As the Deputy Chancellor of the Division of Inclusive and Accessible Learning (DIAL) for the New York City Public Schools, Christina Foti serves to ensure the needs of historically marginalized students are centered throughout the department. In this capacity, she oversees both the Special Education Office and the Office of Multilingual Learners within a unified division.

In her previous role as Chief of Special Education, Christina led initiatives impacting over 200,000 students, managing citywide special education services and implementing specialized programs for students with diverse needs, including those with autism, dyslexia, intellectual disabilities, and students who benefit from bilingual special education.

Before her tenure as Chief of Special Education, Christina held various roles, including Deputy Chief Academic Officer, Chief Executive Director of the Special Education Office, principal, assistant principal, literacy coach, and middle school teacher.

Christina holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Women’s Studies from Vassar College, a Master’s degree in Special Education from the City University of New York, and a Postgraduate degree in Educational Leadership from Hunter College. She is currently pursuing her doctoral studies at Columbia University’s Teachers College.

Rachel McCaulsky (EdD) is the Director of Ailey Arts In Education and Community Programs with the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, where she spearheads the expansion and enhancement of Ailey’s nationwide educational initiatives. Dr. McCaulsky has eleven years of experience with New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) as the Brooklyn South Borough Arts Director, assistant principal, Arts coordinator, and teacher. She has supported principals and superintendents in implementing Arts programs, overseen curriculum development for diverse and multilingual language learners, and led initiatives integrating Dance with academic subjects. Her innovative units have been featured in the NYC Department of Education’s Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Dance. Dr. McCaulsky’s distinguished Dance career includes performances with Ailey II, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and Ballet Hispanico. She has been a member of Arts for All Abilities Consortium Steering Committee since 2020.

Diane Duggan, PhD, BC-DMT, is a Dance educator, board certified Dance/Movement therapist and licensed psychologist. From 1973 to 2013 she created and taught Dance programs for students with multiple disabilities, autism, learning and intellectual disabilities, and emotional and behavioral disorders. She served on the NYCDOE District 75 Positive Behavior Support Team for nine years, creating and teaching professional development in Positive Behavior Support and Functional Behavior Assessment and consulting with schools on school-wide PBS programs and individual behavior intervention plans. Dr. Duggan teaches in the NYU Dance Education MA program and the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL). She is co-author of Dance Education for Diverse Learners. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York State Dance Education Association in 2016 and a Dance Teacher Magazine award in 2024.

Emma Gluck is a passionate and dedicated Art teacher who believes in the transformative power of the Arts for all students. She knows that Art is a universal language that can truly impact the lives of our students, but only when stakeholders work together. With 6 years of Visual Art teaching experience in District 75, Emma has collaborated with a variety of programs that exposed students to cultural institutions, Visual Art, Theatre, and Music. In her spare time, Emma enjoys taking Dance classes, creating content for her YouTube channel, and practicing mindfulness through Artmaking.

Michael Pantone is a District 75 Theatre teacher serving students with disabilities in an alternate assessed high school setting. Michael is passionate about creating opportunities for all students to be included in the devising, rehearsing and performing of fully realized student-led showcase performances. He believes the skills developed in these practices are foundational skills that transfer beyond the stage and become tools for students to live as independently as possible. For the New York City Public Schools’ Arts Office, he creates and facilitates inclusive-practices workshops for the Citywide Theatre Professional Development series and is the Co-Artistic Director of the All-In(clusive) Teen Theatre Ensemble program. Michael is a licensed Theatre and Special Education teacher.

Katherine Stock is a graduate of the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College with a Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance and a Masters in Music Education. Katherine has been working with alternate-assessment students with disabilities for 15 years in NYCDOE District 75. Kat currently teaches core Music and modern band at P721Q John F. Kennedy Jr. School in Elmhurst, NY. Music Will, Teach with GIVE, the NYCDOE Arts Office, and Arts for All Abilities Consortium are some of the professional development series that Kat has contributed to provide knowledge, experience, and Arts-specific adaptations and modifications for students with disabilities. Kat is a drummer and percussionist and currently performs regularly with her bands Rude Girl Revue and Infrastructure.

