From June 11th to 13th, Think 360 Arts for Learning resumed its 35 year history of the Institute for Creative Teaching (ICT) at the University of Northern Colorado Greeley campus, in collaboration with the School of Art and Design. This three day immersive professional learning odyssey centered learning around the theme of storytelling and worldbuilding in education and brought together classroom teachers from across Colorado and beyond, teaching artists, and UNC students.
Seven Think 360 Arts teaching artists, five UNC staff, and a dynamic line-up of special presenters including Jeff Merkel and Jessica Austgen from Meow Wolf hosted hands-on workshops and engaging presentations. These interactive sessions approached this year’s theme from various perspectives, including science fiction as a means of constructing poetic worlds, using theatre to address place and setting, and sound as a tool for inclusive worldbuilding.
Additionally, for the first time in its 35 years we were proud to feature two dynamic keynote speakers at ICT: Virgil Ortiz and Kristina Maldonado Bad Hand, who both incorporate storytelling and worldbuilding as core elements of their artistry.
Kristina Maldonado Bad Hand shared her background growing up as an Indigenous person and how her journey as an artist is intertwined with her identity and community. She discussed her entry into comic and book illustration, emphasizing the importance of Indigenous representation in storytelling art. Maldonado Bad Hand highlighted the significance of incorporating these stories and representations into classrooms, offering insights and strategies for teachers to effectively integrate Indigenous narratives into their teaching practices.
Multidisciplinary artist and sculptor Virgil Ortiz delivered an inspiring keynote, sharing the rich legacy of ceramic artists from his family and native Cochiti Pueblo. Ortiz recounted the meticulous steps involved in creating the clay, applying surface treatments, and executing firing processes, all while honoring the land and its history. Attendees were then treated to a fascinating exploration of how Ortiz has blended traditional Cochiti Pueblo techniques with cultural futurism, seamlessly integrating fashion, digital media, and both traditional and contemporary ceramics into his dynamic body of work.
Over the course of three days, ICT 2024 provided a dynamic space where artists and educators connected, collaborated, and discovered new ways to integrate the arts into the classroom. In total, 64 educators and teaching artists from Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver, El Paso, Larimer, Montrose, Morgan, Washington, and Weld counties attended this professional development intensive.
Finally, this year’s Institute honored Dr. Bruce Uhrmacher, Professor of Education and Director of Curriculum and Instruction in the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver (DU), who served as ICT’s founding faculty advisor. Dr. Uhrmacher was one of the founders of ICT and served as the faculty advisor for more than 30 years while ICT (formerly known as the “Aesthetic Education Institute of Colorado”) was co-sponsored by the Morgridge College of Education at DU.
We were honored to recognize Dr. Uhrmacher’s dedication and commitment to ICT and celebrated his retirement from DU during a special luncheon on June 11th. During this luncheon, Dr. Uhrmacher shared about the history of ICT, its inception and inspiration from Lincoln Center’s Institute in New York City, and the Institute’s overarching goals for “awakening the artist within” through the creation of sensory pedagogical experiences. We extend our heartfelt thanks to Dr. Uhrmacher for his invaluable contributions and wish him all the best in his retirement!
We are so grateful to have a community of educators dedicated to integrating creative learning into their classroom and growing their teaching practices. Thank you to the University of Northern Colorado and all our teaching artists, presenters, and participants for making the 2024 Institute for Creative teaching possible!
Photo credits: UNC School of Art and Design
Watch our short video recap of ICT 2024: