Dear Community,
We are thrilled to share an exciting opportunity to develop and/or further develop your skills and experience as a teaching artist. In partnership with Phoenix Center for the Arts and other like-minded organizations, we encourage you to apply for this program which includes inclusive and thoughtful training in creative aging, youth arts and equity. After completing the training, you would be placed in a paid position to practice those skills. Interested? Please look over the information and links provided below and please let us know if you need any support in the application process.
Check back in for our next application process in Fall 2024!
BIPOC ARTS + ART IN MIND PROGRAM:
Teaching Artist Training and Job Placement Opportunity
Overview
The Phoenix Center for the Arts has developed Art in Mind and BIPOC Arts to establish and train arts & culture teaching artists for education, community centers, senior centers and other arts education & engagement environments. In partnership with organizations from across the Phoenix Metro, the program provides artists with a six-month weekly curriculum on the history, skills, and concepts related to teaching artistry in the US. Art in Mind is designed to provide artists with 1) a valuable, actionable, practical education to learn arts education concepts and pedagogy; 2) mentorship with a professional teaching artist to give them career advice and guidance; 3) professional development opportunities such as co-learning opportunities with other artists, as well as their own class to teach at the Center. Participants attend workshops with each other and learn from a roster of teaching artist facilitators. The curriculum includes practical examples from the career of the facilitators, a diversity of learning strategies for students, as well as actionable solutions to common problems in the classroom.
Teaching artistry is an emergent profession that provides an economic development opportunity to create arts & culture teaching artists for education, community centers, senior centers and other arts education & engagement environments.
Core to Art in Mind is the pairing of each artist participant with a mentor active in the professional field. The mentor and mentee meet one-on-one weekly to discuss the curriculum and work together to develop lessons for diverse venues such as senior, youth, or art centers, which they teach after the conclusion of the workshops. The mentee instructs real students under the supervision of the mentor, and the pair continue to meet during the length of the class to provide feedback and troubleshoot any problems that arise.
The teaching artists-in-training receive further professional development through the program’s community-building sessions with their fellow cohort of co-learners. This includes social happy hours and peer-learning workshops. Additionally, any Art in Mind participant has the chance to lead their own independent class at the Center following the program’s conclusion.
An application for the program will be required, and 40 participants will be selected by a panel of staff and board at the Center with transparent selection criteria. A minimum of 65% of Art in Mind participants must self-identify as BIPOC or underrepresented. Participants end the program teaching their own classes of 15 or more students.
Duties & Responsibilities
● Participate in a six-month weekly curriculum on the history, skills, and concepts related to teaching artistry in the US. Selected artists will be compensated for this time.
● Develop lesson plans.
● Attend coaching sessions.
● Teach a class of 15 or more students in an educational, community and/or senior setting.
Qualifications
● All finalists will be 18 years of age or older at the time of applying and legally authorized to work in the United States.
● Please note that background checks are required.
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Applications will be reviewed by a panel of program partners with input from other community stakeholders. We expect to contact finalists by February 2. Training will begin on February 19. Questions? Please contact Melissa Bryant, Consulting Program Director, at bipoc-arts@phoenixcenterforthearts.org.