Jaclyn Alper, has been an Assistant Principal at P94M since 2022, and a part of the organization since 2017. In her current position she supports the Art Cohorts across all P94M sites. This includes collaborating with its Art Partners and managing Arts grants. She has worked with ArtsConnection in P94m since 2017. Her background is in Special Education and IEP Development. She's very passionate about the Arts and hopes to continue all of the wonderful partnerships with Arts Partners for years to come!

Tiffany Roxanne Barrett is a New York native and Brooklyn resident. Tiffany is a Multi-Hyphenate Artist. Her list of accomplishments includes a Barrymore Award for Best Ensemble and Linda LeRoy Janklow Award for Best Teaching Artist. Tiffany has served as a teaching artist for ArtsConnection since 2018. As an Arts educator for over 30 years Tiffany brings a passion for artistic expression into the classroom and performance space anytime she is there. As the mother of a neurodivergent child and the grandchild of immigrants, Tiffany has had a pointed passion for working with students with disabilities as well as English language learners throughout her entire career. Tiffany is dedicated to building learning environments that foster joy and challenge systems of oppression while modeling liberation for students.

Gwendolyn Thomas, ArtsConnection’s Director of In-School Programs is an educator and Arts administrator with a musical background in classical flute performance. She holds a B.A and an M.A. from Mannes College of Music and Eastman School of Music. Her entry into Music education began as a teaching artist through various organizations, facilitating Music residencies within NYC schools in both GE and self-contained classrooms. Her administrative background began with an internship at Symphony Space’s Curriculum Arts Project and led to a position as program manager at ArtsConnection from 2012-2015. Gwen received an initial certification in K-12 Music education from SUNY Brooklyn College in 2015. As a middle school Band director at Hunterspoint Community Middle School, Gwen strengthened the community’s focus on Music literacy and promoted the inclusion of a diversity of learners and students of cultural backgrounds in Concert Band.

Kyla McKoll, has worked in Arts education as a teaching artist, arts administrator & teaching coach since 2005. She is ArtsConnection’s Director of Professional Learning, and a multidisciplinary artist. Kyla was part of the teams that developed Teach with GIVE (resources for educators working in inclusion settings), Everyday Arts for Special Education (EASE), and Teach with ArtsConnection (educator resources for equity practices and developing English language skills, literacy, and SEL through the arts). Having struggled with traditional education practices, inclusion education is close to her heart and she is passionate about developing inclusive, accessible, liberatory learning environments for all students. Kyla has created, performed, directed, and taught across the United States and Europe. She holds a B.A. in Theater & Performance Studies, and an M.A. in Educational Theater.

Barbara Tremblay is the Principal of P721K in District 75. She has worked in the New York City Public Schools for thirty-three years. She has held roles such as paraprofessional, teacher, District Administrator, Assistant Principal, and – for the past 11.5 years – Principal. She has been awarded the Cahn Fellowship for 2022. P721K prioritizes the Arts, and Barbara believes that students should have access to quality Arts programming to foster their talents and strengths. The Arts play a vital role in the school's mission to enable young adults with developmental disabilities to live and work in the community by utilizing their capabilities. P721K is committed to creating a school culture where active participation and first-hand experiences are essential for students to achieve new levels of learning. Barbara is a member of the Consortium Steering Committee.

Lindsay Tanner (she/her) serves on the Consortium's Steering Committee and is Director of Education at Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA). Lindsay has worked as a teaching artist, classroom teacher, program administrator, artistic director, and applied theatre practitioner. Her 16 years' experience delivering Arts education programming include managing the Everyday Arts for Special Education program; consulting for Sesame Workshop and VSA Massachusetts; founding the Expressive Arts program at a trauma-informed independent school; teaching at schools across New York State; and facilitating Theatre of the Oppressed and playback theatre with communities of all ages. Lindsay has led workshops nationally and internationally on embodied inquiry and collaborative art-making for social change. She holds an M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.F.A. from NYU.

