December 2020 - Arts Leader Spotlight
Announcing December’s Arts Leader Spotlight…
In honor of the year of the woman, the MSDE Fine Arts Office celebrates the work of the women leaders of our MC3 roster. Congratulations to these incredible women and arts education leaders!
As a leader in the arts community, what have you been able to accomplish this year?
Carien Quiroga
As a Teaching Artist doing mosaic mural residencies and visual art workshops in schools, correctional facilities and with intergenerational community organizations, everything changed in March when COVID-19 impacted all in-person teaching. I have been fortunate to continue with some community art programs despite the pandemic with the workshops and projects shifting to virtual platforms, outdoor socially distanced artmaking sessions or distance learning. The past year nudged me to stretch outside my comfort zone to explore new ways to teach and create. However, the challenges also came with opportunities to re-imagine and adjust to teaching and making art collaboratively in ways that I never considered before.
This mosaic mural was created just before the school closings during my last residency at George Fox Middle School in Anne Arundel County and beautifully echoes perhaps our collective hopes for the world we imagine. The resiliency of artists and creative communities continues to inspire me and the power of art and artmaking to transform lives and provide comfort have never been more evident than over the past year.
Dana Carr
As I have had the opportunity to participate and lead virtual sessions, trainings, and webinars over this last, very interesting, very unexpected year, I am increasingly impressed by artists, educators, and leaders coming together to collaborate and support one another throughout this pandemic. There are so many resources available to us all, and I am inclined to think that this time has sparked creativity in everyone-even those who do not self identify as an artist. This has made us think outside the box, and develop experiences that we never would have thought of without these circumstances: virtual parties, galas, museum tours, and concerts. It has been an amazing opportunity for access for all. Being able to reach individuals that we never could. I remain excited about possibilities, hopeful for opportunities, and joy-filled with how the arts and arts education is shaping our futures. I am committed to continuing to serve and impact all communities, families, and youth through the arts. I have been able to grow as a leader, teacher, artist and even parent throughout this year. As the Executive Director of Leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center, Inc (LTYC), I have been able to transition much of our programming to the virtual space, keeping the same core values of collaboration, connection and creativity. I have designed new opportunities and programs that address the current needs and challenges we are facing as a community, state, nation and world. I have connected to some great thinkers, creators, and doers, both professionally and personally that have helped to stretch my mind and capabilities. “Every great accomplishment was believed to be impossible at one time.” In this year, I have learned to try, to pick myself back up when there are failures, to lean on those around me-but most importantly, I have been able to imagine, dream, and dare more than I ever have before.
Dana Parsons
In this past year, I had the privilege of continuing to champion and collaborate with Maryland artists, arts organizations, and arts educators and students, alongside the incredible team at the Maryland State Arts Council as their Director of Grants and Professional Development.
Jennifer Kauffman
As the recently elected President-Elect of the Maryland Music Educators Association, I worked alongside the members of the MMEA Executive Board in moving our teachers and our organization into and through the impacts of the global pandemic on our profession. This included updating student and member services, the hiring of our new Executive Director, and leading a variety of committees and groups to solicit the input of ALL voices as we develop our strategic plan to move our organization forward.
Through my dual responsibilities with MMEA and as the Eastern Division Representative of the NAfME Council for General Music Education, I have focused efforts to research the origin and appropriateness of ALL materials used in our classrooms. I hope that my example and support encourages teachers to speak up about traditionally utilized songs and materials that may be inappropriate for use in our music classrooms and help guide them in the process.
Josanne Francis
As with everyone globally, this year has been one of challenge, upheaval, uprising, and change. The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted my performing as well as my business Steel on Wheels LLC. Despite these challenges, I was still able to see the silver lining and create silver linings of my own as a performer, educator, and overall leader in the arts:
I was able to maintain a performance calendar, performing in many driveways, as well as for local hospitals in Prince George's County as a way of saying "Thank You" to frontline workers for their work during the pandemic (a collaboration with the Prince George's Arts and Humanities Council). Virtual concerts also became a 'thing' as I was featured by Strathmore Music Center, the John F Kennedy Center, Inside Out Steelband, the Trinidad & Tobago Association of Washington DC, and many more.
As an educator, I successfully led Maryland educators through training sessions with the Maryland Center for Creative Classrooms, to empower them with tools that they can apply in their own (virtual) classrooms to engage students.
