Ryan creates, devises, and directs theater productions with student collaborators and performers ranging from preschool to university. He’s led performance events with middle and high school theater programs; through classroom-based arts projects; and with after-school and summer arts programs.

Ryan supports schools and educators as they design programs in arts integration. He engages in school residencies ranging from one day to extended weeks/months, and he collaborates with teachers to link students’ arts learning to their academic goals. Ryan works regularly with the Alaska State Council on the Arts Artists In Schools Program. He served in rural Alaska districts during three years with the Department of Education State System of Support. For seven years, he was resident Lead Teaching Artist with the Lower Kuskokwim School District’s Pilinguat Program for arts integration, and he was resident teaching artist at Glacier Valley Elementary for four years. He works as a teaching artist with Ping Chong + Company, Theater Mitu, Perseverance Theatre, and Aquila Theater Company. He’s served the Kennedy Center Partners In Education Program in Juneau; Kodiak; and Deer Isle, Maine.

Ryan facilitates professional development workshops and offers in-class modeling and coaching, focusing on liberatory, critical pedagogy and strategies for arts integration.

For teachers, Ryan has served as the Alaska Department of Education’s Content Coach for drama integration. He’s a Teacher Leader for the Summer Basic Arts Institutes of the Alaska Arts Education Consortium, and a facilitator for Ping Chong + Company’s Summer Intensive. He’s also designed and taught arts education courses in the University of Alaska B.A. Education and M.A.T. programs.

For school administrators, Ryan has led sessions at principals’ conferences, and he’s presented annually at the Growing Arts Leaders Retreat of the Alaska Arts Education Consortium.

For teaching artists, Ryan has facilitated Teaching Artist Trainings for Ping Chong + Company; Alaska State Council on the Arts; and the Kennedy Center’s Partners in Education programs.

Ryan collaborates with districts & schools to create arts curriculum that’s culturally responsive and trauma-informed. His experience includes creating general drama curricula for numerous Alaska school districts, and for the Alaska Department of Education. For Ping Chong + Company in New York, he has continued to refine curricula for the company’s Secret Histories education program, and to design pathways for classroom teachers to integrate academics into the arts-based activities of the program.