Bill Rembert
“Research has shown that having teachers and school staff of color can help students of color succeed, but nationally only 7% of teachers are Black, and only 2% are Black men (07/2022).” Art Educator Bill Rembert invites us to consider an important question—how many Black male teachers have you had? Statistically speaking, the odds of you answering “not many or none” are high. In this episode, Bill joins The Creativity Department for a conversation about this lack of Black male (and male overall) representation in art education. He shares his personal experiences as they discuss the need for male mentorship within schools and ways of advocating for programs that would fill those gaps.
Listen Now | Episode 107
Daryl Thompson
Do you have students who are passionate about art, technology, and design? Are they interested in careers that utilize these elements? Then this episode is for you (and them)! The Creativity Department is joined by artist Daryl Thompson. From children’s game animator to creative director for the Houston Rockets, Daryl has always been surrounded by creativity. Now he combines his love of drawing and cars to make highly detailed artwork as an automotive illustrator and is collaborating with the Toyota Dream Car USA Contest to help bring children’s imagination to life! Listen in as Daryl shares his story and provides a plethora of resources for you.
Listen Now | Episode 106
Dr. Mi’Jan Celie Tho-Biaz, Amber Arnold, Tina Barone
Finding or starting your own Professional Learning Community (PLC) presents many questions. Where do you start, who do you invite, how do you share resources, why is it important? Considering these questions is essential to choosing or creating a supportive PLC. In the second part of the Connected Arts Networks (CAN) PLC episode, The Creativity Department and co-host Mi’Jan Celie Tho-Biaz continue the discussion with two new guests from CAN. They are joined by Amber Arnold, Fine Arts Instructional Coach from Georgia, and Tina Barone, Theater Educator from New York. Listen in to hear their perspectives on creating a PLC, the difficulties they faced, how it benefitted them and how it impacted their teaching.
Listen Now | Episode 105
Dr. Mi’Jan Celie Tho-Biaz, Kim Hoj, Jared Cassedy
The National Art Education Association (NAEA), in partnership with the Educational Theater Association, National Association for Music Education, National Dance Education Organization, and NYC Department of Education’s Office of Arts and Special Projects has launched a nationwide initiative to create virtual Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). The goal of the Connected Arts Networks (CAN) is to build a sustainable model of professional learning to help teachers better serve students. We’re excited to bring you an eight-part series in collaboration with NAEA where The Creativity Department will be joined by Oral Historian Dr. Mi’Jan Celie Tho-Biaz. Together they will dive deeply into topics such as ED&I, SEL, and Leadership with CAN teachers and leaders! Enjoy this first conversation with Kim Hoj, Dance and Career Technical Education Teacher, and Jared Cassedy, Performing Arts Coordinator and Conductor of the Lexington High School Wind Ensemble about the importance of PLCs.
Listen Now | Episode 104
Rebecca Hare
How do you promote creative risk taking in the art room? What are the challenges around designing for creativity and making space for it? Have you taken creative risks in your career that were beneficial? Explore these questions with Rebecca Hare, co-author of The Space: A Guide for Educators and Adobe’s Education Community Manager. Rebecca joins The Creativity Department in this episode to discuss making space for creativity and risk taking in the art room. Listen in to the conversation as Rebecca, Laura, and Matt share their personal stories about creative risk taking. Learn what planning for creativity means and how it helps empower students and inspire educators.
Listen Now | Episode 103
Carole Drummond-Johnson
Integrating STEM themes into your lessons could be the key to immersing students in art! It’s our goal to reach all learners, and STEAM is a sure-fire way to appeal to students that may not be excited about art otherwise. This week our guest host is elementary educator Carole Drummond-Johnson. She states, “if we are truly about the business of teaching 21-century skills, shouldn’t art & design be integrated with science, technology, engineering and math?” Starting STEAM-focused lessons and projects with elementary students opens them up to new and exciting ways of seeing, thinking about, and using art right from the start. Consider your thoughts on these ideas as you listen in.
