Menlo School
November 2025
Get to Know our New Creative Arts Director
In this KnightLine Q&A, we are delighted for you to learn a bit more about Katherine Palmer, Menlo’s new Creative Arts Director.
KATHERINE PALMER
Creative Arts Director
Even before arriving on campus, Katherine was drawn to Menlo’s creative spirit. With a career spanning studio teaching and arts leadership from Harvard-Westlake to Francis Parker, she brings a deep belief in the power of the arts to connect, engage, and transform.
Here, she shares what fuels her creativity, what brought her to Menlo, why the arts matter, and her hopes for the future—along with a few fun facts.
What drew you to Menlo and to this role leading its Creative Arts program?
When I first learned about the Director of Creative Arts position, I spent time exploring Menlo’s website and social media. I was immediately struck by the joy and sense of belonging that radiate through this community. Menlo’s focus on care, for one another and for the world beyond campus, feels deeply embedded in its culture. There’s a gratitude and thoughtfulness here that inspired me.
I was especially drawn to Menlo because it has made a leadership role in the arts a priority. That decision says a great deal about the School’s values. Placing the arts alongside academics and athletics ensures that Menlo’s ecosystem remains healthy and whole. The arts cultivate focus, observation, curiosity, reflection, flexibility, innovation, connection, and empathy, all qualities our world deeply needs right now. This role is an opportunity to advocate for these hallmarks at Menlo, creating a space where students can grow and imagine new worlds together.
Since arriving, what has impressed or inspired you most about Menlo’s Creative Arts program?
What has stood out most is the high level of care that exists between the Creative Arts faculty and staff and their students. Teachers not only guide students in performing, building, drawing, dancing, or singing; they model collaboration, critique, and reflection.
The students bring the same energy. Their dedication is remarkable. Dancers were rehearsing from the first day of school for this year’s early Homecoming performance; actors and crew worked tirelessly to bring their fall plays to the stage in both divisions; singers performed at several campus events early in the year; visual artists are exploring new tools, techniques, and mediums; and musicians are learning to play and listen to one another as they form ensembles from day one.This collective commitment across the range of disciplines is inspiring and speaks to how deeply the arts are woven into the fabric of Menlo.
“Menlo’s focus on care, for one another and for the world beyond campus, feels deeply embedded in its culture. There’s a gratitude and thoughtfulness here that inspired me.”
Upper School Dance Enrichment Program at Valpo Bowl
What have you learned about Menlo’s students and their creative spirit?
The spirit of playful enthusiasm is the heartbeat of any creative community, and it’s very much alive here. Menlo students are multi-talented and deeply engaged. They excel across disciplines and approach their creative work with that same drive.
What are you most excited about this year in the arts?
I’m excited to build more bridges to and from the Creative Arts throughout Menlo. I look forward to approaching the arts program holistically, with fresh eyes. What excites me most is finding ways to make all the meaningful moments in the arts more visible, accessible, and impactful for our entire community. The theme of belonging resonates throughout Menlo, and my hope is that the Creative Arts program serves as a pathway that fosters this sense of connection, not just to a specific craft or discipline, but to the past, present, and future, and to one another.
Art has existed for all time, and it belongs to everyone, not just in childhood, but throughout our lives.
“What excites me most is finding ways to make all the meaningful moments in the arts more visible, accessible, and impactful for our entire community.”
Middle School Drama Presents The Snow Queen
“Art connects us, helps us make sense of the world, and reminds us of our shared embodied, sensory experience.”
What do you want every Menlo student to take away from their arts experience?
I want Menlo students to leave with a deep appreciation for creative expression and a honed, personal craft. I want them to carry the confidence to observe, analyze, and think critically, skills that come from doing and experiencing.
In the Creative Arts, my goal is to help students strengthen their skills, expand their techniques, and refine their individual voices. Art connects us, helps us make sense of the world, and reminds us of our shared embodied, sensory experience. When we come together in a dance, a play, or an exhibition, that connection—and joy—is palpable.
I want every student to develop creative literacy: the ability to know what they love, understand why it matters, and make thoughtful choices in a world oversaturated with media and imagery.
When you imagine the arts at Menlo five years from now, what do you hope people will say about it?
I hope people will say that the arts at Menlo are a place where every student’s voice is nurtured and valued, where students create beautiful and meaningful work together, and where they are inspired by one another. Ultimately, I hope the arts will continue to foster young people who value imagination, empathy, and expression—qualities that make the world a more beautiful and connected place.
Upper School Instrumental Concert
Fun Facts About Katherine
Most Impactful Arts Experience
My life has been enriched by countless art experiences; it is difficult to narrow them down. A few that stand out include staring into the Oculus of the Pantheon in Rome in 1990, getting caught in the dancing crowd watching A Tribe Called Quest perform at Lollapalooza in 1992; walking throughout the surreal machinations, paintings and installations of Tim Hawkinson’s two decade retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2005; laughing with delightful irreverence while taking in The Book of Mormon at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles in 2011.
Something that Sparks Your Creativity
A daily practice that includes journaling, drawing, listening to music, moving, talking to people, and allowing myself time to sit in silence. I am a big believer in creating circumstances where spontaneity and chance can lead my actions. Some of my best work happens when I don’t have everything all planned out.
Favorite Books
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro – “It’s such a slow burn.”
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler – “prescient and profound.”
Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés – “timeless, mythic.”
Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino – “So brilliant and layered.”
Favorite Movies
This is a hard one, but here are three that I could watch over and over again and still find something new:
Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window – “I love all things Hitchcock, and Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly are perfect in this film.”
Fernando Merielles and Katia Lund’s epic City of God – “This story was so moving and well-crafted, and it provided a window that grabbed me from the opening sequence.”
Mel Brook’s Young Frankenstein, “I cannot resist this enduring comedy. Gene Wilder is a comedic genius; it’s amazing when a movie can make you laugh at the same joke again and again.”
Hobbies
Analog photography, I have a large format camera that I like to inconveniently lug around to beautiful places to bring my full attention to them and interact with my environment through this antiquated and purposefully slow practice. I love hiking (both in nature and through new urban spaces), and I am so grateful for all the amazing trails within close proximity to Menlo. I love exploring markets and sampling snack foods from other countries. When the weather is right, I make plans to swim and play in bodies of water, usually salty and with waves, but I love rivers too. Each year brings new interests and directions, and I like to let myself meander to keep my own sense of wonder alive.
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