Susie Salomon Tribute
1936 - 2025
The Tribute
The Tribute
We are deeply saddened by the passing of our dear friend and former Board member, Susie Salomon.
Susie was a joyful and passionate advocate for our mission, always promoting our work, sharing her insights, and helping us improve our programs. She had a special love for art, particularly children’s art, and was always delighted by the stories and creativity behind each piece.
We were honored to establish The Susie Salomon Visionary Award in 2023 to recognize her creativity and impact. We dedicate in her memory My Story Revealed: The art of culture & identity.
We will always remember her for her kindness, love, humor, vision, and unwavering support.
To donate in Susie’s honor, click below.
The Award
The Award
Our friend & champion Susie Salomon inspired this award in 2023.
This award is given to one of our educators annually who has made extraordinary efforts to bring global understanding to their students and community along with their overseas partners, providing leadership, inspiration, and vision.
2025 Recipient
2025 Recipient
The 2025 award goes to Ms. Lina Kamal Qashou of Khelda Secondary School in Jordan. Ms. Lina exemplifies the spirit of this award in every connection she builds.
Since joining our program in 2015, Ms. Lina has been an integral and inspiring educator, a guiding light whose passion radiates through every connection she builds. She brings energy, deep compassion, and a profound respect for cultural identity. She transforms classrooms in spaces of curiosity, courage, and creativity. Through her dedication, Ms. Lina has created opportunities and facilitated meaningful global connections for more than 260 of her students to reach beyond borders.
Ms. Lina removes misunderstanding and fear, replacing them with empathy, shared experience, and hope. Through her tireless efforts, she breaks down stereotypes, promotes mutual understanding, and cultivates a spirit of global citizenship. In addition to her work with students, she has served as a mentor and guide to fellow educators entering the Global Voices — ArtLink Program, offering them both leadership and support.
2024 Recipient
2024 Recipient
The 2024 award goes to Kyra Litschauer of Woodstock Middle School. Since 2018, she has been an exceptional partner educator, working with Creative Connections to bring the Global Voices – ArtLink program to 18 seventh-grade classes. She has inspired students to share their stories through insightful art and thoughtful dialogue with their peers in Guatemala, Honduras, Brazil and Ukraine. The experience started them on a transformative journey towards empathetic global citizenship.
2023 First Honoree
2023 First Honoree
The first recipient of this award is an esteemed Artlink teacher, Mr. Frank Katoola from Tender Talents School in Kasangati, Uganda. He is the founder of The Tender Talents School, and he is dedicated to creating a place where students can find and nurture their creative selves. Using the arts to help children heal, and to find a place to belong. The school’s goals statement says it all: “Fostering Success and Empowering Students to Achieve Their Dreams.” Over the past years, Frank has worked with Creative Connections to: -Bring to CT four International Young Performance Tours of Tender Talents’ student dancers, singers, and drummers -Coordinate over 25 ArtLink program partnerships -Produce and offer virtual performance workshops for USA classes -And most recently, serve as a virtual teaching artist in CT’s HOT (Higher Order Thinking) Schools Artist-in-Residency program Frank inspires everyone he meets, including the many USA educators and their students who have had the joy of connecting with him and his creative Tender Talents’ pupils.