The Next Wave Summit, October 19, 2019 — Center for Artistry and Scholarship

“The entire day was filled with joy, inspiration, and hope”

On Saturday, October 19, 2019, the Center for Artistry and Scholarship (CAS) hosted Next Wave, a one-day summit that showcased educator- and community-developed innovations that foster democratic practices and creative approaches to educational equity and racial and social justice. We created this convening to help participants emerge with a deeper commitment to artistry and creativity as essential elements of learning and human development. We invite you to watch our video of the day, and to read on for much more.

The genesis of the Next Wave summit was our urgent desire to share the innovations that have emerged from the Perrone-Sizer Institute for Creative Leadership (PSi), our year-long program for emerging leaders in education and youth-focused nonprofits. Now in its fifth year, PSi has more than 80 alumni and current participants, all of whom are part of the next wave of leadership for our region’s schools as they develop community-based responses to opportunities and challenges affecting the young people with whom they work. Fourteen PSi-ers shared their Capstone projects and other initiatives, and more joined us for the day.

While PSi was at the heart of Next Wave, we were excited to open up the experience to the many educators and students from Boston and beyond who wanted to share innovations in their classrooms and at their schools that put a focus on student engagement, creativity, and educational equity. The response to our call for participation was amazing, and we are so grateful to the more than 300 participants who were part of the day, learning with and from each other and reminding us that we are the leaders we’ve been looking for. Thank you all for the magic you helped create! Here is your story.

The Location: Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School

We were fortunate to partner with Boston’s Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School. It felt essential to hold this day of professional development at a school that embodies learning through the arts. Our day opened with Orchard Gardens Principal Megan Webb telling the story of her school. Serving 1,000 students ranging in age from three to 14, Orchard Gardens is distinguished by its program for students with autism and Boston Public Schools’ largest arts offerings among K-8 schools. Seventy percent of Orchard Gardens’ students are learning English, and most will be fully bilingual when they graduate. Ninety percent are high need, meaning that they are developing skills to overcome experiences that Massachusetts considers as barriers to achievement.

In 2012, Orchard Gardens was among the first group of schools that Turnaround Arts—then an initiative of the White House and now a program housed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts—chose as a pilot site. Since then, the arts have been the cornerstone of Orchard Gardens’ success. Orchard Gardens offers a full range of visual arts, dance, music, and theater classes to all students. Student-produced visual art is everywhere you look in the school, creating explosions of creativity, beauty, and sensory input on every surface in hallways and learning spaces.

Graphic Facilitation by Kelvy Bird

Throughout the day, graphic facilitator Kelvy Bird captured our thoughts and feelings through her images, created on the spot as sessions transpired. Ms. Bird has been working as a scribe in the fields of human and organizational development since 1995, with a focus on innovation, collective intelligence, and systems thinking. We are grateful for support from Peter Hirst of MIT Executive Education, who connected us with Ms. Bird and supported her presence at Next Wave. We have shared four of the images that Ms. Bird created during Next Wave in this recap.

Next Wave Opening Session: To Change Schools, Put Arts at the Center

To get us in the proper groove and mood, creative entrepreneur Wyatt Jackson greeted Next Wave participants with drumming and a call to action. With incredible energy and warmth, he evoked the spirit of the day and reminded us why we were here—to create schools where young people could soar and be the Next Wave.

Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School principal Megan Webb welcomed Next Wave attendees with these words:

I have found that Orchard Gardens counters a narrative that dominates many people’s perception of urban schools. When people visit, we often hear, “This is not what I expected.” Of course, this gives me a little bit of pride, but it also saddens me, and it makes me wonder: what do we expect from large urban public schools? Why is Orchard Gardens an anomaly? Why don’t we expect more? We can see that access to arts improves attendance, engagement, and achievement. Students can see their skills improve quickly through the arts and that sense of efficacy carries over. Our students graduate and move on to high school as multilingual academic powerhouses.

