Janet Erlick

Janet Erlick is the Executive Artistic Director of nationally recognized, award-winning Florida Children’s Theatre where she oversees both the administrative and artistic components of the theatre.  She has been in that position since 1999 and has worked at the theatre since 1990.  She teaches, directs and acts in the community and developed and implemented the theatre’s comprehensive outreach program that serves tens of thousands of children, both in and out of school settings.  That program includes A Bridge From Me to You (conflict resolution and character education program), From Page to Stage (literacy improvement program) and an Arts Integration Program for classroom teachers to learn how to infuse the arts across the academic curriculum.   A Kennedy Center and Wolf Trap trained teaching artist, she is one of only three who received the designation of Master Teaching Artist through the South Florida Cultural Consortium and Arts for Learning, and currently leads workshops to train others in the field. She co-created a three-tiered Teaching Artist credentialing program that is currently being implemented in South Florida and is also being explored for use at the state level. She creates partnerships with many cultural and social service organizations throughout South Florida including a respite and retreat program for families dealing with terminal illness or health crisis and hospice organizations.  Janet also works with special needs and at-risk populations, leading workshops at mental health facilities, residence centers for juvenile offenders, and independent living programs.  Her ongoing work in the community reflects her assertions as a cultural advocate:  the arts have the power to transform lives, to heal, to celebrate, to challenge and to connect.