At the heart of culturally responsive teaching is the intention of finding commonality and connection of our human experiences. We can achieve this by committing to staying curious about differences in the classroom, becoming comfortable with our discomfort about what we don't know, reaching clarity in understanding our diversity, and having confidence in working together to empower one another. Together with Alison Zapata, Chris EspinosaXYZ and Danny Russo we'll dive into what this all looks like in your Teaching Arts practice with students, how you hope to see your cultural responsiveness changing, and how your work with students evolves your work as artists.

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Teaching Artist Bios:

Chris EspinosaXYZ is a Young Audiences Credentialed Teaching Artist and a Certified Arts IntegratedTeaching Artist with Mississippi Whole Schools. Chris integrates Theater Arts (melodrama and improvcomedy) into Language Arts (narrative and expository). Though his residencies are full of melodramaticsilliness, Chris is serious about providing authentic art experiences that motivate students to discovertheir voice as a writer on the page and as a performer on the stage. He has completed three trainingcourses of the Responsive Arts in School Education (RAISE) program: SEL Foundations, CulturallyResponsive Teaching Through the Arts, and Trauma-Informed Teaching.Chris has also written twochildren’s books, as well as a few scripts that have been performed on stages around the Dallas-Ft.Worth area.

Website: Chrisespinosa.xyz

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Alison Zapata is a visual artist & arts educator with over 25 years of experience in the classroom. She specializes in vibrant, colorful murals, & mixed-media collage. Her work is display throughout Pittsburgh & beyond. She is a member of the #notwhiteCollective,an artist’s collective of thirteen women with focus on social justice as we relate, connect, & belong to the Global Majority. Alison has been featured on videos for Disney/Pixar, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, & the Arts Education Collaborative. She has earned a BA in Fine Art/Art Education at Carlow University, as well as training through the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Penn State, Lincoln Center’s Aesthetic Education, & Wolf Trap Institute. She is the artist-in-residence for the Artists-in-Communities program through the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and Pittsburgh Center for the Arts & Media for SOY: Supporting Our Youth after school program with the Latino Community Center for over 6 years. She was awarded an artist residency to study Folk Art in the summer of2022 in Oaxaca, Mexico, as well as participation in the Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad Art and Society: Brazil/U.S. Educational Partnership.

Social Media:

www.zapatastudios.com

https://www.instagram.com/alisonzapataartist/

https://linktr.ee/Alisonzapataartist

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Danny Russo is a visual artist and native Houstonian. He holds a BFA degree from the University of Houston, 1978. He's been a teaching artist for 20+ years. He sees life unfolding and improving with each generation. He looks to the past and the present to determine best practices for our collective way forward. Love is the cure!