Richard was appointed dean of Mannes College The New School for Music in 2011. To this position, he brings decades of experience in music and arts education administration. Prior to coming to The New School, he was executive director of the Center for Arts Education, a nonprofit organization dedicated to stimulating, restoring, and sustaining arts education in the New York City public schools. Previously, he had been executive director of the American Music Center and, before that, vice president of Artsvision, an arts education consulting firm. Richard is an accomplished musician, a trombonist, who has performed widely and taught at the Manhattan School of Music. Richard Kessler received the bachelor of music and master of music degrees from Juilliard. He began his music education at Mannes College.