cei arts education presents a wide range of programs in all the arts — VISUAL ART, MUSIC, DANCE, DRAMA, SPOKEN WORD — for grades 3K-12 schools. All programs utilize an arts-integrated model by using the arts as effective instructional strategies to directly teach ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies. All programs are customized to meet the specific needs of each school and student population. Programs include STUDENT ARTS RESIDENCIES, PROFESSIONAL LEARNING FOR TEACHERS, and PARENT ENGAGEMENT WORKSHOPS.

 2025

NATIONAL ARTS EDUCATION CONFERENCE ON ZOOM

Thu, June 26 – Fri, Jun 27

FOR CLASSROOM TEACHERS OF K-2 STUDENTS WITH IEPs

›The Value of Arts Integration and Use of Differentiated Instructional Strategies in Music and Visual Art to Directly Teach Literacy and Math

Click here for more information or to register!

The CEI MERIDIAN 2025 professional learning conference will bring inspiring lectures and hands-on workshops to classroom teachers of grades K-2 students with IEPs (and K-2 General Education teachers) from across the country. Participants will gain an understanding of the effectiveness of utilizing an arts-integrated approach and learn four (4) highly differentiated, easy-to-implement projects in VISUAL ART
and MUSIC that directly teach LITERACY (ELA) and MATH.The nationally recognized CEI MERIDIAN curricula enables teachers to differentiate instruction at each step of every project to challenge every student at their level — from students working towards the standards with cognitive challenges to those performing on grade level with emotional challenges.

The CEI MERIDIAN 2025 conference is part of the CEI MERIDIAN program which has yielded statistically significant results regarding increases in student and teacher outcomes, and is funded by an Assistance for Arts Education (AAE) grant from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education of The United States Department of Education.

June 7 – September 14, 2025

CEI BENCHMARKS is a citywide NYC Parks exhibition of 20 inspiring murals on

benches created by NYC public school students. These benches explore a wide

range of themes from the importance of caring for the environment to cyberbullying.

Starting June 7th, the 20 benches will be on view in parks citywide:

Bronx: Rev. T. Wendell Foster Park (North Side of E. 165 Street bet.Jerome and River Aves)

Brooklyn: Prospect Park Parade Ground (Caton Ave at Argyle Road)

Manhattan: Thomas Jefferson Park (East 114th Street between Pleasant Ave & First Ave)

Staten Island: Clove Lakes Park (Clove Rd between Waldron Avenue and Victory Boulevard

Benchmarks supporters include NYC Parks, NYCDOE, New York City Council, Prospect Park Alliance,

SFDS, LeNoble Lumber, EMS Group, Janovic, Loconsolo Paints, Ultrasite, and Local Man with a Truck,

For more information about CEI BENCHMARKS, click here or to donate click here.

a nationally recognized, arts-integrated, professional learning program
for classroom teachers of grades K-5 students with IEPs

CEI MERIDIAN is a five-year, professional learning program that presents an innovative, arts-integrated, differentiated approach that utilizes VISUAL ART and MUSIC as effective instructional strategies to directly teach LITERACY and MATH. The program includes: (1) professional learning workshops, PLC sessions, and project-modeling videos for teachers nationally; (2) the creation of highly differentiated curricular materials that address the varied learning levels of students in heterogeneous classrooms; (3) a web-based repository of curricular materials; (4) hosting of national arts education conferences annually; and (5) data collection to measure the impact of the program on students and teachers, which has yielded statistically significant results.

CEI MERIDIAN is funded by a five-year Assistance for Arts Education (AAE) grant awarded to the Center for Educational Innovation (CEI) by the United States Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. Partners include New York City School District 75, Rochester City School District, San Juan Educational Region, Baltimore City Public Schools, Bridgeport Public Schools, Council for Exceptional Children DARTS, WestEd, and Metis Associates.

For more info on the CEI MERIDIAN program, please click HERE or email [email protected].