CAS executive director Linda Nathan shared her thoughts as well, noting to participants, “You’re here because you understand that putting arts at the center is going to change schools,” and remarking that the arts have particular power to create the anti-racist community that our young people need and deserve.

Arts Teaching and Learning in Action

Following these introductions, middle school students and teachers from Orchard Gardens demonstrated learning in action through drama and dance. With drama teacher Monica Moran, students performed a scene from Romeo and Juliet, after which dancers interpreted the scene in a duet. Then, working with dance teacher Jason Jordan, ballet students demonstrated technique through floor- and footwork.

Next, students from our partner school, Conservatory Lab Charter School, along with Conservatory Lab Resident Artists Joshua Garver, Alexandria Ramos, and Will Lynch, took the Next Wave audience on a four-year journey of music learning in the space of 15 minutes.

As Joshua Garver noted, “From the start of students’ time at Conservatory Lab, we refer to them as musicians, as artists.” This group of second graders demonstrated how four-year old pre-kindergarten students learn to make music together with a focus on singing and movement. They then shifted into music making in kindergarten, where they learn percussion. Students practice and master the different positions of percussion instruments and incorporate them into practices and songs they already know. Teachers infuse social-emotional learning, emphasizing self-awareness and collaboration. The students next showed what they learned in first grade, when they first receive their stringed instruments. With their violins, violas, and cellos, they learn instrument care and technique. Finally, these second graders showed the Next Wave audience what they now know and are able to do, bringing down the house with their performance of “We Will Rock You.”

“A pathway for students to discover their own ability is priceless”

To conclude Next Wave’s opening session, we offered an opportunity to reflect on the power of music and the arts as an integral part of everyone’s education. Dr. Lisa Wong, a pediatrician and musician dedicated to life-long learning and healing through music, moderated this panel conversation. An international speaker on arts and health, Dr. Wong is a co-founder of the Arts and Humanities Initiative at Harvard Medical School and the Boston Arts Consortium for Health. The panel featured Esperanza Spalding, Dr. Vikram Patel and Shaw Pong Liu. A multiple-time Grammy award nominee and winner, bassist, composer, vocal artist, and educator, Ms. Spalding is also a professor of practice in the Department of Music at Harvard University. Dr. Patel is a professor of global health and social medicine at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Harvard Medical School, and a psychiatrist whose work has focused on reducing the treatment gap for mental disorders in low resource countries. A violinist, composer, and activist, Ms. Liu engages diverse communities through multidisciplinary collaborations, creative music, and social dialogue. This fascinating conversation wove together research, practice, and personal experiences. The panelists agreed that we feel and understand the power of music and the arts in our own lives and in the lives of our communities—and that we must continue to seek knowledge about the fundamental role that music in all of its forms plays in human and societal development.

“An important and energizing way to start the day.”

Here’s what participants said about Next Wave’s opening session:

I want to add huge appreciation for the Conservatory Lab demonstration. The teachers and students were WONDERFUL and watching an inside snippet from their classrooms was probably the highlight of the day for me.
A truly wonderful experience. I loved that we had Wyatt Jackson as our energy coordinator to start us off and keep us connected. Amazing to see/hear the beautiful work that the children are doing and the joyful rigor involved in their communal effort that also makes space for individual expression. I really appreciated the authenticity of the panelists as they wrestled with the questions we have about infusing our school experience with the creative process and contexts for collaborative endeavors that also facilitate genuine individual expression. What a great way to start the day!!
Performances were amazing. It resonated when the speaker said at Harvard if two people have equal qualifications and one has music it goes to the candidate with music experience. This is a PERFECT example of systemic oppression because so often children need means to have instrument exposure.
This was an excellent opening session. The welcome with drumming, singing, and preparation started off the day perfectly. For me, the drumming created a sacred space grounded in centuries of focus, respect, and ritual. The student presentations were riveting and provided a powerful insight into how the arts support deep cognitive learning. Lastly, the panel also exceeded my expectations. The comments and reflections felt authentic, matched to the context and completely not pretentious like some panels can be.
Extremely well received, it was inspiring to hear from all of those experts in music/education
I thought the student musicians were amazing! Their focus, risk-taking, and passion were so inspiring. This was an important and energizing way to start the day.

