Laurel Butler

Dr. Laurel Butler (she/her) is an educator, facilitator, organizer, and performing artist based in Los Angeles, CA on ancestral Tonva/Kizh/Chumash/Tataviam land. She is the Arts Education Specialist for the Entertainment Community Fund, the Director of Youth Programming at Everyday Arts, and the founder of Laurel Butler Consulting, LLC. As an independent arts education and social justice consultant, Laurel develops and facilitates educational experiences that engage people of all positionalities at the intersection of the arts, social justice, and social-emotional wellbeing, specializing in creative experiential program design and implementation

Laurel received her M.A. in Theater Education and Community Outreach from the University of New Mexico in 2010, and her Doctorate in Social Justice Leadership for Educational and Professional Practice from Antioch University in 2023. Since moving to California in 2011, she has served as Associate Director of UCLA’s Visual and Performing Arts Education program, Performing Arts Education & Social Emotional Learning Specialist for the LA County Office of Education, Youth Development & Leadership Specialist for the Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network, Program Manager of the Young Artivists Lab at Inner-City Arts, Faculty Lecturer in the UCLA World Arts and Cultures/Dance Department, Youth Arts Manager and Education/Engagement Specialist at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Adjunct Professor in the Performing Arts and Social Justice Department at the University of San Francisco, and an educational consultant for numerous organizations including the Getty Museum, Artworx LA, the Feminist Center for Creative Work, the CalArts Community Arts Partnership and the Los Angeles County Department of Arts & Culture.

Laurel is a recipient of the 21st Century Fox Social Impact award, a Creative Capacity Fund Next Gen Award, an Arts for LA ACTIVATE Fellowship, and multiple grants from the California Arts Council. She has presented her work at the Allied Media Conference, the Create Justice Conference, the Arts in Corrections Conference, the Teaching Beyond the Curriculum Conference, Beyond the Bars LA, and the National Convening for Teens in the Arts. Her scholarly work has been published in academic journals and online publications including Theater Topics, the Journal of Museum Education, Antioch Voices, and the National Teens-in-the-Arts Report.