It has been almost 250 years since we declared our independence. I am grateful to be an American and notwithstanding the challenges we face today, we continue on our journey as a country that is continuing to evolve and to do its best across a magnitude of complicated topics. Having said that, as an art…

For the last 20 years, I’ve invested my life in creative education, and I have seen the blessing of what it can do for adults and kids through the lens of my experiences as CEO of School of Rock and One River School. The metaphor, “grow or fold”, is a concept that I have grabbed…

Take a look at the image. The smile and the pride on our student’s face. The artwork on display. And, our bold statement above.   I often ask parents, “what would make a difference in your kid’s life?”  And, quite often I hear a blend of: “I want them to be happy”, “I want them…

It is showtime at One River School … each of our locations have either had their official Student Exhibition opening or it is about to happen.  Either way, our fifteen locations in six states are celebrating the amazing efforts of our students and team, and having previewed a bunch of the artwork, I am so…

Artists like Jeffrey Gibson inspired me to create One River School and these days Jeffrey’s art and his personal story are inspiring others across the world. He is representing the United States this year in the Venice Biennale and this recognition is so deserving given both the unique art that he makes and the wonderful…

What better way to understand the current projects in process than to hear from London, an eight year old student at our Englewood, NJ location. Click here. Her class project that will be exhibited in June is titled “Character Turnaround” and London shares a little bit about the project and why she’s excited about the upcoming…

We have all seen these paintings but, I’m not sure that we’ve all spent the time to really contemplate with Frank Stella meant to the art world and to our culture today. Stella died yesterday at 87 and left a big, bold and colorful mark on the world. In 1959, Frank Stella’s “black paintings” challenged…

One of the things I am most proud of at One River School is our ability to “Teach Life Lessons Through Art”. This month across our network of schools, teen students participated in The Kindness Project, as part of our commitment to honor Autism Awareness Month. Students were tasked with the challenge of creating imagery…

When I began thinking about starting One River School, I was inspired by the audacious thinking that went into making bold contemporary art and I wanted to create a program that allowed us to “focus on the art of today”. Everyone knew about Picasso and Van Gogh, but I was disappointed that most people didn’t…

I love when I walk into one of our schools and see dazzling art on our walls. It makes me feel like we are doing our job by sharing serious work from world class artists in communities that don’t get to engage with contemporary art too often. Benjamin Klein has an exhibition that is now…