Mat Schwarzman Schwarzman has been a practitioner, instructor, student, and writer in the field of community-based arts since 1985. He is founder of the Crossroads Project for Art, Learning and Community and directs the Creative Forces Youth Educational Theater Cops, which employs public high school students as peer educators and leaders in the rebuilding of New Orleans's educational support system. He holds a Ph.D in Transformative Learning, founded Urban Arts in Oakland, California, and chaired the Arts & Social Change Program at New College of California. Schwarzman also studied theater with John O'Neal, John Malpede, Fred Curchack, Corey Fischer, and others, and has been a member of ensembles in Philadelphia, San Francisco, and New Orleans. He has also helped establish arts education programs for teens, college students, and adults across the country; and has mentored youth leaders across the country in community-based arts education. He holds a doctorate in learning and change in human systems from the California Institute for Integral Studies and a PhD in transformative learning. Beginner's Guide to Community-Based Arts is his first book. He lives in the best place on earth (New Orleans) with the best woman (Mimi Zarsky) and canine (Lundi Gras). Schwarzman directs the Crossroads Center at Xavier University, which trains youth leaders nationwide in community-based arts activism. Read More Read Less