Announcing the APLI Inaugural Cohort!
The New Jersey State Council on the Arts and Young Audiences Arts for Learning NJ & Eastern PA (YA) are pleased to announce the inaugural cohort of the Arts Professional Learning Institute (APLI). APLI is the state’s newest arts education professional development program for arts specialists, classroom teachers, teaching artists, and school administrators.

Pilot year cohort members include:
 
     Jonathan (JJ) Aponte (Teaching Artist, Theatre)
     Kathleen Casper (Teaching Artist, Ceramic and Mosaic Art)
     Laura Craig (School Administrator, Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District)
     Molly Gaston Johnson (Teaching Artist, Visual Art, Printmaking, Bookmaking)
     Lauren MacAllister (Arts Specialist, Dance, Newark Public School District)
     Ryan McGovern (Teaching Artist, Musical Theatre, Theatre)
     Danielle Mondi (Arts Specialist, Dance, Franklin Township School District)
     Erik James Montgomery (Teaching Artist, Photography)
     Nikkia Neal (Arts Specialist, Dance, Newark Public School District)
     Carolina Safar (Classroom Teacher, Science, East Windsor Regional School District)
     Heidi SanFilippo (Teaching Artist, Mixed Media)
     Jacob Winterstein (Teaching Artist, Poetry, Performance)
     Josh Campbell and Denise Davis (Team: Teaching Artist, Theatre, Spoken Word; School Administrator, Trenton School District)
     Erika Gehringer and Caren Izzo (Team: Arts Specialist, Visual Art; Classroom Teacher, Social Studies, Drama Club, Haddonfield School District)

Joining the pilot year cohort will be two lead teaching artists who will attend the workshops with the participants and lead follow up webinars after the completion of the workshops. The Lead Teaching Artists for the pilot year are Patricia Flynn and Alex Shaw
What our friends are saying...
"A comprehensive resource..."

“After working closely with the educators, artists, and administrators this program exists to support, we designed what we hope will be a comprehensive resource. These exceptional professionals are working to ensure that New Jersey students get the complete education they deserve – one that includes meaningful arts learning and prepares them to take on the world with creativity and skill.”
Allison Tratner, Executive Director, Council on the Arts
"Critical to impacting student learning..."
"The expertise and skill of our arts educators, whether they are full time teachers, teaching artists, or administrators, is critical to impacting student learning in meaningful ways. We are thrilled to support this project."
Jeremy Grunin, President, Jay & Linda Grunin Foundation
"Leading-edge initiative..."
"APLI is a leading-edge initiative that will cultivate vital spaces for collective learning and critical dialogue about key areas in the expanding field of arts education, in order to inform and advance the participants' respective practices. I'm deeply honored and excited to support this transformative process in my role as a Lead Teaching Artist."
Alex Shaw, Lead Teaching Artist, APLI
The Artists in Education Residency Grant Program is a co-sponsored project of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and Young Audiences Arts for Learning New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania.The program is generously funded by Jay & Linda Grunin Foundation and The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.