Access to World Art Therapy Conference 2023

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World
ART THERAPY
Conference
2023


The free conference ended. Thanks to the unwavering support and warmth of our amazing community, we are thrilled to confirm that we will be returning next year with the same format. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all of you for making this conference an incredible success.

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Getting together art therapists and expressive arts therapists worldwide

This project is born from the organizers' dream to discover what art therapists do in their parts of the globe. During the pandemic, we realized how much we were working in clusters without a solid connection to theory and practice in other countries. This conference, the first in a series, is a soul project and wants to allow sound and innovative ideas in art therapy worldwide to be heard by as many art therapists as possible.

The conference has three sections that will treat different aspects of art therapy. The presentations will focus on benefits, approaches, methods, and interventions in trauma work, restoring well-being, and promoting social justice and inclusiveness in community work. We strive to keep this conference accessible to everyone having internet access. Therefore, this will be a free event during the conference dates (and paid for those who want to have the videos available for one year and to watch them at their own pace). We are glad to partner for this free event with Concordia University Art Hives and engAGE Living Lab, Montreal, Canada.
Section 1

Creative Approaches for Trauma
February 4-5, 2023

Speakers

Cathy Malchiodi
PhD, LPCC, LPAT, ATR-BC, REAT, expressive arts therapist
For the last three decades, Cathy has worked with traumatized children, adolescents, adults, and families, expanding the range of understanding of non-verbal, sensory-based concepts and methods...

TRAUMA AND EXPRESSIVE ARTS THERAPY: RESTORING THE SELF THROUGH MULTIPLE SENSES

Carmen Richardson
MSW, RSW, RCAT, REAT, social worker and art therapist
Founder and director of the Prairie Institute of Expressive Arts Therapy, she is an Advanced Certified Trauma Practitioner with the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children offering training both nationally and internationally...

EXPRESSIVE ARTS THERAPY FOR TRAUMATIZED CHILDREN & ADOLESCENTS:
THE FOUR-PHASE MODEL

Cornelia Elbrecht
MA (Art Ed), AThR; SEP, art therapist
Art therapist with over 40 years of experience. She is a renowned author, educator, and the Founder and Director of the Institute for Sensorimotor Art Therapy. Trainer and Professional Member ANZACATA...

SENSORIMOTOR® ART THERAPY: THEORY AND PRACTICE

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Juliet L. King
MA, (PhDc), ATR-BC, LPC, LMHC, art therapist
Associate Professor of Art Therapy at George Washington University and Adjunct Associate Professor of Neurology at the Indiana University School of Medicine, she has over two decades of experience as a clinician and educator...

BY THE PEOPLE & FOR THE PEOPLE: NEUROSCIENCE-INFORMED ART THERAPY

Johanne Hamel
Psy.D., art psychotherapist and psychologist
Art Therapy Professor for 20 years at the University of Quebec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Québec and international lecturer at IPATT Thailand, at ECArTE in Europe, and International Association for the Study of Dreams, USA...

LINKING BODY AND MIND: SOMATIC ART THERAPY AND DREAM WORK

Patcharin Sughondhabirom
MD, RCAT, medical doctor and art therapist
Executive Director of the International Program of Art Therapy in Thailand in conjunction with the Canadian International Institute of Art Therapy. She has practiced art therapy with terminally ill children...

A THAI CULTURAL ELEMENT AND ITS APPLICATION IN ART THERAPY

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Linda Gantt
PhD, ATR-BC, art therapist
With a 45-year career in art therapy, she is well known among art therapists, having served as President of the American Art Therapy Association (AATA), and editor of the first issue of the association’s journal...

INSTINCTUAL TRAUMA RESPONSE®: A REVOLUTIONARY APPROACH

Karin Alice Schouten
MA, visual artist, art therapist and researcher
Art therapist at ARQ Centrum ’45, the national expertise center for diagnostics and treatment of patients with complex psychotrauma, and at Medical Centre Nijverheidswerf outpatient treatment...

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TRAUMA-FOCUSED ART THERAPY

Suzanne Haeyen
Ph.D,, art therapist and researcher
Professor of the research group `Arts & Psychomotor Therapies in Personality Disorders’ at HAN University of Applied Sciences. She is the coordinator of content of the Master programme...

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TRAUMA-FOCUSED ART THERAPY

Emma Mills
MA, BAAT, art psychotherapist and artist
She offers art therapy to children who have experienced trauma since 2005. Before retraining as an art psychotherapist, Emma was an art teacher who spent 10 years working in a government school in Botswana, Africa...

NEW ART THERAPY TRAUMA PROTOCOL TRAILED IN BOTSWANA AND THE UK

Linh Nguyen
MA, ATR, art therapist
Recipient of the prestigious Fulbright scholarship, she studied in the Master's program in Art Therapy at the School of Visual Arts (New York, USA). With extensive training in trauma work, she is an art therapist in Hoi An, Vietnam...

ART THERAPY IN VIETNAMESE
CULTURAL CONTEXT

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Bee Tin Teoh
MA, AThR, art therapist and registered counsellor
She is the first Malaysian registered art therapist to return from overseas in Malaysia.  Registered art therapist (ANZCATA), professional member of EFAT, registered counsellor and licensed practitioner in Malaysia...

TRAUMA WORK - A WINDOW INTO THE INNER WORLD

Olatunde Spence
MA, art psychotherapist and activist
Trauma-informed clinician and EMDR therapist. She works in private practice with autistic children and adults, striving to provide culturally sensitive therapy. She is specialized in working with the impact of traumatic events...

DEVELOPING CULTURAL SENSITIVITY WHEN WORKING WITH RACIAL TRAUMA

Carmen Oprea
MA,MFA, ATR-BC, RCAT, art therapist
Her professional career includes art therapy services for individuals and groups of all ages with various life challenges at her clinic, Accès Art. She is a Research Coordinator for the project engAGE Living Lab at Concordia University...

CREATIVE MOMENTS. CLOSING THE CONFERENCE SECTION

Section 2

Art Therapy and Well-Being
February 11-12, 2023

Speakers

Carla van Laar
PhD, MCAT, DThA, creative arts therapist
With over 30 years’ experience working in the arts for health and well-being in community organisations, justice, health and education contexts, Carla believes that arts-based practice is essential for healing our troubled world...

INTEREST, ENABLEMENT, JOY AND MEANING: LIFE ENHANCING QUALITIES OF SHARING  OUR STORIES THROUGH ART

Ani de la Prida
MA, MBACP, paychotherapist and creative arts counselor
Psychotherapist, supervisor and author who brings a person-centred and pluralistic philosophy to her work, she is a co-founder of the Association for Person Centred Creative Arts and teaches at the University of East London...

PERSON-CENTERED ART THERAPY
FROM LIESL SILVERSTONE
TO NOW

Alexandra Hopf
PhD, art therapist, artist, researcher, author
Professor of Art Therapy and Head of the postgraduate program in Art Therapy at the  University of Arts, Dresden and Associate Dean since 2020. Professorship for Intermedial Art Therapy at Medical School Hamburg until 2020...

THE COMPETENCE OF THINGS: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH TO ART THERAPY

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Alicia Expósito
MA, art therapist
She is a professor, supervisor, and the Coordinator of the Postgraduate Diploma in Art Therapy and the Integrative Master in Art Therapy at the University of Girona in Catalonia, Spain since 2005...

ART THERAPY WITH ADOLESCENTS IN SECONDARY EDUCATION

Mark Wheeler
MA, SRATh, FRPS, photo-therapist, art psychotherapist
Currently in private practice, Mark was Principal Art Psychotherapist in Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust until September 2021. He received the Diamond Phototherapy Award for
services to therapeutic photography in 2018...

