Join us for a day of inspiration, professional development and community building inspired by Sir Ken Robinson and the Promise of Prop. 28.

Free to K-12 teachers, arts educators, principals, district leaders, and community partners.

Imagine If: Powering Learning through Creativity and the Arts is a free one-day convening inspired by the teachings of Sir Ken Robinson and the promise of Prop. 28. Imagine If will bring together K-12 teachers, arts educators, principals, district leaders, and museum and community arts partners to learn together, make connections, and co-construct actionable ways to make the promise of Prop. 28.

Carnesale Commons, UCLA campus

Saturday, March 2, 2024

8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Agenda

8 to 8:45 a.m.

Registration and Breakfast (Location: Lobby)

8:45 to 9:10 a.m. 

Let’s Get Started! (Location: Palisades Ballroom)

9:10 to 9:55 a.m.

Keynote Presentation   

“Continuing Sir Ken Robinson’s Legacy of Igniting Creativity & Imagination in Schools”

— Presented by Kate Robinson, Director of The Office of Sir Ken Robinson

10 to 11 a.m.

Workshop 1

11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

Workshop 2

12:15 to 1:15 p.m.

Lunch — Community Building and Networking

1:20 to 2:20 p.m.

Workshop 3

2:30 to 3:45 p.m.

Prop. 28 World Cafe: Possibilities and Implementation Strategies

3:45 to 4 p.m. 

Closing Remarks, Thank You, Call to Action, Invitation to Reception 

4 to 6 p.m. 

Reception (Location: Palisades Ballroom Lobby)

Workshop One

Altering Reality to Empower Imagination

Presented by Kimberly Ramos from The California Arts Project

“Creativity and innovative thinking are essential life skills that can be developed.” — The California Visual Arts Standards. Join us in this session to experience an approach to support secondary visual arts that students can utilize in beginning their own creative endeavors while developing and expanding their visual arts artistic literacy. Discover how the California Arts Education Framework and Visual Arts Standards articulate a progression of student learning and provide educators with the tools to create effective instructional design, which “…supports students’ learning in the visual arts while developing each student’s autonomy, technical, skills, and personal artistic voice.”

Culturally Sustaining Teaching and Learning for Elementary Visual Arts Classrooms

Presented by Lindsey Kunisaki and Asher Titan from VAPAE

Culturally sustaining teaching prompts imaginative exploration of cultural identities, justice, and joy. This workshop invites educators to reimagine elementary-level visual arts lessons to align with the culturally sustaining principles introduced in the session. Educators will leave this workshop with a deepened understanding of culturally sustaining classroom practices, along with a few lesson plans adaptable for their own classrooms and communities.

Designing Creative and Culturally Responsive Music Activities in Elementary Classrooms

Presented by Lily Chen-Hafteck from The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music

Music is a medium for emotional expression. It is closely related to culture and can strengthen one’s sense of identity. Creative music activities that allow students to express their emotions and cultural identities can help in achieving the goals of social emotional learning. Through a culturally responsive music curriculum that provides an opportunity to learn about the music and cultures of each other, students will be able to increase their cultural understanding and appreciation. Sample musical activities of diverse cultures demonstrating a creative and culturally responsive music curriculum will be presented.

Looking Back to Look Forward: Using the Sir Ken Robinson Archive to Power a Creative Revolution

Presented by Kate Robinson and Anthony Dunn from The Office of Sir Ken Robinson

Join us as we embark on a journey into the Sir Ken Robinson Archive, where we’ll unveil a never-before-seen treasure: a handwritten note penned by Sir Ken himself, detailing the reasons behind his passion for transforming education. This note will serve as our compass, guiding educators toward innovative techniques to nurture creativity both within themselves and their classrooms. In this session we will also discuss the broader vision for the Sir Ken Robinson Archive, and how it will serve as a ‘living workshop,’ fueling the creative revolution in education and beyond. Participants will depart with more than just inspiration; they’ll carry their own handwritten ‘why?’ statement — a guiding light to illuminate their path forward.

Museums + School Communities: Co-Creating Programs for Mutual Success

Presented by Kelly Williams from the Lucas Museum

How might cultural organizations and school communities best collaborate to help one another reach goals? How can museums and teachers uplift student voices and opinions? In this interactive workshop, participants will unpack different models of school/museum partnerships, then take part in a world cafe feedback roundtable. Together, we’ll dream, design, and co-create diverse models of school partnerships that honor all contributors!

