Laura Mitchell is the Arts Education Specialist for Buncombe County Schools in Asheville, NC. A former middle school art educator, Laura is a National Board Certified Teacher in Early Adolescence Through Young Adult Art, earning her Master’s in Art Education from Western Carolina University and her BFA in Drawing & Painting from the University of Georgia.
Laura received the 2023 National Art Education Association Southeastern Region Supervision & Administration Art Educator of the Year and 2018 North Carolina Art Education Association Middle Level Art Educator of the Year. A 2019 alumni of the NAEA School for Art Leaders, Laura also serves as a fellow with A+ Schools of North Carolina through the North Carolina Arts Council.
She is an active Partners in Education member through The Kennedy Center working to provide high quality arts integration training to K-12 teachers in her district. Laura holds her Global Educator Digital Badge and has traveled through grant funded teacher programs to Kenya, South Africa, and Japan. Laura is Co-Director of Art Kit Aid, a 501(3)(c) supplying creativity and comfort in times of crisis by providing art supplies and/or opportunities to create.