Services          About          Clients          Examples of Work          Testimonials          Contact About Elena (continued) – Elena Chernock, M.F.A., has spent over a decade supporting arts education programs that promote community building, civic engagement and social justice. Elena has served as Teaching Artist and Program Director at educational non-profits in Italy, Central America and the United States, building her understanding of unique cultural attributes as well as common challenges faced by all community arts organizations. Elena has extensive experience fostering collaborations with artists, educators, community members and organizations to design innovative asset-based programming and to develop curricula and lesson plans in both English and Spanish. She has facilitated international teacher and volunteer training in arts education and integration, cultural competency, and youth development. As an interdisciplinary artist who was encouraged to explore her imagination and creativity from an early age, Elena believes everyone should be exposed to the unique personal development experience that an arts education can offer.   Elena joined MEMconsultants in 2014 while earning her Masters in Fine Arts in Arts Leadership at Seattle University. She now takes a lead role in evaluating and supporting arts education programs. She enjoys thinking about creative and participatory ways evaluation can be used to amplify the voices of the communities being served. Her ideal work load involves facilitating youth focus groups, interviewing educators, analyzing data to recommend program improvements, drafting an arts education curriculum, and investigating new best practices in the field of creative youth development.