Destination Arts Integration 2026

Join your arts education statewide partners - Ohio Alliance for Arts Education, the Ohio Arts Council, Art Possible Ohio, and OhioDance for a day of arts integration professional development.

Registration is $75 - Includes all conference materials, continental breakfast, and lunch on May 15.

Presented by - The Ohio Arts Council, Ohio Alliance for Arts Education, Art Possible Ohio, and OhioDance.

9:00 – 9:30 am Registration, continental breakfast
Graduate by Hilton, Cincinnati

9:30 -9:45 am Opening Remarks

9:45-11:15 am Concurrent Sessions

• Karen Erickson - Using Drama, and Arts Integration Next Steps
• Jessica Held - Building Engaging Residencies: Practical Structures, Real Examples, and Creative Tools
• Bridget Lambright - From Shattered to Shaped: Healing Trauma Through Creative Expression

11:15 -11:30 am Break

11:30 am– 12:30 pm Plenary Panel

Facilitated by Karen Erickson, panelists include: Dr. Elle Pierman, Demetrius Thomas, and Marquette Stankowski

Panelists will discuss topics that include thriving residencies, partnerships with schools, arts integration, and being a teaching artist in 2026.

12:30 – 1:15 pm Lunch, provided

1:45 – 3:15 pm Concurrent Sessions

• Karen Erickson - Using Drama, and Arts Integration Next Steps
• Jessica Held - Building Engaging Residencies: Practical Structures, Real Examples, and Creative Tools
• Bridget Lambright - From Shattered to Shaped: Healing Trauma Through Creative Expression

3:10 – 3:30 pm Closing photo, Statewide Resources, Conclusion, Evaluation

Note: sessions are subject to change.

Creative Directions - Using Drama, and Arts Integration Next Steps

Presenter: Karen Erickson, Kennedy Center Teaching Artist

Description: Master Kennedy Center teaching artist, Karen Erickson will present "What is Arts Integration" while employing drama and other academic content areas. In addition, her workshop will have connections to Science of Reading content. This session will review and build upon materials and strategies presented in her 2025 Destination Arts Integration workshop.

From Shattered to Shaped: Healing Trauma Through Creative Expression

Presenter: Bridget Lambright

Description: In this transformative session, participants will explore how creative practices help reclaim the parts of ourselves or our students that trauma tries to silence. Our creativity is rooted in our sensitivity. When trauma overwhelms that sensitivity, creative expression becomes one of the most powerful ways to shape meaning, restore identity, and begin the healing process. Understanding this connection helps us support students through creative practices not just to teach, but to heal, regulate, and reconnect. We’ll examine how creativity becomes a steady bridge from survival to strength. Attendees will discover accessible strategies they can use with students, colleagues, or themselves to reduce stress, build emotional resilience, and re-author personal narratives. This session invites you to step into a space where healing and creativity work hand-in-hand to shape something whole, hopeful, and new.

Building Engaging Residencies: Practical Structures, Real Examples, and Creative Tools

Presenter: Jessica Held

Description: Join teaching artist Jessica Held on how she builds arts-integrated residencies that prioritize engagement, successful art making, and promoting creativity. Drawing on examples from multiple residencies, Jessica will go through the structures, routines, and creative tools to reach engagement. She will share successes, challenges, and small but effective strategies developed through teaching experiences, highlighting what works and how she adapts lessons to different groups and environments. This session also includes a hands-on activity and past examples of successful and engaging arts experiences.

Karen Erickson has been a Professional Teaching Artist for more than 20 years. As Executive Director of Creative Directions, she trains artists and teachers in drama education, curriculum planning, arts integration, and assessment development nationally and internationally. Ms. Erickson continues her work as a playwright and stage director in addition to authoring seven drama education books used in schools throughout the country. Her most recent publication, The Arts: Keystones to Learning was published in 2005 and documented 26 arts integrated programs in the Chicago Public Schools. She served as the Artistic Director of Trinity Square Ensemble Theater in Chicago for eight years in addition to several years working at the Goodman Theater where she was an assistant to Tennessee Williams during his two-year residency. Ms. Erickson has written more than 15 plays for youth and adults produced by theater companies across the United States. She works with the Kennedy Center's professional development programs including Changing Education Through the Arts (C.E.T.A.). Ms. Erickson is a certified teacher in English, speech communications, and theater education for grades K-12. She co-wrote the Illinois Arts Goals, Standards, Performance Descriptors and Chicago Drama Benchmarks in addition to a state book on Fine Arts Integration.

Jessica Held a Cincinnati native, is an artist, teaching artist, small business owner, and festival coordinator based in Athens, Ohio. She earned her BFA in Painting and Photography from Ohio University. Her abstract artwork has recently been featured in the Women of Appalachia exhibition, the Art Outside the Box and Stories in the Park public art installations, and in the Women Speak anthology and Native Fruit: Poetry and Fine Art Inspired by the Pawpaw publications.

