Priscilla Kane Hellweg
Priscilla Kane Hellweg is the principal Teaching Artist & CEO of the Arts Integration Studio (AIS), founded in May, 2022. Prior to founding AIS, Priscilla was the Executive/Artistic Director of Enchanted Circle Theater, a non-profit, multi-service arts organization in Holyoke, Massachusetts that integrates arts and education to engage, enhance, and inspire learning. Priscilla retired from Enchanted Circle in December 2021, after forty very exciting and productive years.
Under Ms. Hellweg’s direction, Enchanted Circle became the regional leader in the field of arts integration, working district-wide in public schools throughout Western MA, and collaborating with over 60 community partner organizations, developing work that bridged arts, education and human services in some of the most marginalized and underserved communities in Massachusetts.
In 2013 Priscilla created the Institute for Arts Integration, an innovative teaching and learning hub for arts integration in Western MA, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2018 she began collaborating with the Professional and Graduate Education Program at Mount Holyoke College as a strategy to expand the educational resources and to provide sustainability for the Institute, beyond grant funding.
Ms. Hellweg received the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network and was a finalist for Excellence in Leadership in 2018 for her work, serving students in PreK-12, youth in foster care, families in homeless shelters, and youth in residential treatment programs. She received a Champions of Arts Education Award from the Massachusetts Alliance for Arts in Education, and a 2012 Milestone Award from the National Guild of Community Arts Educators for her commitment to making quality arts education accessible to all.
Priscilla has a BA from Hampshire College, and received professional theater training from Provincetown Playhouse. She serves on the Massachusetts Arts Education Advisory Council, MassCreative Leadership Council, MCC Creative Youth Development Advisory Council, Holyoke Early Literacy Initiative Leadership Council, and was a recent member of the Massachusetts cohort of the National Creating Connection Initiative. Priscilla’s book, ACTIVELY ENGAGED: Using Theater Games as a Dynamic Teaching Tool to Activate Your Students’ Learning was published in October of 2023 and is now available through this link!
Remarkable Women:
Priscilla Kane Helweg
22 WLLP
by Alanna Flood
New era for
Enchanted Circle Theater
Arts Hub Western MASS
by Neil Serven
The Moment of Inspiration
Tedx Pioneer Valley, 2/25/12
Steve Angel
Steve Angel is Business Manager & Graphic Designer at the Arts Integration Studio. Prior to joining AIS, Steve was the Communications Manager and Development Associate at Enchanted Circle Theater, a non-profit, multi-service arts organization in Holyoke, Massachusetts that integrates arts and education to engage, enhance, and inspire learning.
Steve’s career in education spans 30 years, beginning at the Plimoth Patuxet Museums; and includes managing the visitor experience at The Eric Carle Museum for Picture Book Art; and moving CommunicateHealth, a consulting business focused on plain language in health publications, from a startup to a fully realized enterprise.
Steve began working with Priscilla at Enchanted Circle Theater in 2001, researching, co-authoring, and performing in BETWEEN THE CANALS: The Evolution of a Mill Town (2001) commissioned by Open Square LLC. Since then, they have collaborated on A Fiery and Still Voice: William Cullen Bryant at Home (2015), commissioned by the Trustees of the Reservation; Inherent Dignity: Women Change Makers in the Progressive Era (2014), commissioned by Wistariahurst Museum; Leah Enters Late: A New Chapter in the History of Yiddish (2010), commissioned by the National Yiddish Book Center; and The Skinner Servants’ Tour: A Living History of Wistariahurst (2005), commissioned by Wistariahurst Museum.
Steve was a performer and board member of The Hampshire Shakespeare Company from 2000-2010. In 2008 he co-founded The August Theater Company and in 2012 he received stage combat training from the Society of American Fight Directors.
Steve received his B.A. in Theater and History from Hampshire College.