Stephen Yaffe is an Arts and education consultant, evaluator and former professor. His professional development (PD) has been praised as "brave, visionary, smart" (Corp of Public Broadcasting). He's mentored classroom teachers, teaching artists and Arts administrators in inclusive practices nationally, served as the VSA/The Kennedy Center Teaching Artist Fellows coach and provided PD to those working in the field of disability on five continents. Stephen is a co-founder and the Chair of the Arts for All Abilities Consortium, the 2018 VSA NYC Arts Advocate of the year, and serves on the Arts Committee to the Panel on Educational Policy (PEP), New York City Department of Education.

Josh Stern is the Innovation Coordinator for the Special Education Office (SEO) at NYC Public Schools. He is a passionate and results-driven advocate for critical thinking and believes in student-centered, holistic approaches to education. As a person with a physical disability, he is deeply committed to building equity for students and others with disabilities and works with SEO to blend his two passions by creating structures to further student voice and agency in the nation’s largest school district. Josh is also a fourth-year student at New York University in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, where he is obtaining his dual BA/MA in Education Studies and Educational Leadership, Politics, and Advocacy.

Victor Edwards is a 19-year-old recent NYCPS alumni. He is currently working at the Special Education Office as a Special Projects Coordinator on the Family Engagement Team. He is passionate about making positive changes to special education and ensuring every student graduates with a diploma. He enjoys playing pickleball and pool.

Elise May, Arts for All Abilities Consortium Steering Committee member, Teaching Artist/Arts Administrator, actor/singer, writer/storyteller. Her original award-winning Arts-in-Education programs use Theater Arts for communication empowerment and community development with all populations. Her Creative Readers Arts education inclusion program won the 2017 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award. Elise is a contributing author of In It Together – How Student, Family, and Community Partnerships Advance Engagement and Achievement in Diverse Classrooms. Elise was part of the creative and performance team for Branching Out, a sensory immersive play for those on the autism spectrum. She is also Program Director of a new Theater program, Theater for Dessert, for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Kerry Warren is a New York-based actor and teaching artist committed to creating consent-forward classrooms. She is a Juilliard graduate who has trained with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators, Mental Health First Aid, and contributed to ArtsConnection's Liberated Learning and teachwithgive.org, a resource for teaching artists in ICT classrooms. A participant in the Teaching Artist Training Institute (TATI) with Marquis Studios, Kerry has worked with neurodiverse students and those with physical disabilities, particularly in District 75. She also teaches stage combat at CO/LAB Theater Group, a nonprofit supporting individuals with developmental disabilities through Theater Arts. Kerry was honored with the Next Generation Award from the National Guild for Community Arts Education and is a member of the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable.

Alexa Fairchild advocates for equity, access and excellence in arts education for students with disabilities and multilingual learners in her role as manager of Arts for Diverse Learners at the NYC Public Schools. From 2015-2018, Alexa directed Turnaround Arts: NYC, a program launched under the Obama administration to prioritize the strategic use of the arts for school improvement. For ten years, she ran school programs at the Brooklyn Museum, leading a team of educators and hosting kids and teachers for inclusive and engaging gallery experiences. Her graduate degrees are from Bank Street College of Education (M.S. in Ed.) and University of British Columbia (M.A.)

Jennifer Stengel-Mohr has worked in the field of educating Multilingual Learners for 25 years. Formerly an ESL teacher and Staff Developer for the NYC Department of Education, Jennifer is currently a TESOL Lecturer in Teacher Education at Queens College, CUNY. Over the past 15 years, she has researched, presented and published around the specific topic of English language development through the arts. Jennifer has worked with all grades from Pre-Kindergarten to Adult learners in various schools throughout NYC and has partnered with a variety of arts organizations across multiple art forms. Language at the Core: Developing Meaningful Connections Between the Arts and Classroom Instruction, is an article detailing some of this work, which can be found here.

Julie Applebaum is Senior Director at Studio in a School NYC, a Visual Art Education non-profit serving New York City public schools. She creates and develops programs for students in kindergarten through 12th grade and supports Teaching Artists with their work in collaboration with school communities across all five boroughs. The programs she directs incorporate a deep commitment to exploration, inquiry, and student voice. She has recently focused on supporting multilingual learners in the Visual Art classroom and has presented on this work at several regional and national convenings. Julie is also the project lead on Studio in a School’s online learning platform, Teach and Create. She is an adjunct lecturer at City University of New York, Borough of Manhattan Community College and holds degrees from Oberlin College (B.A.), Hunter College (M.F.A.) and Bank Street College of Education (M.S.Ed.).

