78. Getting to the Art of the Matter: A Discussion With a Panel of Experts in the Arts

How can schools integrate Social-Emotional Learning, Belonging, Global Citizenship and Creative Expression in one beautiful package? By prioritizing a crucial aspect of schooling: The Arts. And yet The Arts are often relegated to “encore” status, underfunded or even dispensed with duiring budget crunches.

For this show, we assembled a talented panel of guests who represented years of experience and an array of artistic disciplines: Film, Theater, Art and Music.

David Gran has developed and taught film programs for 20 years  in the U.S., Shanghai, and Chile. He was a co-founder of SAS’s Innovation Institute and Nido’s Changemakers program, the Shanghai Student Film Festival and the InThinking site for IB Film. David is also a former columnist for School Arts Magazine.

Tina Casey is the HS Theater Teacher and the Performing Arts Director at ISKL. She has been working overseas for over 30 years, including 15 years in Malaysia. This year marks Tina’s final year at ISKL, after which she will return home with her husband to Northern Ontario for a "nap year" before deciding on next steps.

Nick Stonehouse is an art and design educator currently working in HCMC, Vietnam. He has taught in multiple curricula at a range of ages, from Early Childhood to Secondary. At present, Nick is thoroughly enjoying teaching grades 2 and 3 art. Nick is also an avid photographer, artist, art enthusiast, and world traveler.

Scott Rogal has taught in Canada, Hong Kong and Vietnam. Currently, he teaches Band at the American School of Bahrain and conducts the Jazz Orchestra of Bahrain, a semi-professional ensemble featuring many of Bahrain’s top musicians. He is also an active composer who writes and publishes through ApRo Music in Canada. 

Our guiding question for the show was “What are some characteristics that describe international school arts programs?”

Our panelists shared many insights around implementing an arts program while also sharing specifics about their individual domains of music, theater, film and art. 

Here are a few of the topics covered: 

• What a standard K-12 arts program from a holistic perspective can look like
• Unpacking the components of an arts program including mission/vision, infrastructure, curricular outcomes, etc. 
• Painting the picture of what music, theater, film and art look like in ES, MS and HS

This was a rich discussion with each participant chiming in with their takes while sharing experiences from their careers. We has so many questions that plans are already being made for a follow-up recording!

This episode was recorded on March 29, 2025.

Categories: The Arts | SEL | Life Skills

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Music: YouTube. (2022). Acoustic Guitar | Folk | No copyright | 2022❤️. YouTube. Retrieved October 11, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOEmg_6i7jA.