KS/MO Partners in Education Arts Integration Symposium

The KS/MO Kennedy Center Partners in Education, comprised of the Midwest Trust Center at Johnson County Community College, Shawnee Mission School District, and Liberty Public Schools, provides free arts integration professional development and support for teachers. The arts integration topics presented at the symposium show teachers how to connect an art form with curriculum to enhance student engagement and deepen understanding.

Meet the presenters:

Moving Meaning: Using Creative Movement and Visual Literacy to Deepen Learning with Harlan Brownlee

Step into an energizing K-12 professional development session where creative movement takes center stage as a tool for making learning active, meaningful, and visible. Teachers will experience movement-based strategies that help students explore ideas, communicate understanding, and build confidence through embodied learning. Reading art and tableau will be woven into the session as powerful extensions that support close observation, interpretation, and expression. Using paintings, photographs, portraits, and text-based illustrations as prompts, participants will gain engaging, classroom-ready ways to help students infer meaning, express ideas through movement, and strengthen comprehension, collaboration, vocabulary, and student voice across the curriculum.

Harlan Brownlee is a consultant for Focus 5, Inc., a national arts education consulting firm. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance, specializing in performance and choreography, and a Master of Arts in Educational Research and Psychology.

With over 40 years of experience in arts integration, Brownlee is a seasoned expert who leads K-12 student residencies, conducts workshops for educators, and facilitates training seminars for teaching artists across the nation. Since 2002, he has served as a National Teaching Artist with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Recognizing the powerful engagement and educational benefits of dance and creative movement, Brownlee integrates these forms with STEM education. He has presented at Project Lead the Way’s (PLTW) national conferences, showcasing his expertise in blending STEM curriculum with creative movement and dance.

He also boasts an extensive performance background, having spent 13 years as a choreographer and dancer with City in Motion Dance Theater. This professional dance company toured the Midwest and was featured at the 1992 World Expo in Seville, Spain.

“The Power of Pictures: Reading Portraits as Biographies” with Garrett Brown

Students often struggle to comprehend curriculum content when the people, places, and events seem distant from their own experiences. Frequently, what's lacking is the background knowledge necessary to establish meaningful connections to the material. Visual art serves as a universal language that students of all reading abilities can access to not only efficiently build background knowledge but also spark inquiry for further learning. This workshop aims to equip teachers with the ability to confidently engage students in looking, thinking and talking about art for various instructional purposes in a manner that is both differentiated and engaging.

Garrett Brown is a national teaching artist who specializes in cartooning, illustration, and sequential art (comic books). He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where he resides with his family. He earned a master’s degree in elementary education from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

While Brown has over a decade of highly qualified experience as an art specialist, it is his years as a classroom teacher that give him an appreciation and perspective for designing projects that both students and teachers find engaging and worthwhile.

“Activating Story Time through Elements of Drama” with The Coterie Theatre

Welcome, teachers of Pre-K – 2 ^nd grade! This session is full of hands-on activities and discussions led by staff from The Coterie. Through these activities, teachers will learn strategies they can adapt and implement in their classrooms. Each strategy is used to activate story time and expand literacy skills through dramatic play with imagination, embodiment, ensemble-building, and narrative/story.

“Tools for Creative and Critically Engaged Literacy Curriculum” with The Coterie Theatre

Calling all upper elementary, middle, and high school teachers! In this hands-on workshop, staff from The Coterie will incorporate activities and discussion to introduce strategies that engage students in academic, affective, and aesthetic learning. These strategies also promote critical thinking, as well as perspective-taking, through active and dramatic approaches.

Khalia Davis Philp (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist specializing in the creation of impactful and enriching new work for family audiences. Davis now serves as the new Producing Artistic Director of The Coterie Theatre in Kansas City. As a director and arts educator, she has worked on Broadway, off-Broadway and regionally with prominent theaters such as The Rose Theater in Omaha, A.C.T., First Stage, Atlantic Theater Company’s Atlantic for Kids, New York City Children’s Theater, Disney Theatrical Group, Spellbound Theatre and more. Before serving in her role as the former Artistic Director of Bay Area Children’s Theatre from 2020-2023, Davis was the Director of Inclusion and Education with Brooklyn Children’s Theatre, restructuring their children’s musical theater programming through an anti-racism lens. She’s the founder of Kids at Heart Productions, a multimedia company devoted to telling stories that enrich the lives of young people and families. She is a proud board member for TYA/USA, Spellbound Theater, and The Story Pirates, and has a Bachelor of Arts in Theater Arts from the University of Southern California. Find her at khaliadavis.com!

Xinyue Zhang (she/her) creates artistic and educational experiences for and with young people. Her work focuses on facilitating art-based collaborations that activate art spaces with wonder, care, and curiosity, and invite deep reflection on inclusivity and access to the arts for all ages. Zhang has collaborated with theatres and art museums nationwide and internationally, including the Kennedy Center, Denver Art Museum, Blanton Museum of Art, A.S.K. (Shanghai, China), and People’s Palace Project (London). She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities at the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Arts in Theatre and Performance from Queen Mary University of London (First Class). Zhang currently serves as the Community Programs Manager at the Coterie Theatre.