Summary:
The Creative Advantage Institute will be held on September 27th at the Seattle Art Museum, bringing together teachers, teaching artists, community partners, administrators, and education leaders to explore how the arts can deepen student learning and community connection. The event offers a range of workshops, networking opportunities, student performances, and five clock hours for attendees. The high-energy "Everybody Dance Break" returns with Shannon Barnes of Pacific Northwest Ballet and Seattle Public Schools physical education teacher Liz Fleck. A Teen Leadership Panel will feature youth from the Seattle Public Schools Youth Arts Collective and the Seattle Art Museum's Design Your Neighborhood program.
Seattle’s arts education community will reconvene for a full day of creativity, collaboration, and professional learning as the Creative Advantage Institute returns on Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Seattle Art Museum. Designed as a vibrant kickoff to the 2025–26 school year, the annual event brings together teachers, teaching artists, community partners, administrators, and education leaders to explore how the arts can deepen student learning and community connection.
Running from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the institute offers a range of workshops, networking opportunities, student performances, and five clock hours for attendees. The event encourages exploration of arts integration, culturally relevant teaching, and student-centered practices through hands-on, engaging experiences led by a dynamic lineup of artists and educators.
Highlights include “Graphic Narrative as Medicine” with Lin Lucas, where participants will use illness and resilience as inspiration to craft personal origin stories through graphic narratives. Lucas, a multi-disciplinary ritual artist and educator, brings a unique approach that blends creativity, ancestral healing, and social transformation.
In “Interactive Theatre,” artist and educator Olisa Enrico will lead participants through theater-based games and kinesthetic learning techniques. The session explores how embodying knowledge can bring classroom lessons to life, while emphasizing ritual poetic drama and collaborative pedagogy rooted in the African continuum.
Ethnomusicologist Daniel Atkinson and educator Joe Seamons will co-lead “Face the Music: Combating Erasure,” an exploration of Black American musical history through the life of dancer and activist George “Nash” Walker. Attendees will learn strategies to incorporate erased or marginalized narratives into arts and history education, challenging white supremacy and honoring cultural heritage in the classroom.
The high-energy “Everybody Dance Break” returns with Shannon Barnes of Pacific Northwest Ballet and Seattle Public Schools physical education teacher Liz Fleck. This session will demonstrate the connection between dance and physical education and highlight inclusive movement strategies used in K–12 classrooms.
A Teen Leadership Panel will feature youth from the Seattle Public Schools Youth Arts Collective and the Seattle Art Museum’s Design Your Neighborhood program. Facilitated by SAM’s Youth Programs Manager Cristina Cano-Calhoun and teaching artist Monyee Chau, the panel will spotlight student voices in arts leadership and community impact.
With a range of offerings that span personal storytelling, movement, music, history, and youth leadership, the Creative Advantage Institute remains a cornerstone for Seattle’s arts education network—reaffirming the role of the arts in equitable, engaging, and transformative learning.