BEHAVIORAL ACTIVATION THERAPEUTIC PHOTOGRAPHY, AN ACCESSIBLE METHOD FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND FAMILIES

Elsa Scanio
MA, art therapist, psychopedagogist, artist
Clinical and teaching direction of the Art Therapy Interns at Morón Hospital Buenos Aires. Art therapist and member of the SUMS Morón De-Insane Asylum Program with outpatients of the Open Door. Creator of the Art and Clinic Team...

CLINICAL PROCESSES
IN "ZONA DE ARTE"

Akiko Kuraishi
MA, ATR, art therapist, psychotherapist
She called for crowdfunding and established an art therapy studio in Tokyo, where she provides individual, group, and family therapy and manages national grant programs for community activities for children...

LOST AND SEEKING: REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK OF ART THERAPISTS’ CHALLENGES IN JAPAN

Reiko Fujisawa
MA, ATR-BC, LCAT, art and creative arts therapist
Board-certified art therapist and New York State licensed creative arts therapist. She has worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan as a child psychology specialist and is currently a psychotherapist at TELL Counseling...

LOST AND SEEKING: REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK OF ART THERAPISTS’ CHALLENGES IN JAPAN

Sue Lee
MA, LMFT, ATR-BC, CPP, art therapist, family therapist
A licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (California, U.S.), a board-certified art therapist and Certified Public Psychologist in Japan. She worked in various school settings and supervised art therapy students...

LOST AND SEEKING: REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK OF ART THERAPISTS’ CHALLENGES IN JAPAN

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Sunhee Kim
Ph.D., ATR-BC, ATCS, LCAT, art therapist
She has been practicing and teaching art therapy for over 20 years. Currently, she is a professor in Arts Psychotherapy at the Graduate School at Seoul Women’s University (SWU) in Seoul, South Korea...

A CREATIVE CONNECTION BEYOND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
IN ART THERAPY

Ronald P.M.H. Lay
MA, AThR, ATR-BC, art therapist, educator, artist
Programme Leader of the MA Art Therapy programme at LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore. Ronald has an extensive practice-based career in forensic mental health and has varied research interests...

THE IMPACT OF PROGRESSING THE PRACTICE AND EDUCATION OF ART THERAPY IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Maria Riccardi
MA, ATR-BC, OCCOQ, OPQ, art therapist and artist
She is an adjunct professor of art therapy at Concordia University and Université du Québec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue and a faculty member at Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Arts Therapy Institute (WHEAT)...

EXPRESSIVE THERAPIST SELF-INQUIRY (ETSI) FOR SELF-CARE AND
COMMUNITY CARE

Mavis Osei
PhD, painter, art educator, art therapist
Senior Lecturer at KNUST, Ghana, with ten years of university teaching experience. She has authored an Art Therapy postgraduate programme for the university, the first of its kind in Ghana...

JOY AND HEALING: GROUP
ART THERAPY WITH CHILDREN

Linda Gantt
PhD, ATR-BC, art therapist
With a 45-year career in art therapy, she is well known among art therapists, having served as President of the American Art Therapy Association (AATA) and editor of the first issue of the association’s journal...

PERSON PICKING AN APPLE FROM A TREE
AND FORMAL ELEMENTS ART THERAPY SCALE

Annie McFarland
Ph.D., ART-BC, art therapists
In her current role as Assistant Professor of art therapy and therapeutic arts at West Virginia University, Dr. McFarland serves as the art therapy program coordinator and teaches coursework in art therapy...

PERSON PICKING AN APPLE FROM A TREE
AND FORMAL ELEMENTS ART THERAPY SCALE

Section 3

Public Practice Art Therapy
February 18-19, 2023

Speakers

Janis Timm-Bottos
Ph.D., ATR-BC, art therapist
Associate Professor at Concordia University, founder and director of the Art Hives Initiative and principal investigator of the engAGE Living Lab. An interdisciplinary scholar with a sustained research practice in community art studio...

ART HIVES: GRASSROOTS NETWORKS OF CARE PREPARING FOR UNKNOWN FUTURES 

Carolyn Brown Treadon
ART-BC, ATCS, art therapist
She is the Graduate Art Therapy Program Coordinator at PennWest University, previously teaching at Florida State University and Thomas University. She was the clinical supervisor of a community-based mental health clinic...

USING A VIRTUAL ART THERAPY STUDIO
TO ENHANCE WELLNESS

Sheila Lorenzo de la Peña
ART-BC, ATCS, art therapist
Board-certified art therapy supervisor, she is the director of the undergrad art therapy program at Pennwest University, also teaching in the graduate art therapy program. Currently overseeing the community art studio...

USING A VIRTUAL ART THERAPY STUDIO
TO ENHANCE WELLNESS

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Bobby Lloyd
Artist, art therapist, activist, author
Visual artist, UK HCPC registered art therapist, supervisor and educator. Since the early 1990’s, her work has spanned NHS and community settings in the UK, alongside contexts of conflict and social upheaval internationally...

THE COMMUNITY TABLE: AN ART REFUGE MODEL

Miriam Usiskin
Art psychotherapist, author
Miriam is a UK HCPC registered art therapist, clinical supervisor and educator. She is a core member of the Art Refuge team working on either side of the English Channel with people who are displaced...

THE COMMUNITY TABLE: AN ART REFUGE MODEL

Naomi Press
Art therapist
Visual artist and UK HCPC registered art therapist with a background in community arts and development. Alongside co-running the Art Refuge Paris programme, Naomi works for other organizations, supporting teams...

THE COMMUNITY TABLE: AN ART REFUGE MODEL

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Kate France
Art therapist and multidisciplinary artist
  She has worked in theatre and multidisciplinary arts in Britain and France for the last thirty years. As well as performing and devising work, she creates participatory pieces with a wide range of communities, using video, music and voice...

THE COMMUNITY TABLE: AN ART REFUGE MODEL

Oihika Chakrabarti
DAT, RATh, MFA, art therapist
Oihika is a pioneering Indian Art Psychotherapist and Co-founder and Chairperson of the Art Therapy Association of India, with over 20 years of clinical, post-disaster/humanitarian and training experience, working in India and overseas...

DECOLONIZING AND INDIGENISING ART THERAPY PRACTICE, RESEARCH, AND TRAINING IN INDIA

Chris Wood
Ph.D, art therapist and researcher
She works with service users in the NHS mental health services and helps creative arts therapists register for PhDs and further research. For over twenty years, she was Programme Leader consecutively in two universities...

ART THERAPY IS
STILL A MEETING PLACE

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Susan Ainlay Anand
MA, ATR-BC, ATCS, LPAT, LMFT, art therapist
A graduate of New York University, Susan has worked with children and adults in inpatient and outpatient settings since 1982. She is on faculty in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Mississippi Medical Center...

MUSEUM ART THERAPY ROUND TABLE

Helen Jury
Art psychotherapist, artist, and researcher
Helen lectures in Art Psychotherapy and runs workshops and trainings on areas of research and practice. She is the editor of two books with Ali Coles. She is a doctoral researcher at UCL, London, based in the department of Genetics...

MUSEUM ART THERAPY ROUND TABLE

Mitra Ghadim
ATR-BC, LCAT, ATCS, art therapist, researcher, educator
She works as a senior art therapist and director of exhibitions at the Living Museum of NYS OMH Creedmoor Psychiatric Center and teaches in graduate art therapy programs. She has years of experience in community-based settings...

MUSEUM ART THERAPY ROUND TABLE

Elisabeth Ioannides
MA, RCAT, art psychotherapist
She is an Education Curator and art psychotherapist at the National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST) in Greece, carrying out learning programs for primary education schools...

MUSEUM ART THERAPY ROUND TABLE

Sara Thoisy
Art therapist, teacher, and fashion designer
With a passion for education, she teaches applied arts in vocational high school for 15 years. She develops projects in partnership with municipalities and centers for social action, and  the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rennes, France...

