Kurt Wootton

Kurt Wootton is one of the founding directors of the ArtsLiteracy Project in the Education Department at Brown University. ArtsLiteracy’s work in urban schools with diverse populations led him to work increasingly in different countries in Latin America, particularly Brazil and Mexico. He is the co-director of Habla: The Center for Language and Culture in Mérida, Mexico, a combination of language school, education center, and community-based arts organization. With a specialty in creative literacy pedagogies, teacher professional development, and organizational change, he works internationally with teachers and administrators helping to design schools and organizations that are creative, meaningful, and welcoming places.Previously he worked as an urban school reform consultant for the Providence School District and has led literacy initiatives for the Boston Public Schools, the St. Paul Public Schools, the Central Falls School District, and Plan Estratégico de Mérida, Mexico. Kurt has given keynote speeches and workshops in a variety of settings including Harvard University, Middlebury College, SmART Schools, Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education, The University of Northern Colorado, Florida Atlantic University, the University of Maryland, Senac University in Sao Paulo, the Arts Education Partnership, and numerous conferences. He writes about education here as well as for the Huffington Post.His book A Reason to Read: Linking Literacy and the Arts co-written with Eileen Landay is available at here at Harvard Education Press.He divides his time between Mexico and the United States and can be reached at kurt (at) habla.org.