The Center for Social Imagination, the Arts, and Education

Imagination must be released in all dimensions of education ... Maxine Greene

Founded and directed by Teachers College Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Education Maxine Greene, the Center for Social Imagination, the Arts, and Education is committed to the development of alternative modes of inventing, creating, and interpreting. Through these endeavors of the imagination, and through its series of interdisciplinary programs, the Center seeks to shape visions of "a lovelier world," embracing, in all its diverse cultural richness, one humanity. Working in the tradition of Dewey, James, and the Existentialists, the Center brings schoolchildren, artists, academics, and social activists together in conferences and workshops to explore possibilities of reform and transformation in schools and social communities. By sponsoring monthly "salons," the Center attempts to generate dialogue and research projects that open new perspectives in the arts, humanities, and the human sciences. The Center is also in the process of developing networks that bring together art institutions, public schools, and Teachers College in order to investigate, document, and articulate just what role encounters with the arts-including the quintessential 20th century art forms of film and video-might play in inspiring social visions and, by consequence, in effectuating vibrant, moral communities. The Center, in its desire "to enlarge the conversation, to try for clarity, to persuade," will, in addition, publish occasional essays, in both belles letters and position paper formats, reflecting imaginative thinking and advocacy in these areas of concern. The Center for Social Imagination, the Arts, and Education is affiliated with the Teachers College
Center for Educational Outreach and Innovation. It is funded by the Aaron Diamond Foundation, the Solidago Foundation, and an anonymous donor.