Listen Now | Episode 102
Tim Needles
A lot has happened since Matt and Laura started podcasting 8 years ago. In this episode, they come full circle! Their first podcast guest has returned—author and educator Tim Needles (@TimNeedles)! In the second part of the 100th episode celebration, Laura, Matt, and Tim reflect on how much has changed in Art Education over the past 8 years. Hear about everything from STEM to STEAM shifts and the focus on social-emotional learning to technology integration in the art room and unconventional arts careers! Listen in to join the celebration and discover the importance of having an educator support system and all the benefits a PLN for art educators can offer.
Listen Now | Episode 101
Matt and Laura Grundler
100 topics covered, 100 guests interviewed, 100 opinions shared … 100 episodes of ideas and inspiration created. WOW! 100 doesn’t seem like a large number in the grand scale of all things, but it is a lot of guests and content pertaining to art education! And it only scratches the surface. In this episode, we are celebrating #K12ArtChat’s 100th episode and the 8-year anniversary of the Grundler’s podcast! They reflect on the amazing guests and topics of the past 2 years, revisit their favorite happy teacher moments, and set the stage for what to expect in the next 100 episodes.
Before you listen in take a second and read a personal message from The Creativity Department - Celebrate with Us: 8 years of #K12ArtChat
Listen Now | Episode 100
Candido Crespo, Joe Boatfield, and Raine Valentine
Keeping students engaged and on task can be just as challenging as planning for the new school year. If you find yourself missing fun or stuck on how to keep your learners engaged in the lessons, the Creativity Crew might have a solution for you! Raine Valentine, Joe Boatfield, and Candido Crespo have experience with a variety of age groups. In this episode, they share their ideas and experiences. Hear their take on how to make learning authentic, spontaneous, and fun for kids of any grade. From simply sitting on the floor and getting to know students one on one, to delivering a lesson through a cutout of the Mona Lisa, listen in to get creative and unique inspiration!
Listen Now | Episode 99
Dan Ryder
“When students make connections, transform knowledge, and articulate the reasons behind their creative choices, learning becomes sticky, meaningful, and authentic.” How can you nurture collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking to make learning meaningful? Dan Ryder, author of Intention: Critical Creativity in the Classroom, does it with project-based learning and critical creativity. Listen in to this episode and learn how using this approach has helped Dan’s students not only develop their creative expression to demonstrate content knowledge and critical thinking but also build relationships and strengthen empathy.
Listen Now | Episode 98
Dr. Jaime Dombrowski
Creativity and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) go hand in hand. Art has been used to convey messages, themes, ideas, and emotions throughout history—even crossing language barriers. But it isn’t always clear how we can hardwire it into our lessons. In this episode, The Creativity Department is joined by Dr. Jaime Dombrowski to talk about that exact topic. Author of Power Up: Gamification Tools for Social and Emotional Learning, Dr. Dombrowski discusses using art to promote inclusivity and emotional well-being. Listen in for expert experience on how students can use art to promote empathy, communicate who they are and what they value, and build meaningful relationships.
Listen Now | Episode 97
Jonathan Seligman
How can you creatively showcase art and another discipline? What are the benefits of collaborating between different disciplines? Can you overcome struggles that can happen when collaborating between disciplines? In this episode, The Creativity Department discusses these questions and more with long-time Music Educator, Jonathan Seligman. Dive into the similarities between Art and Music curriculum, the challenges both face with advocacy, and creative ways the two can support one another to promote the importance arts hold in educating today’s students. Listen in and be inspired with ways to showcase both art and music without one overpowering the other.
Listen Now | Episode 96
Dr. Cyndi Burnett
There are two perspectives on creativity. Through the lens of art, it speaks to expressing yourself in meaningful ways. However, there is also a scientific side of creativity that focuses on improvement. Integrating these two perspectives is what The Creativity Department and Dr. Cyndi Burnett, Director of Possibilities for Creativity and Education, discuss in this episode! Listen in as they explore everything from the relationship between creativity and the arts, to modeling creative behaviors to students and how creative thinking in the arts transfers to other disciplines. Learn what a deliberate approach to creativity looks like and how that scientific perspective parallels the artist’s process of creativity.
