David A. Dik was appointed National Executive Director of Young Audiences Arts for Learning, the nation’s largest arts in education network, in 2010. Prior to this position, he served as the Managing Director of the Metropolitan Opera Guild, having also served as the Guild’s Director of Education.
In addition to his responsibilities at Young Audiences, David serves on the Leadership Team of the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards, Board of Directors for the Music-in-Education National Consortium, the Advisory Committee of the Arts Education Partnership (AEP), a trustee and executive committee member of the Potsdam College Foundation and a member of the Harvard Graduate School of Education Arts in Education Advisory Council. David’s career began as a certified school music educator.
David was recently appointed as a Technical Working Group Advisor for the Statewide Infrastructure Project for Arts Education in partnership with Americans for the Arts (AFTA) and the Education Commission of the States (ECS) and a member of the Windgate Advisory Board for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.
He attended the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, New York majoring in music education, Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey receiving a master’s degree in choral conducting and obtained a post-graduate degree in school administration and supervision from the City University of New York.
In 2009 he received SUNY Potsdam’s Minerva Award, the Alumni Association’s highest award for professional achievement.
Katie has been with Partnership with Children in various roles since 2001. In her current role, she provides programmatic oversight and clinical supervision to seven of the organization’s partner schools. Prior to joining Partnership, Katie worked at New York Presbyterian/Westchester Division in the Child & Adolescent Inpatient and Outpatient units. Katie has always been passionate about working with children and families, leading her to launch one of PWC’s most successful parent engagement programs, Parent University. Katie has a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Shippensburg University and a Master’s in Social Work from Temple University.
Christopher is a dedicated and passionate arts education professional with over 30 years of experiences in designing, funding, implementing, and evaluating meaningful and inclusive aesthetic education and other education programs. He serves as the curriculum consultant for 'third space'.
Your students laugh and learn their way toward success in Language Arts by improvising and overacting in zany scenes with The Melodramatic Teaching Artist, Chris Espinosa-XYZ. Chris integrates the silliness of sketch comedy and boo-hiss-yay melodramas with Language Arts (poetry, expository, or narrative) in his improv/writing residencies, workshops, and assemblies.
Although his lessons are full of comedy, he's serious about providing authentic art experiences that motivate students to discover their voice as a writer on the page and as a performer on the stage. One teacher wrote, “Chris Espinosa provided an engaging week…His exuberant personality hooked the fourth-grade students...The connections we made with him and the artistry we experienced have left a lasting impression.” Many schools that hosted Chris have experienced higher scores on state mandated tests.
In the classroom, Chris has 20 years' experience as a Teaching Artist and has presented over 100 residencies (2,000+ classroom hours). He also has 30 years’ experience on stage as an actor, writer, director, and producer. He will complete his Teaching Artist Certification training by July 2024. He's on many artist rosters, including: Young Audiences of Northeast Texas (Tyler); Texas Commission on the Arts; Authors and More (Austin); ArtsSmart (Texarkana); Southwest Arkansas Arts Council (Hope, AR); Arkansas Arts Council; Mississippi Arts Council; and Mississippi Whole Schools.
Regi Strickland is a Regional Director for ArtsNOW Learning. She is a former lead teacher of an arts-integrated magnet school who has seen firsthand the impact that quality arts-integrated learning has on students. Regi believes in building relationships and empowering educators with effective and innovative strategies.
Kimberly Washburn Motte is the Arts Learning Director for the South Carolina Arts Commission. With a background in museum education and as a certified visual arts teacher, her passion for education in and through the arts drives her work for statewide equitable access to arts learning opportunities across the age spectrum.
Katherine Dilworth, master teaching artist and recipient of the YA National Teaching Artist Credential, serves as the Director of Arts Integration at Arts for Learning Maryland. She spearheads the CCEIS intervention, currently enriching 80 classrooms throughout the entire school year in Baltimore City Public Schools.
As a seasoned public school teacher and accomplished musician, Juliane Codd Toce serves as the Director of Education at Arts for Learning Maryland. She leads a groundbreaking multi-year control study on Arts Integration, funded by the Federal Department of Education's Innovation and Research Grant.
Brandon liaises with teachers and artists and manages professional development workshops for CAPE’s in-school programs. He holds a B.A. in Art History, as well as certificates in computer science, gender and women’s studies, and digital studies from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Erin Preston is an emerging educational researcher and former arts educator who draws upon eight years of teaching visual and digital art. She has worked with the Chicago Humanities Festival, Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education, and Project Zero on program evaluation and research. Her research focuses on tensions of knowing, trust, and values in adult and student collaborative learning in a variety of contexts including professional development settings and arts integrated classrooms. She is particularly interested in the role of tension in learning driven by artistic processes, collaboration, and interdisciplinary inquiry.
Mark manages CAPE's in-school arts integration programs and exhibitions, supporting teacher- and teaching-artist partnerships to expand pedagogical arts practice. Mark is an artist and educator who received an MFA from University of Illinois at Chicago. He is a lecturer at the Art Education Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Alexandra Novak Foster is the Education Manager at AFLCT where she recruits, onboards, trains, and evaluates teaching artists and their programming. Alex runs a TA training program called Emerge that is in its second year. With a background in public education, she currently teaches arts learning practices prospective K-5 teachers at Quinnipiac University and is a practicing visual artist. Alex lives in New Haven, CT with her husband Van.