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Teaching Artist Roster

Next application deadline: Thursday, March 1, 2012

  • Apply online using the eGRANT system -
  • Application Form: [PDF]- Save to your computer and fill out using Adobe Acrobat Reader or a compatible program. Make sure you have the current version of Reader (available for free from Adobe).
  • Reference Form: [PDF] - Save and send to your references to complete
  • Sample Lesson Plan (for review only): [PDF]
  • Full Program Guidelines (PDF document version of the text below): [PDF]

Overview

The Teaching Artist Roster (formerly known as the Arts Education Demonstrator Roster) is a listing of professional artists and arts educators who are available to work with schools in developing strategies for using the arts in preK-12 classrooms. Grant funds are available from MAC to schools and organizations to support presentations or workshops by these artists.

Teaching Artists work at a professional level within their artistic discipline, but have also made arts education a central component in their work. They have developed their skills as educators along with their artistic skills. Teaching artists work for schools, youth arts programs, community centers, and professional arts organizations.

Following are MAC’s main goals for members of the Teaching Artist Roster:

  • Provide arts learning opportunities that align with the Visual and Performing Arts Frameworks developed by the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE)
  • Make connections between the arts and MDE's K-12 Academic Content Standards
  • Collaborate with classroom teachers or arts education committees
  • Work with both teachers (through professional development) and students (through arts integrated, hands-on lessons)
  • Support efforts to integrate arts learning with other subject areas
  • Assist school staff in continuing arts education programs in the absence of a teaching artist through sharing skills, techniques, and curricula

Membership in the Teaching Artist Roster provides artists a way to promote themselves to schools and arts organizations around the state. Artists who are approved for the program are part of the listing for three years. Inclusion in the Teaching Artist Roster does not guarantee bookings within Mississippi schools. MAC does not promote individual artists on the Teaching Artist Roster or handle booking arrangements for them.

Please Note: The Teaching Artist Roster and the Artist Roster are distinct programs. Artists who are interested in being included on both listings must submit separate applications for each program.

 

Who May Apply

You may apply to the Teaching Artist Roster if you are:

  • a professional artist or arts educator. Individuals are considered to be a professional artist or arts educator if they
    • earn at least part of their annual income working with educators and others showing how their art form may be used to enhance learning and teaching;
    • consider their artistic work a career;
    • maintain a high level of artistic quality; and
    • make a significant time investment in their artistic disciplines through practice, performance, and instruction;
  • not a full-time student; and
  • more than 18 years of age.

Please note: Unlike other MAC programs, applicants to the Teaching Artist Roster are not required to be residents of Mississippi.

Review Criteria

Applications to the Teaching Artist Roster are reviewed using the following criteria:

1. Artistic & Teaching Abilities (40 points)

  • Exhibits a high level of artistic ability
  • Demonstrates experience working in a preK-12 school setting, with teachers and administrators as well as students
  • Shows the ability to develop lesson plans that integrate the arts into non-arts curriculum and incorporate MDE’s Visual and Performing Arts Frameworks
  • Introduces the vocabulary, concepts, skills and techniques of their artistic discipline through their work with students and teachers

2. Leadership & Communication Skills (30 points)

  • Ability to present information effectively to different types of education audiences (students, teachers, or administrators)
  • Has experience guiding teachers and administrators in developing their own arts education strategies
  • Demonstrates the ability to make connections between the arts and other content areas

3. Planning & Organizational Abilities (30 points)

  • Has experience in developing grade appropriate project plans for a school client
  • Makes efficient use of limited contact time with teachers or students
  • Provides potential school clients with a thorough set of pre and post-visit materials

Training Requirement

Applicants approved for the Teaching Artist Roster are part of the listing for three years. In order to be eligible to re-apply for the Roster, Teaching Artists must participate in at least one professional development activity during their three years with the program. Acceptable training activities include:

  • a training or workshop specifically for teaching artists;
  • a conference related to arts education or the artist's specific discipline;
  • an observation or assisting another professional teaching artist; or
  • another professional experience that improves your work as a teaching artist

Evaluation Requirements

Applicants to the Teaching Artist Roster must include reference forms completed by four different individuals as part of their application. These individuals must be familiar with your work as a teaching artist. References could include a teacher that the artist worked with at a school or an administrator who hired the artist to conduct a workshop for teachers.

Schools that receive MAC grant funds to support work by a member of the Teaching Artist Roster are required to submit an evaluation of the artist as a part of their final reporting requirements for the grant. Copies of the evaluations are placed in the files of Teaching Artists and are made available to the review panel when the artist reapplies for the program.

 

Re-application to the Roster

Teaching Artists must re-apply to the Roster every three years. The re-application process is the same as the initial application process with the addition of documentation of professional development that you attended.

Responsibilities of Artists

Artists approved for the Teaching Artist Roster are required to provide MAC with their current contact information. They are responsible for securing and arranging their own bookings, as well as providing presenters with adequate publicity materials. Teaching Roster artists should be familiar with MAC's grant programs guidelines in order to inform potential presenters about them.