Listen Now | Episode 95
Matt and Laura Grundler
The one certainty in education is students learn differently. Information is not always received or processed the same way. For some students, this is due to neurodivergence. What does it mean to be neurodivergent? It is when a brain processes, learns, and/or behaves differently from what is considered “typical.” The Creativity Department discusses that in this episode! Both Laura and Matt have been diagnosed with ADHD and have firsthand experience learning to live with the challenges it creates. Listen in as they talk about the different ways they learn, the difficulties they overcame while in school, strategies they use to help their own children, and how all of this is reflected in their teaching.
Listen Now | Episode 94
Dr. Janice Wyatt Ross
While often used interchangeably, a school’s culture and climate are in fact different. They influence and drive one another for sure, but climate reflects the attitude of the school, and culture show’s its personality. Positive and healthy culture and climate are the strongest evidence of effective and meaningful learning environments. In this episode, Dr. Janice Wyatt Ross, Program Director of the Success Academy in Lexington Kentucky, shares her strategies for building environments that welcome students, provide a positive impact on their engagement and equity, and foster pride and ownership. Listen in for inspiration on how to foster a climate and culture that is both welcoming and nurturing.
Listen Now | Episode 93
Joe Boatfield, Candido Crespo, Raine Valentine
An art room’s structure can be just as important as the curriculum! Engaging students with the space and materials that surround them. Using your classroom’s layout to your advantage can have a significant impact on students’ time in your art room. The Creativity Crew returns in this week’s episode to talk about classroom structure with Matt and Laura. They share their experiences with classroom layout, material display, and storage. During the discussion, they also dive into how much freedom they allow students to have with the materials during class. Listen in to discover ideas to support all students and engage them in new ways with what they’re learning.
Listen Now | Episode 92
Connie Jimenez Zammett
How do you inspire students to dive deeper into the thinking around what they create? Every artwork tells a story; and narrative, point of view, language, perspective, etc. support and strengthen the ideas inspiring those stories. On the flip side of that coin, can you simultaneously teach students to make meaningful art about ideas and inquiry while teaching skills? Connie Jimenez Zammett says, “YES! Every skill can be connected to an idea, a connotation, or a suggestion.” As a high school AP art educator, she teaches students at an important time of learning and inspires them to weave that learning into their art. Listen in to hear how Connie does this and how you can benefit from her experiences!
Listen Now | Episode 91
Matt Dombrowski
A picture is worth a thousand words. The more we can share and showcase that the stronger a student’s voice becomes. This is what makes visual storytelling so important. It enhances student learning and promotes academic ownership, in and out of the art room. In this episode, The Creativity Department is joined by Matt Dombrowski, Creative Director of Limbitless Solutions, a nonprofit organization providing bionic limbs, training video games, and all sorts of cool inclusive art-based projects for people with disabilities. Listen in to discover strategies to implement more visual storytelling into your art room!
Listen Now | Episode 90
Alyssa Navapanich
The beginning of the school year is a fresh start! It’s a time to renew with a fresh group of students. How do you prepare for the new school year? What challenges do you face with new groups of students? In this episode, The Creativity Department is joined by Alyssa Navapanich—CAEA’s 2020 Elementary Art Teacher of the year and the 2021 NAEA Pacific Region Elementary Art Teacher of the Year! Dive into this idea-filled discussion where they share tips and tricks for a successful start of the school year. You’ll also get insight into the difficulties they’ve faced in the past few years with online and hybrid learning. Listen in to find out if you can utilize these strategies!
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What do you get when you mix fierce creative confidence, pure originality, unapologetic dismissal of arbitrary rules, and a love of all things colorful, joyful, and inspirational? You get Momo Pixel, an award-winning multidisciplinary artist and game designer! From the popular interactive annual exhibition called Momoland, to the viral sensation that is Hair Nah, The Creativity Department dives into Momo’s pixel-filled world. Discover the career path she followed to get to where she is today and come away with inspiring ideas and information to share with students. Listen in and learn how Momo uses her bright pixel-art aesthetic and knack for honesty, to address social issues, create joy, and uplift the culture.
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Mary Jane Coker & Shelbye Reese of Alabama Art Education Association
How do you find support for art education in your district? Funding is always good, but what about emotional and mental support? Those are just as important! It’s easy to feel like you’re in a bubble of your own art world, but you’re not alone. Art Educators across the country have the same struggle. That’s why Laura and Matt brought in Alabama Art Education President MaryJane Coker and Social Media Chair Shelbye Reese to talk about where and who they find support from. Whether that support is a teacher of different subjects or administration in their school district, they cover it all in this advocacy heavy episode!
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Raine Valentine, Candido Crespo, Joe Boatfield
Separating the career of an Art Educator and the personal life of an artist is more challenging than it sounds. In this episode, the Creativity Department dives into the nuance of existing in these two worlds. During the discussion, topics such as social media presence, displaying personal art in the classroom room, parent-teacher communication, and more are covered! Listen in as we introduce the Creativity Crew, a small panel of past guests—Candido Crespo, Raine Valentine, and Joe Boatfield—who will regularly join Matt and Laura to talk about hot topics (like this one) that emerge in art education. Discover how you can benefit from their experience.
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James Rees
How do you envision staying connected to the Art Education community after leaving full-time teaching? In this episode, The Creativity Department is joined by returning guest and newly retired educator James Rees. James has over 30 years of experience in the art room, but this year decided it was time to explore new avenues! Listen to this informative conversation to get his perspective on the state of art education, how it has changed over the last 30 years, and to hear his experiences as an art educator. Discover what staying connected looks like in retirement and get some ideas to use when goal planning your own next steps.
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Marilyn Stewart
Our curricular choices matter. Not only can they promote a vibrant art program, but they are also an important component in supporting student voice and choice. In this episode, Davis author Marilyn Stewart joins The Creativity Department. Dive into this discussion about using diverse artists and artwork with studio explorations and in-depth investigations to generate a culture of belonging for students in the art room and support artistic behavior. Marilyn shares details from her 50 years of experience writing curriculum and preparing educators for the art room. Discover the important lessons she’s learned and what inspired the core of her teaching philosophy.
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Don Masse
It’s no secret that art teachers can feel isolated in their school communities. It’s important to continuously consider what support you need from your district and administrators! In this episode, The Creativity Department is joined by Don Masse, Visual And Performing Arts Resource Teacher for San Diego Unified School District. During the conversation, they dive into the importance of visibility and discuss how art teachers like yourself can advocate for their programs as well as strategies to get administration on board with the great ideas you have. Listen in for inspiration on how to nurture this important relationship!
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Laura and Matt Grundler
As the school year comes to a close across the country, The Creativity Department reflects on this year’s guests and the biggest lessons taken away from them. Listen in for a recap of another whirlwind year and hear highlights that include interviews with the author of Wreck This Journal, Medical Illustrator at Harvard University Dorothy Fatunmbi, the founders of Zentangle, and working artists such as Erik Abel. There have been discussions about equity, diversity, and inclusion with NAEA Leadership and episodes to support mental health and emotional wellbeing. The Grundlers have covered miles of ground this year, enjoy this episode and then check out the others over the summer.
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Dorothy Fatunmbi
Do you have students who are passionate about art and science? Are they interested in pursuing a career that utilizes both? Then this episode is for you (and them)! The Creativity Department is joined by professional illustrator Dorothy Fatunmbi. Dorothy is a medical illustrator in the Office of External Education at Harvard Medical School. Hear her journey from wanting to be a veterinarian, to drawing incredibly detailed illustrations that doctors refer to in preparation for surgery. Listen in as Dorothy shares her inspiring story and provides a plethora of resources for you to dive into and share with aspiring students exploring ways of getting a jump start on a STEAM career.
