Dr. Amir Gilmore, PhD. (he/him) is a professor of Cultural Studies and Social Thought in Education and Associate Dean of Equity and Inclusion for Student Success and Retention at Washington State University. Amir’s interdisciplinary background in Cultural Studies, Africana Studies, and Education allows him to traverse the boundaries across the social sciences, the arts, and the humanities. His interests in Black Critical Theory and Black Masculinities ground his scholarship on Black Boy Joy, and he is well versed in areas such as Critical Race Theory, feminisms, and social theory. His vision and scholarship make critical contributions to the fields of Black Studies and Education, as well as connects to larger discussions of Afrofuturism and Black Aesthetics. He’s a New York raised, Black, male educator with a PS5.

What can be said about the beauty and brilliance of the arts? Aesthetics are the integration of the flesh, spirit, and material world that provide a space and place for self-expression, agency, transcendence, criticism, and deep intellectual engagement. For children, aesthetics are invaluable because they are vital for stimulating, nurturing, and sustaining their self-explorations, joys, pleasures, curiosities, creativities, overall social-emotional well-being, and love of learning.

In a space dedicated to nurturing our souls, this session led by two Black male educators, Amir Gilmore PhD (he/him) and Mike Browne (he/him), will discuss how the arts can be utitilzed to explore and center culture, stories, and tradition in our early learning spaces. As we reflect together on how our ancestors moves through us to create unbounded futures, we’ll explore the relationship between aesthetics, joy, education, power, and the precious time we live in. Join us as we continue our journey in reclaiming art and joy as our birthright as BIPOCs – Black, Indigenous, People of Color.

James Miles worked as an educator in the New York City public schools for almost 20 years prior to moving to Seattle in 2016. Before joining the faculty of Seattle University as Assistant Professor, James served as the Chief Executive Officer of MENTOR Washington and the Executive Director of Arts Corps, prior to that.  Originally from Chicago, Miles has worked internationally as an artist and educator, and his work has been featured in magazines, books, on podcasts, in newspapers. Miles is a Mayoral Appointee to the Seattle Arts Commission, and on the advisory board of SXSW EDU. His acclaimed TedXTalk focuses on his mission is to narrow achievement gaps using the “arts as a tool to navigate the systems of educational inequity”.

There have been dramatic shifts in education since schools first opened in the USA in 1647. From educational priorities to classroom sizes to demographics to technology, schoolhouses look wildly different than Horace Mann’s original design. While innovation catapulted schools into the 21st century, it has minimized the importance of learning connected to the arts, critical thinking, social emotional learning, and civics, causing our youth and communities to suffer.

It’s time for new approach to education.

The pandemic has presented us with the possibility to reimagine education and build a system where every student feels seen, heard, and valued, and where creativity is fomented and cultivated. Though we haven’t fully capitalized on that opportunity yet, our time is coming. It involves a shift in mindset that allows ourselves to be more creative, compassionate, and critical. And it all boils down to just two words: Hip Hop.

Khaleshia Thorpe-Price is the Owner and Master Teaching Artist of Dramatic-Play. She has worked in the field of arts education for over 20 years. She is a versatile creator and educator. She aims to dazzle participants with the love of play and creative exploration.

She is a Master Teaching Artist with Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning through the Arts and she is a Maryland State Arts Council Roster Artist. In addition, she has facilitated residencies and workshops for children and adults throughout DC, Maryland and Virginia. She has worked with many organizations including, Folger Shakespeare Library, Shakespeare Theatre Company and the Ford’s Theater.

Khaleshia is the Maryland Director  for Teaching Artists of the Mid-Atlantic (TAMA), a network that advocates for, empowers, and supports Teaching Artists throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.  She has a BA in Theater Arts from Morgan State University and an MA in Arts Management from the University of Central Florida.

