First national study of teaching artists wants you!
“Teaching artists are central to much of what is most exciting and innovative in arts education today -- both in and out of schools -- but their contributions are generally off the policy radar screen.” So says arts ed researcher and writer, Nick Rabkin, who is the principal investigator for the first national study of teaching artists. TARP will begin by surveying artists who teach and the managers of the programs they work for in a dozen communities. “We want to reach every teaching artist (and the managers they work for), whether they work in a school, for an arts organization, or in a different kind of community venue.” Artists can register for the survey at its website, http://teachingartists.uchicago.edu .

“We will collect basic data about teaching artists, learn how to best support their work and creativity, and make the field sustaining and sustainable,” says Rabkin, a cofounder of the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education, and author of Putting the Arts in the Picture: Reframing Education in the 21st Century. According to Rabkin, the first teaching artists were hired to run the gallery, music and theater programs at Hull House, and they have been vital to our cultural life ever since. Significant new research has shown that arts education can transform educational experiences and schools, build communities, contribute to the healthy development of children and youth, and build future audiences for the arts. “Teaching artists are the human resource that drives and sometimes designs these efforts. Yet we know very little about them – their background, their aspirations, their needs, or their potential.” Rabkin expects that TARP will be completed in summer of 2010. The other communities in the study are Boston, Providence, Seattle, and eight California communities -- the Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, Bakersfield, San Bernardino, Santa Cruz, Salinas, and Humboldt County. « less