NEW ORLEANS – KID smART recently welcomed Dr. Kyley Pulphus-Smith as its education director. In this role, Dr. Pulphus-Smith will utilize her extensive background in education and writing to advance KID smART’s mission of engaging children and educators in dynamic, creative and relevant learning through the arts.
“We are excited to welcome Kyley to the KID smART team,” said Elise Gallinot Goldman, executive director of KID smART. “With her many years of experience integrating the arts into learning, she will be a tremendous asset to our team. We look forward to seeing her talents flourish within our organization.”
A native New Orleanian, Dr. Pulphus-Smith received her Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from the University of New Orleans, her Master of Fine Arts degree in film making from Florida State University and her Doctor of Philosophy in curriculum and instruction from Louisiana State University.
Dr. Pulphus-Smith brings to KID smART a wealth of knowledge of the benefits of the arts. She is an award-winning children’s film writer/director who spent several years working in children’s television in Los Angeles. However, New Orleans called her home, and she returned to her favorite city to pursue a career in education. Dr. Pulphus-Smith has spent extensive time as a classroom teacher, teacher coach and teacher consultant for the Greater New Orleans Writing Project. She was also the founding program director of a youth writing nonprofit, where, under her stewardship, she supported thousands of young people in strengthening their writing skills. She also has overseen the publishing of 30 books of youth writing, worked with dozens of teachers and facilitated many professional development workshops.
“Being an educator is something that I am extremely passionate about,” said Dr. Pulphus-Smith. “As education director, I am very much looking forward to finding ways to strengthen the already incredibly rich and dynamic KID smART programming, because all children benefit from arts education. Throughout my life and career, creativity and the arts have allowed me to connect with the world and opened doors of opportunity that would have otherwise likely been closed to me. My hope is to inspire a similar experience for the young people KID smART supports across the greater New Orleans area.”
Dr. Pulphus-Smith has received several honors, most recently earning the International Literacy Association’s Helen M. Robinson award. She was also recognized as one of Gambit’s 40 under 40 and a Millennial Educator of the Year Finalist.
For more information about Dr. Pulphus-Smith and KID smART, please visit kidsmart.org
Founded in 1999, KID smART provides public school students with greater access to arts-rich education. In its 25-year history, KID smART has served more than 63,000 students and 11,000 teachers in schools throughout New Orleans. With the belief that the power of the arts should be available to all New Orleans children, KID smART works within public schools to reach underserved children with the most to gain from an arts-rich, social-emotional education.
About KID smART
Over the last two decades, KID smART has collaborated with more than 40 New Orleans public schools to blend the arts into academic lessons to make classrooms more effective and joyful places to learn. Through full-year artist residencies, students in KID smART Creative Schools prove to grow academically, artistically and emotionally. KID smART also partners with national thought leaders, including Harvard’s Project Zero Classroom, to incorporate best practices in arts and education into its program model.
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