Step Into Art Teachers

ABIGAIL S. RISCHIN, FOUNDER & PRESIDENT

Abby Rischin is the founder and president of Step Into Art, Inc. Abby designs and teaches Step Into Art programs, builds partnerships with schools and community organizations, and leads a devoted team of educators, professionals, and volunteers. Since founding Step Into Art in 2005, Abby has developed programs introducing over 4000 children and young teens to art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Harvard Art Museums, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Abby established Step Into Art programs through a successful five-year partnership with the Newton Mayor’s Office for Cultural Affairs and subsequently expanded Step Into Art to reach children in schools all over Boston. Making school partnerships the organization’s singular focus from 2010 forward, Abby currently leads and teaches programs that serve 500 students at seven Boston schools each year. Abby holds an A.B. degree magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Yale University. Recognized for her outstanding teaching, Abby received the Yale College Prize Teaching Award. She also created a popular Yale College seminar, “Narratives of Art: Nineteenth-Century Fiction and the Visual Arts.” She has garnered generous research and study grants from numerous institutions, including the U.S. Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Abby lives in Newton with her husband and their two daughters, all of whom participated in the creation of Step Into Art, Inc.

SUSAN FOSTER JONES, SENIOR EDUCATOR

Susan Foster Jones has been a valued teacher and advisor for Step Into Art since 2007, when she was one of SIA’s first interns. A Museum Educator with over a decade of experience, Susan joined Step Into Art as Senior Educator in the fall of 2014. From 2009 – 2014, Susan was the Director of Education at the Concord Museum in Concord, MA. She continues her work in Concord as the part-time Manager of School Partnerships, working primarily with students from Lowell. Previously, Susan worked with inner-city students from Boston at the Commonwealth Museum, where she taught engaging hands-on history programs. Susan earned a Master’s degree in the Arts in Education program from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a BA in Art History from Mount Holyoke College. She and her husband Tim live in Concord with their sons, Henry and Charles.

LINDSEY KOCUR, VISUAL ART MANAGER

Lindsey Kocur is a practicing artist working primarily in mixed-media painting, drawing, and installation. As an independent teaching artist, project manager, and consultant for non-profit youth programs, she devises cross-disciplinary projects that incorporate educational concepts and impart life skills through art in disciplines including painting, drawing, sculpture, and printmaking. She previously founded the Roxbury Prep High School Visual Art Program in Roxbury, MA, where she designed and implemented visual arts programming for grades 11 and 12.  Before that, she served as Director of Visual Art at the West End House Boys and Girls Club of Allston, MA. Alongside her other endeavors, Lindsey taught Step Into Art programs from 2013-2018, having first become involved with SIA as an Americorps Teaching Fellow at Mother Caroline Academy from 2009-2011. She holds an MFA in Studio Art from Tufts University in partnership with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, as well as a BS in Studio Art from Skidmore College.

COURTNEY COLE, LEAD TEACHER

Courtney Cole joined Step Into Art as lead teacher in the fall of 2022. When she was ten years old, her parents took her to her first art museum exhibition, which was the beginning of a lifelong love of art and art museums.  She started her career in the for-profit sector, working for J.P.Morgan, but she steered back to working in the arts after graduating from business school.  She now has over two decades of experience with museums, performing arts, and educational institutions.  Courtney received an A.B. in German and Art History from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard University.  She was Director of Strategic Research and Analysis at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston from 2002 to 2007. Since 2007, she has worked as an independent consultant to arts and educational organizations, such as MIT Sloan, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston Ballet, and the American Repertory Theater.  She has also served on the Newton Theatre Company Board since 2018.  Courtney lives with her husband, Jason, and two daughters in Newton.

HANNAH VARDEN, TEACHING ARTIST

Hannah Varden is an artist and educator whose connection with Step Into Art began through SIA’s partnership with Mother Caroline Academy. She is a proponent of interdisciplinary arts education and breaching barriers to museum accessibility, both of which are values exemplified by the Step Into Art program. Hannah earned a Masters of Arts in Teaching from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and BAs in Studio Art and Politics from the University of Virginia.  Now teaching at St. Joseph Preparatory High School in Brighton, Hannah continues to share her expertise as a teacher, curriculum developer, and designer with the SIA team.

MARGERY SOKOLOFF, TEACHER LEADER

Margery Sokoloff is the Assistant Director of the Teacher Leadership Program and a Field Instructor for Secondary English teachers in the MAT (Master of Arts in Teaching) program at Brandeis University.  Margery has worked as an educator since 1989 and as a teacher educator since 2006 when she joined the faculty of the Bread Loaf School of English. She has a BA and PhD in English Literature from Yale University and has taught English at the high school and college levels at schools in Miami, FL and Boston, MA. Margery loves being a part of the Step Into Art team as a teacher in the 3rd-grade program.

VINEETA VIJAYARAGHAVAN, NOVELIST

Vineeta Vijayaraghavan, a novelist, leads the writing component of Step Into Art’s sixth-grade programs. Joining English teachers at Epiphany School and Mother Caroline Academy, she invites the students to write a creative composition inspired by the paintings they have studied. Vijayaraghavan’s novel Motherland was published by Soho Press in 2001. The Boston Herald called it “a tour de force, taking the reader into those rituals of grief and release where one marvels at the particular and recognizes the universal.” Motherland won a 2002 Alex award from the American Library Association, honoring the best books published for adults with special crossover appeal for teens. The novel was also selected by the New York Times as a “New and Noteworthy” paperback. Motherland has been taught at both universities and high schools, and Vijayaraghavan has been invited to present to school assemblies, book groups, and ethnic associations. In 2010, Motherland was chosen by Skokie, Illinois as their citywide reading selection for the year. Vijayaraghavan was born in India and raised in the United States. She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Harvard University. She lives in Newton, Massachusetts with her husband and two daughters.

CORAZON HIGGINS, ARTIST EDUCATOR

Corazon Higgins is an artist and educator who was born and raised in Boston. She started painting as a young child and went on to study at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Her teaching includes both art and English language skills, which she strives to integrate in order to use creativity as a vehicle for communication and cultural exchange. Cora has exhibited in the US and abroad and served as an artist-in-residence at the Burren College of Art in Ireland. She is currently a teaching fellow in the Arts in Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, which advocates for arts for all students in all subjects.