"This conference was a breath of fresh air for me!"

For Those of Us: In Praise of the Teaching Artist
by Cynthia Amoah

For those of us who enter spaces
brimming with possibility and loud voices
who drift daily through ordinary hallways
for the hope and the way we get to share ourselves and stories
sipping on the sweet comfort of art.

For those of us who enter positions of trust and power to dream and think
who build beautiful futures with our shaky hands
who ready ourselves for the reach
who seek the marvelous rather than the mundane
who teach others to become constellations of their own.

For those of us who busy ourselves with brilliance
who wake in the everyday of a new morning
and walk in our highest calling
who give into the divine demand to live and teach
who share in the joy of art-making,
For art is so many of us.

For those of us who were never really given a chance
who learned the sacred stories of who we were in a strong accent at our mother’s feet
who live with the ability to explore the world in a much bigger way
who settle for pennies in exchange for the art
and who dare to make space for young artists to discover, explore, and share their creative voices.

Show me a teaching artist and I will show you a mountaintop
Show me a teaching artist and I will show you a revolution
of art on its spinning axis
of a spirit staring us in the face.

For those of us who be the art
and teach it, too
humanity-minded, storytellers, poets, visionaries, creatives and artists
drumming for our right to rise.

For those of us who are the music and its beating heart
dancing and dancing in the gospel of the chest
a freedom song
the breath of birds
the bones of butterflies
for we have always been somewhere before—
blooming and teaching and teaching and rising.