FROM THE DESK OF OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, RACHEL WATTS

September 28, 2023

Dear Friends,

I hope your summer was restful and joyful!

The new school year marks ArtsConnection’s 45th year working with the amazing young people and educators in the New York City public school system. We are excited to be back with them in classrooms across all five boroughs and at our new space on 34th Street in Manhattan. Last year we expanded programming in many schools, lengthening residencies and providing sequential programming by grade. This year we will continue to deepen learning and impact among young people. To  this end, after years of research and development, in June of this year we launched our professional learning website, offering tools and resources to educators and artists looking to make the arts come alive in classrooms.

We’ve been busy in so many other ways. Our events and exhibitions as an Organization in Residence on Governors Island continue through November 5.  And we are thrilled to be rolling out our Liberated Learning Environment Framework (LLEF) with all our artists, schools, and teens. This initiative, piloted during the 2022-23 year, fulfills a priority in our strategic plan: to examine and address the educational barriers faced by young people.

We are also excited to welcome two wonderful people to our board, Marcella Gift and InSung Cho. Each brings a wealth of passion and talents to further our mission.

As we uplift young artists across NYC, this and upcoming newsletters will feature artwork from our gallery archives spanning decades of exhibitions from our Student Art Program, Teens Curate Teens, and Art2Art.

Thank you for all the ways you support our mission. We cannot wait to be in community with you this year as we celebrate together the impact we’ve had on our city’s young people and educators.

With gratitude,

Rachel Watts