As Vice President for Arts Education at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) since 2008, Sandra Bowie leads the fourth largest arts education program in the country. NJPAC’s wide-ranging arts education programs include performances for schools and families, in-school residencies, arts training, and community partnership programs based on the Center’s Arts for Impact Strategy. NJPAC’s partnership with Newark’s Central High School, supported by New Jersey School Improvement Grant funding, has embedded the performing arts in the schools’ Social Justice curriculum.

Prior to NJPAC, Ms. Bowie served as a member of the senior leadership team in the Department of Drama, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University from 1999-2008. At Tisch Ms. Bowie developed The Collective, a school-wide organization dedicated to research, study and performance of work from the African diaspora. She also implemented a diversity initiative in the Department of Drama where during her tenure the number of enrolled students from under-represented groups increased from 6 percent to 20 percent.  Ms. Bowie has served on the faculty and or administration of  New School University, Yale University, and Howard University. A professional actor for twenty years, Ms. Bowie has performed on stage, film and television and is the recipient of The Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Performance in a Musical. She is a member of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, The Black Theatre Network, Actor’s Equity Association, The Screen Actors Guild, and the National Association of Academic Advisors.  Ms. Bowie received her Masters of Arts in Acting from Illinois State University and Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from South Carolina State University.

Session(s):
Arts Education as Social Reform

Kathleen Fletcher is Director of Turnaround Arts, a new education initiative of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

With a background in elementary education, Kathleen Fletcher has worked in many aspects of social justice and civil rights in the private, non-profit, and government sectors. From 1995–2005, Kathleen served as Director of Communications at the National Fair Housing Alliance, where she also managed HUD’s  fair housing grants and established eleven successful fair housing organizations across the country. From 2003–2006, Kathleen was Senior Vice President of Campaigns at Public Interest, where she directed the Washington, DC office and managed such major accounts as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Allstate Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union, Girl Scouts of the USA, the Wounded Warrior Project, Google, and more. Kathleen was most recently President of Fletcher Group Inc., a firm whose recent clients included True2o, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and The Atlantic Council of the United States.

Session(s):
Arts Education as Social Reform

 

Kerry A. McLean is Director of Community Development at the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corp. (WHEDco), a 20-year nonprofit working to create a more beautiful, equitable and economically vibrant Bronx. Through WHEDco’s Bronx Music Heritage Center, Kerry uses music to drive economic development in the South Bronx She has Master’s degrees in Urban Planning and International Development.

Sessions(s):
Arts Education as Social Reform

P.S. ARTS Executive Director, Education & Programs Dr. Kristen Paglia holds masters' degrees in world arts and cultures from UCLA and arts education from Harvard University. She also earned a doctorate from Harvard in cognitive developmental psychology, and has extensive experience managing arts programs and designing curriculum in urban public and independent schools. Dr. Paglia is an active member of the California public education reform effort, and participates in numerous government educational policy and advocacy groups including the Los Angeles County Arts Commission Arts for All Community Arts Team for multiple districts, LA Philharmonic’s Youth Orchestra Los Angeles Stakeholders Network, Education and Culture Committee, Senator Price’s Special Joint Committee on the Arts, and the California Alliance for Arts Education Policy Council. Dr. Paglia also participated in the NEA Education Leadership Institute extended committee for California to contribute feedback to issues around arts curriculum, assessment, and education reform.
 

Session(s):
Arts Education as Social Reform