Fusing Music-Making and Storytelling to Facilitate Trust in a Heartfelt Team Dialogue

This dissertation examines the artistic side of dialogic interventions through a meeting designthat combines music-making and storytelling. I facilitated six dialogues across four collectives with 20 participants. During the dialogue, each participant played a musical instrument called the handpan while simultaneously telling a story. Within two days of the meetings, participants described their experience of the dialogue through qualitative interviews and drawings. Findings show that fusing art with dialogue facilitated trust by creating conditions for relaxation, playfulness and presence. The dialogue also invited invitational reflexivity and relationality, which may contribute to group flourishing. The majority of participants felt heartfelt connections during moments of emotional convergence. Those who did not connect to anyone experienced uncontrolled mental noise and cautiousness. The study shows how the fusion of art and dialogue may facilitate trust, dialogic moments, and relational outcomes that could contribute to the relationality and inclusivity of a collective.