As an arts leader/director, I was promoted to the position of Executive Director of the Cultural Academy for Excellence, a non-profit arts in education program which uses the arts as a catalyst to develop the passion for learning and leadership in youth across the DMV.
Katie Coogan
As the PDS Coordinator of the Art Education Program at the University of Maryland in College Park, I have had to think innovatively about the year long virtual internship experiences for our current Visual Art Education cohort. The goal is to create valuable field experiences while also structuring their coursework in a way that will prepare these future art educators to teach in a virtual environment as well as in brick and mortar school buildings. I have learned so much this year about resiliency, adapting to stressors, and enhancing education through technology from my students and, especially, from the amazing mentor teachers who are hosting them in Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties. These educators work tirelessly to support their students’ needs and to provide a safe space to explore creative thinking and artistry. What’s more, despite the extra work of teaching virtually, they are supporting the growth of our profession by guiding the next generation of art teachers.
Like all educators, I have had to adapt my modes of teaching while also juggling the newly found Covid responsibilities of supporting two at-home learners. This has forced me to be creative with my time spent doing artwork, most of which has been collaborative work done with my children. This year, snakes have become a common theme in my sketchbook and personal artwork, including in my first embroidery piece. The shedding of their skin is symbolic of rebirth, growth, and change. It isn’t always beautiful as the change is happening but fresh skin is left in its wake. All of us - educators, parents, students, and people - are experiencing transformation due to the challenges highlighted or brought on in 2020. For me, snakes are a beautiful reminder that we can work through these challenges to become something better.
Keedra Brown
I believe every leader needs to be an active and willing learner. This year has provided a multitude of learning experiences due to virtual teaching. Taking MSDE workshops, collaborating with colleagues and learning new technologies have made 2020 memorable. This has not been easy or comfortable, but growing is never easy. When asked to perform spoken word for a virtual fundraiser I hesitated. As a dance educator with little theatrical experience, I realized this was just another opportunity to grow, I said yes. Being open and ready always provides unexpected opportunities. This year has created a unique set of challenges, moments to accomplish things I never would have experienced, and the realization that our only barrier to growth are our inner limitations.
Kelli Johnson
My position and the accomplishments that I have been able to achieve connect, in large part, to my amazing team of creative artists. In my Arts & Humanities classroom, one of the first things that I teach my students is the word "Ubuntu." It is an African proverb that means "I am because we are." I remind my students often that our collective efforts as artists can elevate our work to greater heights when we work together. My students continued to amaze me with the levels of artistry that they put forth with every project. My team is phenomenal, and I am forever grateful to the staff, students, and parents of Riviera Beach Elementary School. In the 16 years that I have been at "The Beach," I have learned so much about what it means to honor my own artistic abilities and I continue to be inspired. Ubuntu.
Kimberly Brown
As a leader in the Arts, this year I have been able to really hone in on my artistic focus of creating collages about Black women. During the pandemic, I have had a number of opportunities to collaborate and convene with Black women of all walks of life and I decidedly put my artistic emphasis on celebrating them. As a Black woman, and mother of two Black girls I understand the importance of uplifting and acknowledging the greatness of our humanity. The two works you will see are of Ann James and Becki McDonald, two women that I had the pleasure of meeting through an Affinity group for Black women. I will continue to celebrate Black women in all of our complex glory through my work. Say Her Name.
Lacey Sheppard
As an arts leader over the past year, I have been fortunate to work with artists and educators from AACPS, Maryland, and beyond. I am most proud that my work continued to demonstrate that the arts are a necessity and arts instruction is possible, even on a virtual platform. The shift to virtual instruction presented creative challenges for arts leaders and educators, but we knew that our students, schools, and greater communities needed the arts more than ever. We united to conducted hours of research, planning, and professional development so that our teachers could continue to deliver meaningful arts instruction to their students. I facilitated online arts workshops, served on professional development committees, and created digital resources and lessons for teachers. I am beyond proud of the work and commitment my colleagues and I have demonstrated over the past year, and look forward to continuing to work and collaborate with such an amazing team of individuals. #MDArtsUnite
Leayne Dempsey
During this season of my life as a stay-at-home mompreneur, the work I do within the arts focuses a lot on encouraging others in their artmaking. My biggest artistic accomplishment this year was launching my predominantly BIPOC coaching team for my college audition coaching company, Theatre Major, LLC.(See press release here). Theatre Major trains student-actors and advises them through the college audition process.