Morning Workshops

Following the opening session, Next Wave participants transitioned into workshops. For the descriptions of and materials from all of the workshops, please visit the Next Wave online program.

The morning workshops included:

Become: The Path to Purposeful Leadership, facilitated by Mark Hannum from Linkage
Creative Sound Play for Kindergarten with the Greenfield Method, facilitated by Hayes Greenfield
Designing Anti-Racist Schools, facilitated by Hannah Williams, Jeff Petty, and Baionne Coleman from School Foundry/Big Picture Learning, Ben Wild and Kam Gordon of Walkabout Bronx High School, Lorry Henderson from Populace/Embracing Equity, and Sheldon Ryan Hitchens from the Timothy Smith Network
Executive Functioning Skills for Generation Z, facilitated by Shameka Charley from YearUp
Flow with Me: Yoga in Communities of Color, facilitated by Taheera Massey from Conservatory Lab Charter School and Michael Massey and Tyrome Thomas from 33 Degree Yoga
Fresh Connect: Where the Arts and Social Justice Meet, facilitated by dancer, choreographer, and educator Amirah Sackett, Peter DiMuro from the Dance Complex, and Cambridge Ridge and Latin Students Zoe Zelleke, Elizabeth Roman, Bevin O'Toole, and Sofia Savid
Leading Beyond Compliance and Towards Inclusion, facilitated by Rhianon Gutierrez from the Boston Public Schools
Music and Dialogue for Healing, facilitated by musician and activist Shaw Pong Liu and Clarissa Turner from Legacy Lives On
New Visions for Youth Court, facilitated by Hannah Kehn, Nicholas Moorman, and Amanda Donaldson from Humanities IV Charter High School, and Kirlyn Joseph from Queens Law Associates
Tell Me A Tale: Social Justice SEL via the Recording Arts, facilitated by Michael Lipset and Tony Simmons from the High School for Recording Arts
The Playback Experience, facilitated by Will C., Ukumbwa Sauti, and Annie Hoffman from Playback Theatre

Lunch Networking

During the lunch break, many attendees gathered in Orchard Gardens’ cafeteria to network and chat. Others joined planned lunch chats with Next Wave speakers and other notable guests. These included:

Eric Bethel, Instructional Superintendent, Cluster V, Office of Elementary Schools, D.C. Public Schools; Nicole Mack and Tess Plotkin, Principal and El Sistema Director, Conservatory Lab Charter School
Kelvy Bird, Graphic Facilitator, sharing and discussing graphic facilitation from the morning sessions
Adele Diamond, developmental cognitive neurologist
Shaw Pong Liu, violinist, composer, activist
Linda Nathan and Carmen Torres, Co-Directors, Perrone-Sizer Institute for Creative Leadership
Aithan Shapira, artist and facilitator
Tony Simmons, Executive Director, and Michael Lipset, Lead Impact Catalyst, High School for Recording Arts
SITRA Team: Justin W. Cook, Director, Rhode Island School of Design Center for Complexity; Irmeli Halinen, Head of Curriculum and Development (retired), Finland; Jenna Lähdemäki-Pekkinen, Specialist, The Finnish Innovation Fund; Hanna Sarakorpi, Principal, Saunalahti School
Angie UyHam, Co-Designer, Cambridge Educators Design Lab
Megan Webb, Principal, Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School
Dr. Lisa Wong, physician, musician, author

Afternoon Workshops

After lunch, Next Wave’s afternoon workshops offered yet more opportunities for learning and connection. These workshops included:

