Shawn Shafner

Shawn Shafner (he/they) is an interdisciplinary artist, educator and advocate based on Nacotchtank and Piscataway land in Washington, DC. Shawn is passionate about facilitating a fiercely loving relationship with our bodies, planet, and global neighbors through devised ritual theatre, community-based art and education projects, and creative wellness coaching. Since 2004, Shawn has developed arts-integrated curricula for families with young children, pK-12 schools, community centers, and offered master classes at over two dozen colleges and universities. In 2024, Shawn earned an MFA in Social Practice Art with an emphasis in Public Policy from the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design at GWU, and gained local notoriety (and press) for teaching art-lovers how to eat acorns.

The taboo-breaking founder of The People's Own Organic Power (POOP) Project, Shawn has created award-winning theater, film, podcasts, a book, and countless educational events to catalyze conversation about sustainable sanitation. He is currently a researcher on two National Science Foundation grants promoting circular sanitation. Shawn’s work is featured in four books, two documentaries, and he is the humble recipient of some fancy fellowships, grants and awards. A consummate theater-maker, Shawn has performed at the United Nations, Madison Square Garden, with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center and many more - but he doesn’t like to brag. He just wants to spread love, have fun and make meaningful connections. So let’s get started already! On your next exhale, send out compassionate wishes to a hurting world. And on the next, let’s activate those wishes as feats of loving kindness. www.thePOOPproject.org / www.ShawnShafner.com