Arts Integration Studio offers Professional Development Training for teachers, administrators, community educators, health care professionals, parents, teaching artists, and the general public.
CURRENT PROGRAMS
Professional Development in The Springfield Public Schools
Since the fall of 2023, we have been the Arts Integration Consultant with Springfield Public Schools in support of its Portrait of a Graduate initiative, which is described as, “…a vision of the skills and attributes SPS students need to find success in college and career.”
In the spring of 2024, we worked at the Springfield Conservatory of the Arts (SCotA), offering a Professional Learning Circle that ran January-May; at the Mary M. Walsh Elementary School for a ½ day of Professional Development with follow up observation and team meetings; and at the Alice B. Beal Elementary School for a one-on-one mentoring project.
“It was like a little light went on the first week. They said, “Okay, cool, we’re gonna make a map.” And then the second week, they said, “Oh, there’s a park next to the statue, we read about that.” And then this week, when they created a garden, all the lights went on, and they backtracked and made new connections to all the material. That was so exciting.”
3rd Grade SPS Teacher

In August 2024, we offered a full day of Arts Integration professional development at the Springfield Conservatory of the Arts, and during the 24-25 school year, we have continued our work at SCotA, Walsh, and Beal, and expanded into additional schools in the district.
Julie Jaron, Director of Visual and Performing Arts, writes, “Year after year, Priscilla’s arts integration work with Springfield Public Schools proves to deepen the way students and their teachers understand so many subject areas. The arts transform the learning process into an engaging, impactful, and often joyous learning experience. Making meaning out of challenging concepts doesn’t have to be boring. Arts integration breathes life into this dreary paradigm and inspires student’s academic growth.”
Professional Development in Pittsfield Public Schools
Since our launch, Priscilla has been working with Pittsfield Public Schools and Berkshire Educational Resources (Berk12), to provide arts integration mentorship and training to teachers in Berkshire County.
We began as soon as we opened our doors in September of 2022. Priscilla was invited to be the keynote speaker and a co-workshop facilitator at the fall 2022 Berkshire County-Wide Arts Integration Professional Development Day. That spring, she began offering arts integration professional development to Pittsfield Public School teachers through half day workshops, Professional Learning Circles and one to one mentoring.
“The most impressive segment of the day was the presentation offered by Priscilla Kane Hellweg. It was very relevant to all Arts Integration when teaching interdisciplinary subjects.”
Since then, Priscilla has participated annually in the Berkshire County-Wide AI PD Day, both as a steering committee member and a workshop facilitator, and our work with teachers in the Pittsfield Public Schools continues to grow.
This spring, we developed a program designed to make better use of student arrival time. The pilot program includes arts integration and STEAM activities for arriving elementary school students, with leadership opportunities for 7th and 8th graders who guide the activities with teacher support.
This work is supported in part by grants from the Pittsfield Education Enrichment Fund of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation.


Supporting a Sustainable STEAM Program at Mountain View School
We began our work at the Easthampton Mountain View School in the fall of 2023, partnering with Megan Kelley-Bagg, Mountain View Schools STEAM instructor, to develop sustainable STEAM programming for grades K-8.
In September 2023, 5th grade teachers in Easthampton formed a STEAM cohort led by Priscilla and Megan. They explored the fundamentals of Arts Integration and developed arts integrated units on Climate & Weather and Organic Decomposition. In the spring we launched “The Regional Flooding Project”, a multi-week program designed for students to investigate the environmental, economic, and public health impacts caused by increased flooding in the Pioneer Valley. The project included the opportunity for students to meet with a panel of regional representatives and put all their work into a final 5th grade EXPO, during which each class presented their city flood plan to their “regional” peers.
This year, our 2025 cadre of Emerging Teaching Artists (ETAs), drawn from Mount Holyoke, Bay Path University, Holyoke Community College, and Westfield State, developed five STEAM workshops for the 4th grade, that they implemented in all six 4th grade classrooms under the guidance of Priscilla and Megan.
Our plan for Fall 2026 is to provide school wide Arts Integration Professional Development workshops at Mountain View School.
We could not do this work without the support of the Easthampton Learning Foundation, Thank you!

