About Us

Founded in New Orleans, LA, in 2001, Crossroads Institute for Art, Learning & Community works with children, youth and adults throughout the United States to spread knowledge and build capacity regarding the use of the creative arts for learning and social change.

For the first five years, Crossroads Institute was focused on completion of a ten-year effort to research, create and publish our seminal publication, Beginner’s Guide to Community-Based Arts (New Village Press, 2005). Since then, we have focused on expanding use of the Beginner’s Guide as a resource for universities, schools and community organizations throughout the U.S. and the Americas, and developing a model program for at-risk youth in New Orleans that is based on the Guide.

2009 Members of the Crossroads Team

Bryan Graham, Designer – Web and graphic designer with non-profit clients in museums and arts service organizations in New Orleans and throughout the U.S.

Lily Keber, Documentarian – World-traveling video producer with extensive training from Cannes Student Film Institute and Appalshop Arts & Media Center in Kentucky.

Keith Knight, Documentarian – Creator of nationally syndicated comic strips K Chronicles, Th(ink) and Knight Life; winner of prestigious Harvey Award two years running.

New Village Press, Co-Publishers – Their non-fiction books profile innovative solutions to seemingly intractable social, environmental and economic challenges.

Janet Rassweiler, Educational Consultant – Widely respected educator, former Program Director of NYC Young Audiences and a faculty advisor with Bank Street College of Education.

Mat Schwarzman, Director – 1985, Sharing the Arts, Camden, Elmer and Vineland, New Jersey; 1985, Big Small Theater, Philadelphia; 1989, Arts & Social Change Program, New College of California, San Francisco; 1995, East Bay Institute for Urban Arts, Oakland, CA. Received Doctorate in Integral Studies with a Concentration on Learning & Change in Human Systems, California Institute for Integral Studies, 1998.

Creative Forces Youth Educational Theater Corps Personnel

Ranging in age mainly from 14 to 18, Creative Forces Youth Educational Theater Corps creates and performs original songs, plays, poetry and dance about urgent social and educational issues. Creative Forces uses the transformative power of theater to stimulate positive energy, ideas and information among children, youth and families in the Greater New Orleans Metropolitan Area and beyond.