Face to Face 2016 Arts in Education Conference - New York State’s largest arts education convening

Face to Face 2016 gives arts education professionals - those who provide arts programs for students at NYC public schools and beyond -  an opportunity to delve deeply into the many aspects of arts in education. Two keynote speakers will be featured during Face to Face. 

On Wednesday, April 27, the Roundtable is excited to welcome playwright, dancer, spoken-word poet, and arts activist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Marc Bamuthi Joseph is the Chief of Program and Pedagogy at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. He has maintained an active career as a writer, director, and performer. At Face to Face, Joseph will use his most recent work, /peh-LO-tah/ as a springboard to talk about arts education beyond the classroom setting. /peh-LO-tah/ uses the lens of soccer, the world’s game, to think about the urban landscape and how soccer – both literally and metaphorically – allows players to transcend their individual and community boundaries.

On Thursday, April 28, distinguished psychologist and researcher Scott Barry Kaufman, Scientific Director at the Imagination Institute, Pennsylvania, will present a keynote entitled The Science of Creativity. Dr. Kaufman is author or editor of seven books, appears frequently on television, and speaks regularly at prestigious forums. He will sign copies of his latest book, Wired to Create Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind, at Face to Face. 

Closing remarks will be delivered by New York City Council Member District 35, Laurie Cumbo, an ardent advocate for arts in education in New York City. In addition, the two-day conference includes 39 breakouts, panels, and workshops by arts in education practitioners from New York’s leading cultural institutions as well as experts from the field.

Examples of breakout sessions include: Unpacking Cultural Relevance, Sugarhill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling; Arts on the Margins: Working with Court-Involved and Homeless Populations, Manhattan Theatre Club; Identifying and Articulating Your Personal TA Philosophy, Lincoln Center Education; and Evaluation, Assessment and Research 101: How to DIY, Carnegie Hall. 

This year for the first time Face to Face will feature an all-conference art-making project, facilitated by artists from the Staten Island Children’s Museum. Inspired by the work of artist El Anatsui, whose large-scale installations were exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum in 2015, attendees will create and design their own tin squares to create a 1500-piece installation. The project will serve in part as a living example of the kind of work arts organizations bring to New York City students and communities. 

In an exciting new development, this year Face to Face is expanding to include arts educators from upstate New York and Long Island. Funded by a special re-grant program of the New York State Council on the Arts, 26 arts educators from upstate New York will join us this year. “The New York City Arts in Education Roundtable’s Face to Face 2016 conference—which now includes upstate arts educators—exemplifies NYSCA’s dedicated support of arts education throughout New York State and its proud commitment to geographic diversity in its programs,” said NYSCA interim executive director Jackie Snyder. Arts Educators from Syracuse, Utica, Buffalo, Rochester, and Albany, among other communities, have received a subsidy for travel and accommodation and a reduction in registration. 

Established in 1992, The NYC Arts in Education Roundtable is a service organization and a community of arts education practitioners sharing information, providing professional development, and communicating with the public to promote our work in schools and beyond. The Roundtable currently has over 100 member organizations, representing all five boroughs of New York City. Member organizations include Lincoln Center Theater, New York Philharmonic, BRIC Arts Media, Dreamyard Project, The New Victory, The Queens Museum, and many more.

Face to Face takes place at the City College of New York, Shepard Hall, 160 Convent Avenue, Close to 138th Street and Convent Avenue, NYC. Full directions here. 

Contact Information

Jennifer Clarke

Managing Director

Jennifer Clarke

(1) 212-691-6500 ext. 301

jclarke@nycaieroundtable.org