Charles Chip Mc Neal, M.Ed., Ph.D. | Brandeis University (original) (raw)

Biography - 2021

Charles Chip Mc Neal, MEd, PhDc

Artist – Educator – Researcher – Coach

Charles Chip Mc Neal is an award-winning, international educator, researcher, civic leader & activist who engages in transdisciplinary practice across art forms and genres, focusing on arts, equity, diversity, social justice, and community engagement. The renowned international music conservatory Manhattan School of Music (MSM) recently named Mc Neal to the 2020-2021 inaugural Roster of Artist-Scholars convened to address racial equity in the arts.

As professional practice, Mc Neal guides government agencies, non-profits, and schools on change- management, creative collaboration, program adjudication, equitable arts policies, and organizational cultural competency. Mc Neal has over 30 years of executive leadership experience and flexibly negotiates the intersection between creativity, new technologies, and professional learning. He is competent in multiple culturally responsive practices, including restorative justice techniques, social- emotional learning, and the Teaching Tolerance curriculum (Southern Poverty Law Center). He is an accredited Integrated Learning Specialist and a certified Oral Historian. Mc Neal has lectured on arts, education, social justice, multiculturalism, and professionalism for The Edinburgh International Festival, UC Berkeley, and Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is also a regular Guest Lecturer for Stanford University.

A noted dance educator, Mr. Mc Neal is the former Director of Education for San Francisco Ballet, where he established the distinguished San Francisco Ballet Center for Dance Education, engaging over 30,000 people annually through 1,500 culturally diverse events. Mc Neal served as a Transformative Learning Coach, Leadership Advisor, and Arts Integration Specialist for Alameda County Office of Education for over ten years, where he developed culturally responsive, inquiry-based, social justice curriculum. He is a founding member of the San Francisco Unified School District’s Arts Education Master Plan Advisory Committee. He serves on the Leadership Council of Create California, a statewide-advocacy consortium, where he co-chairs the Equity Committee – working to creating a sustainable, equitable, arts learning eco- system for the state of California.

Mr. Mc Neal is the first-ever Director of Diversity, Equity, and Community for San Francisco Opera, leading strategic organizational change in adaptation to become an anti-racist organization. He leads board development and diversification in addition to devising and implementing company-wide training in anti-bias and culturally informed practices. McNeal advises senior leadership on artistic matters, including equitable hiring, casting, and marketing strategies. He also leads the education division of SF Opera, developing community engagement and school-based programming. He designs and curates accredited professional development training in arts integration focused on culturally responsive pedagogy, social-emotional learning, and creative collaboration for credentialed educators.

Mr. Mc Neal holds two bachelor’s degrees – in psychology and sociology from Excelsior College and a master’s degree in education (with a concentration in arts integration) from Lesley University. Mr. Mc Neal received his Ph.D. in Transformative Studies, exploring educational equity at the California Institute for Integral Studies in San Francisco. Mc Neal’s research focuses on the intersection of arts, culture, educational equity, and social change, as he formulates solutions to the pressing issues of public education reform and racial equity in the arts.

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