a commitment to collective healing, Holding Space seeks to help us find ways to accept and cope with the harsh realities of life, and to celebrate and nurture the things that matter most to us.

Madison, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Originally form Delaware, I moved to LA about 10 years ago to pursue screenwriting, but I was disillusioned by the film industry while I was working as a development assistant. After that job I found myself working in the art department on set, in VR, as a graphic designer for a themed entertainment company, and eventually working as a puppet-builder, which is my job currently along with Holding Space.

I’ve always loved immersive art and puppetry because it provides people an opportunity to play around in a different version of reality. It is inherently playful and is sort of like Halloween, where you get to explore a part of yourself through a character or a setting.

Along with this, I have been interested in mindfulness and community building for as long as I can remember. Incorporating meditation and mindfulness with immersive art and puppetry gives people an opportunity to really let their minds free. It slows us down. There is not as much of an impulse to take a photo or rush through, because part of the experience is taking time to stop and focus on how we are doing internally.

Often times we collaborate with co-facilitators including therapists, community leaders, or people from healing modalities like sound healing. Which really enhances the experience and offers participants a really high quality experience. Hopefully we can continue this work with grieving communities, people who need mental health support, and people in helping professions who suffer a lot of trauma from the work they do (nurses, firemen, advocates, etc.).

I am most proud when certain individuals tell me that Holding Space allowed them to make space for how they are feeling, especially when they take that into their own lives and personal practice. Seeing and hearing how a transformative experience can occur when hey took the time to simply listen to their own hears and minds, as well as lending that listening to others is inspiring, and being able to provide a space like that is incredibly rewarding.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The driving force behind my creative journey is the belief in the power of art, mindfulness, and community to heal and connect us. My mission with Holding Space is to create environments where people feel seen, heard, and supported as they navigate the complexities of joy, grief, and loss, and to have a place to hold all of those things at once.

I aim to challenge societal taboos surrounding discussions of grief and provide a platform for individuals to express their emotions openly and authentically. Ultimately, my goal is to foster empathy, resilience, and compassion through immersive art experiences that touch the hearts and minds of those who participate.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I think we take for granted how much art impacts us. You’ll hear stories about a person who was considering suicide until they heard a certain song or watched a movie. Or stories of someone who never spoke in their lives speaking because of something like The Little Mermaid. This is the power of art. We’re forced to be concerned on “ROI”, but I think people forget that supporting people with their mental health and giving them opportunities to enjoy art can make people so much happier and productive. There are tons of studies that show people are happier when they feel supported by their companies. And feeling seen and supported is such a gift, I think investing in the arts, especially for workers and staff, may be one of the best investments we can make.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.holdingspacela.org & www.puppetsbymadison.com
• Instagram: @holdingspacela @mindovermadison
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madisongirifalco/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/mgirifalco?lang=en