Lisa Edstrom

Lisa Edstrom, Curriculum Coordinator and Founding Director, has been an educator for 15 years. After nearly ten years as an elementary school classroom teacher, Lisa is currently an Adjunct Lecturer at Barnard College, where she supervises student teachers in the Education Program, and at Borough of Manhattan Community College, where she teaches courses in early childhood curriculum. In addition to teaching, as a mother of two, Lisa remains actively involved in elementary education as a parent leader in the PTA of her sons' school and District 13. She holds an M.S.Ed in Early Childhood and Elementary Education and an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from Bank Street College of Education and an A.B. from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges. She is currently pursuing an ED.D. in Curriculum and Teaching from Teachers College. Lisa is a long time resident of Fort Greene.

Diana Schlesinger

Diana Schlesinger, most recently the Director of Education for the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM), has more than 18 years of experience developing and administrating educational programs and teaching people of all ages in school and museum settings. Her previous work includes administering an elementary museum magnet school program and establishing a museum middle school with the Hudson River Museum of Westchester. She has been awarded multiple grants for original programs from government and corporate agencies. Schlesinger holds an M.S. Ed. in Elementary and Museum Education from Bank Street College of Education, an M.A. for visual arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a B.A. from Oberlin College. She lives in Fort Greene with her husband and two children.