Poetry and Puppets in Motion

Presented by Perry Daniel from ArtsBridge

Come join us for a journey through introductory techniques of tabletop puppetry construction and manipulation. Participants will be guided through simple assembly methods using found objects and paper materials that inform a heightened awareness of character. This process-oriented practice will focus on experiencing literary works in partnership with our own understanding of physical expression. Using the somatic building blocks of animation, we will then experiment with the relationship between text and visual storytelling elements with an added emphasis on collaboration. The techniques utilized during this session can be applied to a range of subjects, including Language Arts, Visual and Performing Arts, and Physical Education.

Workshop Two

Art + The Imaginative Brain

Presented by Kelly Williams from the Lucas Museum

Did you know that youth brains develop and change not only cognitively, but also imaginatively? Join the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art as we explore the stages of the imaginative brain and consider how we might map visual arts and arts-integrated curriculum onto these developmental phases. We’ll use Narrative Art from the museum’s collection as inspiration and experiment with creative projects for all ages.

Culturally Sustaining Teaching and Learning for Secondary Performing Arts Classrooms

Presented by Kevin Kane and Lindsey Kunisaki from VAPAE

Culturally sustaining teaching prompts, imaginative exploration of complex cultural identities and intersectionality, justice, and joy. This workshop invites educators to explore a conceptual introduction to culturally sustaining pedagogy, followed by an interactive application of performing arts methods and activities (theatre arts, dance, poetry, music, etc.) appropriate to all classrooms, especially geared toward middle and high school ages. Participants will be introduced to new culturally sustaining strategies and be asked to share or lead lessons and activities of their own that align with and/or can be adapted to culturally sustaining principles.

Educator Self Care Through Comedy

Presented by Perry Daniel from ArtsBridge

This session will explore the psychosocial benefits of using humor as a tool for self-care and decompression techniques. From small gestures of curiosity to ensemble activities, we will encourage our systems to unwind by activating elements of the imagination through physical and verbal improvisation layered with the fundamentals of clowning. These practices are not about taking on the responsibility of being funny, but rather returning to our innate sense of play. Our time together is offered as a unique respite while also providing creative elements that may be incorporated into your classroom community.

Growing Musical Independence in the Elementary Classroom

Presented by Armalyn De La O from The California Arts Project

Enduring Understanding, Process Components, Essential Understanding and Questions, and Student Standards: These elements can be used to create instruction that fosters student inquiry, musical literacy, independence, and creativity. Join this session to experience an elementary instructional strategy that supports young students’ musical independence and literacy.

How to Be a Kid: Their Creativity Depends on Ours

Presented by Dr. Crystal Miller from How to Be a Kid

This transformative workshop is designed for educators seeking to understand why empowering the individual potential of each child is not optional, but essential. Participants will embark on a dual journey of self-discovery and understanding the science of child brain development. Through this interactive workshop, educators will discover the reciprocal relationship between adult creativity and fostering an environment that nurtures the imagination of young minds. By gaining insights into their own minds and touching on the science behind child development, participants will leave with a heightened sense of the excitement that creating a dynamic learning environment to foster creativity brings, all while uncovering valuable insights about themselves.

Kaleidoscope: Re-Imagining Professional Development Through an Arts Lens

Presented by Linh Roberts, Barbara Palley, and Kim Mitchell from Turnaround Arts

Turnaround Arts: California is an arts nonprofit that partners with Title 1 schools statewide to engage and empower communities through the arts. In this workshop, you will learn how Turnaround Arts: California assists teachers in leveraging the arts to increase equity in student academic outcomes and engagement through the Lesson Lab professional learning program. Lesson Lab is a process where teachers collaborate alongside their principal on an arts-integrated lesson that assists students in developing mastery in literacy, core content, and arts standards. A participating school principal will share how the Lesson Lab increased both access to grade level learning and teacher collaboration.

Reflections on a Leadership Journey in the Arts

Presented by Shana Habel and Sarah Urias from the LA Unified Arts Education Branch

What does arts leadership look like? Join us for an exploration of the role of leadership in arts education. Arts leaders and educators from the LAUSD Arts Education Branch will share the challenges and successes of an almost 25-year journey of keeping the arts important in a large and diverse school district, focusing on the who, what, where, when, why, and how of the journey as a catalyst to engage in meaningful dialogue and fortify our mutual goal of making arts a central and integral part of every child’s education in California.

Workshop Three

Creating Classroom and School Communities That Support and Empower Creative Process

Presented by Jan Kirsch from Center X

Imagine if our schools, classrooms, and districts were spaces that had access to both arts-filled curriculum and also practices that fully supported creative exploration and expression. In this interactive session we will explore specific, accessible practices that contribute to building relationships to support individuals in feeling seen, heard, valued, and connected. Everyday work with students, teachers, or any we support and/or supervise will be the source material for this session and will be fed by the work we do together. Participants will leave with specific, subtle strategies to utilize in many different contexts, supporting creative exploration and expression in the arts and beyond.

