ARTS & EDUCATION CONFERENCE

The Art of Building Together

June 24th-June 26th, 2026
KID smART Center for Arts & Education
New Orleans

Join us for an immersive three-day conference focused on the future of arts education. Spend your time exchanging ideas, testing new approaches, and connecting with educators, artists, and advocates from across the country.

You’ll move through specialized KID smART learning tracks, take part in hands-on breakout sessions, and build real connections with local and national leaders shaping the field. Come ready to learn, share, and celebrate the transformative power of the arts in education.

Keynote Speaker

Liz Byron Loya

Author of Art for All: Planning for Variability in the Visual Arts Classroom

Liz Byron Loya is currently a Boston Public School visual art teacher in grades K1–8, with over 10 years of additional experience teaching special education, ESL, middle school math, and reading. Liz brings a strong, practical understanding of Universal Design for Learning, shaped by her experience as a Teaching Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Choose from 5 different tracks

Each morning, you’ll dive deep into your chosen track's sessions. In the afternoon, you’ll have the opportunity to select any workshop of interest to you.

Move beyond theory and into practice. This interactive session demystifies arts integration by showing how the arts can be embedded into everyday classroom instruction. Participants will actively explore creative dramatics as a tool for designing arts-integrated lessons that deepen academic understanding and strengthen social-emotional learning. Walk away with practical strategies, adaptable lesson ideas, and a clearer vision for how arts integration can transform teaching and learning across content areas.
Spark curiosity and deepen learning by integrating science, literacy, and the visual and performing arts through students’ natural sense of wonder. This dynamic session models inquiry-driven learning that begins with powerful questions rather than predetermined answers. Participants will experience concrete thinking routines, creative science strategies, and innovative ways to bring poetry and complex texts into science instruction. You’ll gain a clear, adaptable process for scaffolding arts- and science-based projects across grade levels. All activities are classroom-ready and drawn from Engage: Creative Strategies for Teaching and Learning.
What happens when accessibility, arts integration, and creative practice come together? Art for ALL is designed specifically for educators and staff working in alternative settings. Participants will examine disability justice, Universal Design for Learning, and how ableism can surface in classrooms—while actively exploring inclusive approaches to arts-integrated instruction. This is not a sit-and-get experience. Together, we will collaborate, problem solve, and make art that centers accessibility, student autonomy, and meaningful connection—building tools, relationships, and inspiration that carry forward into practice.
What if social studies helped students see themselves—and each other—as essential members of their communities? This interactive session explores how a community-informed, arts-based social studies curriculum can foster empathy, cooperation, self-confidence, and respect for difference. Participants will engage in creative strategies that support students’ social-emotional growth while deepening their understanding of identity, belonging, and interdependence. Discover practical approaches that help young people feel seen, valued, and empowered in the world they are navigating right now. Join us to explore how social studies can shape not just informed students, but compassionate humans.
What happens when creativity leads scientific inquiry? This dynamic workshop invites educators to reimagine STEM learning by intentionally centering the arts. Through hands-on exploration, visual artmaking, and dramatic play, participants will experience arts-integrated strategies that deepen understanding of climate, interdependence, and environmental impact. Grounded in inquiry-based learning, this session offers practical approaches for engaging students in meaningful, cross-disciplinary exploration—from the global to the local.

Wednesday Afternoon Workshops

Dancing With Babies: Promoting Early Childhood Brain Development with Sound, Movement & Rhythm

Ingrid Zimmer, Dumbarton Arts & Education

Explore how sound, rhythm, and movement shape early brain development. Through science and hands-on arts practice, this interactive session equips educators with inclusive tools to support early childhood development, caregiver well-being, and connected learning communities.
Spark Student Engagement with Play/Write

Eleanor Frederic-Humphrey, Goat In The Road

Play/Write is an in-school ELA-enhancement residency that combines creative playwriting, theatre practice, & performance to improve literacy, spark student voice, and renew interest in writing. Participants will experience theatre warm-ups, creative brainstorming exercises, short-form writing activities, and collaborative discussion while exploring ways to apply these tools across subjects and grade levels.
Stitching Together: Building Belonging, SEL, and Fine Motor Skills Through Fiber Arts

Amie Benson, Homer A. Plessy Community School

Explore how fiber arts can build SEL, fine motor skills, and student voice through hands-on learning. Participants will experience a scaled hand sewing project and leave with tools to integrate accessible, process-based art experiences into PreK-2 classrooms.
Digital Thriving + Classroom Recording

Jeff Carver, Be Loud Studios
This hands-on session helps educators use audio production to engage students in meaningful conversations about technology and values. Participants will explore a values-based reflection activity, learn simple audio recording techniques, and leave with practical tools to amplify student voice through accessible, project-based learning.
Comic Book Assessments!

Eren K. Wilson
In this session, participants will create a character design, a single-panel political cartoon, and a three-panel comic strip, then complete a self-grading reflection using a downloadable, editable project rubric. The workshop weaves in multiple academic subjects, making it a natural fit for cross-curricular instruction.
All strategies are fully differentiated, with demonstrations of easy-to-replicate adaptations so that teachers can put these methods to use as soon as they return to their classrooms.

Thursday Afternoon Workshops

Play In A Book: Bringing Literature to Life through Drama

Laura St. John, Play In A Book, Arts Partner in Chicago Public Schools

Participants will get hands-on experience in a model lesson that provides a clear example of true arts integration, connecting drama and literacy. They will walk away with a simple process that can be used in any classroom to bring a story to life on stage. Participants will also gain methods to support social emotional learning and tips for successful drama instruction.
Found Objects Mural: Animal & Plant Cells

Szabolcs Varga, STEM Library Lab

The workshop will highlight how STEM Library Lab’s Equipment Lending Co-op and Teacher Free-store serve as a great resource for Arts Integrated STEAM lessons. We will work in groups to provide evidence that living things are made of cells and develop a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole.
Teaching with Soul: Art, Culture, and Community in the Classroom

Zahara Almouzani, Community Works

Turn creativity into connection! Experience an interactive journey where art, music, and culture empower students, build community, and show how every individual contribution can create something extraordinary.
Building Together Through Movement: Dance, Mental Health, and Youth Voice

Chanice Holmes, Dancing Grounds
This interactive session explores how dance and interdisciplinary arts can support youth mental health, build confidence, and help students reclaim their voices. Learn trauma-informed, culturally responsive strategies that empower middle and high school students to express themselves boldly and unapologetically.
Torn Edges, Layers & Imagery: Building Identity & Community in the Classroom Through Collage

Kitty O’ Connor, KID smART
Immerse yourself in the world of selecting images and colors to create an identity collage. Participants will build art vocabulary and collage techniques that they can apply directly to the classroom that can be integrated across multiple content areas. We will create beautiful work that we share with each other, emphasizing the importance of leading intentional reflection time in our classrooms.