Kurt Wootton is the co-founder of Habla, a lab school and international education center in Mérida, México. He is one of the directors of the ArtsLiteracy Project founded 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.
With a specialty in creative literacy pedagogies, teacher professional development, cultural transformation, and organizational change, he works internationally with teachers and administrators helping to design schools and organizations that are creative, meaningful, and welcoming places.
His most recent organization is Lift Every Voice, a collaboration with Donald King to bring a refreshing and inspirational approach to the cultural development of schools and organizations.
Previously he worked as an urban school reform consultant for the Providence School District and has led literacy initiatives for the Boston Public Schools, St. Paul Public Schools, Summit School District, No. 104, Hartford Public Schools, Central Falls School District, Indian River School District, Providence Public Schools, and Plan Estratégico de Mérida, Mexico. Kurt has given keynote speeches in a variety of settings including for Cultural Agents at Harvard University, the Arts Education Partnership, the American Alliance for Theater Education, ArtsPowered Schools, SmART Schools, The Learning Alliance, The University of Northern Colorado, Florida Atlantic University, the University of Maryland, and Senac University in Sao Paulo. He has published over a dozen articles in academic journals and writes about education on his blog here.
His books Engage: Creative Strategies for Teaching and Learning and A Reason to Read: Linking Literacy and the Arts co-written with Eileen Landay are available at here at Harvard Education Press and on Amazon.
His home is in Mérida, México where he lives with his wife, Marimar, his two children, Sandra and Luis, and his dog Flower (named by Sandra).
“For over a decade, Landay, Wootton, and their many colleagues at the ArtsLiteracy Project have been exploring the rich possibilities at the intersection of arts and literacy development for deep learning and teaching. It has been visionary work, and this book provides vivid pictures of how to bring those possibilities into any classroom.”
