Creative Arts in Learning Division

The Creative Arts in Learning Program - a unique program developed by the Lesley University graduate faculty - has earned a far reaching reputation for its innovative perspective on the arts. Educators and other professionals seeking to integrate the arts into many different areas of learning, from classrooms to museums to community programs, value the program's highly creative and spirited atmosphere.

Through stimulating courses and numerous hands-on experiences, students discover the power and potential of the arts to reach children and adults in new and effective ways. Students also engage in an exciting personal exploration of their own creativity, uncovering in the process their innate talents and strengths. The program's strength rests in its underlying philosophy that the arts are central to human learning, and can serve as a foundation for education in many different settings. The arts enliven teaching, and enable teachers to reach every child, motivate learning and assess outcomes.

Rather than designing an entire degree program around a single arts modality, students are exposed to all the arts -dance and creative movement, drama and theater, music, the visual arts, storytelling and poetry. This emphasis, with its dynamic interdisciplinary and critical pedagogy approaches, creates an especially rich learning environment. Additionally, the program offers opportunities to build upon special interests through elective courses and specializations such as multicultural education.

With the exception of the Visual Art Education degree candidates, many students have had little or no formal training in the arts.  But they are open and eager for a professionally and personally challenging course of study, one that demands a willingness to experiment and take risks. Students, for example, who may have felt they had "no talent" for dance or storytelling or who had never taken an acting or music lesson, enjoy a new-found self-confidence in their creative abilities. The program's non-judgmental atmosphere and supportive faculty help establish the collaborative spirit that is such an important component of the program.

"I am a different person as a result of this program. I am more confident, more openly creative, more willing to take risks, more self-expressed, more willing to be a leader, better able to work with others, more open to ever more expansive ideas on how to be with kids and other people."