Belinda Blum is a painter and teaching artist with over 25 years of experience in Art education. Specializing in Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Collage, and Sculpture, she designs lessons that accommodate diverse skill levels, encouraging both creative and academic growth. Belinda has also collaborated on educational video projects, co-writing, directing, and editing over 35 episodes for Studio in a School’s online platforms and PBS/WNYC’s Let’s Learn series. For the past six years, she has concentrated on developing strategies to support multilingual learners in the Art classroom. Belinda has co-led numerous professional development workshops for educators, working with Studio in a School, the NYC Department of Education, the National Art Education Association, and the Arts in Education Roundtable. She holds an MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and currently teaches with Studio in a School and at the School of Visual Arts.

Traci Talasco is a sculptor and Arts educator with 18 years of teaching experience. She is a Visual Art teacher for the NYC Department of Education, and previously taught with Studio in a School for fifteen years. Since 2018, Traci’s teaching practice has focused on strategies to support MLLs and diverse learners through Visual Art (K-12). She has been a collaborator and co-facilitator for numerous professional development workshops for educators with the DOE Arts Office and Studio in a School. Traci has developed curriculum, teaching resources, and videos for NYC public schools. Her notable installations include the Morris-Jumel Mansion; the Brooklyn Arts Council; BRIC Media Arts, NYC; Edward Hopper Museum, Nyack, NY; and the Architecture Institute of Madrid, Spain. She received a 2022 NYSCA / NYFA individual artist grant and 2016 NYFA Fellowship. She has a BFA from Tyler School of Art and an MA from Hunter College.

Erin Lally (BFA, MA) is the Co-Executive Director of the Harkness Dance Center and Director of the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) at 92NY. Since 2002, she has been teaching Dance in public schools, studios, and community settings, sharing her passion for dance with children, educators, and families. Erin has worked with Luna Dance & Creativity in Berkeley, CA, was the former Education Director of RIOULT, and was a founding member of Bronx Charter School for the Arts, where she created the K-5 Dance curriculum. She has taught for renowned organizations including NYC Center, American Ballet Theatre, and Ballet Hispanico. Erin holds a BFA in Modern Dance from the University of the Arts, an MA in Dance Education from UNC Greensboro, and multiple certificates in Dance education. She received the 2021 Outstanding Leadership Award from NYSDEA and continues to teach, mentor, and facilitate workshops at 92NY.

Carina Rubaja, a native of Argentina, has worked for many well-known cultural organizations as a Dance teaching artist in Newark and NYC in in-school and after-school residencies with 2 to 9-year-old students of all abilities since 1998. She has participated in research and panels, written grants and teachers’ resource guides for performances. She has created bilingual videos (Spanish/English) and conducted family workshops with MLL participants. She works as a coach for preschool and elementary school educators in NYC, and New Jersey. She is a curriculum writer in the DEL Literacy project. She has participated in NYCDOE dance pilots for MLL learners. Ms Rubaja completed the creative movement teacher training in Argentina in 1988 and received a Master’s in Education from Lesley College, Mass in 1992. Additionally, she took the Dance Education Laboratory foundational courses at the 92Y in NYC in 1999, and many DEL courses and workshops.

Frank Ruiz is a first-generation Nicaraguan American artist and educator with ADHD. He is a 2024 TYA/USA Emerging Leader Fellow, which gave him the opportunity to conduct research at the Woody Guthrie Center's American Song Archives in Tulsa, OK. Currently serving as the Manager of Education Programs for New York City Children’s Theater, he has presented for the Arts in Education Roundtable’s Face to Face conference, the Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability conference, the Opera America Teaching Artist Forum, the Entertainment Community Fund’s Creative Classroom Symposium, and the Arts for All Abilities conference. His career transition into Arts education was featured by NPR in a 2022 story highlighting how his personal experiences as a Latino artist informed his social justice-based approach to education. Most recently, his project "I'm Gonna Say It Now: Exploring Protest Through Topical Songwriting," received a 2024 LMCC Creative Learning grant.