David Kilpatrick is the Director of Learning and Education Programs at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, where he oversees educational resources and leads new efforts to enable teachers, young people, and the broader public to put Shakespeare and the humanities to use in addressing contemporary challenges.  David guides the strategic development and implementation of educational programming to support local, national, and virtual audiences.  He also partners with senior directors at the Folger on expanding public programming offerings for learners of all ages.

David previously served as Senior Director of Education Programs and Productions at The John F. Kennedy Center, where he oversaw the Education Division’s Music Education, Theater Education, and Dance Education portfolios, including school and family programming with the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera.  In this role, David conceived and launched the Education Artist-in-Residence initiative with Mo Willems and Jacqueline Woodson, working with these award-winning authors to create new work across genres and spaces at the Center and online.  In Fall 2019, David helped strategize the opening of the REACH, the Kennedy Center’s first physical expansion in 50 years and a space dedicated to the process of the performing arts.  He helped implement a two-week Opening Festival for the Washington, DC community, which included a Saturday centered around family programming, and opened the Moonshot Studio, a dedicated hands-on art-making space free for all ages open on weekends.

Earlier in his Kennedy Center tenure, David served for nearly a decade as Manager of Theater for Young Audiences, producing more than 25 world-premiere commissions and supporting the New Visions/New Voices new work development initiative.  He also served as an Any Given Child site facilitator, working with communities in New Orleans, LA, Trenton, NJ, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.  David has had the pleasure of serving on the Board of Directors for Theatre for Young Audiences/USA at two different points in his career, and chaired the planning of the organization’s biennial festival in Cleveland, OH in May 2013.

David received his Masters in Educational Theatre at New York University and spent two years afterwards working in the Education Department for The New Victory Theater, New York City’s premiere presenting house for young audiences in Times Square.  He then joined Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre as Education Outreach Coordinator, coordinating a local touring company that reached more than 40,000 students each year in schools across the Delaware Valley.  David has taught for NYU’s Study Abroad programs and directed for NYU’s New Plays for Young Audiences annual June series.  From 1999-2002, he worked with The Jim Henson Legacy, a non-profit organization committed to celebrating the work of the world-famous Muppet creator, including serving as Muppets co-founder Jane Henson’s assistant.