Student Arts Residencies: Programs include Self-Portrait Painting & Autobiography (ELA), Still-Life Nature Drawing (Science), Geometric Printmaking (Math), Community Collage (Social Studies), Frog Pop-Up Books (Science), Historical Graphic Novels (Social Studies), Cultural Mask Making (Social Studies), and many others.  In addition, we offer two visual art programs that empowers students to create inspiring murals for their communities —- Walls4Change in which students create wall murals inside and outside of their school buildings, and Benchmarks (Learn more here) in which student bench murals are part of a citywide NYC Parks exhibition (video).

Professional Learning Workshops, Coaching and Modeling for Teachers: Programs include Integrating Academics into Visual Art Projects (All Subjects), Creating Classroom Art Galleries (All Subjects),     Creating Board Games (All Subjects)  and the Domingo Zapata Art School, which includes a full curriculum, and is inspired by the life and work of world-renowned artist Domingo Zapata. A collaboration with publisher Sussman Education.

Parent/Family Activities: Highlights of activities and workshops include Fashion Design, Puppet Making, Self-Portraits, Board Games and Jewelry Making, among many others.

Student Arts Residencies: Programs include Patterns Through Percussion (Math), Songwriting (All Subjects), Choral Music (All Subjects), Culture Through Music (Social Studies), Digital Music Composition (ELA). In addition, we offer Songs4Change, a music program that empowers students to create songs for their communities including the Songs4Change, a cultural collaboration that connects classrooms in Haiti and Puerto Rico with NYC classrooms.

Professional Learning Workshops, Coaching and Modeling for Teachers: Programs include Songwriting and Composition, Exploring Math Through Rhythm, and Digital Music, among many others.

Parent/Family Activities: Highlights of activities and workshops include Percussion, Choral Music, Songwriting, World Music, among many others.

Student Arts Residencies: Programs include the Solar System (Science), Geometry or Number Operations Through Dance (Math), Books In Motion (ELA), African Dance: Cultural Exploration (Soc Studies), Latin Dance: Cultural Exploration (Soc Studies), Alphabet Yoga (ELA), Animal Diversity Through Creative Movement (Science), Stories Through Modern Dance (ELA), among many others. In addition, we offer Dance4Change, a dance program that empowers students to choreograph and perform dances for their communities.

Professional Learning Workshops, Coaching and Modeling for Teachers: Programs include Life Cycles Through Dance (Science), Storytelling Through Dance (ELA), and Math Through Dance (Math), among many others

Parent/Family Activities: Highlights of activities and workshops include Creative Movement, Modern Dance, Multicultural Dance, Yoga, Capoeira, and Zumba, among many others.

Student Arts Residencies: Programs include Stories of Today (ELA), Historical-Figure Monologues (Social Studies), Character Monologues (ELA), Language Through Comedy (ELA), Playwriting (ELA), Improvisation (ELA), Literature and Set Design (ELA), and Characters and Costume Design (ELA). In addition, we offer Drama4Change, a theater program that empowers students to write and perform short plays for their communities.

Professional Learning Workshops, Coaching and Modeling for Teachers: Programs include Character-Development Monologues, History and Improvisation, Persuasive Writing and Public Speaking, among many others.

Parent/Family Activities: Highlights of activities and workshops include Acting, Comedy, and Improvisation, among many others.

Student Arts Residencies: Programs include Spoken Word (ELA), Slam Poetry (ELA), Storytelling Through Narratives (Soc Studies, ELA), Comedy Writing (ELA), Storytelling, Poetry, and Playwriting.  In addition, we offer Words4Change, a writing program that empowers students to write and perform short plays or spoken word pieces for their communities.

Professional Learning Workshops, Coaching and Modeling for Teachers: Programs include Comedy Writing, Spoken Word, Character Monologues, and Retelling of History, among many others.

Parent/Family Activities: Highlights of activities and workshops include Spoken Word, Slam Poetry, Family Stories, and Scene Writing, among many others.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT
 cei arts education
[email protected]