KID smART welcomes three new members to the Board of Directors

NEW ORLEANS – KID smART, the local nonprofit focused on providing public school students with greater access to arts-rich education, is pleased to welcome Ragan Gankendorff, Aaron Hartley and Tiffany Lin to its board of directors.

"We are excited to welcome our new board members, who embody our values of collaboration, creativity, sustainability, access and equity," said Elise Gallinot Goldman, executive director of KID smART. "They bring a diverse set of skills and abilities that will propel our organization forward."

Gankendorff is a Washington, D.C. native and Tulane University graduate. After earning her MBA, she began a career in academic medicine at LSU Health New Orleans and then Tulane School of Medicine. Currently, she serves a dual role as executive director and associate chair for the Tulane School of Medicine’s Center for Clinical Neurosciences and executive director of Health System Clinical Affairs.

Hartley, better known as Flagboy Giz, is a New Orleans native musician, cultural performer, beadworker, producer and emcee. For nearly a decade, he has been a member of the historic Wild Tchoupitoulas Black Masking Indians. Flagboy Giz has garnered tremendous acclaim, including a profile in the New York Times and appearances at Lil Wayne’s Weezyana Fest, Red Bull Street Kings, the National Fried Chicken Festival and many more.

Lin has served as the director of the Design program for Tulane School of Architecture since 2009, coordinating core studios and developing beginning design education. She is also engaged in a range of architectural visioning projects for non-profit community partners through the Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design. In collaboration with Judith Kinnard, she designed the SunShower SSIP House, an off-grid, disaster relief dwelling which received an AIA New Orleans Honor Award. Lin recently received the SOM Foundation Research Prize to examine existing public spaces, monuments and memorials through the lens of social psychology. She earned a bachelor of architecture from Cornell University and a masters in architecture from Harvard University where she was the recipient of the MArchII Faculty Design Award and the C.W. Prize in Housing Design.

Founded in 1999, KID smART provides public school students with greater access to arts-rich education. In its 25-year history, KID smART has served more than 63,000 students and 11,000 teachers in schools throughout New Orleans. With the belief that the power of the arts should be available to all New Orleans children, KID smART works within public schools to reach underserved children with the most to gain from an arts-rich, social-emotional education. 

To learn more about Kid smART and its mission to engage children and educators in dynamic, creative and relevant learning through the arts, visit  kidsmart.org

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About KID smART
Over the last two decades, KID smART has collaborated with more than 40 New Orleans public schools to blend the arts into academic lessons to make classrooms more effective and joyful places to learn. Through full-year artist residencies, students in KID smART Creative Schools prove to grow academically, artistically and emotionally. KID smART also partners with national thought leaders, including Harvard's Project Zero Classroom, to incorporate best practices in arts and education into its program model.