Arts Leadership · Curriculum Design · Strategic Advocacy · New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
About
I believe art is a tool for critical thinking, healing, and transformation, and that the infrastructure supporting artists and arts educators is just as important as the work itself.
Mikhayla Harrell is an independent consultant, educator, and arts-centered program leader based in New Orleans with nearly 20 years in K–12 education and arts leadership. She holds three concurrent roles: Founder of Star Blossom Life LLC, Co-President of the Louisiana Art Education Association (LAEA), and Visual Arts Instructor at Bard Early College New Orleans.
Current roles
Arts-centered program design, strategic planning, and grant development for equity-focused schools, nonprofits, and cultural organizations.
Statewide leadership for Louisiana’s K–12 art educators, including legislative advocacy, grant panel service, and professional development.
College-level visual arts curriculum for dual-enrollment high school students, integrating art history, studio practice, and critical inquiry.
Background
Mikhayla’s career in the arts began in museums. As Teen Intern Coordinator and Museum Educator at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, she developed youth programming that centered community voice and built pathways for young people who had never seen themselves reflected in cultural institutions.
From there, she moved into K–12 teaching and quickly recognized that the classroom was its own form of cultural infrastructure. She became deeply invested in what it takes to build programs that actually last: not just compelling curriculum, but the coalition-building, funding strategy, and institutional relationships that sustain creative work over time.
That dual commitment, to both the art and the architecture around it, defines everything she does now. Through LAEA, she works at the intersection of policy and practice, representing Louisiana’s art educators in Baton Rouge and shaping the grant decisions that fund arts organizations statewide.
Through Star Blossom Life LLC, she brings that same strategic clarity to consulting: helping organizations bridge vision and execution, move from idea to implementation, and build programs grounded in creative equity, trauma-informed practice, and genuine community partnership.
Core values
Career arc
Co-President, Louisiana Art Education Association (LAEA)
Statewide advocacy, grant panel service, legislative engagement
Visual Arts Instructor, Bard Early College New Orleans
College-level visual arts curriculum, dual-enrollment
Founder, Star Blossom Life LLC
Independent consulting practice: program design, strategic planning, grant writing
Teen Intern Coordinator and Museum Educator
Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans
Leadership and advocacy roles
National Art Education Association (NAEA) and Louisiana Division of the Arts grant panels
Whether you need a strategic partner, a curriculum designer, or a facilitator who can hold the big picture and the details at once, let’s talk.
Get in touch