Discover creative new ways to build language and literacy with your students! Participants will explore how creative movement, physical storytelling, and character exploration strategies can be used to help strengthen letter recognition, vocabulary acquisition, and reading comprehension in the classroom. By introducing activities that explore the theatrical concepts of body, voice, character, and setting, this physical workshop prepares participants to take words off the page and onto their classroom “stage”!

Kim Strelchun has devoted the last 20+ years to education and arts advocacy.  Prior to her role as the Director for Right Brain, Kim worked as an Arts Integration Coach supporting educators and teaching artists with arts-integration residencies and professional development.  Her journey with Right Brain began in 2008 as a Parent Advocate volunteer.  She currently serves as Chair of the Hillsboro Schools Foundation after serving 8 years on the Hillsboro School District Board of Directors.

Kim has worked closely with educators and parents in her roles as Parent Director of Creative Children’s Center (a Reggio Emilia inspired cooperative preschool), Stand for Children, and Oregon PTA.  Kim’s work in education advocacy and arts integration was inspired by her 2004 attendance at the Crossing Boundaries conference in Reggio Emilia.

In this session with arts integration specialists, attendees will learn two arts-integration strategies that are effective with early learners. These strategies are part of the foundation of The Right Brain Initiative’s 15-year old program that focuses on helping teachers gain new skills to bring interdisciplinary learning to their classrooms. Together, we ignite a culture of creativity by moving, playing, discovering and making.

Attendees will observe Snapshot (a theater strategy) and Songwriting (a music strategy). Integration is at the center of Right Brain strategies, and this session will give participants the opportunity to try these strategies hands-on and brainstorm adaptations and modifications for different classrooms and settings.

Lauren Appel (she/her/they) has worked at many educational and cultural institutions in Washington and New York. She is currently an Elementary Art/MakerSpace Specialist with Seattle Public Schools, a faculty member of the Washington State Teaching Artist Training Lab, and an educational consultant. Previously she worked with Arts Corps, Hilltop Artists, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Youth Theatre Northwest, Rubin Museum of Art, Henry Street Settlement’s Abrons Arts Center, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Lauren holds a BA in theatre from Smith College and a MSEd in Museum Education from Bank Street College of Education.

As educators, it seems like we hear about different thinking and learning frameworks every day, which makes sense since learning is not just about what we learn, but HOW we learn. Being able to recognize and articulate our thinking strategies supports early learners in becoming protagonists in their own learning, and fosters inclusivity. In this session we will delve into the framework of computational thinking and share some examples of “unplugged” activities that support developing these important thinking strategies through visual arts that increase access for all learners. The session will include a brief hands-on example, breakout groups for participants to share with and learn from each other, and additional sharing of examples and resources from the presenters.

Lauren Jost is an artist, educator, and administrator serving as the Executive Director of Young Audiences of Oregon and SW Washington. She has worked for the past 15 years in New York City, and is the former Founding Artistic Director of Spellbound Theatre, New York’s award-winning theatre exclusively for the very young. Her directing work has been seen at the New Victory Theatre (New York), Miami Theater Center (Miami), Symphony Space (New York), Chicago Children’s Theatre (Chicago), The Old Stone House (Brooklyn) and in 50+ schools and early childhood centers around New York City.

Additionally, Lauren has worked as an arts educator with New Victory Theater, Lifetime Arts, Seattle Children’s Theatre, the Brooklyn Public Library, the Arthur Miller Foundation, and New York University, and provided professional development on arts integration, program design, teacher training, and teaching artist professional development for a variety of cultural and educational institutions.

In this session with arts integration specialists, attendees will learn two arts-integration strategies that are effective with early learners. These strategies are part of the foundation of The Right Brain Initiative’s 15-year old program that focuses on helping teachers gain new skills to bring interdisciplinary learning to their classrooms. Together, we ignite a culture of creativity by moving, playing, discovering and making.

