Letter from the CEO

A Year of Creative Adventures

Xperiential CEO, Elyse Klaidman

As we reach the end of the year, I’ve been thinking about how grateful I am for this community of educators, students, partners, advisors, and friends who believe in and show up for creative real-world learning. 

I feel very lucky that creativity has been at the center of my life. I grew up with artist and writer parents in a community filled with creators. I’ve worked as an artist myself, and I spent 22 years at one of the most creative places in the world - Pixar.

We are all innately creative. To me, that means we’re all capable of imagining, problem solving, making connections, and trying new things—whether that shows up in a sketchbook, a classroom, a code editor, or a community project. Those are the muscles we want to keep exercising with Xperiential. My colleague and co-founder Brit Cruise often says that he "thinks of our program as a way to build the most important muscle in an AI future: the ability to organize thinking and go through the process and struggle to come up with an original creation.” I love that framing as it captures exactly what we aspire for Xperiential.

Tony DeRose, Elyse Klaidman and Brit Cruise in Hawaii (2023)

When we make space for young people to create and share their work, we’re helping them build that muscle. Tony DeRose, our other co-founder, shared, "A highlight of the year for me is reviewing work in our twice a year public exhibition of Story Xperiential final projects. Seeing the extraordinary creativity of our community fills me with joy, and if I’m being honest, often brings a tear to my eye.".

Elyse Klaidman and Dennis Henderson

Dennis, our VP of Educational Strategy and Partnerships, describes those moments, when the final submissions roll in, as feeling like "Christmas morning all year round.”

Dennis also shared that "This year brought some meaningful highlights beyond the screen: our partnership with Scratch and Run the Future as well as the opportunity to connect with so many facilitators in person through workshops and convenings. Those conversations, shared experiences, and moments of learning together have inspired and shaped our team and the choices we’re making for the future".

Inside Xperiential, this has been a year of learning, listening, and quietly building. We’ve been tuning the XP platform to better match the realities of an educator’s and a learner’s world: limited class time, busy schedules, learners with very different needs. That’s shown up as things like clearer paths through Xperiential programs, easier ways to give and receive feedback, and more support “in the moment” when a learner is stuck. We’ll soon be welcoming our new XP mascot, who will act as a guide and creative partner for participants and we will be offering in person and virtual Professional Development.

I am continually amazed by our tiny but mighty team. They’ve juggled product work, curriculum design, educator support, and countless behind-the-scenes details with care and a sense of humor. Nothing we’re doing, no feature, no workshop, no student story, happens without their talent and heart.

Thank you for experimenting with us, for sharing what’s working (and what isn’t), and for making room for creativity in a very crowded world. We’re learning alongside you, and we’re excited to keep building into the new year.

Wishing you rest, joy, and a bit of creative play as the year wraps up.

Warmly,

Elyse

CEO & Co-Founder, Xperiential