Responsibilities of MAC

MAC updates the Teaching Artist Roster annually. It produces a printed version of the listing and posts it online. MAC does provide advisory assistance to schools that are looking for an artist to meet a programming need, but it does not actively promote or seek bookings for individual Roster Artists.

How to Apply

Please submit one original and one copy of the following items in the order listed:

  • Teaching Roster Application
  • Narrative (two-page maximum) in which you describe:
    • Your work as an artist and your development as a teaching artist (What got you interested in working with schools? How have you developed your teaching artist skills?).
    • Your experience working with students and teachers
    • The specific services you can provide to schools, including consultations, training workshops, residencies, lectures, or coaching.
    • How your artistic discipline can be used to teach skills in different content areas of the preK-12 curriculum, such as language arts, mathematics, social studies, or science. Note the concepts that help to facilitate these connections.
    • Provide details on your technical requirements for your work in schools (for example, stage size or sound system needed).
  • Your current artistic resumé. This document should detail your work as a professional artist only (including work as a teaching artist). Do not include information about your non-arts work.
  • Two sample lesson plans:
    • An arts-integrated plan (no more than two pages in length) for a student group. The plan should include:the title; lesson goal or big idea; target audience; lesson objectives; arts competencies addressed (find through the Mississippi Department of Education's Visual and Performing Arts Frameworks); subject area and competencies addressed; vocabulary words from the lesson in the arts and the academic subject; lesson description (one paragraph or a brief bulleted list); the assessment method or indicators of success; and a list of further resources.

      The lesson should clearly reveal what you want the students to know both in the arts discipline and the subject content area. Follow the format of the sample lesson plan when creating your plan.
    • A plan for a teacher's professional development workshop. It should be no longer than two pages and include: the title; goals and objectives; an arts experience (the lesson developed for the student group can be utilized); and a one-paragraph workshop description.

      The workshop should model arts integration, helping teachers become familiar and more comfortable with utilizing the artist's art form in their classroom.
  • A list of your previous work in schools, including date(s), name of school, type of activity, and age groups with which you worked.
  • Teaching Artist Reference forms (download from the top of the page) completed by four different teachers or administrators who are familiar with the applicant's work as a teaching artist.
  • Appropriate samples of the applicant's work as an artist (see the list below for details on what to submit). The samples must have been completed within the last three years.
  • A list that describes the artistic work samples. These descriptions should include the titles and completion dates of each sample. Also include the medium and the approximate dimensions of each work (if appropriate for the art form).
  • One CD-R computer disc containing the following:
    • a digital promotional image of the applicant. The image should be high quality and suitable for printing in the Roster booklet.
    • a document containing the applicant's name and contact information, followed by a short description of the types of programs offered. The description should not exceed 200 words in length. Please see the current Roster for examples. This document should be saved as a Microsoft Word or text file (txt).

Work Samples

  • Literary Artists: 10-15 pages of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, playwriting (original or adaptation), or a screenplay completed within the last three years. If your submitted work sample is an excerpt from a longer work, you may include a one-page synopsis of the work as a whole. Published work must be submitted in typed manuscript rather than published form. The sample must be formatted using a 12-point font size and one inch margins on all sides of the page.
  • Media Artists: Three copies of a DVD with 5-10 minutes of excerpts of your work completed within the last three years. The list of work samples should include, for each excerpt, the title, length, date completed, technique, original format, genre (documentary, experimental, etc.) and the specific role of the applicant in creating the submitted work.
  • Performing Artists: Three copies of a DVD or CD containing 5-10 minutes of representative work completed within the last three years. Musicians should include at least three songs in their sample. On the list of work samples indicate the title, names of the artist(s), date, and location of recording. Please note: storytellers, actors, dancers and other theatre artists are required to submit their samples on DVD.
  • Visual Artists: One set of digital images that feature six different samples of work completed within the last three years. The images should be saved in JPEG format at 72dpi, with no image wider than 1600 pixels. They should be saved on a CD-R disc with each image numbered to correspond with the work sample listing. Only the required images should be included on the CD-R. They should not be saved as part of a presentation program file (like PowerPoint).

Return of Work Samples

Applicants who would like their work samples returned by mail must provide a self-addressed mailer with sufficient postage affixed to it. Work samples may also be picked up between July 1st and August 30th at MAC's office during regular business hours. Please make arrangements with the Arts Education Program Director before visiting the office. All work samples will be discarded after August 30th if no instructions are given for their return.

Dates to Remember

March 1, 2012 – Teaching Artist Roster application deadline
April 2012 – Applications considered by the review panel (the specific panel date will be available by mid-March. Applicants are allowed to attend panels.)
June 2012 – MAC Board meets and makes final decisions on all applications
July 2, 2012 – Applicants are notified whether they have been approved for the Teaching Artist Roster or not.

For more information about the Teaching Artist Roster, please contact Kim Whitt, Arts In Education Program Director at (601) 359-6037 or kwhitt@arts.state.ms.us.