Tana Johnson is the professional development lead for Alameda County Office of Education’s Alliance for Arts Learning Leadership’s Teacher Action Research Institute. She teaches core courses in the Arts Integration Specialist Certificate Program and coaches service learning faculty at the California College of the Arts. As an independent arts curriculum consultant and coach, Johnson writes arts curriculum and produces online educational content for museums and institutions. In her producing role at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Johnson implemented the creation of a teacher curriculum site, SFMOMA ArtThink and the award-winning podcast series, SFMOMA Artcasts. She also directed artist films and managed the production of artist features, including Matthew Barney, Robert Bechtle, Romare Bearden, Olafur Eliasson, Frida Kahlo and Lee Miller to name a few. Johnson’s own experimental films have premiered at local and national film festivals. She is raising two daughters in Oakland.
Julia Marshall is a Professor of Art Education at San Francisco State University where she oversees the art education program in the Art Department and teaches undergraduate courses in art education and curriculum courses in the Single Subject Credential Program. Before coming to SFSU, Julia was an artist in the schools with LEAP in San Francisco, the Oakland Museum in Oakland, and the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito. Later visual arts residencies were at James Denman Middle School and Lincoln High School, both in San Francisco. She has also served as a program consultant to the Otis Art Institute, the San Francisco Art Institute and the Alum Rock School District in San Jose. Her experience, scholarship and interests lie in curriculum development, arts integration, the uses of contemporary art and visual culture in art education, and the intersection between creativity and learning. Julia has written extensively on these topics with articles in Studies in Art Education, Art Education and chapters in numerous national art education anthologies. She is also a practicing artist with an MFA in sculpture from the University of Wisconsin, and a new public work installed summer of 2009 in Qing Dao, China.
Charles Chip Mc Neal (Director of Education, San Francisco Ballet), works as a lecturer, choreographer and adjudicator, conducting artist/ teacher trainings, evaluating and developing educational programs throughout the U.S. and abroad. Since 1980, McNeal has worked for San Francisco Ballet; teaching, developing and implementing community outreach and education programs. In 2001, Mr. Mc Neal created the San Francisco Ballet Center for Dance Education (CDE), which provides interactive multicultural dance education experiences to over 30,000 children, youth and families each year.
Mc Neal has worked throughout the country and internationally consulting with: The National Endowment for the Arts, The Kennedy Center, Stanford University and the California State Department of Education, South Africa Ballet Theatre, The Edinburgh International Arts Festival, Alameda County Office of Education and many others. In 1994, he received the distinguished Bernard Osher Cultural Award for public service in the field of arts education. He was named the winner of the Levi Strauss & Co. Award for Outstanding Teachers and Administrators in the Arts in 2004, and in 2009, he was the recipient of San Francisco Unified School District’s Dream Catcher Award for his significant contribution to public education. The California State Legislature recognized his work in 2010 with a Certificate of Recognition for his “outstanding contribution to
the people of San Francisco”.
Trena Noval is an artist, arts writer and educator. She received her BFA from Tyler School of Art, and MFA from Maryland Institute, College of Art. Noval teaches at California College of the Arts and Mills College, Graduate School of Education. She is an action researcher for arts learning through ACOE in partnership with Harvard’s Project Zero Research Program, and most recently for Art 21 arts learning case studies, focusing on arts integration and community video projects through the themes of community, environmental stewardship. She teaches and leads professional development in the arts through ACOE Arts Leadership Initiative. She has received numerous awards and grants for her work, notably an outstanding achievement award through the Oakland Museum of Art and Alameda County Office Of Education in 2007 for collaborative work with teachers and students at Peralta Elementary School in Oakland. In 2009 she received a fellowship to Project Zero, Harvard University Graduate School of Education. As a curator and writer of lens and digital media based arts since early 1990’s, she has worked nationally in non-profit arts organizations as curator, and as a writer of art and culture for various publications internationally.