a vision for transformative education

As the lead pedagogue of gotham,

I celebrate its history.  Gotham has been a beacon of progressive education for eleven years - initially serving the community of Bedford Stuyvesant, and now relocated to Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.  The institution has offered its students incredible arts-rich academic experiences, fruitful partnerships with the city's museums, rigorous and culturally relevant coursework, and a safe place to learn that mistakes are an integral part of the developmental process.  

Looking forward, we aspire to maintain those traditions, and we also look to our communities (institutional, local, national and global) for new inspiration.  The Arts continue to be a platform for social commentary, a reflection of the world in which they exist, and a means of self-expression that might one day change the perspective of others.  We hope that our students recognize, honor and uphold those truths as practicing artists. 

We bring the challenges and interests of local businesses and organizations, and the sociopolitical issues that impact our communities, into the classroom.  We ask students to see themselves as change agents today, thoughtfully collaborating to address these novel problems and designing solutions to be shared with stakeholders.  It's time for community schools to return home.  It's time for communities to fuel, and be fueled by, the academic institutions within.   It's time for students to see themselves as integral parts of the curriculum, not just as consumers of it.  It's time for students to recognize that their voices have power, and their work can and will make a difference.  

To that end, we bring cutting edge practices into our classrooms.  We leverage our core values.   We strive to foster the development of enduring understandings and transferrable skills that will help our students, and our communities, thrive for years to come.  Welcome to Gotham.

-Robert Michelin