Under the umbrella of McCallum Theatre Education (formerly McCallum Theatre Institute), Kajsa leads a team of education coordinators, teaching artists and other artistic staff in producing and implementing dynamic programs serving close to 40,000 students, teachers and other community members each year.  In partnership with local schools, McCallum Theatre Education makes the arts available and accessible to students through in-school residencies in dance, theatre, music, and the visual arts and high-quality performances presented at the McCallum and at partnering school sites. Via its Summer Institute for Educators, McCallum Theatre Education provides professional development in aesthetic education for hundreds of educators annually. In addition, well-established artistic production initiatives like the Palm Desert Choreography Festival and Open Call Talent Project serve as powerful vehicles for developing emerging artists and presents engaging and affordable performances open to the general public. Since its launch in 1997, McCallum Theatre Education has served over 660,000 students and other community members with quality programming in the arts.

Kajsa was born in Sweden and moved to the U.S. (Palm Desert) in 1993. She joined the staff at McCallum Theatre that same year as a Development Coordinator, a position she held until September 1997 when she was promoted to Director of Education and charged with the responsibility to launch the education division, a realization of an ambition to increase the Theatre’s focus on arts-centered education for children and adults and more deeply serve the local community. She became VP of Education in 2019. The joy and passion that drives the work is constantly fueled by active collaboration with McCallum Theatre Education’s brilliant teaching artists, staff, artists, local educators, volunteers and involved students of all ages.

In 2005, McCallum Theatre Education received the Desert Business Achievement Award for Non-Profit of the Year. Kajsa was named Woman of Distinction in the Arts by the National League of Pen Women in 2007, and in 2009, she received the City of Palm Desert’s Corporate Athena Award. In 2010, Kajsa and the McCallum education team were awarded a Shiny Apple Award from Palm Springs Unified School District for their “tireless devotion to the commencement and expansion of the 5^th Grade Project serving all 16 elementary schools in the district.”  In 2015, McCallum Theatre Education received the Community Service Award from the Palm Desert Chamber of Commerce. And in 2018, Kajsa received the Helene Galen Excellence in Education Award from the Women Leaders’ Forum, Coachella Valley.

A graduate of the Cultural Studies Program at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, Kajsa held positions with Paletten Art Magazine and Jules de Vries International Saxophone Competition prior to moving to the U.S. In her free time, Kajsa enjoys writing and making music, hiking the beautiful outdoors and spending time with family and friends. She lives in Palm Desert with her husband Frank and their children Olivia, Adam, Simon, and their beloved cat, Sliver.

Go to https://www.mccallumtheatre.com/index.php/education to find out more about Kajsa's work in aesthetic education!