"Arts Educators Bring Great Assets to the Table: How Leadership with An Arts Lens is a Superpower" with Kiera Crite

Join Kami Lunsford, TAA Director of Educational Programs and Events, and Kiera Crite, elementary music teacher from Franklin, TN, as they explore the great assets arts educators bring to school leadership, and how leading through an arts lens is a superpower! They'll also take a closer look at what the Arts Leadership & Administration Track at the TAA Summer Institute has to offer administrators, arts supervisors, and arts educators who are interested in leadership and advocacy.  | Kiera Crite was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where music was ingrained in her life from the very beginning. Both of her parents worked in the live entertainment department at Opryland USA Theme Park—her father as a sound engineer and her mother as a vocalist—surrounding her with talented artists who inspired the level of excellence she pursues in her own musical journey. Crite began piano lessons in California as a child and continued through graduate school. Throughout her education, she remained active in music programs, including school choir, church choirs, handbell choirs, and piano competitions. Crite earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Spelman College in 2005, where she performed and traveled with the Spelman College Glee Club. She later attended Tennessee State University, earning a Master of Science in Music Education and completing her teacher certification. After graduation, Crite began teaching in Metro Nashville Public Schools, where she taught elementary general music as well as high school chorus and class piano. She currently teaches elementary general music at Johnson Elementary in the Franklin Special District in Franklin, Tennessee, and finds great joy in reaching children through music and changing lives through arts education. She models her philosophy of teaching after the motto of Spelman College: “It’s my choice, and I choose to change the world—one musician at a time.”