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Each season we share news and updates about our work that impacts students and teachers around the world!
Dear Friends,
As we close another academic year, I’m filled with gratitude for all we’ve accomplished together. This year, we introduced our revised Global Voices–ArtLink curriculum. I was inspired to see students diving deeper into their own stories, and finding themselves reflected in one another across cultures and borders.
We also launched Global Voices: Ethics Lab with partner classrooms in CT, Uganda, and Kenya, where educational theater became a powerful space for ethical exploration, empathy, and dialogue.
In addition, we relocated our office to 40 Richards Avenue in Norwalk after 18 years at Stepping Stones Museum for Children, marking a meaningful new chapter.
You make this work possible. Because of you, our mission has never had more depth, reach, or impact. I feel a real sense of momentum and I’m excited about our future, and all the possibilities ahead.
With deep gratitude,
Alan Steckler
Sometimes, a meaningful part of a Global Voices-ArtLink exchange happens after the IVC (Intercultural Video Conference) ends. After a recent exchange, teachers in the Ukraine and the U.S. reflected on their students’ experiences and discovered unexpected similarities.
In Ukraine, students returned the next day eager to hear how they had been understood by their US partner class, considering English is their second language. Their teacher, Olena, shared, “They were very interested in how they were perceived and whether their communication was clear enough.” Their curiosity reflected a genuine desire to connect, communicate, and learn from one another.
When U.S. teacher Melissa replied, she first commented on how their communication was excellent and their engagement was so positive. She also discovered her students felt much the same way. “It is wonderful to realize that even though they are in different countries, their interests and maturity levels are so similar – they truly connected as fellow students,” she wrote.
Both classrooms left the exchange inspired and eager for more conversations, a reminder that meaningful global connections begin with curiosity and grow through moments like these.
[We wish to thank David & Lisa Schlakman for sponsoring this partnership.]
Global Voices-ArtLink is our signature program connecting students in the US with their peers worldwide through the exchange of art and ideas.
This fundraising event was a memorable and successful evening! It brought together our community supporting Global Voices: Ethics Lab.
Guests experienced an engaging, hands-on introduction to the work we’re doing to help students build skills in ethical decision-making, moral courage, and conflict resolution, leaving our guests energized and connected to why this work matters in today’s schools.
We wish to thank everybody who attended and generously gave to support our work!
Click here to learn more and to view the gallery of dynamic photos!
A Teacher’s Insight
“In a world where students are receiving divisive messages and moral absolutes are being dictated to them… they deserve a space in which they can tune in to their own moral reasoning process.
Ethics Lab is an experience… helping students understand that other people struggle with moral issues too.”
Diana Martinez, Ethics Lab Partner Teacher, USA
Global Voices: Ethics Lab is a new virtual exchange program using the transformative power of educational theater to develop ethical thinking, moral courage, and global empathy.
For more information, contact Tim Steckler, Program Manager at tsteckler@creativeconnections.org
The Susie Salomon Visionary Award 2026 goes to Marcella Ardine of North Branford Intermediate School in Connecticut, USA.
Marcella embodies the spirit of this award and the vision that Susie Salomon championed! We are extremely grateful for the impact Marcella has made over the last 14 years on her students, her school community, and her partner Global Voices-ArtLink educators around the world.
Congratulations to Marcella on this well-deserved honor. We are proud to celebrate her and all that she brings to Creative Connections and the Global Voices-ArtLink Program.
The Susie Salomon Visionary Award was established in 2023. This award is given annually to one of our Global Voices-ArtLink educators who has made extraordinary efforts to bring global understanding to their students and community along with their overseas partners, providing excellence in leadership, inspiration, and vision.
The IAP gathers student voices together across borders, languages, and lived experiences. It is a reminder that while our students grow up in different countries, their hopes, questions, and dreams speak to one another.
This year’s cover artwork, My Passion, My Future, was created by Glory, a student artist from Nigeria.
Glory shares: “The story is illustrating me painting in an art studio in my school. It talks about what I want to be in life and my passion for the future. [My cultural heritage] is important to me because it reminds me of who I am and where I am from.”
Each season we share news and updates about our work that impacts students and teachers around the world!
40 Richards Avenue
4th Floor
Norwalk, CT 06854
USA
1 203-803-4376
40 Richards Avenue
4th Floor
Norwalk, CT 06854
USA
1 203-803-4376
Creative Connections (C) 2026 All Rights Reserved