Danny Arenas, LMSW | Director of Programs and Impact, Art Start - Thank you so much for inviting me to present. Sharing space with so many wonderful educators to speak about Empathy, Compassion, and Healing is so needed. If I may, I also want to thank Abrons Art Center for providing the physical possibility of an intimate and welcoming environment for us to engage and converse on themes rooted in the betterment of humanity. It was an honor to be with you all. Danny Arenas, LMSW Director of Programs and Impact Art Start

Marilia Destot, Artist/Educator - As an artist photographer, who created a photo-class curriculum and who's looking for a school to teach it, I attended to know if i should and how I should develop my photo teaching practice. Also to raise my awareness and knowledge on some sensitive issues (ESL), to make connections, extend the network and opportunities, etc…

Jack Power, Co-Founder, Lens on Life - Learning more about the arts and photography education landscape in New York City was a huge reason for my attendance. In addition, I know Photoville is always at the cutting edge of education techniques, language, curation, and story telling--I wanted to learn more, and I did!

Amy Flatow, William Alexander Middle School 51 - Thanks again for putting together such a meaningful and empowering PD for all of us educators. It was a great opportunity to explore SEL in the arts (the focus of my sabbatical project!) while networking with other art and photography educators. I can't wait to participate next year!

Kisha Bari, photographer - I feel it’s so incredible that the work that I’ve done has just been turned into a workshop for middle school and high school kids. That’s everything I ever do my work for. If we are not teaching our youth to stand up for their own rights, and the rights of marginalized people around them, then this work is for naught. So to watch teachers do their thing with my work, it was so impressive to see this lesson come to fruition.

Carla Rice, The New LIFE School - I’m a social worker in a special ed school, using a lot of creative stuff to do social and emotional work. It’s often me doing my own thing. This is exactly the environment of people doing the things that I want to do

Anna Knutson, MS 839 - We saw people who were doing thrilling work outside the classroom, but it only made me more excited to go back to my classroom because I feel that connection and it feels like a more authentic way to bridge that gap than probably anything I’ve ever done before.