Maria Schaedler-Luera is a Teaching Artist with two of Sarasota’s most prestigious performing arts institutions — the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall and the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation (SPAF). Together, these partnerships place Atomica Arts at the heart of Sarasota’s cultural and educational landscape, serving everyone from toddlers in early childhood classrooms to adults in trauma recovery and memory care programs.
Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall
The Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall is one of Sarasota’s most iconic cultural institutions, presenting over 100 events annually including Broadway musicals, world-class orchestras, and international performers. As a listed Teaching Artist on the Van Wezel roster, Maria brings her expertise in Theater, Mindfulness, and cross-cultural arts education into schools and community programs throughout the region — in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Award:
Maria is the recipient of the 2022 Appleton Arts Integration Award from the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation (SPAF) (formerly the Van Wezel Foundation) — one of Sarasota’s most distinguished recognitions for excellence in arts integration.
ArtSELF — Arts & Wellness Workshops
Through SPAF’s ArtSELF program, Maria leads free 90-minute workshops that connect arts and wellness — supporting self-reflection, stress management, memory care, and community connection. Each session uses performing arts to create space for creative self-care, tailored to the needs of the audience being served.
Maria’s ArtSELF Workshops:
Becoming Picasso
An empowering journey of self-discovery inspired by theater directors Boal and Stanislavski and ancient wisdom from the Yoga Sutras. Participants explore and challenge their own thoughts — uncovering the beliefs that masquerade as facts and influence their behavior — stepping into the vast space of infinite possibilities. No theater experience necessary.
Free Your Mind
A series of experiential and self-reflective exercises inspired by the Rainbow of Desire technique created by Brazilian activist and director Augusto Boal. Participants learn to identify and transform the internal voices that block them from achieving their goals, gaining clarity into their personal stories while finding the motivation to create meaningful change. No theater experience necessary.
Current ArtSELF Partners:
The Haven — Aging Adults with Disabilities
Maria leads regular monthly arts programs for aging adults with disabilities at The Haven. Sessions are designed to support memory recall, motor skills, and quality of life through creative, physically and mentally stimulating arts activities.
The Resilient Retreat — Trauma Survivors & Helping Professionals
Through The Resilient Retreat, Maria offers monthly workshops for trauma survivors and helping professionals — both in regular sessions and as part of overnight retreat experiences. Through programs like Becoming Picasso and Free Your Mind, participants build coping and self-management skills through the transformative power of the arts.
Gulf Coast Florida Wolf Trap — Early Childhood Arts Integration
As a Gulf Coast Florida Wolf Trap Teaching Artist, Maria works with early childhood educators and children ages 3–6, bringing Theater, Movement, and Mindfulness into pre-K and kindergarten classrooms across the Sarasota region. This nationally recognized program — part of the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts — supports over 100,000 children and educators across the country and around the world.
How It Works:
Maria partners with classroom teachers to identify learning objectives and co-creates customized lesson plans that integrate the arts into early literacy, pre-math, and social-emotional learning. Teachers then carry these newly developed skills into their daily practice long after the residency ends.
This is where Atomica Arts’ mission of “ages 3 to 93” truly begins — with the very youngest learners.
Mindful Recovery — New for 2026–2028
Beginning in 2026 Maria joins the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation as a Teaching Artist for Mindful Recovery — a new county-wide arts and wellness initiative bringing arts integration into early learning classrooms across Sarasota County, in partnership with the Early Learning Coalition of Sarasota County.
Using the Wolf Trap Method — extending Maria’s existing work as a Wolf Trap Teaching Artist into a powerful new initiative — each residency consists of five structured sessions: collaborative planning with educators followed by three in-classroom visits where arts integration comes to life. Teaching artists work alongside classroom teachers to develop custom, arts-integrated lessons anchored in Social and Emotional Learning standards, gradually transferring leadership to educators so they can continue the work long after the residency ends.
This program is free for all licensed child care sites in Sarasota County and runs through 2028.
Launching August 2026 | Pilot spots available Summer 2026