Sessions
Creative Activities for Creating Joyful Connection in Classrooms and Community Spaces
In this session, Alex Turner, a classroom teacher, and Kadeem Ali Harris, a teaching artist, activate strategies that have proven successful in helping participants of all ages & in various settings feel joy and be better connected with themselves and other participants in the space. After engaging in several activities, Elizabeth Dunn-Ruiz will moderate a discussion between the presenters and then with participants.
Alex Turner is a NYC-based theatre maker and educator originally from the D.C. metro area. As a professional teaching artist, performer, improvisor, deviser, and director, he has spent the last ten years activating drama with young artists to help them better understand their authentic selves and how to express that knowledge to the world. Alex is proud to be an Arthur Miller Foundation Fellow and the national recipient of the 2023 Winifred Ward Award from the American Alliance for Theatre & Education.
Kadeem Ali Harris (he/him) is an actor, director, and producer from the Bronx, New York. His Broadway debut was in Thoughts of a Colored Man. Regionally, he has performed with American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Rep, The Guthrie, Cleveland Playhouse, Cal Shakes, and Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati. Kadeem holds an MFA from American Conservatory Theater and a BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. As a producer, he led the 2016 Bay Area Artist Festival, premiering Obie Award-winner Aleshea Harris’ CRACK. RUMBLE. FLY. A dedicated teaching artist, Kadeem has taught in New York City, Cincinnati, and the Bay Area. He is a recipient of the Bratt Family Diversity Scholarship and the Litfin Scholarship. He is also a member of Lanes Coven Theater Company in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where he recently directed the company’s first all-female production of Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog. On screen, Kadeem recurs as "Brandon" in the hit Amazon Prime series Harlem, starring Meagan Good, and appears in Season 3 of City on a Hill.
Agents of Belonging: How to Foster Joy in the Workplace Through Connection
Can we actually establish meaningful connections with co-workers? Join members of New York City Center’s Education & Community Engagement staff for an examination of department practices and systems that contribute to a thriving and connected team. Using NYCC’s company values as a springboard, we’ll unpack our “work hard/play hard” ethos, experiment with exercises that support inclusion, and share takeaway tools for nurturing belonging in the workplace.
Loureannie Reynoso Augustus is an Organizational Change & Learning & Development Leader with over 10 years of experience designing, implementing, and scaling training programs across public health, education, & nonprofit organizations. Proven track record in instructional design, curriculum development, and workforce transformation strategies that drive measurable results. Skilled at building inclusive learning models, aligning executives and stakeholders, and leveraging adult learning principles to support culture change and professional development. As City Center’s Senior DEIA Program Manager, Loureannie partners with CEOs, HR, L&D, facilities and People Ops to shape how employees feel, connect, and stay. Her career spans government, nonprofit, and hybrid sectors, but one through-line has remained constant: “I bring heart and systems-level rigor to every initiative”. Passionate about advancing skills-first strategies that unlock equitable career pathways.
Jordan Powell is a Jamaican American director, writer, and administrator from Georgia who serves as New York City Center’s Community Engagement Coordinator. At City Center she manages their Artivism program and professional development series giving access to artists to develop and learn new skills. Jordan graduated from NYU Tisch Drama with a concentration in directing and previously worked with New York Theatre Workshop as their Education and Engagement Fellow. Whether it is through her art, teaching artist work, or administrative work she focuses on bringing communities together around art for the purpose of change, healing, educating, and passing our stories down.
Shaleah Adkisson is an educator, administrator and creative. A transplant from central Arkansas, Shaleah began her career as a musical theater performer and has appeared both on and off-Broadway (Hair and Rent, respectively), at Disney World (Festival of the Lion King) and in various regional theaters in various plays and musicals. Since shifting her focus to arts administration in 2021, she has worked for New York City Center in the rapidly expanding Education & Community Engagement department as Manager of School Programs, bringing dance and musical theater into K-12 classrooms in (almost) all 5 boroughs. In this role she also supports the production of multiple student matinees annually, as well as oversees NYCC’s dynamic teaching artist roster of dance and musical theater Professionals. She continues performing on stages across the country with renowned symphonies including Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Marin Symphony, Florida Orchestra and Baltimore Symphony in shows tributing legends such as Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin and Stephen Schwartz. When not on stage or at a computer, Shaleah enjoys listening to podcasts, re-watching an extensive library of comfort shows and hanging out with her husband Jose and their (almost) 2-year-old son Lucas.
Leading with Love: Core Values in Developing Sustainable Community Partnerships
In a world where resources, priorities, and capacity are rapidly contracting, how can community partnerships cultivate abundance? How do we then ensure these relationships are set up for ongoing and joyful success? This workshop will outline some fundamentals of establishing a community partnership, share concrete examples using case studies from Manhattan Theatre Club’s Learning and Community Engagement department, and activate participants to envision their own pathways of partnership.
Gabbie Ballesteros is a multi-disciplinary arts administrator, teaching artist, and performer. A passionate advocate for universal access and engagement with the arts, she is the Assistant Director of Learning and Community Engagement at Manhattan Theatre Club – spanning classrooms and community spaces throughout the NYC boroughs, across the nation, and around the world, she collaborates on programs that empower approximately 3,000 learners annually to engage joyfully and authentically with theatre as authors, audience, and administrators. Gabbie has proudly served as a youth educator in the New York and Washington DC areas (Round House Theatre, Brooklyn International HS, Henry Street Settlement), as well as in her home country of the Philippines, and strives to honor communities and their expansive experiences through an intersection of art and activism.
Her artistic credits include Playbill’s Songwriter Series (Vocalist), concerts at Feinstein’s 54 Below, and choreography for her alma mater, NYU Tisch’s New Studio on Broadway. Through the SDCF Professional Development Program, Gabbie received her SDC Union Membership after shadowing the HERE LIES LOVE choreography team on Broadway. A member of immersive movement company Thistle Dance, she has also appeared in production collaborations with the NY Public Library, the NY Botanical Garden, and NYC Children’s Theatre.
