Van Wezel's Lacktman Selected As '10 Fla. Alliance for Arts Edu. Professional Leader

Leslie R. Lacktman, Director of Education and Community Engagement at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota has been selected as the 2010 Florida Alliance for Arts Education Professional Leader. Ms. Lacktman was selected for her leadership in The Kennedy Center partnership which has brought outstanding resources to the community, directing research in professional development, and lending her voice as an advocate and supporter of arts education in our region, statewide and at a national and international level. Leslie has been with the Van Wezel for nearly 14 years.
This well-deserved recognition of Ms. Lacktman comes after her many dedicated years designing curriculum, teaching, and implementing partnerships in the arts pre-kindergarten thru college students and adult learners. She is the original arts partner of the Florida 1997 Partners in Education Team of The Kennedy Center which includes the Sarasota County School District. This team received a State-based Consortium Grant from The Kennedy Center followed by an invitation for three years of Dana Foundation funding to reach into rural areas and provide arts integration professional development for teachers and area artists.

The Florida '97 Partnership team is concluding their 7th national Research Grant from The Kennedy Center documenting the impact of arts integration teaching on a cohort of students from elementary through their 7th grade. Just recently Leslie spearheaded the week-long Tibetan monks' residency event in Sarasota bringing together community workshops, student art exhibits, and poetry readings connected to the traditional Mandala sand painting by the monks followed by their outstanding performance "The Mystical Arts of Tibet" on the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall stage.
Ms. Lacktman has been chair of the Manatee ACE County Coalition, member of Sarasota Arts Education Task Force and the Community and Schools Partnership in the Arts. She served as a three-year member of the Advisory Board of The Kennedy Center's National Partnership, Board member of International Performances for Young Audiences and is a presenter at international and national conferences.

Leslie received a Master of Fine Arts in Photography and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication from the University of Wisconsin.

The award will be presented at the 2010 Florida Alliance for Arts Education Leadership Summit Leadership Breakfast on Friday, June 18, at the Harrison School of the Arts in Lakeland, Florida. The keynote speaker will be the Commissioner of Education, Eric Smith.

Leslie believes that Robert Frost's poem "Two Tramps in Mud Town" sums up her philosophy regarding how the community and the arts should work together: But yield who will to their separation, My object in living is to unite, My avocation and my vocation As my two eyes make one in sight. Only where love and need are one, And the work is play for mortal stakes Is the deed ever really done For heaven and the future's sakes.

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