Amanda Galbraith is an art educator with the Bartlett City Schools in Tennessee. In 2017–2018, she was an educator fellow with the State Collaborative on Reforming Education, a Tennessee-based nonprofit education research institution. Her students have consistently received recognition and awards, and many have gone on to successfully pursue further studies in the arts. Galbraith has served on the Tennessee Department of Education’s subject matter expert committee, two standards revision committees, a textbook and instructional materials advisory panel, and numerous curriculum development teams. She’s received the Tennessee Art Education Association’s West Tennessee Art Educator of the Year award two times—in 2011 and 2013. In 2019 Galbraith was named the Tennessee Art Education Association Art Educator of the Year. She is a frequent presenter at local, state, and national conferences.
Jason Blair believes that the creativity of our children will change the world. He is a twenty-year veteran arts educator, and every day he is fortunate to learn from the creative geniuses that step into his art studio. He believes that we can empower students to tap into their creative potential if we as educators nurture our own growth as creative change agents. To empower creativity in his students, Blair believes that the educator must be the classroom creativity whisperer, building a community in which creativity is valued and thinking different is not just safe but celebrated. He has established himself as a creativity specialist, capable of cultivating the creative dispositions that will illuminate imaginative ideas and help inspire innovative practice. He received his degree in art education from The Ohio State University. Currently, he teaches art to students in elementary grades in Dublin, Ohio.
LaSaundra Booth is an accomplished arts leader, administrator, and teaching artist. She is the founder and executive director of the Wake Forest Community Youth Orchestra (WFCYO), a nonprofit organization that provides expert orchestral instruction and free instruments to youth living in rural and underresourced communities. Under her leadership, WFCYO grew from three students to more than four hundred within three years. In addition to working with youth, Booth is a lecturer for music education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In this role, she prepares the next generation of educators to lead culturally inclusive arts education programs. Booth serves on the National Association for Music Education’s Council for Orchestra Education, where she is heavily involved in implementing diversity initiatives for kindergarten through twelfth grade string orchestra classrooms.
