Hello, Teaching Artists! It’s been a busy month for the Teaching Artists Guild. We’ve been working on the conference and are thrilled to announce that registration is now open!
Register now for Our Shared Future: Imagining a New Landscape for Teaching Artists, the first nationally funded conference for teaching artists by teaching artists.
The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected arts organizations and artists across the country. While the lengthy duration of the pandemic has exacerbated and widened equity gaps and created stress and trauma for everyone, teaching artists have been particularly affected by the closures of schools and arts organizations, exposing the need to create a support structure for teaching artists across the country.
On April 5-7, 2022, join us for a virtual event in support of teaching artists across the country. Our Shared Future: Imagining a New Landscape for Teaching Artists will feature sessions that dig into the current realities and hopeful futures of teaching artistry. This first, federally-funded, national convening focused on teaching artistry – sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, U.S. Department of Education and Hewlett Foundation in collaboration with the Arts Education Partnership and Teaching Artists Guild – is designed to connect our country’s teaching artists and respond to their needs by helping arts organizations, funders, policymakers, school district leaders and others understand the issues they face, discuss ways to dismantle barriers and support policies and practices that advance careers in teaching artistry.
Regional Gatherings
As a part of the conference, a number of our regional networks are hosting gatherings with teaching artists in their areas. These gatherings will focus on a variety of topics depending on the region, including issues impacting teaching artists in that area and lessons learned from the conference. Here are some of the regional gatherings coming up. We’ll add more to our events calendar as they’re updated.
February 22nd & 24th (5-6pm EST)
Southeastern Listening Tour
Two veteran Georgia teaching artists and Alternate ROOTS members, John Doyle and Jeff Mather, will be facilitating an hour-long zoom on two evenings this week.
March 31st (5:30-7pm PST)
Pacific Northwest Gathering
Join the Teaching Artist Training Lab and Young Audiences Oregon & SW Washington for two Pacific Northwest Gatherings around the Our Shared Future: Imagining a New Landscape for Teaching Artists conference.
April 6th (2:15-5pm EST)
Nosh & Networking with Teaching Artists ROC
Join Teaching Artists ROC for an in-person Nosh & Networking event on April 6th! If you’re in the Western New York area come be with us. We’ll be watching “Making Meaning with Alphabet Rockers” and “Supporting TA’s as Cultural Bearers” on a big screen that afternoon and would love some company to chat. If you’re an experienced artist, new to the profession, or curious about what a TA is, then let’s get together. Drop in for an hour or stay for the whole afternoon. Please RSVP so we know how much food to prepare.
April 8th (3:30-5pm PST)
Pacific Northwest Gathering
Join the Teaching Artist Training Lab and Young Audiences Oregon & SW Washington for two Pacific Northwest Gatherings around the Our Shared Future: Imagining a New Landscape for Teaching Artists conference.
April 12-28th
Save the Date: Face 2 Face 2022
Join the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable for their annual Face to Face conference happening April 12 – 28. Through a wide variety of virtual and in-person panels, workshops, reports, and other presentations, the Face to Face conference gives arts in education practitioners the opportunity to think deeply and learn more about arts in education. This hybrid conference will offer something for everyone: arts administrators, teaching artists, school personnel, parents, and representatives of community-based organizations. An array of exciting presenters share best practices; discuss local, state, national, and international policies; and address enduring issues such as quality, assessment, sustainability, professional development, equity and inclusion, and art and social justice. Registration coming soon!
Stay tuned for more events to come. Interested in hosting a regional gathering for the conference? Reach out and we’ll help you make that happen.
Nominate a stand out teaching artist for the TAG Awards! The awards will be held in conjunction with the “Our Shared Future” conference in collaboration with the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts Education Partnership, the Department of Education, and the Hewlett Foundation on April 7th, 2022. We are accepting nominations until March 5th, 2022.
Finally, we cannot do the important work of advocating for teaching artists through these various initiatives without funding. Please consider donating to TAG to help support teaching artists through our work. Even $20 can go a long way in supporting our organization.
Don’t forget to register for the conference. We’ll see you there!
With Gratitude,
Heleya de Barros & Katie Rainey
TAG Co-Executive Directors