Welcoming the Literary Aesthete in the Classroom

Presented by Shervaughnna Anderson-Bryd and Tonikiaa Orange from the CA Reading & Literature Project and Center X Culture & Equity Project

There is a synergy between art and literacy. Together, they inspire us all to make meaning and new connections, and to take action. This workshop highlights that connection between art and literacy, and provides culturally responsive ways educators can support student observation, writing, speaking, and listening skills via the arts.

Inspiring Imagination and Creativity: Strategies and Standards

Presented by Sarah Urias and Shana Habel from the LA Unified Arts Education Branch

This session will focus on creativity as a skill that can be learned and practiced in the classroom, regardless of the content area. We will examine the relationship between imagination and creativity, and explore student-centered ways in which we can inspire, ignite, and fan the flames of both in our learners. We will begin with the premise that imagination and creativity are vital to a young person’s success in school and in the world beyond the classroom walls. From there, we will engage in dialogue around specific thinking tools that provide opportunities to exercise and train the creative muscle, “play” with a key anchor standard in the arts meant to spark the creative process, and renew our collective commitment to creating the spaces where a student’s capacity to engage with the world imaginatively and creatively is nurtured.

Facilitating Connections to Contemporary L.A. Art With the Hammer Museum

Presented by Hallie Scott from Hammer Museum

Interested in learning new strategies for integrating art into your classes and fostering culturally sustaining dialogue? Curious about ways to bring diverse voices and perspectives of Los Angeles-based artists into your classroom? In this interactive session, participants will practice the Hammer Museum’s inquiry-based pedagogy for facilitating conversations about works of art; learn about artists in Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living, the Hammer’s biennial of artists working in the greater L.A. area; and be introduced to ways that they can further collaborate with the museum.

Creating “Images of That Which Is Not Yet”: Strategies to Achieve Arts Education Equity

Presented by Armalyn De La O and Kristine Alexander from The California Arts Project

The California Arts Education Framework and the passage of Proposition 28 provides not just a glimpse of the possibility for equitable arts education and schooling, but strategies, tools, and resources to “engage in a simultaneous struggle to change both our circumstances and ourselves.” (R. Simon, Empowerment as a Pedagogy of Possibility) “The arts are integral to our sense of identity —- as individuals, as communities and as a nation. Through the arts and creative cultural expression, we learn about ourselves: who we are, where we have come from and what we feel, value and believe” (National Education and the Arts Statement, 2007). As California schools begin the work to change the circumstances of schooling so that all students are able to develop as artistically literate individuals, issues of access, equity, and inclusion will need to be addressed. Educators and communities will need to engage in addressing misconceptions of arts learning to fully understand what standards-based learning that leads to artistic literacy in the disciplines of dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts requires. Engage with The California Arts Project as we explore the possibilities and to begin to create the images of educational landscapes that support and allow students to create, express themselves, thrive as learners, and respond and contribute to the world around them. Leave the session with increased understanding of arts education and the possibilities, ideas, approaches, and resources to begin the journey.

Leading With Vision: Cultivating Meaningful and Relevant Learning in the Arts

Presented by Anne Fennell from the CA Music Education Association

This session delves into the transformative impact of visionary leadership on arts education, enabling educators to craft rich, learner-centered experiences for students. Through interactive discussions, participants will glean insights into effective leadership practices that inspire and catalyze powerful learning in the arts.

Enriching Music Education Through Media Arts Integration

Presented by Amy Lui from the LAUSD Music Educator (Poly High)

Join me in this session where I unlock the boundless potential of media arts integration and empower the next generation of musicians, thinkers, and creative visionaries. Participants will receive a comprehensive roadmap to utilize the new California Arts Education Framework and Standards toward incorporating technology, visual arts, and digital media into the realm of music education. By embracing media arts, music teachers empower their students to become active participants and creators in the ever-evolving landscape of music and digital media. Together, we can shape a future where music education not only reflects the world we live in, but also prepares our students to thrive and excel in it.

Prop. 28 Roundtables

Topics

AMS Toolkit

Arts Ed and LCFF

Building Effective Arts Education Partnerships

Building Infrastructure to Support Arts Implementation at the District Level

Demystifying CTE

Funding

K-8 Media Arts

Paradigm Shifts for Arts Education, Building Pipelines to Teaching

Prop. 28: Let’s Talk About It

Prop. 28 Nuts and Bolts, Including Waivers

Supporting Arts Implementation at the Elementary School Level

Supporting Arts Implementation at the Secondary School Level