Variations on a Blue Guitar

Maxine Greene is the founder and director of the Center for Social Imagination, the Arts and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she is the William F. Russell Professor in the Foundations of Education (emerita) and professor of philosophy and education (emerita).

Maxine Greene has influenced thousands of educators in her role as Lincoln Center Institute's philosopher-in-residence. Her ideas are at the core of the Institute's philosophy and practice to re-invigorate education by bringing the vitality of the arts to teachers and children. For the past 25 years, those who have participated in the Institute's annual summer sessions have had the good fortune to hear her brilliant and inspiring words first-band. The only thing missing was an encore!" — Beverly Sills, Chairman, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts"It happens every time. The brilliant, vulnerable presence, the rush of language and feeling, the surprising insight, the magic leap, the pulse of engagement with something larger than one's self. Maxine's lectures fall on us with the grace of a summer shower. How splendid to relive them!" — Thomas Sobol, Former New York State Commissioner of Education, and Christian A. Johnson Professor of Outstanding Educational Practice, Teachers College, Columbia University"To bear Maxine Greene talk is to have both bemispheres of your brain equally and simultaneously stimulated. She has the ability to transcend that "mythic" divide by speaking to your mind's eye and your mind's logic with words that paint vivid images as they convey philosophic concepts. Her words speak to the soul and resonate the passion and diversity of humanity. She is awesome!" — Karole Turner Campbell, Director, Frederick Douglas Academy II, Community School District no.3"After listening to these lectures...countless teachers have asked new questions, viewed ideas in a different way, and even transformed some part of their life or work. As you enter this world, asking only one question beginning with "What if?" will set you off on the journey Maxine Greene intends." — from the Introduction by Scott Noppe-Brandon, Executive Director and Madeleine F. Holzer, Program Development Director, both at the Lincoln Center Institute.

• Introduction: Maxine Greene and Lincoln Center Institute * Defining Aesthetic Education * Imagination and Transformation * Excellence, Standards, School Renewal, and Reform * Cultural Diversity and Community * Spreading the Word