MUSE Academy Announces Head of School Deborah Bradley-Kramer

MUSE Academy, a new independent school located in the heart of Brooklyn's cultural district opening in September 2018, announces the appointment of Head of School Dr. Deborah Bradley-Kramer, whose teaching experience includes nearly 20 years of work at Columbia University, world music courses at The Juilliard School, and courses at numerous institutions around the world. At Columbia, she was also the Director of Music Performance from 1999-2013.

"We are very excited to have Deborah heading up a team of exceptional educators at MUSE as our Head of School. For the past two decades, she has embodied the values of humanist education and integrated learning through teaching the famed core curriculum program at Columbia University, while pursuing an abiding interest in early childhood education in the arts," said MUSE Academy Board Member Crocker Coulson. "Under her leadership, MUSE will offer an exceptional program in which rigorous academics are combined with music and arts to develop children's full creative potential and passion for learning."

Deborah recently wrote an essay on the impact of music on cognitive development in children. Her experiences teaching at Columbia and at Juilliard led her to assume a leadership role at MUSE Academy and create a model program, demonstrating how music and performing arts can accelerate academic development and unleash creative thinking throughout all disciplines. MUSE Academy, a new pre-K through 12 independent school housed within the Brooklyn Music School, fulfills a critical need for high quality, humanist education in Brooklyn's cultural district.

"I am excited to apply the principles of integrative, inquiry based education that I used at Columbia, to small children whose hearts and minds are so open and receptive to learning," said Ms. Bradley-Kramer. "It is my belief that our youngest children must be engaged in active, creative learning in all the Arts, and that music is a language that everyone should learn to speak. Daily instruction in music, art, and dance interwoven within our rich and rigorous academic curriculum will create a foundation of confidence and joy that will remain with the children for all their lives."

Dr. Bradley-Kramer, Ph.D (NYU; European Mozart Academy) is Lecturer in Music at Columbia University, and was Director of Columbia's Music Performance Program from 1999-2013. An award-winning educator and pianist, she was nominated for a Great Teacher Award at Columbia, and received Copland, Koussevitzky, Arts International, and Trust For Mutual Understanding (Rockefeller Foundation) Grants for her recordings and performances.

While Director of Columbia's Music Performance Program, she created many new areas of study such as Bluegrass Band, Klezmer Ensemble, and Middle Eastern Ensemble; she also established the Program's principle operating budget, and developed numerous new concert series (Weill Hall Gala, Columbia Sounds for Families), and touring opportunities for young performers and composers.

Deeply dedicated to nurturing the careers of young artists, Deborah is founder and Artistic Director of SPEAKmusic, a consortium of performers and composers from Juilliard, Curtis, and Columbia who are dedicated to outreach, education, and transformation through the arts. In Summer July 2017, she initiated a new international concert series at Centre for the Future in the Czech Republic, and embarked on collaborative musical activities with students and faculty at the Kenya Conservatory in 2018.

MUSE Academy, a new Pre-K through 12 independent school housed within the Brooklyn Music School, is currently accepting applications for grades pre-K 3 through 2nd grade for the fall of 2018. MUSE Academy fills a critical need for high quality, humanist education in the area, and extends the Brooklyn Music School's commitment to enabling children to experience the joy of music, and to reap the demonstrated intellectual benefits of culture and the performing arts.

The first step on the admissions journey is to attend an information session at MUSE Academy. These are held throughout the school year and into the summer in order to provide maximum flexibility to families researching educational options. Become one of the founding families by submitting your application, and get reaIntegrationsdy to begin the journey towards a MUSE Academy education for your child!

About MUSE Academy:

MUSE Academy is an independent school in Brooklyn. We seek to develop the full potential of every child as lifelong learners, expressive artists, and active citizens in his or her community. Music, movement, and performance are central to the MUSE educational experience and profoundly contribute to a child's cognitive and social development. Our approach engages all the modes through which children learn and communicate - including verbal, analytical, kinesthetic, spatial, social, and emotional - using an inquiry-based learning model. https://museacademybk.com/