The Leadership Program
Alan Bessen is a highly experienced teaching artist and visual art instructor who has been working in various educational settings since the late 1990s. Alan specializes in teaching cartooning, illustration, and various visual art techniques to students ranging from elementary to high school levels. Alan's passion for art education is evident in their work, where Alan incorporates academic subjects into their visual art enrichment programs. With a background in editorial illustration and freelance graphic design, Alan brings a wealth of knowledge and creativity to their teaching practice. With a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Cartooning, Illustration, and Animation from the School of Visual Arts, Alan continues to inspire and educate young artists in the world of visual arts.
The Leadership Program
Leadership is a dynamic urban organization that enriches lives, emboldens confidence, and expands options by building strong leaders in classrooms and communities. From the classroom to the boardroom, The Leadership Program has positively transformed the cultures in businesses like Facebook, Price Waterhouse Coopers, and the United Way in addition to cultures in hundreds of schools in the New York City Department of Education (the largest local agency in NYC) for over twenty years. We’re a team of professional artists/ actors/ musicians with a wealth of experience working with individuals, teams, and organizations of all sizes. We have learned that developing leadership skills and improving the ability to connect with one another are key to cultivating a sense of purpose, autonomy, and mastery. We have worked with researchers, administrators, teachers, and students to create a variety of high quality programming that has been shown to change student behaviors and attitudes towards violence, gang involvement, and substance abuse. We regularly provide national presentations and keynotes on youth development, engagement, leadership, and more.