Jessica has taught art to all ages in schools, museums, libraries, and community art centers across Ohio, Texas, Indiana, and Michigan. She is a member of the Ohio Arts Council’s Teaching Artist Roster and currently teaches for Arts Possible Ohio’s Adaptation, Integration, and the Arts residency in Wellston. In addition, she leads K–12 art enrichment classes through Ohio University’s Kids on Campus after-school program in rural southeastern Ohio schools, teaches summer art camps and teen after-school classes at The Dairy Barn Arts Center in Athens, and teaches Creative Aging classes for adults 55+ at Athens County Public Libraries in Nelsonville and Coolville.

Through her small business, Flux & Function LLC, Jessica creates functional artwork, available in local shops around Ohio. She also serves as the Community Marketplace Coordinator for the annual Ohio Pawpaw Festival in Albany.

Bridget Lambright is an award-winning educator, writer, and creative visionary with three decades of transforming the lives of young people through the arts. A recipient of the Kennedy Center’s Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Award, she blends storytelling, mindfulness, and trauma-informed practice to turn classrooms into studios of hope. As STEAM & Fine Arts Supervisor for Youngstown City School District, Bridget led innovative initiatives that integrate music, visual art, drama theatre, and technology into rigorous academic learning. She is the creator of the Middle School to the Max and Write Rich™ method, a creative-writing framework that uses storytelling and financial metaphors to help below grade-level writers overcome disengagement.

Bridget's impact extends far beyond the classroom. Hundreds of former inner-city students credit her guidance with having excelled in college, the military, and certification programs. Now they're living dream lives they couldn't have imagined. A trusted partner to universities and arts organizations, Bridget curates experiences that elevate social justice, emotional literacy, and cultural pride. Her interactive sessions leave learners with sharper skills and renewed confidence.

Elle Pierman, Ph.D., Director of Education at BalletMet, is a dancer, teacher, and scholar from Columbus, OH. Elle received her bachelor’s degree at The Ohio State University (OSU) with a double major in Psychology and Communication and a minor in dance. She received her master’s degree in Arts Policy and Administration in 2016 and her PhD in Arts Administration, Education and Policy in 2020, both from OSU. Her research investigates how dance influences socio-emotional development and executive function in preschool children with autism. Her research also analyzes the program factors, pedagogies, and infrastructures necessary to make a preschool dance program successful and accessible for students of all abilities. Elle has worked for BalletMet since 2012 in roles related to teaching, administration, and evaluation, which has given her a well-rounded and multi-faceted experience working in the non-profit arts field. She is excited and grateful to be able to share the joys of dancing with her students and continue her work as the Director of Education.

Marquette Stankowski is a theater artist and teacher who specializes in creating multidisciplinary projects that combine public performance and arts-integrated learning. As artist-in-residence at the New Albany Primary School, he runs two year-long projects that combine poetry, dance, public speaking, and music with science curriculum. He is always looking to forge new partnerships. His latest project is a short residency at the New Albany Early Learning Center in which he works with all fifteen kindergarten classes to integrate lesson in physical, mental and social health with the collaborative creation of a class animal.

Demetrius Thomas, also known to the world as Nova The Rebel, is a Cleveland native and active hip-hop artist signed to the legendary rap group Bone Thugs N Harmony (BTNH). He has been actively creating and recording music since he was seven years old. Traveling with BTNH, he has been on tour with musical legends including Snoop Dogg and TLC, as well comedian Dave Chapelle. He has performed in front of crowds with audiences ranging from 500 to 15,000 people in the stands. Through his travels he has been able to garner a strong following, and the numbers are still growing. In addition to performing, he is passionate about doing work in the community. In order to spread knowledge, integrity, and uplift, he has spoken at the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, group homes, elementary schools, and more. He has thrown concerts for years which included food and portions of earnings donated to the Cleveland Food Bank Harvest For Hunger. Demetrius has received a letter from former Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson thanking him for using his talents and creativity to positively impact the community.

Demetrius has his own hip-hop school located in Cleveland that helps develop young aspiring hip-hop and R&B artists. He has collaborated with other entities to hold classes in schools and libraries. His goal in teaching is to bridge the gap between Hip-Hop and academics. Hip hop amplifies the importance of literacy in ways that reach young people. In his sessions, participants define words, expand vocabulary, practice spelling, study sentence structure, and emphasize being able to articulate a point when speaking. Math is important when creating as well, songwriting requires measures and timing to execute thoughts without falling out of the rhythm of the beat.

Whether on big stages or in the classroom, Demetrius always looks to positively make a difference.

A hotel block has been secured at the Graduate Hotel. This is also the venue for the Ohio Arts Council's Arts Impact Ohio conference (May 12-14). The hotel link is the same for both events. If you plan to attend both Arts Impact Ohio and Destination Arts Integration, we recommend you make one continuous hotel reservation.

Jarrod Hartzler, 614-224-1060, [email protected]

The Ohio Arts Council is committed to providing access and inclusion and reasonable accommodation in its services, activities, programs, and employment opportunities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other applicable laws. To request a reasonable accommodation due to a disability please contact ADA Coordinator Kim Turner at 614-995-0066 or no later than 14 days before this event.

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