Our team includes amazing coaches from Tony Nominated Broadway Shows such as: A Soldier's Play the revival, Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Six the Musical, and Wicked. All of these coaches know what it takes to make it to college, study the arts and make a career out of it; it's critical for a student actor to have people in their corner who can affirm their experiences, teach them the craft and encourage them along the way.That's why I'm proud to have assembled such a talented and experienced team. We recognize that when coaches understand the journey and reflect the rich diversity of the students they serve, students, their college programs, and all of theatre benefit.
Currently, I am advising a roster of seniors who have already received callbacks from top performing arts college programs, such as Carnegie Mellon University, University of Michigan, and Penn State University.
I'm really passionate about theatre and how it can be used to change someone's life for the good. This year has brought many of its own challenges, and yet, Theatre Major has also gifted me with a community of amazingly talented coaches and students that encourage and inspire me as an arts leader every day.
Website: wearetheatremajor.com
Instagram: @wearetheatremajor
Lenore Blank Kelner
It has been an amazing year-a year that has required me to rethink my work, my place in the arts education community and to create in new ways.
A basic skill for artists and educators is to be flexible…to see who/what is in front of us, analyze what is needed/required, reflect on how to achieve it and then go for it! That is what this year has been about for me. After 30+ years as an artist/ educator/teaching artist working live with students and teachers, I have had to rethink my work. I have had to find a new way to create and find a new voice.
When schools closed in March, I was finishing an amazing arts integrated residency with Bay Brook Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore City. I had the privilege to work with teachers in grades K-8. I designed drama integrated lessons in connection to the ELA Wit and Wisdom curriculum. This curriculum includes a pacing guide and the challenge was to demonstrate how drama could be integrated with the curriculum to help students comprehend a text and still be on target with the pacing guide. I designed professional development for the teachers, led demonstration lessons, co-taught lessons and conferenced and planned with teachers. With 1.5 days left in this extensive residency, schools closed.
At first shock, lethargy and sadness set in. I missed the interaction with students and teachers. I could barely work. But then amazing things started to happen.
A school in Indianapolis that I have worked with extensively over the past 5 years, invited me to document my work by creating a supplemental drama integrated curriculum for grades K-8. The curriculum is designed to complement and extend the ELA curriculum/pacing guide already in place. I have been working on this curriculum since March and hope to finish it by June 2021. It is a massive project and a terrific challenge.
Other schools, who want to begin or continue a journey in arts integration have invited me to do online coaching and professional development as well as review online lessons teachers have led. It is a new pathway to reach students and teachers.
For many years, I have been producing arts integrated programs with the families in Baltimore who have children ages 0-3 years of age. In April, I reached out to my contacts to ask if we wanted to experiment delivering the program virtually. They were eager to try. I worked with several teaching artists to design a program. We have learned a lot on how to make the programs visually interesting and interactive. We are constantly revising the format. The programs are a hybrid between a performance and a lesson. These programs are now being delivered to many sites around in Maryland. I am proud of this new accomplishment. Seeing young children and families sing, move and act together online has become a new passion for me.
In addition, the Maryland State Arts Council invited me to become an arts education consultant. This has given me an opportunity to participate in the creation of guidelines and rubrics for teaching artists’ programs as well as to observe and provide feedback for new programs teaching artists are creating. I feel honored to contribute to the arts in our state.
I have also been working as a consultant for MSDE Fine Arts Division. Alysia invited me to present at the Summer Institute. It was only the third time I had led online professional development for teachers. I worked for hours--no days-- on finding just the right text and drama techniques to share with teachers. I may have learned more in the process than the teachers, but it pushed me forward into exploring more deeply digital learning. The response to the workshop was extremely positive. I feel deeply grateful to Alysia for providing me the opportunity to work with teachers and contribute to the field of arts education in Maryland.
In between working, I am taking online professional development on a variety of topics: SEL, equity and justice, racism, self-care, digital learning and more.
I deeply miss being in the presence of students and teachers. There is nothing more rewarding than being live, in the moment, with students and teachers. However, I am finding new ways to reach out and touch lives and have them touch mine. I am deeply grateful for every opportunity.
Dr. Lillian Pailen
“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
(Thomas Merton)
Finding and Losing Myself Through Creative through Curriculum and Assessment Work
I am forever grateful to my first supervisor, Mr. Clarence T. Rogers, for extending the invitation to join a General Music curriculum committee my third year as a vocal/general music in Charles County. That work ignited within me a deep passion for collaborations leading to the design of imaginative content possibilities and rich arts experiences.