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Rebecca Potts Aguirre
At some point, every art teacher thinks to themselves, “Am I an artist first or a teacher first?”. We all have a different philosophy on this. Do teaching and artmaking intersect for you? In this episode, The Creativity Department is joined by Rebecca Potts Aguirre—host of the Teaching Artist Podcast! How do you balance being an art educator and a working artist? Does helping students create their art drain creativity or does it inspire you to make your own art? Do you create art alongside your students? Listen in to see how Rebecca and the Grundlers balance the two.
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Natalie Chanel, Tiffany Lin, and Jen Holsinger-Raybourn
Results from a recent survey of 18 permanent U.S. museum collections showed those collections contain 87% male artists. This clearly illustrates the need for a wider representation of women artists. In this episode, The Creativity Department is joined by art educators Natalie Chanel, Tiffany Lin, and Jen Holsinger-Raybourn! Learn how they shine a light on female artists in their classes, empower women educators around them, and tackle topics like pay transparency and how to advocate for it. Listen in to hear how they ensure people of other cultures are represented throughout the year as well as how they continue to pursue their art outside the classroom.
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Raine Valentine, Candido Crespo, Joseph Boatfield
Teaching in the month of May is challenging, so much goes on. This makes Teacher Appreciation Week and acknowledging Mental Health Awareness month that much more meaningful. We’ve been thinking about how immensely important these topics have become over the past two years and wondered what everyone in the field is feeling around them. So, this week is reversed! In this episode, The Creativity Department speaks with Candido Crespo, Joseph Boatfield, and Raine Valentine to develop questions for the next K12ArtChat Twitter Chat about the meaning of self-care, teacher appreciation, and dealing with the difficulties of the past few years.
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Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts
“The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. The Zentangle creators believe that life is an art form and that each person is an artist.” In this episode, The Creativity Department is joined by Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts, cofounders of Zentangle®. Listen in as Rick and Maria share how Zentangle began and stories from people who credit it for providing increased focus, creativity, self-confidence, and a stronger sense of well-being. Learn how Zentangle is helping students manage stress and the scholarly study focused on the art form and its effect on mental health. Listen in to hear about all this and more!
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Paul Kretchmer and Jennifer Holsinger-Raybourn
The NAEA position statement on Visual Literacy states it is “the ability to interpret, comprehend, appreciate, use, and create visual media in ways that advance thinking, decision-making, communicating, and learning.” Our lives center around visual literacy. These skills are necessary to interpret the world around us—ads, movies, comics, websites, and more. This is why students must have a full understanding of it. In this episode, educators Paul Kretchmer and Jennifer Holsinger-Raybourn join The Creativity Department to talk about Visual Literacy, the skills needed for it, and how we use them to learn, communicate, and navigate our everyday lives.
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Kyle Wood
What is gamification? Google says it’s “the application of game playing elements (point scoring, etc.) to other activities.” The Creativity Department’s guest this week defines it as transforming the classroom into an exciting experience that gets students invested in their learning. Kyle Wood is an art educator and host of the Who ARTed Podcast (@WhoARTedPodcast). Faced with a scheduling change that left him no prep time and an ever-rotating roster of students, Kyle turned to gamification to manage the unexpected challenge. Hear how he uses a gaming structure to immerse students in the academic side of his art program.
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Jason Blair
Jason Blair is an art educator focused on creating a personal and humanistic experience in his classroom. Like all of us, he believes “this discipline is extremely important to our world right now.” Schools focus on preparing students for college and career, but they are also developing active citizens in humanity. In this discussion, The Creativity Department speaks with Jason about the importance of slowing down to make deep connections that students need. Learn about the techniques he implements to build trust, and help students get comfortable with sharing their stories and working together. Hear how you could use these strategies in your art room!
