Contact

• kutasha2@illinois.edu

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Biography

Kutasha Bryan-Silva is an educator, musician and scholar. She focuses her research on aesthetic, foundational and digital literacy development in Latino Communities. Kutasha is from Vieques, Puerto Rico and served as faculty in the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico for over a decade, teaching children cello, orchestra and music theory. She also worked as a Curriculum Consultant for Head Start Teachers on the island, mentoring them on how to teach social values through music to young preschoolers. As a cellist, Kutasha represented the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra for a decade with the Know Your Orchestra program and traveled throughout the island offering lectures to K-12 students on classical music. She remains active as a professional musician playing as a substitute with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony and local musical productions. Kutasha’s studies include a M.A in Cello Performance from the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico and a B.A in Women Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park. She is currently a Doctoral candidate in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Illinois and serves as the 5th grade music and art teacher at the University Primary School in Champaign, Illinois.