Artist Educator Connect:
Using Improvisation to Spark Creativity & Learning with Emily Button
On May 22, 2025, P.S. ARTS hosted its last Artist Educator Connect session for this school year, this time featuring guest speaker Emily Button from Enrichment Works. The topic, Using Improvisation to Spark Creativity & Learning, invited teaching artists, classroom teachers, artists, and education advocates to explore how improvisational techniques can be used to encourage interactive and adaptive classroom environments.
Drawing from theater and movement, Emily led participants through a series of playful and practical activities designed to foster curiosity, collaboration, and reflection. One activity was the mirror exercise, in which partners take turns leading and following each other’s movements. As Emily shared, “Reflecting is really engaging. Imitation is what you think you’re seeing, not what you actually are seeing.” This distinction encouraged participants to think through ways exercises such as mirror can be used to stimulate learning for students.
Emily also discussed how improvisation isn’t limited to the arts and how improv techniques can be applied to storytelling, science, and social-emotional learning. From building focus and flexibility to encouraging risk-taking and empathy, improvisation offers a toolkit that educators can adapt across disciplines and age groups.
Learn more about Emily Button and her workshop Everyone Can Improvise with Enrichment Works, a highly interactive, all-ages show that brings the spirit of improv to life, here. https://enrichmentworks.org/programs/improvise/
Visit the Artist Educator Connect page on the P.S. ARTS website to learn more about the series and explore topics for past AECs.
About Artist Educator Connect:
Artist Educator Connect (AEC) is a free virtual meet up organized by P.S. ARTS to bring together artists and educators to foster a community of collaboration. This series provides a platform for educators and/or artists interested in teaching to share best practices, exchange ideas, and access valuable resources that support arts education in public schools.
