Meredith Arena is a writer and interdisciplinary teaching artist from New York City with 18 years of teaching experience with youth ages 5-15, both in after school and school-day arts integration environments. She also conducts professional development for teachers in the area of arts integration. Meredith holds a BA in cultural studies, a BFA in photography and an MFA in Creative Writing. She creates and implements curricula that mix creative drama, movement, writing and visual arts. Her work with youth aims to cultivate self-confidence, compassion, joy, critical thinking, community and social justice. She wants her students to become aware of their inherent creativity and be able to access it when they most need it. She is currently a staff teaching artist at Arts Corps.