Always a Student: Four Ways Turnaround Arts Leaders Continue Learning
Written by Mackie Saylor, Turnaround Arts: New York City, and Turnaround Arts Local Program Directors | Edited by Emilia Pazniokas, Turnaround Arts Program Coordinator, The Kennedy Center
In Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, bell hooks writes, “The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy.”
In the 2023–2024 school year, seven Turnaround Arts leaders (at that time known as Local Program Directors and now known as local arts partners) traveled around the country—and across the internet—to learn from each other and experts in their field. Their experiences demonstrate four different ways educators can continue to engage in radical learning spaces as students themselves.
Attend a workshop
Dr. Kim Mitchell and Chelsea Brunelle (Turnaround Arts: California) both participated in the National Equity Project’s “Introduction to Liberatory Design for Equity” workshop. Liberatory Design aims to do the following: develop designs that break down inequities and expand opportunities for those most affected by oppression, redistribute power by altering the dynamics between those who design and those who are impacted by the designs, and foster deep learning and enhance the agency of participants in the design process.
Chelsea shared, “I learned that if ‘racism and inequity have been designed into systems, it can be redesigned’ (National Equity Project).”
Attend a conference
Sarah-Jane Henry (Turnaround Arts: Bridgeport) ventured to Austin, Texas, to attend the SXSW EDU conference. In one session led by the esteemed Dr. Kimberlee Crenshaw, participants deconstructed myths around Critical Race Theory. (Listen to the audio here.) Similarly, Alina Campana (Turnaround Arts: Minnesota) attended the USSEA 2024 Regional Conference Responding to Cultural Crises: Action, Creativity, and Empowerment. Sessions included “Decolonizing Arts Education,” in which participants responded to prompts such as, “Are the arts standards by which we teach only representative of our Western and Euro-American views of art?” Artist presenter Cristina Gonzalez posed questions such as, “Can we reclaim the best of our ancestors?” and, “What patterns do we inherit?”—both of which Alina plans to utilize in future professional development.
Visit and observe a peer
Ja’Rahn Leveston (Turnaround Arts: Milwaukee) visited Turnaround Arts: Des Moines to view the Des Moines program in action. He experienced two prongs of the Turnaround Arts: Des Moines model: making art visible in schools and embracing community partnerships. He found the success of Turnaround Arts: Des Moines is incumbent partly on school principals being active in decision making and in establishing an arts-full culture for staff and students. Ja’Rahn observed that “schools with an established culture dedicated to their mission are better positioned to embrace new members into that culture and draw from their contributions to strengthen the culture.”
Mackie Saylor (Turnaround Arts: New York City) attended the Turnaround Arts: California Teacher Retreat, held at the creatively inspiring Nickelodeon Studios in Los Angeles. She was eager to see a statewide retreat in action, as this is something she hopes to implement in New York, and participated in successful sessions around developing Arts Leadership Teams through an equity lens. One of the many useful frameworks showcased was the Stages of Team Development Using an Equity Lens—a way of both diagnosing and actively growing team culture and impact.
Join a learning cohort
Barbara Palley (Turnaround Arts: California) participated in Studio Pathways’ inaugural cohort series, WILL: White-Identified & Leading for Love, a new offering specifically designed for white-identified, anti-racist allies in roles of leadership and service across sectors. The series builds off of the new book by Studio Pathways’ founders, Jessa Brie Moreno and Mariah Rankine Lander, entitled Do Your Lessons Love Your Students? The framework can be broken down into three overarching elements: examining power in your organization and relationships, unpacking and disrupting the narratives we have learned or created around race and community culture, and ways we can embody change.
In experiences both broad and specific, theoretical and tactile, Turnaround Arts Local Program Directors expanded their knowledge and gained incredibly valuable insights to take with them into their communities. Chelsea summed up the goal of continued learning very well: “Strategizing to increase arts learning for every student, regardless of zip code, is both radical and powerful, especially in a school system that hasn't prioritized these outcomes for every student. But how do we do this responsibly? And how do we do this with equity in mind?”
Mackie Saylor (she/her) is the Local Program Director for Turnaround Arts: New York City and program manager at Exploring the Arts.
Turnaround Arts Local Program Leadership Exchange Participants:
Alina Campana, Arts Specialist, Minnesota Department of Education (Turnaround Arts: Minnesota)
Barbara Palley, Executive Director, Turnaround Arts: California (Turnaround Arts: California)
Chelsea Brunelle, Program Manager, Turnaround Arts: California (Turnaround Arts: California)
Ja’Rahn Leveston, Program Director, Milwaukee Public Schools (Turnaround Arts: Milwaukee)
Dr. Kim Mitchell, Director of Program, Turnaround Arts: California (Turnaround Arts: California)
Mackie Saylor, Program Manager, Exploring the Arts (Turnaround Arts: New York City)
Sarah-Jane Henry, Director of Performing and Visual Arts, Bridgeport Public Schools (Turnaround Arts: Bridgeport)