MUSEUM ART THERAPY ROUND TABLE

Stephen Legari
MA, RCAT, OPQ, art therapist
Stephen is a registered art therapist, licensed psychotherapist and family therapist. Since 2017, he has worked at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal as Program Officer for Art Therapy in the Division of Education and Wellness...

MUSEUM ART THERAPY ROUND TABLE

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Savneet Talwar
Ph.D., ATR-BC. art therapist
Professor in the graduate art therapy and counseling program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, her current research examines feminist politics, critical theories of difference, social justice and resistance...

FIBER CRAFTS: CARE PEDAGOGY AND PUBLIC ART THERAPY

Shelly Goebl-Parker
ATR-BC, art therapist and clinical social worker
Shelly is an artist, board-certified art therapist, licensed clinical social worker, and Associate Professor who has worked with children, youth, and families in residential, education and community settings for over 30 years...

FIBER CRAFTS: CARE PEDAGOGY AND PUBLIC ART THERAPY

Lauren Leone
DAT, ATR-BC, LMHC, artist, art therapist, counselor
Board-certified art therapist and licensed mental health counselor, she is working with art therapy participants in clinical and community- settings in Somerville and Boston, MA. She has been an art therapy educator for a decade...

FIBER CRAFTS: CARE PEDAGOGY AND PUBLIC ART THERAPY

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Rachel Chainey
MA, art therapist, social entrepreneur, artist
Rachel Chainey is a mother, art therapist, social entrepreneur, educator, and multi-tasking artist based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. She is the Art Hives Network Coordinator (since 2014). Rachel  is a part-time faculty at WHEAT Institute...

MAKING SPACE FOR MUTUAL CARE: HOW TO START AND  SUSTAIN A PUBLIC PRACTICE

Emily Nolan
DAT, ATR-BC, LPC, art therapist
Dr. Emily Goldstein Nolan (she/they) is a board-certified, licensed art psychotherapist, professional counselor, and a professor of practice in the Creative Arts Therapy program at Syracuse University in New York...

COMMUNITY ART THERAPY:
THEORY AND PRACTICE

Ella Bryant
Art therapist
Co-founder of The Portable Wellbeing Studio, an art studio on wheels that provides art therapy where it's needed. She is a dual-experience art psychotherapist, having been both a user and provider of mental health services...

BRINGING ART THERAPY WHERE IT IS NEEDED

Alex Burr
Art therapist
Co-founder of The Portable Wellbeing Studio, an art studio on wheels that provides art therapy where it's needed. She has experience working as an art psychotherapist with children, adolescents and families...

BRINGING ART THERAPY WHERE IT IS NEEDED

Atira Tan
MA, AThR, creative arts therapist
With over fifteen years of experience working with trauma-informed approaches alongside art, Somatic Experiencing, yoga and mindfulness, Atira has a deep commitment and passion for empowering and healing women...

EXPRESSIVE ARTS FOR SUSTAINABLE ACTIVISM: SELF-CARE, SELF-AWARENESS AND SELF-EMPOWERMENT 

Fyre Jean Graveline
Ph.D., RSW, RCAT, art therapist
Fyre Jean is a two-spirited, Northern Bush Country Métis from Manitoba, now living on the East Coast. She is a therapist, heARTist, educator, writer, traditional knowledge keeper and community activist...

LIFE AS MEDICINE:
CIRCLE OF INDIGENOUS HEALING ARTS

Chris Larsen
MA, RCAT, art therapist and artist
Award-winning Manitoba Métis artist and art therapist. The natural environment has always been a compelling mission for Chris. She is sharing her love of art and nature through workshops and retreats at her River's Edge Studio...

LIFE AS MEDICINE:
CIRCLE OF INDIGENOUS HEALING ARTS

Jean Tait
Art therapist and artist
Jean’s ancestry is Saulteaux (Ojibwe), Scottish and Irish. She is a member of the Berens River First Nation, Manitoba. She has been in private practice since 2008 at Art Can Heal, where she offers art therapy primarily serving women...