Attendees will observe Snapshot (a theater strategy) and Songwriting (a music strategy). Integration is at the center of Right Brain strategies, and this session will give participants the opportunity to try these strategies hands-on and brainstorm adaptations and modifications for different classrooms and settings.

Liz Byron strives to be a compassionate and culturally responsive art educator. She is a dynamic presenter, author, and the K1-8th Grade Visual Art, Special Education, and ESL Teacher at a Boston Public School where her students describe her as kind and strict. She has presented on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) at numerous conferences, professional development workshops, and taught graduate-level courses on UDL, most recently as a teaching fellow for the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Liz shares some of her experiences in her book, Art for All: Planning for Variability in the Visual Art Classroom. She has six professional teaching licenses and education degrees from Boston College, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Lesley University.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a powerful framework that offers a roadmap to reduce learning barriers and achieve expert learning regardless of your teaching circumstances. Learn what UDL is and how to apply it to your arts curricula; you will expand your instructional toolkit and transform your pedagogy while providing all your artists with options to be more motivated, resourceful, and goal-directed.

Mike Browne (he/him), is an east coast transplant from New York with a MBA degree in International Business and Marketing. He currently serves as the Senior Director for Community Engagement at Cultivate Learning at the University of Washington where he organizes culturally responsive professional development workshops and opportunities for leaders working with young children. Prior to that he served as Community Engagement Manager at Hilltop Children’s Center and Educator Institute. After exchanging his tap shoes for football shoes, he played Division 1 Football for the University at Albany, where he played cornerback and safety. Following 3 years of working and living in London and Spain, he found his way to Seattle where he has been building bridges between communities to help create a city where the voices of the marginalized are heard, inclusive policies are created, and citizens unite to form a vibrant urban center. While over the years, his job titles may have changed, and the cities he lives in may look different, one thing has remained the same – his ability to create and implement purposeful desired community change, form effective relationships and sustain community vitality.

What can be said about the beauty and brilliance of the arts? Aesthetics are the integration of the flesh, spirit, and material world that provide a space and place for self-expression, agency, transcendence, criticism, and deep intellectual engagement. For children, aesthetics are invaluable because they are vital for stimulating, nurturing, and sustaining their self-explorations, joys, pleasures, curiosities, creativities, overall social-emotional well-being, and love of learning.

In a space dedicated to nurturing our souls, this session led by two Black male educators, Amir Gilmore PhD (he/him) and Mike Browne (he/him), will discuss how the arts can be utitilzed to explore and center culture, stories, and tradition in our early learning spaces. As we reflect together on how our ancestors moves through us to create unbounded futures, we’ll explore the relationship between aesthetics, joy, education, power, and the precious time we live in. Join us as we continue our journey in reclaiming art and joy as our birthright as BIPOCs – Black, Indigenous, People of Color.

Priyanka Jayanthi (she/her) has been an early childhood educator for 8 years. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, she received her degree in Early Childhood Education from Indiana University and has taught grades K-3. She has been a kindergarten teacher in Seattle for the past 4 years with Seattle Public Schools. In addition to teaching, Priyanka has served on her school’s Race + Equity Team, been a Teacher Leader, and a Union Representative. While she is new to presenting, Priyanka is thrilled at this opportunity to share more about arts integration in the early years and to showcase the talent, creativity, and capability of our youngest learners.

As educators, it seems like we hear about different thinking and learning frameworks every day, which makes sense since learning is not just about what we learn, but HOW we learn. Being able to recognize and articulate our thinking strategies supports early learners in becoming protagonists in their own learning, and fosters inclusivity. In this session we will delve into the framework of computational thinking and share some examples of “unplugged” activities that support developing these important thinking strategies through visual arts that increase access for all learners. The session will include a brief hands-on example, breakout groups for participants to share with and learn from each other, and additional sharing of examples and resources from the presenters.

