Teaching Artists Presenting in Asheville Schools

 

 

 

 

 

An artist residency program for Asheville City Schools, sponsored by the Asheville City Schools Foundation, LEAF in Schools and Streets, and the UNC Asheville Craft Studies Initiative.

All students can be reached through the arts, and many students who cannot otherwise be inspired, can be touched by opportunities to learn about and create art. In a community filled with great artists, our classrooms should be filled with the artistry for which Asheville is known, and every student should have access to learning with artists.

These are the assumptions that started a conversation among our three organizations more than 18 months ago. We were frustrated that the small amount of funds designated to provide artist residencies were quickly expended and few classrooms got to experience high quality art with trained teaching artists. Grant requests often included travel, and lodging, and made all but a few extended residencies impossible to fund.

How will TAPAS address the problem? In June, a team of artists and teachers created a “Teaching Artist Training” that identified great local talent eager to work in our schools. These artists participated in a three-day workshop on the Standard Course of Study, lesson planning, arts integration and alignment, and more. Through this program, the Asheville City Schools Foundation, LEAF in Schools and Streets, and the UNC Asheville Craft Studies program are committed to funding more than 50 days of artists-in-residence this year. The TAPAS catalogue is a tool for parents and educators to identify the trained Teaching Artists who are best aligned with your classroom and subject area.

Information for parents and teachers in Asheville City Schools:

Teaching Artist residencies in Asheville City Schools classrooms will be awarded to teachers and their students using a grant process. Applications must be submitted by a lead teacher, but we encourage parents and PTO members to support teachers by interviewing artists, gathering materials and filling other supportive roles.

Here’s how to apply:

1. Read the catalogue, and identify artists who are aligned with the grade-level and subject area appropriate for your classroom.
2. Contact Kate Pett at ACSF for assistance, or contact the artist directly.
3. Talk with the artist about the need you have in your classroom, and be open to their great ideas about how to connect their artistry with your curriculum.
4. Complete the application after you have talked with the artist and Kate.
5. Enjoy a fantastic experience in your classroom as you build a relationship with a teaching artist.
6. Complete a brief evaluation of the residency and submit it to ACSF.

TAPAS Artists Catalog

TAPAS Application

Information for WNC artists:

Need: Asheville is home to many excellent artists, but few are trained to align their work with learning in our classrooms. Often when teachers in the Asheville City Schools seek artists-in-residence, they are forced to look outside our community to contract teaching artists. These programs can be costly, and the cost of housing and travel add to the total project cost in a way that often make residencies prohibitive.

Training: Local Artists in Local Schools Teaching Artist Training purpose is to tap into our local creative community to train local artists as teaching artists and develop a fund that will provide 50 days of artist residencies in the Asheville City Schools in the 2010-2011 school year. Local artists will be trained to align their work with the standard course of study, identify ideal age groups and areas of the curriculum in which to integrate their work, and provide an overview of their plan for a directory that will be published for the Asheville City Schools teachers and staff. 

Training for the 2010-11 school year took place in June, 2010.  We plan to have a second training session during the summer of 2011.  Please join our mailing list to receive updates about the TAPAS program, including how to apply for training in 2011.

Benefits to participating artists:

• Familiarity with what it takes to be in a classroom, including the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.

• A certificate of completion from Asheville City Schools.

• Inclusion in a directory for teachers in Asheville City Schools.

• Aligning your art form with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.

• Development of a working residency lesson plan.

• Discovering the age group that fits best with your style and methodology.

• Identifying strategies for engaging students in your work.

• Learning about the demographic of students in Asheville City Schools.

• Potential funding and implementation of your residency in Asheville City Schools.

• Marketing and self-promotion of your work.

• Opportunity to connect with other artists and teachers.



How to Apply: Training for the 2010-11 school year has already occurred. Please join the Craft Studies mailing list to stay up-to-date on Craft Studies programming and training information for next year.

2010 Press Release & Application

PRIMARY CONTACTS:

Kate Pett, Co-Director Asheville City Schools Foundation, (828) 350-6134, kate.pett@asheville.k12.nc.us
OTHER CONTACTS:

Brent Skidmore, Director UNC-Asheville CRAFT Studies, bskidmor@unca.edu, (828) 250-2392

Loraine Martin, LEAF Outreach Director loraine@theLEAF.org, (828) 686-8742
PRESS LINKS:

Asheville City Schools Foundation: http://www.acsf.org/

UNC-Asheville CRAFT Studies: http://craft.unca.edu

LEAF in Schools & Streets: http://www.LEAFinSchoolsandStreets.org

TRAINING FACULTY & SUPPORT STAFF:

Robbie Lipe, Art Teacher, Asheville City Schools – Vance & Hall Fletcher Elementary

Graham Hackett, Catalyst POETIX, Spoken Word Poet & Teaching Artist

Moira Bradford, Language Arts Teacher, Asheville Middle School

Peter Parpan, Art Teacher, Asheville High School

Lisa Klakulak, Textile Artist & Teaching Artist

Lisa Zahiya, Studio Zahiya, Dancer & Teaching Artist

Mark Sidelnick, Art Education & K-12 Specialist at UNC-Asheville