Creating Space to Learn Through the Arts: A Practical Guide to Getting Artists in Your Classrooms, facilitated by Leah Hamilton-French from Young Audiences of Massachusetts and Lauren Blumberg from Seven Hills Charter Public School
Eighth Grade Capstone Projects: Art, Activism, and Social Justice, facilitated by Elizabeth Schibuk from Conservatory Lab Charter School and recent Conservatory Lab graduates Wesley Caraballo, Se'Kaiyah Monteiro Gomes, Robyn Gomez, and Taylah Peterson
Everything has to change. And it has to start today., facilitated by Justin W. Cook from the Rhode Island School of Design Center for Complexity; Irmeli Halinen, Head of Curriculum and Development (retired), Finland, Jenna Lähdemäki-Pekkinen from SITRA: The Finnish Innovation Fund, and Hanna Sarakorpi from the Saunalahti School
Increasing Student Ownership Through Student-Led Work, facilitated by Molly Jo Rivelli and Tyrone Sutton from Boston Arts Academy with current Boston Arts Academy students Anthony Carballo, Kai Clifton, Jimmy Lim, Sebastian Medina, and Danny Rivera
Journey to Brotherhood: Creating Rituals, Contesting Masculinity, Building Solidarity, facilitated by Abdi Ali from Mission Hill School
Love and Fear in Education, facilitated by Khari Milner from Cambridge Agenda for Children and Angie UyHam from Cambridge Educators Design Lab
Moving Beyond the Deficit Model of Education, facilitated by Jiar Ahmed from the Putnam Avenue Upper School
Supporting Students of Color in the Classroom, facilitated by Michelle Calioro, Kareem Cutler, Nicole Lew, and Fatima Sammy from the Putnam Avenue Upper School
Music, Community, and Truthfulness: Social and Emotional Learning as an Artistic and Activist Practice, facilitated by Heron Russell from the George H. Conley Elementary School and Zoe Rogers from Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School

And then we listened to lead.

“The last activity, being in the orchestra, was magical. It really was transformative to sit in the space.”

Our minds were nearly full, but the day wasn’t over. Next Wave’s closing session—supported through the efforts of David Small from Fred Leadership—featured a once-in-a-lifetime immersion in music and interpersonal dynamics led by artist and facilitator Aithan Shapira. Working with conductor Ismael Sandoval, an orchestra comprised of musicians from the New England Conservatory and Berklee College of Music came together for a particular performance. Yes, it was unusual to find a 60-member orchestra in a school gymnasium. Even more striking was the seating arrangement. Each musician was surrounded by empty chairs, which Next Wave participants filled. The result was a full orchestra with audience members in their midst, in and of the orchestra.

Conductor Sandoval led the orchestra as they played their way through several pieces, with frequent interruptions and modifications from Dr. Shapira, who used the interruptions to ask questions of the audience. He framed the experience with this thought, “This is not a concert. As participants, our role is to listen and respond in 360 degrees about what you experience. The performance of this music offers us an experience for us to talk about what we’re noticing.”

Asking the audience to think about the skills we can develop that will support us in the future of work, and also the skills we learn when we learn music/the arts that will get us to that place, Dr. Shapira asked Conductor Sandoval to change the way he led the orchestra, requesting that he conduct as an angry dictator and to conduct without using his hands. With each iteration, the audience noticed and reflected on what happened to the music. Audience members—a high school principal in one moment, a ninth grader in the next—also assumed the conductor role.

Throughout, Dr. Shapira offered observations on how an orchestra demonstrates ways to make sense through collaboration, and also to manage complexity. Experiencing the orchestra react to the range of changes that happened in such quick succession helped audience members process how collaboration in rapidly changing environments demands high levels of trust.

The permutations continued. Dr. Shapira asked all of the orchestra members to play as if their part were the most important, which led to powerful observations about the productive tension between individual and collaborative work, and a powerful metaphor for student experience. As audience members noted:

“If they’re too loud, others have to struggle, so they’re always responding to how everyone works together.”
“In a school context, we can get so self-absorbed that we lose what the experience is like for students.”
“For listening to work, some instruments need to slow down. Everyone can’t be at the front all the time.”

At the end of this incredible experience, another audience member shared a takeaway about trust that rang true for many in the room, “I was thinking about coaching at this level. When you’ve got experts in the room, how do we coach them to be even better? Giving them trust, saying, ‘When you’re out of tune, you know what to do,’ gives them the agency they need.”

