Gail Sehlhorst

Gail Sehlhorst is the Visual and Performing Arts Manager for Seattle Public Schools. In the 9 years she has served in this role, she’s closed arts access gaps across the district doubling the number of music and visual arts programs, collaborated with over 250 arts teachers to create curriculum that activates 21st century skills, is culturally responsive and antiracist, and has partnered with multiple stakeholders on The Creative Advantage, a city-wide initiative to establish equitable access to arts education for every student in Seattle Public Schools. Prior to this role she was the Director of Education for Book-It Repertory Theatre’s Arts & Education Program and worked as a teaching artist in K-12 classrooms with ACT, Arts Impact, Book-It, Seattle Children’s Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre. She has been a consultant for arts-based program evaluation and curriculum design such as the WA State Teaching Artist Training Lab and the University of Washington’s Arts for Learning Project. Her focus as a teaching artist and educator have been to develop curricula and programs that integrate theatre and literacy, as well as teacher professional development to incorporate arts into the classroom. Gail has been a commissioner for ArtsWA, has a BFA in Acting from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, and an M.Ed. from the University of Washington in Curriculum and Instruction: Language, Literacy, and Culture.