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Alisha Mernick
“Many of us enter teaching using what we ourselves learned in school. If the content was Eurocentric, that’s what is repeated. It takes an intentional examination of our teaching practices to do better.” In this episode, the Creativity Department speaks with Alisha Mernick, Visual Art and Social Justice Educator, about ways to break this mold. Listen in as they discuss broadening how we look at aesthetics and how to engage students in critical analysis of identity, social justice, anti-racism, and civic engagement issues. Learn how Alisha, inaugural recipient of the NAEA Agent of Change national award, implements liberatory, critical arts pedagogy in the art classroom.
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Holly Bess Kincaid, Jauan Brooks, Jessica Beach
March is Youth Art Month! It is the prime time to remind stakeholders of skills developed in the art classroom and that artists are an asset in society and in the workforce. What does Youth Art Month mean to you and what makes it useful to your program? In this episode, the Creativity Department dives into the benefits of Youth Art Month with members of the Virginia Art Education Association! They discuss what a useful tool it is to advocate for art programs and how beneficial it is when collaborating with students and other art educators. Listen in to hear how you can use Youth Art Month in your art room and with your students!
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Fahmi Khan
Your “why” is the purpose or belief that inspires you. Over time it becomes part of who you are and grows. It matures and changes with you. What is your “why” for teaching art? What makes you passionate about what you do? In this episode, The Creativity Department speaks with long-time art educator Fahmi Khan (@FahmiKhan) about art educators’ “why.” Be inspired to think about or find your own “why” during this discussion that touches on transitioning from practicing artist to art educator, becoming an art teacher and the challenges it brings, and the reasons art educators have such strong, passionate, and infectious “whys.” Read the Twitter chat from this episode.
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Anti-Racist Art Teachers
Body image is something we all struggle with. It can be reassuring to know you’re not the only one with those feelings, especially as children. It is essential students see images they can relate to in real-world contexts across diverse social-cultural backgrounds and of all body types working together as leaders in their communities. Representation like this is powerful. In this episode, The Creativity Department is joined by the Anti-Racist Art Teachers to discuss affirming positive body image in students. Listen in to learn from their personal experiences and hear ways to empower youth through celebrating differences and making them visible and valued.
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Julie Hasson
Do you have a teacher you remember fondly? How did they impact your school life? Do you think you would be on a different path if they weren’t your teacher? In this engaging episode, The Creativity Department speaks with Julie Hasson about these topics! Julie is a professor at Appalachia State University and author of the book Safe, Seen, and Stretched in the Classroom: The Remarkable Ways Teachers Shape Students’ Lives. She joins Laura and Matt for a conversation about how the principles in her book can be translated to the art room!
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Tim Needles
The NAEA national convention kicks off this week! If you’ve ever attended a conference like NAEA you understand how overwhelming it can be! To combat this, it’s a good idea to arrive knowing what you want to get out of your time there. Having a plan of action, knowing your needs, and understanding what you want most from participating is just the start. In this episode, The Creativity Department speaks with author, artist, and art educator Tim Needles about how to tackle conference attendance. From methods of implementing new learning to trends, takeaways, and connecting with your tribe, Tim shares expert insight into ways of getting the most out of your experience.
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Ashley Washington M.ED
Incorporating diversity in curriculum is work that must be done daily to ensure classrooms reflect all cultures and communities of learners. Making the conscious effort of continuing conversations of diversity after an assigned “appreciation month” is important to ensure that students feel honored, reflected, and see themselves in states of power. In this episode, The Creativity Department speaks with Ashley Washington M.ED., an Instructional Coach in Plano, ISD. During the conversation, they delve into the question, “If excellence is only celebrated once every 12 months, how do students know the greatness that lies within them the remainder of the year?” A curriculum filled with diversity is the first key to ensuring the fire within each student ignites.
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Daniel Bryant
As educators working in uncertain times, it can be easy to miss the impact we have on students and get wrapped up in “just” covering the standards. While the standards are important what good are they if we don’t know the student and miss connecting with them? In this episode, The Creativity Department speaks with elementary art educator Daniel Bryant about the importance of joy in the classroom and connecting with students on a personal level. From individual greetings at the door to rap battles about contemporary artists and impromptu performances to end a design lesson, Daniel Bryant ensures each class is an experience for his students. Listen in to hear how he makes his art room a creative, joyful, and unique place to be!
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Mekka Don
Creativity comes in all forms, fine art and performing art are both art! In this episode, The Creativity Department is joined by rapper Mekka Don! From the football field of Ohio State College to lawyer at a top firm in New York City and then MTV and CBS, Mekka Don has pushed boundaries and sparked conversations about non-conventional ways to approach entrepreneurship, mentorship, and race relations. Listen in to hear Mekka Don’s inspirational story as he talks about the struggles he faced, his support system, and influences that helped him create his dream!
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Ray Yang
While the work we do around the topic of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion is some of the toughest work we do as educators, it is deeply important and continuous. We must remember that this work isn’t done by any one person, these issues won’t be solved by ourselves. We must build alliances, be curious, and stay open. In this episode, The Creativity Department speaks to an important ally we all share. Ray Yang is the NAEA Director of Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion and Special Initiatives. Ray offers tips to help facilitate conversations about ED&I with students in the art room, including ways to navigate when the conversation gets tough. They discuss why ED&I seems to be “an art education thing” and share valuable insight into what NAEA is doing to support art educators.
Access all NAEA ED&I resources on that section of their website.
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Raine Valentine
“Self-expression is what life is all about. To grow and learn, we must express ourselves. It helps us process our experiences.” Self-expression inspires others (students) to do the same, which in turn allows them to tap into those questioning places and find out who they are. In this episode, Art educator and artist Raine Valentine joins the Creativity Department. During the conversation, Raine discusses her Chippewa heritage and how it inspires her. Learn how indigenous philosophies have informed her creativity and support her belief in self-expression and how it creates a connection between us.
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Michael Cohen
We are in a time with emerging technology where the digital world is poised to make a seismic shift. If you are looking to provide unique and interesting connections between art and everything that is “more than art” in education investigate NFTs. What is an NFT you ask? At the most basic level, NFTs are digital assets that can be owned and tracked. But how is this relevant to education? In this episode, the Creativity Department speaks with educator, author, and consultant Michael Cohen, The Tech Rabbi. Listen in to learn what NFTs are and how they can be an effective tool in engaging learner curiosity and sustained investigation. The power of NFTs is in creating the Art and using it to mentor students in storytelling, marketing, and developing community.
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James Rees
Involving students in the production process of exhibiting their artwork is a meaningful way to illustrate one of the many career options available to students in the arts. It is also a great way to show what students are learning in your program, provide them with critical thinking opportunities, and make your program more visible. Advocacy outside of the classroom is important and one of the best resources for that could be down the street at your local art gallery or museum. Enjoy this informative conversation with returning guest, James Rees, artist, researcher, and teacher. Hear about student curation, partnering with local museums and galleries, and the benefits this has for students both in school and after graduation—even if they aren’t planning on a career in the arts.
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Laura and Matt Grundler
A new year calls for a little reflection, a lot of planning, and of course celebration. To kick off 2022 The Creativity Department looks back on the challenges and successes of the last year and discusses plans for starting the new one on the right foot. Listen in as they share some giggles, thoughts on the coming year, and a little “This or That” from teachers in the field. Happy New Year!
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Episodes 108–155
Enjoy episodes from Season 3 of K12ArtChat the podcast. Listen in on discussions with expert educators across the field. Hear about everything from Designing Hot Wheels (ep. 108) to how artificial intelligence is disrupting art education (ep. 129).
Next Season | Season 3 Go to Podcast Homepage