Those sparks continue to be fueled through the contracted services I am currently providing for two state agencies, MSDE’s Fine Arts Office and the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC). My creative responses in the form of arts products exist in these contexts. MSDE’s Creative Process Map can this be linked? is a common thread connecting how I approach this work and how I define retirement in terms of the map tasks: INSPIRE, EXPLORE, ELEVATE, ASSESS, and PRESENT.
My recent work with MSAC involves reviewing teaching artist roster applications as part of the Arts in Education program. This work provides opportunities to collaborate with staff, my partner, Lenore Blank Kelner, and applicants around the artistic products and services applicants provide to diverse Maryland populations. I am grateful for the privilege of being an advocate and supporter for this important work. This work is INSPIRATIONAL.
Collaborations with a dynamic team this past year have resulted in curriculum products supporting the delivery of MSDE’s new suite of Micro-Credential (MCRED) courses. While it is true that the public rarely sees products developed by curriculum designers, the “proof in the pudding” for teachers-facilitators or course designers lies in a review of student work. A review of MCred cohort participants’/students’ creative responses to assignments attests to the effectiveness of this highly experiential learning design. This is, too, is INSPIRING work.
How I approach service opportunities described above can be traced to ways I found joy and self-expression through arts experiences that began in my youth.
My Roots: Finding, Losing, and Expressing through the Arts
One year ago, my siblings and I closed our family home and helped our mom transition to a senior living facility. In moving, I discovered a box in the attic which my father had overlooked when he moved from the home several years prior.
The box held several memorabilia. To my surprise, each item was an artifact associated with artistic interests/proclivities of me and my siblings. The collection included one brother’s clarinet method book and from my other brother, there was a miniature score of a fight song for flute from his marching band days. My sister had vocal talents and her item was a printed program from a choral concert which listed her as soloist.
My item was a sketchbook from my twelfth-grade studio art class. I loved art and I loved my art teacher and by my senior year, had decided that I wanted to teach art. Dad was thrilled when I told him this. He was a cartographer and later delved into photography. And he was always drawing, especially at the dinner table. His advice, of course, was that I needed to draw every day. In truth, I did practice, but I did not progress the way I thought I should.
Obviously, the drawing shared here was created many, many...ok, many moons ago. I am sharing it because this was my best piece from the sketchbook. Somehow, I was able to see some structural details of the row houses across the street from our own. Those kinds of observational skills were not present in my realistic works. As a youth, I was never aware that there was a creative process, so my drawing process rarely got past the EXPLORATION phase.
Thankfully, I also played piano and spent much more time formally practicing in preparation for my lessons, but more importantly, just playing for the fun of it. Bottom line: Music won out and I headed to Howard University as a music education major. The rest, as they say is history.
Retirement has given me time to return my music. I don’t “practice” anymore and there is no sharing or PRESENTATION. I play for myself. I spend hours playing my Top 100 songs which include the genres of popular, musical/show tunes, jazz and gospel. I get lost analyzing the chord structures and find sheer delight in the difference one note can make in the chord quality.
When I play or listen to works from my choral music collection, I am flooded with memories of students I have taught and performances/choral festivals (now called assessments). I also remember choral teachers with whom I have served who also served as my teachers-- my INSPIRATIONS in the programs I administered with and for them.
Speaking of retirement and of drawing upon my roots... I am currently enrolled in a Basic Drawing Class for Adults offered at a local art center. My teacher is great, and I am enjoying learning with classmates. I am finding and losing myself through this experience and giving myself time to EXPLORE, ELEVATE, and ASSESS. That’s all I’m committing to right now. I think dad would be proud.
Nicoletta Daríta de la Brown
“In this time of civil unrest and social inequity and us trying to find equitability, sometimes I have to just get out of my head and get back into my body.”
– Nicoletta Daríta de la Brown, on her ritual practice
Read more about Nicoletta, her artwork, and her rituals in this recent article by the Baltimore Sun.
Saz Ross
I was able to leave my job of 6 years teaching in the public school system to go after my dream of being a freelance illustrator and non-profit leader. In the last year, I have sold my work at markets all over MD, DC, and PA alongside mentoring future and current art educators by designing creative workshops, speaking at conferences, and hosting professional development webinars. "Wink Owl" is a pen, ink, and watercolor artwork. This artwork is an extension of my series "Proximity" which challenges the space between the natural and man made world.