Arts Integration Studio offers Professional Development Training for teachers, administrators, community educators, health care professionals, parents, teaching artists, and the general public.
Walsh Elementary School students enact the poem, “The Storm in Me,” written by Theresa Ann Garcia, from the collection, Salting The Ocean.
CURRENT PROGRAMS
PUBLIC SCHOOL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS
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.”
As we begin the 2025-26 school year, we are working at the Mary M. Walsh Elementary School offering professional development and hands on classroom opportunities to strengthen their after school program with a focus on student communication, engagement and leadership skills.
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.”
The 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. This school year, we are supporting the Pittsfield Public Schools 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program.
Since 2022, Priscilla has been a keynote speaker and workshop facilitator and is a steering committee member of the annual Berkshire County-Wide Arts Integration Professional Development Day.
This work is supported in part by grants from the Pittsfield Education Enrichment Fund of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation.
The Easthampton Public Schools
The first two years of our work at the Easthampton Mountain View School has been in partnership with Megan Kelley-Bagg, Mountain View Schools STEAM instructor, developing sustainable STEAM programming for grades K-8.
This year we are expanding our arts integration professional development training and Professional Learning Circles to include teachers in grades K-8 at The 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.
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)
photo credit: TedX Pioneer Valley
Institute for Arts Integration
photo credit: Enchanted Circle Theater