California Consultancy for Arts Education, Inc.

Photograph courtesy of The Sacramento Bee
Florence Low

KD Kurutz and Jill Pease served for four years (1997-2001) as Co-Directors of the California Consortium for Arts Education, which was housed at the Sacramento County of Education. As Co-Directors, they administered Transforming Education Through the Arts Challenge in California schools. This ambitious initiative in arts education and school reform, funded in part by the Getty Trust and Annenberg Foundation, involved a national consortium of six centers and 35 schools from California, Florida, Nebraska, Ohio, Texas and Tennessee.

When the TETAC project and the Getty-Annenberg challenge grants concluded, Co-Directors Kurutz and Pease formed the non-profit corporation California Consultancy for Arts Education, Inc. to continue their work in professional development for K-12 teachers and policy makers. In this way, they are extending their research-based / classroom-applied work in comprehensive arts education to other educational and cultural organizations. Their offices -- including an extensive Arts Resource Center – are now located on the campus of California State University, Sacramento.

Co-Director KD Kurutz holds an MS in Industrial-Organizational Psychology and comes to her position with over 30 years of arts education and administration experience. She began her career as a teacher, and then worked as an art gallery director, and curator. From 1980 to 1997, she served as Curator of Education for the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento where she established model educational programs for all audience levels, particularly through museum-community collaborations. Kurutz has served as an advisor and consultant for several arts organizations and programs including the CSUS School of the Arts, California Arts Council, Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, California Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Arts. She has written and lectured widely on museums, art education, programming for audiences with disabilities, and California art in cultural context. She is co-author of the award-winning volume California Calls You: The Art of Promoting the Golden State, 1870-1940. She was also a contributing author for Artworks for Elementary Teachers, Ninth Edition (McGraw-Hill). The California Art Education Association presented her with their Award of Merit in 2002.

Co-Director Jill Pease holds an MA in Art History from the University of California, Davis and has worked in art and education for over 20 years, including several years in K-12 classrooms. Prior to her role as CCAE Co-Director, she served for four years as an Art Consultant for the Sacramento County Office of Education. Pease has written articles for School Arts and Arts & Activities magazines. Her expertise is in the area of arts education curriculum. Since 1990, she has served as the Bella Vista High School Visual Arts Coach for the Academic Decathlon. In addition, she was a contributing author for Artworks for Elementary Teachers, Ninth Edition (McGraw-Hill).
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