Who We Are and What We Do

joy2learn is dedicated to improving K-12 public education by helping educators integrate the arts throughout the curriculum. Created in 2000 by world renowned concert pianist Alan Gampel, joy2learn aims to increase arts-based learning in public education by using technology to bring the arts into the classroom. With this vision, joy2learn has produced free interactive, online video presentations featuring the legendary artists Gregory Hines, Elizabeth Murray, Wynton Marsalis, Hector Elizondo, Richard Serra, Frank Gehry and Alan Gampel. Through these presentations, the artists engage with the viewer, discussing and demonstrating their art form. The presentations include a collection of media clips about the artists’ lives, their creative process and their evolution as artists. joy2learn’s artist video presentations are designed to serve as a primary resource for the study of multiple disciplines, from the arts to history, literacy, math, science and more.

  • To support the artist video presentations, joy2learn provides a guide for educators on how to incorporate the presentations into their teaching.
  • joy2learn also offers an online professional development course, Bringing Joy to Learning Through Creativity, for teachers in any discipline. This six-week, asynchronous, facilitated course uses the artist video presentations as the foundation to explore creativity and each artist’s creative process. The course then helps educators learn to incorporate creativity into their own teaching methods as well as develop and nurture creativity in their students.

joy2learn has been approved as a professional development provider by the New York Department of Education, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Texas State Board of Education. Educators who complete the course can earn valuable professional development credits for their ongoing certification and education.

  • In addition, joy2learn offers lesson plans for multiple grades and multiple subjects developed by educators for educators. The lesson plans are based on the artist video presentations and can be tailored to support different grade levels.
  • joy2learn then provides examples of how to use the lesson plans in the classroom as well as discussions by NYC teachers on the value of joy2learn’s resources.
  • Research Highlights include just some of the many research topics on the impact of the arts on learning.

All these resources are designed to assist educators in integrating the arts into their teaching, no matter the subject, and in doing so engaging students and enhancing their learning.