The Connecticut TIOS mini-conference will feature breakout sessions, a panel discussion, and a keynote presentation, that will assist participants in exploring the value and benefits of school theater programs and will help them develop and implement their own action plans for the upcoming Theater in our Schools month, March 2013. Topics explored in this one day event will include: How can we maximize the impact of Theatre in Our Schools month in our institutions? 

Russell Granet was appointed Executive Director of Lincoln Center Institute (LCI) in August 2012.  Prior to joining LCI he founded Arts Education Resource (AER).  He is an internationally recognized leader with more than 20 years of experience in arts education. He draws on his background as an academic, artist, and teaching artist in his work with cultural institutions, nonprofits, and public and private schools to ensure that all students receive a sequential, quality arts education.

Granet founded AER after a decade at The Center for Arts Education (CAE) - The NYC Annenberg Challenge, where he was Director of Professional Development. Prior to joining CAE, he was Director of Education at The American Place Theatre and a senior teaching artist at the Creative Arts Team. Since 1995 he has been on the faculty at New York University, where he developed and teaches the course Drama with Special Populations. He serves on the boards of The Association of Teaching Artists, The American Alliance of Theatre Education, and The American Place Theatre and was a founding board member of the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable and the chair of arts education for the Columbia County (NY) Arts Council.

 A frequent commencement and keynote speaker, conference presenter, and panelist on arts education, Granet has worked on projects in Egypt, England, India, Kenya, Mexico, Tanzania, Turkey, and throughout the United States. Granet was awarded the Founder’s Award from The Bronx Charter School for the Arts for his work in Arts Education.

• HartBeat Ensemble's Startin' Drama and Youth Play Institute Programs
• Arts Integration for the Common Core – Several Successful Projects

• Creative Community: Richard J. Kinsella Magnet School for the Performing Arts
• Safer Theatres Initiative

Classroom teachers, history instructors, arts specialists share projects created around one topic – the Civil War – offering creative approaches for student engagement directly linked to the Common Core State Standards and the National Standards for Arts Education. A series of short presentations designed to generate ideas for utilizing similar techniques applied to curriculum in your own classroom.

Eddie Duran, Artistic Director at Richard J. Kinsella Magnet School for the Performing Arts will present on the strategies the school uses to foster a creative community. This PreK-Grade 8 school's mission is to provide each child with an enriched educational environment, which fosters artistic, independent, and critical thinking through performing arts integrated instruction.