Director of Education

Phillip Ratliff

Originally from Cullman, Alabama, Phillip Ratliff has lived in Boston, Cleveland, Houston, Tallahassee, Gainesville and Banff over the years. Following undergraduate studies in music at the University of Montevallo, he received the Master of Music and the Doctorate of Musical Arts from Rice University where he was a teaching fellow at the Shepherd School of Music.

An instructor at UAB and the Alys Stephens Center’s ArtPlay, Phillip has a long history of working with arts and culture organizations to create fine-arts based educational programs. He is a practicing composer, with performances by the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Chamber Symphony. He composed the score to the children’s opera Sky Sash, So Blue in collaboration with author Libby Hathorn and artist Benny Andrews. He also writes, with features and reviews in Oxford American, Weld and The Birmingham News.

Since August 2007, Phillip has served as Director of Education at Vulcan Park and Museum, where he curates permanent and changing exhibitions and directs educational programming. Exhibits he has curated include From Factory to Field: The Dream of Baseball in Birmingham and The Music Lives On: Folk Song Traditions Told by Alabama Artists. Working with educators, playwrights, musicians, scholars and VPM staff, Phillip has helped create a host of educational programs that inspire students and teachers to reach their goals.

Phillip enjoys mountain biking, writing and spending time with his wife Abby and two children Bailey and Avery.