Ray Soriano, MSW (he/him) strives to create a safe, inclusive, healing, just, and joyful world for children and youth.  Ray is a passionate teaching artist who enjoys facilitating children’s exploration of music and rhythm in communities of belonging. He draws from his deep background in early childhood development, trauma-responsive care, and healing-centered practices, and emphasizes anti-racist and de-colonizing approaches to facilitation and teaching.  Ray has had the privilege of singing, drumming, dancing, and engaging with diverse groups of young people for nearly 30 years.

Music and the arts are for all children (and adults!) to enjoy, explore, and engage in with their full selves. As educators, teaching artists, facilitators, therapists, and caregivers, we have the power and obligation to create learning and play experiences where marginalization is reduced and children truly belong. Drawing from extensive background in trauma-work and restorative approaches, centering the experiences of children and youth with disabilities, and emphasizing anti-racist and de-colonizing practices, Ray will share ideas for facilitating music and art exploration that fosters belonging, healing, and shared joy. We will also tap into the deeper wisdom of the group for further shared learning.

Rebecca Lynn has a long career in education advocating for the inclusion of students with disabilities in schools and society. She has a background in early childhood, speech and language development, education leadership, and as faculty and coordinator in teacher education. Currently, she is a Special Education Program Improvement Supervisor with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) in Washington state.

Rebecca is passionate about both early childhood education and the arts. She was an early childhood special education teacher and consultant for many years, then an associate professor in education teaching child development, special education, and inclusion. The arts have always been an important part of her personal life, and raising children. Rebecca practices photography and painting, and her oldest daughter is currently a master’s of art student and has been showing her artwork in galleries and magazines since childhood.

Young children with disabilities are often delayed in early literacy skills, which can impact progress in reading and expression in primary grades. Participants will see examples of how to adapt early literacy instruction and integrate the arts to promote connections and build skills in artistic expression and storytelling, and ways to extend those activities to home environments.

Dr. Rhoda Bernard is the Founding Managing Director of the Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs and the Assistant Chair of Music Education at Berklee College of Music. She holds a Bachelor of Arts cum laude in government from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Music with academic honors in jazz voice from New England Conservatory. She earned both her Master of Education and Doctor of Education degrees from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Bernard regularly presents keynote presentations and research at conferences throughout the United States and abroad, and she provides professional development workshops for educators in local, national, and international forums. Her work has been published in several book chapters and in numerous journals, including Music Educators Journal; Music Education Research; Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education; Mountain Lake Reader; and Arts and Learning Research Journal. Bernard has been honored with the Berklee Urban Service Award (2017), the Boston Conservatory Community Service Award (2011), the Boston Conservatory Faculty/Staff Spirit Award (2007), and the Outstanding Dissertation Award, Honorable Mention (Second Place) from the Arts and Learning Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association. An active arts education advocate, she is the immediate past chair of the Arts Education Advisory Council of Americans for the Arts, and she serves on their speakers bureau. A vocalist and pianist who specializes in jazz music and Jewish music in Yiddish and Hebrew, she performs regularly with a number of klezmer bands and has recorded two CDs with the band Klezamir.

As our student population becomes increasingly diverse, it can be a challenge for arts educators to meet the needs of every learner. In this session, you will gain an understanding of new ways to think about learning differences that you encounter, and you will learn how to adapt and apply evidence-based practices from special education in your arts teaching. You will be able to use what you learn in this session right away to make your arts classroom, studio, and rehearsal more accessible to all learners.

Ryan Guzman, M.Ed., is the Washington state Early Childhood Special Education Coordinator.   She is also leading the Preschool Inclusion Champions Network, which has aligned early childhood and K-12 inclusionary practices and MTSS implementation across Washington state to increase access to high quality learning experience for all children regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, ability or zip code.

Young children with disabilities are often delayed in early literacy skills, which can impact progress in reading and expression in primary grades. Participants will see examples of how to adapt early literacy instruction and integrate the arts to promote connections and build skills in artistic expression and storytelling, and ways to extend those activities to home environments.