Reimagining the arts as a vehicle for innovation, leadership, and lifelong success.
Ashley Cuthbertson 
When I first wrote Music as a Vehicle, I had big hopes for the resource it would be. Seeing the book come to life in classrooms, with professors adding it to their syllabi, and arts leaders using it as a PD anchor still blows my mind. A year later, this book has traveled across 35 … Read more
10 minute read time. The Teacher Comment That Changed Everything Last fall, before starting a new professional development series with a district team of arts educators, I sent out a simple pre-workshop questionnaire. I expected the usual comments about learning styles, initial questions, and preferences. But one response stopped me in my tracks: “I don’t … Read more
Read time: 6 minutes At last week’s NAfME Eastern Division conference in Hartford, Connecticut, one idea kept coming up over and over again. In sessions. In side conversations. In panel discussions. Data matters. It’s what moves decisions. It’s how budgets get made. It’s the language policymakers speak and if we want real change in arts … Read more
When I first started bringing my work outside my own music classroom and across the country, I knew that my goal was to help reimagine music education through a culturally responsive and equitable lens. I knew that there was a greater demand for this work and I was ready to jump in. As I began … Read more
Listen to this blog post by clicking the player below! I still remember a music teacher I coached who was seeking to make their curriculum more culturally responsive for her students. She knew that many of her students were Spanish speaking, so she sought out folk songs in Spanish to teach them that would also … Read more
Listen to this blog post by clicking the player below! It was my first year teaching at a bilingual charter school in Washington, DC where the vast majority of my students were from Spanish speaking backgrounds, primarily from South America. Not being a strong Spanish speaker myself (I had taken a study abroad trip after … Read more
Listen to this blog post by clicking the player below! An often missed opportunity when planning and creating the foundation for your music program is setting the vision. Of course, we must consider our curriculum when we think about our vision for our music programs: the repertoire we’ll teach, what musicians we’ll explore, what skills … Read more
Listen to this blog post by clicking the player below! Culturally responsive practice is the most impactful lever we can pull towards equity in music education. But what exactly does it mean for there to be “equity in music education”? What does it mean to utilize a lens for “diversity, equity, and inclusion”? The “Alphabet … Read more
Listen to this blog post by clicking the player below! Music programs can be the heart and soul of our schools. A great music program fosters a sense of belonging & community, gives learners a way to express themselves, and helps to boost learner well-being just to name a few benefits. While the numerous benefits … Read more
Listen to this blog post by clicking the player below! I often open my speaking engagements and professional development workshops with a few questions to the group to check to see who’s in the room. One of the questions I ask is: “How many of you know that what we do in our music programs … Read more