Tara has been hired by various arts in education groups, schools, camps, and libraries throughout New York and New Jersey to create and conduct programs and write curriculum and materials in visual art, creative writing, combining visual art with creative writing and/or theatre, literacy, theater, creative movement, and video for regular education, gifted and talented, ESL/ELL/bilingual and special needs students ages two and up. Tara has also partnered with classroom teachers to co-teach academic subjects, integrating the arts and the theory of multiple intelligences into the curriculum, thus enhancing, enriching, and supporting classroom study. The has taught with the JCC, Teachers & Writers Collaborative, Saturday Workshop for Gifted Children, New York, Brooklyn and Queens Public Library systems, PS 199M, Manhattan School for Children (PS 333), Bank Street School for Children, Cathedral School, Friends Seminary, Village Community School, Hunter College, Marymount Manhattan College, UMass/Amherst, and others.

Tara was awarded a Fellowship in Prose from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for her young adult fiction. She is also a Bechtel Prize semi-finalist for her essay on teaching creative writing and theater to regular education, gifted and talented, ESL, and special needs students. Tara has edited and art directed many anthologies of student writing. TV credits include VH1, MTV, and NBC’s Emmy-winning “Night Music,” produced by Lorne Michaels and hosted by Grammy winner David Sanborn. Tara also has a background in New York theater and film production. In addition, she has written a novel, is currently working on a new novel, and has written and illustrated three picture books.

Awards:
Prose Fellowship: NJ State Council on the Arts (young adult fiction)
Semi-Finalist, The Bechtel Prize: Teachers & Writers Collaborative (essay on teaching creative writing)

Education:
Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, bachelor of arts: Theater
Graduate classes: Smith College, Northampton, MA, and Bank Street College of Education, New York, NY