Board of Trustees
Dr. Nina C. Lasky, President
Nina Lasky served in the New York City Department of Education for 25 years. She served as a Borough Arts Director, an assistant principal at LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and at Fashion Industries High School, and a visual arts teacher. Dr. Lasky earned an Ed.D. in Art and Art Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Nina is an adjunct professor at Hunter College, CUNY. She has served as faculty at PACE University and conducted workshops at Teachers College, Brooklyn College, and East Stroudsburg University as well as at various academic national and international conferences. She is a community muralist whose work has been featured in On the Walls: Four Decades of Murals in New York City and in Beyond the Walls, and an international documentary about murals as activism. She creates official film curriculum guides, including for The Hate U Give, Harriet and TILL. Her expertise includes Culturally Responsive Education in the arts, teacher preparation and cultivating arts partnerships. She is an Arts and Teacher Educator, Consultant, and Artist.
Kate Boulamaali, Vice President
Kate Boulamaali has been an art educator in NYC for 20 years. Before that, she was a born artist. Her earliest memories are of waking up every Saturday morning not to watch cartoons but to draw. She is one of those amazing artists skilled in multiple mediums: painting, pottery, weaving, drawing… You name it, she can do it! Her passion is in igniting the thrill of art in kids no matter their means, medium, or skill level.
Daniel De Santis, Vice President
Daniel De Santis is the Magnet Resource Specialist at JHS 123 - The Bronx Urban Community Magnet School, the only Magnet middle school in the Bronx. As an instruction coach and curriculum designer, he provides valuable expertise on project-based curriculum design that uses S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) learning to inspire students to solve real world problems. Daniel was a formerly a visual art teacher a sister New York City magnet school, MS 421 - West Prep Academy located on the Upper West Side. For the past six years he was the Manager of Visual Arts Programming at the New-York Historical Society Museum and Library, where he designed student and teacher educational programs that creatively integrated hands-on art-making and visual-inquiry with topics in American History. Highlights include the successful Art of History residency program for K-8 students, visual art integration for Women and the American Story digital curriculum for women's history, and various professional credit courses for teachers. Daniel received his B.A. and M.A.T. degrees from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Vanessa Ng Banks, Treasurer
Vanessa Ng Banks is Borough Arts Coordinator for the New York City Department of Education. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Arts Management from SUNY Purchase, which led to work at MoMA PS1, Theodore:Art, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. She earned a Master’s degree in Education Policy at New York University. As a stalwart of arts education, Vanessa believes the arts are holistic components of culture, community, history, and self knowledge.
Terryl Donovan, Secretary
Terryl Donovan is a retired arts education administrator who believes that everyone is born with the soul of an artist. She has seen arts education transform students’ understanding of their world and believes that arts education develops the habits of mind that students need to succeed in all of life’s wonder: innovation, collaboration, problem solving, self discipline, curiosity, empathy and compassion.
Shani Perez-Anthony, Trustee
Visiting Assistant Professor in the Art and Design Education Department, is an Art Educator for the NYC Department of Education and an Art Education Consultant who loves the arts. She is a member of the DOE Arts Committee to the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), a group made up of Arts Educators, Consultants, Museum Directors, Cultural Arts Organizations, Arts-Based Nonprofits, Arts Education Roundtable members, Department of Cultural Affairs reps, and members of Higher Ed Institutions that advocates for equitable arts education for all New York City public school students as an essential part of a complete and well-rounded education, and creating an Arts Education Strategic Plan. Her work has also included advisory on strategic projects with the Guggenheim, NYU Astor Fellows, various Higher Education institutions, and several global and community-based organizations.
Madeleine Appell, Trustee
Madeleine Appel is a trained artist and former New York City art teacher and high school principal. Although she has done mostly traditional quilts for years, her current work is largely contemporary. Her work has been exhibited in prominent venues such as Metropolitan Museum of Art, Delaware Art Museum, Morris Museum and Brooklyn Museum; and included in the permanent collection of the International Quilt Study Center & Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Barbara Benton, Trustee
Barbara Benton began her career as art educator in Ohio schools. She was later employed by Crayola, LLC for 32 years, retiring as their National Business Development Manager for Education. In 2006, Barbara Benton became a Trustee of the School Art League serving as Board Secretary from 2010 - 2019.
Diana Cagle, Trustee
Diana Cagle has had a lifelong career in arts education. She has served in many capacities: high school art teacher, Assistant Principal, Guidance, Assistant to Head of High School Admissions and Supervisor of Guidance; Manhattan High Schools; Principal of Far Rockaway H.S., and Art and Design H.S.; Senior Assistant to Deputy Chancellor of Instruction at the New York City Board of Education; Adjunct Professor, Brooklyn College Graduate Guidance Program. After retirement Diana worked in the Principal's Institute at Bank Street in a variety of roles. Most recently she co-created The Museum Experience Program for SAL.
