Michele Agosto serves as the Director of Arts for the Buffalo City School District, working directly with the department’s 100 dance, theatre and visual arts teachers. Previously she taught art to BPS students in grades 3-8 for 10 years. She is also serves as the Vice President of the Hispanic Heritage Council of Western New York, and co-founded Los Artistas del Barrio, a Latinx arts collective.Michele received a BFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, and attended Rochester Institute of Technology’s School of Art and Design receiving a MST in Art Education. In 2003, Ms. Agosto graduated from the University at Buffalo’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy’s Leadership Initiative for Tomorrow’s Schools program with a M.Ed. in Educational Administration, earning advanced certification in School District Administration, Specialist in Educational Administration, and has recently been accepted into their doctoral program in Educational Administration. Michele has exhibited her photography throughout New York where she has received several recognitions. In addition, she has received the 1st Annual Western New York Hispanic Heritage Award (2008), Woman of Distinction: National PTA Award (2010); Mayoral Hispanic Heritage Award in the Arts (2012), and the New York State Art Teacher Association Art Educator of the Year Award- Regional (2012). Michele has most recently is the winner of the 2020 Spark Award for Trailblazer of the Arts, an honor that recognizes an individual for their efforts to call attention to the importance of the arts through their work in advocacy, arts administration, curating, or promotion.