Barbara Ann Michaels
Founder and Artistic Director
Barbara Ann Michaels, Jester of the Peace, is a performance artist and interfaith minister who uses humor for humanitarian purposes. She founded HumorVille, an immersive pop-up town for humor and wellness. An arts facilitator for over 30 years, Ms. Michaels uses humor, art and love to bring out the best in people, so they can bring out the best in each other. In this time of increased loneliness and uncertainty, her projects promote shared wellness, relief and reset, helping free people to move forward with inspiration and collaboration.
She works across Corporate (AirBnB, Industrious, ConnectMyApps), Conference (SXSW, Creative Problem Solving Institute, Epic International Summit, Barcelona Change Days), Cultural (Newark Museum of Art, Chashama, The Church Sag Harbor, Global Play Brigade), Academic (Nantucket Island School of Design and the Arts, Brown University, The Hive at Claremont College) and Community (First Night Boston, Dance Parade NYC, Dragon and Phoenix Retreat Hawaii) contexts. She is a corporate and academic trainer in body language and humor.
Ms. Michaels is a graduate of Brown University, Massachusetts College of Art and One Spirit Interfaith Seminary. She is also an award winning wedding officiant, performing over 560 weddings, including costume and helicopter weddings and some of the first legal same sex marriages in New York State. She is an Ambassador of the Global Play Brigade and a proud member of the World Experience Organization. Her mission is to put humor back in the medicine cabinet for generations to come.