LIFE AS MEDICINE:
CIRCLE OF INDIGENOUS HEALING ARTS

Louisa Lamothe
Nurse and art therapy student
She is a Swampy Cree Woman from Treaty 5 in Manitoba, Canada, a retired Palliative Care Nurse of 30 years, a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, completing her Indigenized Art Therapy Dual Diploma Program at WHEAT...

LIFE AS MEDICINE:
CIRCLE OF INDIGENOUS HEALING ARTS

Meet the conference
hosts


Write your awesome label here.

Carmen Oprea

Carmen is the organizer and the host of this conference.
She is a registered art therapist with post-graduate training in sandplay therapy and cognitive-behavioural therapy. Holding three master's degrees in art therapy, fine arts, and design, she is currently a doctoral candidate in psychology.

Her professional career includes art therapy services for individuals and groups of all ages with various life challenges at her clinic, Accès Art. She deeply resonates with Indigenous wisdom and strives to provide culturally sensitive art therapy to Inuit and First Nations adolescents.

As a Research Coordinator for the project engAGE Living Lab at Concordia University, Carmen is fortunate to be part of a dedicated team who collects evidence for public practices in a local mall and to see the community growing. She is also involved in other research projects related to art therapy and depression at the same university.

She is committed to promoting accessible art therapy for individuals and communities.



Write your awesome label here.

Natalí Ortiz

Natalí is the host for the presentations in Spanish and the translator at this conference.

She is a recent graduate from Concordia University’s MA in Creative Arts Therapies, Art Therapy option. She has gained clinical art therapy experience with groups and individuals, from diverse backgrounds and contexts, in various areas, including geriatrics, attachment difficulties and complex trauma. In her home country, Ecuador, Natalí has also worked on art projects with survivors of sex trafficking and adults with developmental disabilities, as well as with street youth in Uganda.

Currently, Natalí is a research assistant at the engAGE Living Lab project and a facilitator at Concordia University Art Hives.

Natalí has a social justice, decolonial, feminist, and intersectional lens, which inform her art therapy approach and studio practice. She is in a continuous self-exploration of her racialized identity through her art and hopes to continuously contribute to the fight against systemic oppression.


World ART THERAPY Conference

If you were unable to attend the conference or you prefer to watch the presentations at your own pace, simply click the "ENROLL" button. The presentation videos will be made available to you immediately following the conference dates and will remain accessible for one year, along with handouts, Q&A sessions, and many more. You will get a certificate of completion for each video and its evaluation finalized on the platform.  For Canada, we offer Continuing Education Credits.
Please note that prices are listed in Canadian Dollars and full-time students are eligible for 50% discount upon providing proof of full-time enrollment in an academic institution.
While we cannot monitor your attendance at the free event, we have a dedicated platform available for learners who wish to further engage with the conference material and assess their understanding of each presentation.
Canadian professionals will receive credit from the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association.
Additionally, we offer certificates of completion for therapists who do not require this type of credits. Our platform provides handouts, articles, and live Q&A sessions to enhance your learning experience."

ACCèS ART, CO-organizer of this event

A Montreal-based clinic started by art therapist Carmen Oprea, Accès Art is offering expressive arts therapies to children and adults, both individually and in groups. Our team is committed to accompanying everyone who enters our doors creatively. Find more at accesart.ca

CONcordia University art hives, Partner of Public Practice Art Therapy

The Concordia University Art Hives, Montreal, Canada, is facilitated by Creative Arts Therapists and students and welcomes the Concordia community and everyone else for free. We are  open to art and music making and have an abundance of art supplies for all tastes.

engAGE Living Lab, partner of the PUBLIC PRACTICE ART THERAPY SECTION

Concordia University’s Creative engAGE Living Lab offers opportunities for a fruitful exchange of ideas informed by a growing community of older adults, students, and university researchers. It is a research project aiming to build communities in mall spaces.

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