Ending on a High Note

And as a final grace note, our colleague Zakiyyah—not only a powerful and talented organizer and supportive colleague but also a musician coming into her own power right now—shared her single, “Shades of Black: The Hip-Hopera” to bring this day to an end.

“I feel a sense of re-ignition.”

Next Wave participants were truly the energy and momentum behind this amazing day. Here are some of their thoughts, hopes and dreams shared during the day. While the Next Wave summit is over, the movement continues. More soon!

It was really awe-inspiring, the people I had the honor to meet and engage with, the work that they’re doing, the reason they do their work, the creativity they bring, everything about it was awe-inspiring and I feel a sense of re-ignition. I have a fresh perspective on why I do the work that I do, and I so appreciate Linda and Esperanza and everyone who’s been a part of this community, and I look forward to where we’re going to take this. I think this has been a special convening, and I know that we’re going to look back and recognize these last few days as transformation, and it’s going to be for the benefit of the young throughout these country. I’m really looking for a way to demonstrate their humanity within our learning space and that’s always best presented and represented when they’re at their creative best. So if we’re able to do that for the young people of America, we’ve done a great thing. We work so much in pockets, so we have to be intentional about bringing the people together who do this work, who sometimes feel like they’re on an island unto themselves, and recognizing that we aren’t. When people like Linda and others take the time to create a convening like this, people who may not know each other can recognize their community and common purpose. It validates the fact that community is still extremely, extremely important. We don’t change anything if we don’t come together, and so that’s something that I will take back with me to do the work I need to do to further the sense of community and common purpose so we can accomplish big things. -Tony Simmons, Executive Director, High School for Recording Arts
It all starts with the adults. We cannot create anti-racist practices and structures unless the teachers have gone through a lot of thoughtful reflection on their own--on my own--identity and relationship with whiteness and white supremacy and racism in the system. Unless I as a teacher have done extensive work on that, I cannot begin to introduce it to my students. So reminding myself of that and not being too quick to implement something when I’m not fully ready to, that was a big takeaway. -Liza DeWitt, student, Harvard Graduate School of Education

I think it was incredible to have so many creative, thoughtful artists and educators together. The energy, the vibe of innovating and thinking about how we could collaborate to create a path for change was just so tangible. I can’t wait to connect with a lot of the people I met today to make it happen. -Angie UyHam, Founder and Co-Designer, Cambridge Educators Design Lab

There was a lot of hope in today. I really loved the 8th grade capstone project featuring 9th graders and their 8th grade teacher. The idea of creating an entire class around social justice and art and activism and leadership really speaks to the idea of decolonizing curriculum and allowing scholars to see themselves in a prideful way. -Baionne Coleman, School Foundry Fellow, Rainier Valley Leadership Academy

Today was incredible. The uniqueness of this conference is that it’s focused on the arts and education. And not just one other particular element of education, like diversity, equity and inclusion or deeper learning. Those types of things have been done and are continuing to be done in incredible ways, but when you talk about the arts and education, especially in the 21st century, you’re also talking about diversity, equity and inclusion, and you’re also talking about deeper learning, as long as it’s run by Linda Nathan, to be honest, because those are things she centralizes to her practice. And so I was really grateful for the audience; everyone seemed to be bringing a critical lens to the table; everybody seemed to show up ready to learn and listen and do so without judgment. -Michael Lipset, Lead Impact Catalyst, High School for Recording Arts

For More

For more on Next Wave, check out Linda Nathan’s reflections on the day, and a feature on Conservatory Lab Charter School’s site.

Final Thanks

Next Wave was a truly collaborative effort, with more so many to thank. We’re grateful for those great with images and words who helped us capture Next Wave, especially NaBeela Washington, Allida Warn, and Stephanie Wong, and Veronica Wells.

We want to conclude with a thank you to our sponsors. Their support and belief in the power of the arts in education makes our work possible. We are grateful for: