2015 Lincoln Center Arts Teacher Award Goes to Bay Academy's Nicole Kasbar

Lincoln Center Education, in partnership with the New York City Department of Education, is pleased to present the 2015 Lincoln Center Arts Teacher award to Nicole Kasbar, a middle school dance teacher at the Bay Academy for the Arts and Sciences in Brooklyn.

The Lincoln Center Arts Teacher Award is part of the DOE's annual "Big Apple Awards," a citywide teacher recognition program open to all full-time teachers in public schools across New York City who push students to excel in and out of the classroom. The Lincoln Center Arts Teacher Award is bestowed upon an arts teacher for making a difference in the lives of his or her students and for going above and beyond in their role as an arts educator. Ms. Kasbar will receive a $3,500 classroom grant to enhance and further her work with her students, as well as access to Lincoln Center opportunities.

Ms. Kasbar, a 16-year veteran of New York public schools, is a committed and exceptional educator, who has integrated science and math with dance and fitness. She leads Fit for Life, Dance Talent, and Physical Education programs at the Bay Academy for the Arts and Sciences in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn and has incorporated storytelling through movement in her classes. She has also mixed dance and technology in interesting ways, having students make connections between their own dance work and Martha Graham's famous choreography for Clytemnestra. This past year, Ms. Kasbar creatively used an iPad application for more than 100 students to track their fitness progress, making students aware of their state of health through assessment, reflection, and research.

Ms. Kasbar is the third recipient of the Lincoln Center Arts Teacher Award, following Melissa Salguero in 2013 and Laurence Minetti in 2014. The award is given by Lincoln Center Education and the New York City Department of Education as part of the "Big Apple Awards" to honor a dance, music, theater, music or visual arts teacher for making a difference in the lives of his or her students and for going above and beyond in his or her role as an arts educator. The Lincoln Center Arts Teacher Award is one of 11 honors to be given as part of these new DOE sponsored awards. Each Big Apple Teacher Award-winner will be granted $3,500 for use by the teacher in the classroom.

"Lincoln Center Education is honored to once again partner with the New York City Department of Education to celebrate excellence in the classroom with this year's Lincoln Center Arts Teacher Award," said Russell Granet, Executive Director of Lincoln Center Education. "Ms. Kasbar demonstrates a unique ability to bring dance to the young people of New York City in creative, innovative, and accessible ways. With this recognition, we thank her for her commitment to the arts, and for inspiring those around her to become better citizens of the world through dance."

Learn more about the Big Apple Teacher Awards and all of this year's honored educators from the New York City Department of Education: http://bit.ly/BigAppleTeacher2015.

Lincoln Center Education (LCE) is a global leader in arts education and advocacy and the education cornerstone of Lincoln Center, the world's largest performing arts complex. LCE is committed to enriching the lives of students, educators, and lifelong learners by providing opportunities for engagement with the highest-quality arts on the stage, in the classroom, via digital platforms, and within the community. Founded in 1975 as the Lincoln Center Institute, LCE has nearly four decades of unparalleled school and community partnerships, professional development workshops, consulting services, and its very own repertory. LCE has reached more than 20 million students, teachers, school administrators, parents, community members, teaching artists, pre-service teachers, university professors, and artists in New York City, across the nation, and around the world. For more, go to LincolnCenterEducation.org.