Anika Selhorst

Ed.M. AIE '03

Since graduating from HGSE’s Arts in Education program in 2003, Anika has continued to dedicate her career to promoting arts education through nonprofit work in New York City.  In 2003, she interned at the Studio Museum in Harlem.  Following her internship, she next worked for Cool Culture, an urban nonprofit organization that partners with cultural institutions to provide education and free admission to families of Head Start students.  At Cool Culture, Anika devoted her time toward developing education and outreach programs; of her accomplishments there, she is most proud of the fairs she organized, putting museums and Head Start representatives in direct contact with each other in order to generate new partnerships aimed at promoting arts education.

Anika now serves as the School Programs Director at City Lore, a nonprofit organization focused on “conveying the richness of New York City’s cultural heritage” through educational programs and publications. Demonstrated by the fact that it is a research site for Project Zero’s Qualities of Quality: Excellence in Arts Education and How to Achieve It study, City Lore is notable for its long history of bringing high-quality arts experiences to the community. Anika’s work with the organization’s In-School program involves working closely with a group of teaching artists and school partners to develop and implement multidisciplinary arts projects with New York City public school students.

In particular, Anika and her colleagues integrate dance, visual art, music, writing, and theater with grade-level social studies curricula and students’ personal research about their neighborhoods and family stories.  One of Anika’s favorite projects brought together a visual artist, a sound artist, and a second grade class in Queens.  Under the guidance of the visiting artists, students compared and contrasted urban and rural communities by creating sound jars of their own neighborhoods and sharing them with the class.

Anika remembers her year at HGSE as a valuable time during which she came to understand how her work fits into the overall picture of arts education in public schools.  Understanding the history of arts education and being able to communicate effectively the value of arts learning to funders, educators, and administrators has proven critical for securing grants and support to her programs.

On the Arts in Education program, Anika reflects, “The longer I’ve been out of school, the more of an impact I feel HGSE has had on my career. The time I spent at HGSE, though brief, has helped me to articulate the importance of my work and to think through the individual, local, and global impact it can have.”