Lakita Edwards

Ed.M. AIE '02

From the NPS to the NEA

Lakita Edwards, a 2002 graduate of the HGSE Arts in Education program (AIE), was recently appointed to the position of Arts Education Specialist with the National Endowment for the Arts. The NEA is an independent federal agency and the official arts organization of the United States government. In this role, Lakita serves as the specialist for design, museum, and visual arts applications submitted to the Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth funding category. This category supports in-depth, curriculum-based arts education experiences for children and youth in school-based or community-based settings.

Prior to her work with the NEA, Lakita spent five years working for the National Parks Service (NPS), at the Harpers Ferry Center for Media Services. As an education specialist, she worked with media specialists and park staff to insure that the education perspective enhanced NPS interpretive media, which included brochures, films, and both indoor and outdoor exhibits for the park's visitor center. During her time at the NPS, she visited over 60 sites, including the Boston African American National Historic Site. At the time of her transfer, she was also working to develop a Teacher's Institute in preparation for the 150th anniversary of John Brown's raid on the Harper's Ferry arsenal in 2009.

Lakita recommends that everyone read Art & Community Landscapes, a report describing a series of public art projects supported by a multi-year partnership between the New England Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Park Service's Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance office. Such projects include the Concord River Greenway Plan in Lowell, Massachusetts, the Community Portrait project in Richford, Vermont, and the site-specific ecosculptures along the Tillamock Indian Tribe's trail in Tillamock, Oregon. She sees this document as an example of joint support for artistic stewardship at the federal level by the NPS and NEA.

At the NEA, Lakita is part of the agency's effort to encourage young people to participate in the arts, recognizing the potential for such participation to enhance decision-making, problem-solving, creative-thinking, and teamwork skills. This can only bode well for her and those children as-in the words of the NEA mission statement-the nation "struggles to improve high school graduation rates, develop pre-kindergarten programs, and counter the achievement gap in urban communities."