Virtual Arts Integration Symposium

Tending to Well-Being Through the Arts

The 2021 Virtual Arts Integration Symposium: Well-Being Through the Arts will feature a variety of virtual professional development sessions for TK-12 educators led by expert teaching artists in dance, music, theatre, visual and media arts. The three-day online symposium will guide educators in developing skills and strategies to address student well-being through the arts. The symposium will offer workshops connected to Social Emotional Learning (SEL), trauma-informed approaches, social justice and much more. 

This year’s Virtual Symposium will feature keynote speaker Dr. Tyrone Howard and sessions led by national partners from New Jersey: New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) and Newark Museum of Art (NMOA). The Music Center teaching artists and guest presenters will provide educators with a range of arts integration techniques that can be implemented in the classroom, hybrid and distance learning settings. 

About Keynote Speaker

Tyrone C. Howard, Ph.D.

Tyrone C. Howard is a professor in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies’ at UCLA. Dr. Howard is also the inaugural director of the UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families, which is a transdisciplinary consortium of experts who examine academic, mental health, and social emotional experiences and challenges for the California’s most vulnerable youth populations. He is also the director of the UCLA Transformation of Schools which serves as a thought partner for districts, counties, and states to pursue whole child, whole community approaches to school systems improvement. Professor Howard has published over 85 peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and technical reports. He has published several bestselling books, among them, Why Race & Culture Matters in Schools and Black Male(d): Peril and promise in the education of African American males. His two most recent books, No More Teaching Without Positive Relationships, and All Students Must Thrive: Transforming Schools To Combat Toxic Stressors And Cultivate Critical Wellness have become must reads for all educators. Dr. Howard is considered one of the premier experts on educational equity and access in the country. Dr. Howard is also the Director and Founder of the Black Male Institute at UCLA, which is an interdisciplinary cadre of scholars, practitioners, community members, and policy makers dedicated to examining the nexus of race, class, and gender of school age youth. A native and former classroom teacher of Compton, California, Dr. Howard was named the recipient of the 2015 UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award, which is the campuses highest honor for teaching excellence, and was named an American Educational Research Association (AERA) Fellow in 2017 for his exemplary research on race and equity. During the last five years, Dr. Howard has been listed by Education Week as one of the 30 most influential scholars in the nation informing educational policy, practice and reform.