Meet Our Members
Founding Member
Dr. Benjamin Bolden
Dr. Benjamin Bolden, music educator and composer, is a Professor and UNESCO Chair of Arts and Learning in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University, Canada. His research interests include arts education, music education, the learning and teaching of composing, creativity, arts-based research, assessment in the arts, teacher education, teacher knowledge, and teachers’ professional learning. His research has been published in journals including Review of Education, Teaching and Teacher Education, Music Education Research, and Music Educators Journal. As a teacher, Ben has worked with pre-school, elementary, secondary, and university students in Canada, England, and Taiwan. Ben is an associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre and his compositions have been performed by a variety of professional and amateur performing ensembles across Canada and internationally.
Founding Member
Dr. Tiina Kukkonen
Dr. Tiina Kukkonen is an Assistant Professor of Visual Arts Education in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University, Canada. She has contributed research in the areas of early childhood development through art, artist-school partnerships, and rural arts education. She also has a keen interest in arts-based approaches to research and knowledge translation. The driving force behind her work is the desire to make visual arts education accessible, relevant, and inspiring for all. To that end, she explores playful, artful, and practical approaches to teaching and research. As an arts educator, Tiina has taught visual arts to learners of all ages in school and community environments across Ontario and Quebec.
Graduate Student
Becca Evans
Becca Evans is a doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University, in Ontario, Canada. Her research interests span from climate justice to history and social studies education. In her doctoral research, Becca draws on the arts for data collection, inviting participants to convey meaning through multiple forms, encompassing poetry, drawing, music, photography, and prose. As a history and environmental educator, Becca brings the arts into her teaching to enhance students’ connections to inquiry, others, and themselves. As the Project Manager of the Arts Infusion Committee, Becca enjoys contributing to the strong presence of arts in the Faculty of Education. She has been a member of ARC since 2023.