Eric Booth

In 2015, Eric Booth was given the highest award in U.S. arts education (Americans for the Arts, Arts Education Leadership Award), and was named one of the 50 most influential people in the arts in the U.S. 

He began as a successful Broadway actor, and became a businessman (his company became the largest of its kind in the U.S. in seven years), and author of seven books and over 35 published articles—The Everyday Work of Art was a bestseller, and The Music Teaching Artists Bible is used as a textbook around the world.

He has been on the faculty of Juilliard (12 years), Tanglewood (five years), The Kennedy Center (20 years), and Lincoln Center Education (for 41 years). He serves as a consultant for many arts organizations (including seven of the ten largest U.S. orchestras), five national service organizations, cities, states and businesses around the U.S. and in foreign countries, and as Senior Advisor to the Music for Social Change movement in the U.S. and abroad—and he founded the two largest publications in that field. 

A frequent keynote speaker (including the closing keynote at UNESCO’s first World Arts Education Conference and the keynote to the world’s first conference on orchestras and communities), he founded the International Teaching Artist Conferences, which have now become the year-round International Teaching Artist Collaborative, was given the first honorary doctorate for a career as a teaching artist. He has co-designed and/or facilitated all four of the largest performing arts gatherings in U.S. history.