Focus on Culture and Arts Learning
An Arts Education Professional Development Series and Community of Practice
–Teaching Artist Workshop Series by the Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School and Local Learning: The National Network for Folk Arts Education–
Teaching Artist Kofi Donkor engages classroom teachers and teaching artists in a hands-on learning experience through a Local Learning workshop.
Calling Philadelphia Area Teaching Artists! Join a year-long exploration of what it means to be a culturally-responsive Teaching Artist and how your arts education practice can embrace a trauma-informed approach to support student belonging, inquiry, and agency.
- Be a part of establishing a community of culturally-responsive Teaching Artists for ongoing networking, mentorship, and growth opportunities.
- Build your portfolios, create lessons that connect across the curriculum, and gain methods for teaching about your art forms and their context to diverse students of all ages.
- Additionally, participants will have a chance to apply to a paid classroom residency opportunity in Spring 2026 following the FREE skills-based workshops series.
Classroom Teachers–you are also invited to join this series! – Discover how arts and guest residencies can be assets in your classroom, build inclusive learning plans with proven tools for student engagement, and learn with a cohort model that centers participants’ expertise.
Location: Central Philadelphia. Exact Address will be shared with all registered participants.
Kick-Off Date: November 1, 2025 | 10:00 am-3:00 pm
Skills Focus for this gathering: Accessing tools and activities to create inclusive learning environments for all students.
FREE!
Participation in the first workshop does not commit you to the year-long program. This workshop can also be a one-time engagement to sharpen your skills for teaching Philly’s students today.
About the Workshop Series and the Faculty
Special topics to be covered in upcoming workshops across the next 24 months in this series include:
- Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
- Trauma-Informed Pedagogy in the Arts Classroom
- Activating Arts Conversations to Connect Across Disciplines
- Student health and Well being through Cultural Lens
- Working with ELL Students
- Cultivating a Whole School Community Ecosystem through Arts Education
- Site-specific tours and opportunities to meet FACTS-seasoned Teaching Artists in both Ensemble and Class Residency settings (by invitation only)
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The Folk Arts Cultural Treasures Charter School (FACTS) provides children with an exemplary education that utilizes traditional arts and cultures found within their own and neighboring communities as the catalyst for critical inquiry and community engagement. It provides children with an education which has high academic standards, is truly community based, incorporates and respects the lives of students and their families, engages students in understanding their own cultures and communities, and engages students in understanding their role as active participants in working for a just society. FACTS serves kindergarten through eighth grade elementary school students of diverse racial, ethnic, linguistic and cultural backgrounds from the City of Philadelphia.
The FACTS mission quotes Grace Lee Boggs, “Giving meaning to the lives of our children in the present while preparing them to become active citizens in a democratic society.”
Claire Denny, M.A.I.S, is the Folk Arts Education Specialist at the FACTS Charter School. She holds a Masters of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Folklore from George Mason University. Her education also includes a B.A in Anthropology and a certificate in Studio Art. At her previous job as Folklife Education Coordinator at the Arts Institute of Middlesex County she worked extensively with teaching artists and created education materials for educational settings. She also has experience working with diverse youth populations stemming back to her time living and teaching on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. In her current job at FACTS, her primary responsibilities include coordinating folk arts residencies, training classroom teachers and artists in folk arts education, and playing a lead role in the implementation and continuous improvement of folk arts education curriculum.
Local Learning is a National Arts Service Organization that will bring their national faculty and local experts together to support this training opportunity.
Dr. Lisa Rathje is Executive Director of Local Learning. She directs teacher and artist training institutes and advocates for the inclusion of culture in diverse learning spaces. She consults nationally, including currently a 5-year consultancy for the REACH program of the University of South Florida funded by the U.S. Department of Education to strengthen arts and culture programming in the nation’s educational system. With Paddy Bowman, she is co-editor and founder of the Journal of Folklore and Education, an international, freely accessed, multimedia juried journal.
Mira Johnson, D. Ed., is the Local Learning Director of Learning Networks and Training where she works collaboratively with staff, artists, and community members on the design, development, and engagement of folk arts learning opportunities and resources. She is also an adjunct assistant professor at Bronx Community College in the English Department and the First Year Seminar Program. As a regional culture specialist for Pennsylvania’s state folklife program she conducted fieldwork with rural and urban folk artists and tradition bearers, and served as the program coordinator at FolkArtPA, Pennsylvania’s statewide folklife program. She holds a doctorate in Adult Education and Lifelong Learning from Penn State University and an M.A. in folklore from the University of Oregon.
Thank you to the William Penn Foundation for supporting this work through their Arts Education Teaching Artist Training Program. This grant is expected to offer teaching artists with professional development and networking support to improve their practice and connect them to colleagues and additional resources.