Learning the stages of pumpkin decay through embodiment. Stage II: Bloat
STEM + Arts = STEAM
the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics that emphasizes interdisciplinary learning and engages students in the 21st century skills of communication, creative & critical thinking, analysis & problem-solving, innovation, and collaboration.
Emerging Teaching Artist Program
In 2023, Arts Integration Studio launched our Emerging Teaching Artist Program, which focuses on college students and emerging teaching artists interested in the intersectionality of arts, education, and community well-being. We offer professional training in arts integration methodology with a variety of site based embedded professional development opportunities in schools and community settings.
During 2023 and 2024, our Emerging Teaching Artists have participated in ARTS CORPS, our intergenerational Arts in Community program on site at the Treehouse Foundation in Easthampton. The program includes arts integration training with a focus on trauma-informed and culturally relevant practices, and opportunities to attend and (co)facilitate intergenerational workshops and short residencies at the Treehouse with youth and families whose lives have been impacted by foster care, and with community elders.
This year our 2025 cadre of Emerging Teaching Artists, drawn from Mount Holyoke, Bay Path University, and Holyoke Community College, developed five STEAM workshops for the 4th grade at Mountain View School in Easthampton.
They implemented them this spring in all six 4th grade classrooms, under the guidance of Priscilla Kane Hellweg, AIS’s Principal Teaching Artist, Ashley Rodriguez, AIS’s Associate Teaching Artist, and Megan Kelley-Bagg, the Easthampton Mountain View School STEAM teacher.

PAST PROGRAMS
Thriving Classrooms – Mass College of Art & Design
On June 26th, Priscilla led a virtual workshop titled, Building Community & Peer to Peer Engagement, for Mass College of Art & Design as part of the College’s Thriving Classrooms professional development series. Faculty and staff attended the three hour workshop to learn to use arts integrated communication and self-regulation skills to help facilitate community building in a classroom setting. Their responses speak for themselves:
“I absolutely loved the talk Priscilla just gave, it sparked so many new ideas for me
on how to create community in the classroom.”
“I have a better understanding of how to interact with students and build a good community in a class.”
“I will be more mindful. Everyone has a story and it deserves to be heard.”
Devised Theater for Strength & Resiliency

In September, Priscilla was a visiting artist at WAM, a nonprofit theater in Lenox where Arts & Activism Meet, and facilitated a day-long Devised Theater Workshop on Strength & Resiliency.
“Eighteen community members squeezed into a circle in the WAM Hub on Saturday, September 23. Although we were all women-identifying, the diversity in other respects was striking, the youngest participant was 12 and the oldest were in their 80s. Some professional actors and some experiencing a performance workshop for the first time, all our eyes were on Priscilla Kane Hellweg as she created a remarkable, brave space of depth and intimacy for us to create within.”
As one participant expressed, “I was reminded of my desire to connect with others and create something beautiful together.”
WAM blog 11/27/23 by Maizy Broderick Scarpa. Feature photo by Michael Nancollas. www.wamtheatre.com
Intergenerational Arts Training Program

On May 16th, 2023, Arts Integration Studio and the Treehouse Community in Easthampton came together for a Celebration of the Arts at the CitySpace Blue Room in the center of Easthampton. This event was the culmination of our 2023 Arts Corps intergenerational workshop series exploring community through the arts.
On display were personal collages, self portraits, and courage crowns created by Treehouse community participants of all ages. The event included time to view artwork and meet the artists, a theater game demonstration, the first public viewing of Treehouse Foundation’s HEROES Youth Leadership Program’s 2023 film, “A HEROES’ Vision”, and a joyful reception for all.




This event was made possible by a Massachusetts Cultural Council Festivals grant.


PREVIOUS WORK
Priscilla has created district-wide arts integration initiatives to support academic achievement for Amherst, Northampton, Holyoke, Springfield, and Westfield Public Schools. (2000-2021)
She has collaborated on the development of Teacher Training Institutes with numerous partners, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Teaching American History grants. (2010-2021)
In addition to providing Professional Development workshops for many district-wide school systems in Massachusetts and Connecticut, Priscilla has taught at the Boch Center in Boston, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., the History Institute at the University of Massachusetts, and for the Collaborative for Educational Services in Northampton, MA. (2005-2021)
Priscilla has been adjunct faculty at Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, University of Hartford, and Westfield State University. (1995 – 2020)