Louisa Penfold

Louisa is a Project Director at Project Zero where her work focuses on contemporary art, early childhood, and play across schools, museums, and public spaces. She co-directs Art/Play, a National Endowment for the Arts-funded study exploring the integration of modern and contemporary art practices into public school curriculum. 

As a Lecturer and the Faculty Co-Chair of Arts and Learning at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Louisa teaches courses on contemporary arts in education, arts research, and the practice of art education. She has also worked as a curator and consultant for arts institutions including the Serpentine, the Museum of Modern Art, and Qatar Museums,  as well as serving as an expert advisor on UNESCO’s committee for the Implementation of the Framework for Culture and Arts Education. 

From 2015-2019, Louisa undertook a collaborative doctoral award with Tate (UK), looking at the design of children’s learning environments in modern art museums. This research examined how the coming together of New Materialist learning theory with the experimental practices of artists and designers can open up expansive possibilities for children’s creative learning. She also runs Art Play Children Learning, a blog for parents on cultivating children’s creativity through art.