Russell Granet, Executive Director of Lincoln Center Education (LCE), is internationally known for his work in arts education. LCE was founded in 1975 as the educational cornerstone of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the largest performing arts center in the world. The program enriches the lives of students, educators and lifelong learners by providing opportunities for engagement with the highest-quality arts on the stage, in the classroom, digitally and within the community. For over three decades, LCE has offered unparalleled school and community partnerships, professional development workshops, consulting services and its very own repertory of music, dance, theater and visual arts. LCE’s work has reached more than 20 million students, teachers, school administrators, parents, community members, teaching artists, pre-service teachers, university professors and artists in New York City, across the nation and around the world.
An enthusiastic, respected advocate for arts education for more than 25 years, Russell joined Lincoln Center after running his own international consulting practice, Arts Education Resource (AER). Since his appointment in September 2012, he has spearheaded LCE’s highly successful fundraising efforts, its renovation and the rebranding initiative that simultaneously confirms Lincoln Center’s educational mission and its message of dedication to bringing the arts to all schoolchildren. Arts education and community outreach have been key parts of Lincoln Center’s mission for over 50 years. Through programs and initiatives such as Meet the Artist, Lincoln Center enriches the lives of tens of thousands of children each year.
Russell has brought his experience, leadership qualities and business acumen to the broadening of LCE’s relationships with policy makers, cultural institutions, public and private schools and arts-and-education organizations at home and abroad. He is a frequent commencement and keynote speaker, conference presenter and panelist on arts education, drawing on his background as an academic, artist and educator.
Prior to founding AER, Russell held the following leadership positions: Director of Professional Development at The Center for Arts Education—The NYC Annenberg Challenge; Director of Education at The American Place Theatre; and senior teaching artist at the Creative Arts Team. Since 1995 he has been on the faculty at New York University, where he developed and teaches the course Drama with Special Populations.
He currently serves or has served on the boards of The Association of Teaching Artists, The American Alliance of Theatre Education, The American Place Theatre, The Maktaba Project, Hilary Easton + Company Dance, and was a founding board member of the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable and the Chair of Arts Education for the Columbia County (NY) Arts Council.
Russell has worked on projects in Egypt, England, India, Kenya, Mexico, Tanzania, Turkey and throughout the United States. He was awarded the Founder’s Award from The Bronx Charter School for the Arts for his work in Arts Education, and the Arts and Culture award from the Turkish Cultural Center. Russell's leadership was cited as “visionary” in the 2013 Proclamation by the City of New York, bestowed upon LCE in recognition of its outstanding services to the arts and education communities. Send Russell an email and/or follow him on Twitter.