Laurel Danowitz-Gerges, Trustee
Laurel Danowitz-Gerges began her career as an art teacher at Sheepshead Bay High School before becoming the Assistant Principal of Fine Arts at Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn. Laurel created the Art Institute, a screened art program providing students from across Brooklyn with a five year visual arts sequence of classes which could be completed during their four years of high school. Many students went on to prestigious art schools and to satisfying careers in the arts. Upon retirement in 2003, Laurel served as a visual arts consultant for the Department of Education, is on the writing committee for the Commencement Exam in Visual Arts, worked at Studio in a School, and taught a class in the Leadership in the Arts program at the Bank Street Graduate School of Education. She continues to pursue her passion for travel and photography and still misses the classroom and the wonderful students she taught.
Stephen Drakes, Trustee
Stephen Drakes began his career journey as a middle school art and ceramics teacher, eventually becoming a high school administrator. He was responsible for supervising fine arts, music, technology and business and later became the founding principal of the High School for Arts and Business in Queens, New York. Stephen also enjoyed working with graduate students at Bank Street College of Education as an advisor in the Leadership in the Arts and the Principals Institute programs.
Dr. Sharon Dunn, Trustee
Sharon Dunn is past president of the School Art League serving from 2017-21. Dr. Dunn retired from the New-York Historical Society in 2017 as Vice President for Education Emerita. In 2008 Dr. Dunn retired from the New York City Department of Education after 34 years serving as an art educator, a district arts supervisor, and head of the central arts education office through seven Chancellors.
Eileen Goldblatt, Trustee
Eileen Goldblatt was the first President and Chief Executive Officer of the National "I Have a Dream" Foundation, a long-term educational support program for children and youth from underserved communities. She served as Executive Director of Young Audiences/New York, one of the nation’s foremost arts-in-education organizations. Eileen received her graduate degree in museum education and had the incredible opportunity to create the first education program at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, Smithsonian Design Museum. At the NYC Department of Education Eileen created the Arts and Cultural Education Network, which revolutionized arts and cultural education access and delivery in the New York City public school system. Currently, Eileen is a senior advisor to various philanthropic projects, and serves on several boards and arts and education related advisory councils. She proudly serves as a Trustee of her alma mater, Russell Sage College and The Sage Colleges.
Amber Lodman, Trustee
Amber Lodman received her B.A. from Florida State University in Studio Art and her M.A from New York University in Higher Education and Student Affairs. She is a Harlem based visual artist whose work explores the nuance and narratives of black culture and identity. Over the years she has instructed family art classes at the Dream Center in Harlem, been an exhibiting artist at NYU, Kente Royal Gallery, Revelation Gallery, Harlem Arts Festival, Anyone Can Fly Foundation Exhibition & Silent Auction and SK Art Space. Her work has also included time at the Guggenheim Museum and moderating artist talks with the Curtis Jacobs Gallery and the NYC DOE Office of Teacher Development. Amber is the Program Manager, Visual Arts and Dance for the New York City Department of Education supporting professional development and shaping experiences for public school art students and educators.
Pilar Newton-Katz, Trustee
Pilar Newton received her BFA at Rhode Island School of Design and went on to get her start working on The Cartoon Network's "Courage the Cowardly Dog," and on MTV's "Daria".
With her independent company PilarToons, LLC she has contributed work to companies such as Nickelodeon, Homer Learning and Sirius Thinking, among others. She is now Program Director of the Design division of The City College of New York. Pilar is based in Brooklyn, NY where she is proudly originally from.
Elma Reingold, Trustee
Elma Reingold joined the trustee volunteers of the School Art League in 2012. She has taught art to students from pre-school through high school and has truly enjoyed the difference in energy and focus each age group brought with them into the classroom. Elma currently heads the art department at the High School of Art and Design and loves being surrounded by students and faculty who shares her passion for art and artmaking.
Karen Rosner, Trustee
Karen Rosner is Director of Visual Arts for the New York City Department of Education, supervising initiatives that support visual arts educators citywide. She creates professional development programs for art teachers, supervises the annual Commencement Exam in Visual Arts for graduating seniors, and manages the annual P.S. Art exhibition of student artwork at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Karen led the team that created the third edition of the NYC Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Visual Arts, and served on the writing team for the revised New York State Learning Standards for the Arts. She has a Master's degree in Art History from Hunter College. Karen has been an Adjunct Professor at Fordham University, and is a volunteer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Carol Sterling, Trustee
Carol Sterling has been an advocate for arts education on local, state, national, and international levels for more than 60 years. She is the Founding Director of the Arts Partners program, a collaboration among four New York City agencies (Education, Cultural Affairs, Youth Services, and the Mayor’s office) which brought arts institutions together with public schools for the benefit of the students. She is a recipient of the Alliance for Arts Education Award from the John F. Kennedy Center for outstanding contributions to arts education.
Naomi Lonergan, Trustee Emerita
Naomi Lonergan has served as art teacher and Assistant Principal of Art at New Dorp High School for over 35 years. Throughout these years, Naomi has always worked with her students to assure their participation in the activities and awards offered by The School Art League. A Trustee since 1996, and past President from 2010 through 2017, Naomi has continued to advance SAL programs for the benefit of the students and in the New York City public school community
Barbara Gurr, Trustee Emerita
Barbara Gurr has served New York City students in a variety of capacities: Teacher; Assistant Principal, Supervision; Director of Instruction and Professional Development, Queens High Schools; and Director of Art, New York City Schools where she supervised the production of The Blueprint curriculum. As a trustee of the School Art League, she co-created the Museum Experience Program.