Teaching Artist Journal

by Jamie Topper

A community bombazo at Africaribe Cultural Center, Chicago

I am a musician and Teaching Artist.  I have found myself repeatedly invited into musical cultures different from my own ethnic heritage.   This is a gift, and my impulse to reciprocate has led me to develop community projects that I call collaborative ethnomusicology.  In this essay I will share three examples of these types of projects, the philosophical and pedagogical frameworks that support them, and the nuts and bolts of how they get done.

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Editor’s Note:  this article evolved from a shorter piece that Ryan Conarro wrote for the ALT/space section in issue 9(2).  One of the exciting things about the ALT/space section is the way it functions as an incubator for longer articles and offers the authors and TAJ readers the chance to revisit a subject or question in greater depth and perhaps with different insights.   We will be publishing more such “evolutions” both in the pages of the print Journal and as web-only features on TAJournal.com In this way we hope that the ALT/space idea mirrors a similar dynamic that many of us find so appealing and educative in our work as teaching artists.  I’m grateful to Laura Reeder for conceiving of,  and editing the ALT/space section in this way, and to Ryan for giving us such a interesting model of how a short, powerful essay can be developed into a deeply reflective and engaging article; together the pieces form a compelling example of a new way of writing about our work and field. –Nick Jaffe

TUESDAY

Early autumn sunshine is spilling into the classroom of this school in an Inupiaq village on Alaska’s northwest coast. I’m a Juneau-based drama teaching artist, working for the Department of Education as an “arts content coach,” visiting some of the state’s struggling rural schools. Today, I’m modeling a drama integration activity for a jaded high school history teacher who seems to lock horns regularly with her students. I’m guiding the youths in analyzing the visual elements of stage pictures so that later in the week they can create their own tableaux of important historical inventions.  But at the moment, the sun is calling them; and the glinting waters of the Chukchi Sea, which will freeze soon enough; and the open door of the classroom, through which I’ve seen a few students wander today, ejected by their exasperated teacher.
 
Daniel is one of the more engaged students in the group, and he readily volunteers to help me make a model tableau.  I’m relieved, grateful for his enthusiasm.  He sits again at his desk. Moments later, he sneaks a forbidden glance at his cell phone and then slides it back into his jeans. The teacher stands and pounces.  Daniel shouts, “No!” But the teacher won’t back down and hauls Daniel from the room.  My drama lesson is disrupted and deflated. Daniel, it turns out, will be suspended tomorrow.

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In this Issue:

• Wendy Bable, Samantha Bellomo, and Sarah Waxman on using collaborative blogs in teen theatre work.
• Kong Ho on exploring collaborative mural painting in Bulgaria.
• John Toth on video podcasts and art museum visits.
• Eve Kagan on The Laramie Project in Uganda, homophobia, politics and culture.
• Kathryn Humphreys on perspectives and why we do TA work.

Alt/Space edited by Laura Reeder: “What do you wish you’d known when you started?” nurturing the ARTIST in teaching artist, and many more gripping tales, reports and voices from TA’s in the field. Research Review edited by Dan Serig: Beyond brainstorming: mind maps as art.

Resource Exchange edited by Becca Barniskis: A cross-country and intercontinental working meeting of TA’s discusses “community,” and looks at some student work, all in real-time via Skype; and more.

In this Issue:

• Ryan Conarro on teaching artist work and cultural context in rural Alaska.
• Courtney Lee Weida on the idea and reality of “home” and art making/teaching/learning.
• Judith Tannenbaum’s outline history of the teaching artist field.
• Anne Thulson on students reclaiming their school surroundings through art making.

Alt/space edited by Laura Reeder: anti-immigrant racism in Tuscon, El Sistema comes to L.A., and many more gripping tales, reports and voices from TA’s in the field.
Research Review edited by Dan Serig: Material Culture and Literacy in Arts Education
Resource Exchange edited by Becca Barniskis: A panel of Minnesota TA’s addresses some big questions, and raises others…and more!

By Evan Hastings

In the street and in our minds, the shadows of gender oppression dance against the fabric of society. At Srishti School of Art and Design, in Bangalore, India, I collaborated with Arzu Mistry in facilitating Gender Shadow, a participatory theatre project interrogating gender though shadow puppets, movement, improv theatre, and masks.

Gender Shadow was a 10-week endeavor of 20 young design students from all over India. Because our personal experiences of gender are part of a larger social narrative we creatively addressed gender violence and oppression through playful and personally meaningful dialogue.

In reality, even as an anti-oppression theatre project our improvisations were still saturated with gender stereotypes. The tension between traditional gender values and the modern desire for gender liberation was playing itself out in our rehearsals. Young women played ditzy characters objectifying themselves for chauvinistic males. Although the performers knew better, stereotypical characterizations were ever present. We were
at a sort of stalemate, at the crossroads of traditional patriarchy and modern feminism.

We challenged our own assumptions through sounds and hand shadows to dramatize gendered conflicts. Although we didn’t always embody the values we discussed, we remained open to seeing our own contradictions. This was critical as we moved to take our project to public venues.

Engagement from the participants was different than we anticipated. New ways of using the materials in space emerged as we spontaneously facilitated continuous engagement. Regardless of what we intended to happen, actual participation means relinquishing total control over the outcome.

We kept ourselves attentive to what was emerging in the moment as we entered a deeper phase of personal sharing with purpose. We all wrote out stories of how we or someone close to us has been impacted by gender violence and selected the most resonant pieces to expand into scenes for our public performances.

In our public performances, we warmed-up the audience to participation through creating a non-threatening, playful and inviting atmosphere. The responsibility to facilitate participation fell on the Jokers (Boal, 1979). The Jokers (like wild cards in the deck), kicked the show off with interactive games to engage spect-actors (spectators with the potential to be actors) with their bodies, the people sitting around them and the
actors on the stage (Boal, 1979).

With an engaged audience the play was performed once with shadows, music, masks and dance. Then the Jokers replayed a few scenes and invited the audience to interrupt the injustice on stage, replace a character who’s lacking power and try out an alternative action. The performers spontaneously responded to interventions by reacting in character, providing realistic resistance to any tactics brought by spect-actors. In the
end there was no right or wrong intervention, just a wider range of possible actions and consequences.

In Gender Shadow tradition all our show’s end in a dance party. It’s amazing how smoothly we can go from intense dialogue to night club style dance party. That’s Gender Shadow though, transforming trauma with rowdy resilience.

Photographs by Jackson Porretta.

Boal, A.(1979) Theatre of the Oppressed . London: Pluto

by Joan Weber

Teaching Artists could lay a claim to caring more about arts education than just about anyone else. We have given up hope of high salaries with great benefits in the interest of educating young people in and through the arts. Many of us have learned our craft experientially. because, until very recently, there were very few training programs for our field. All the while, we have continued to grow as artists, knowing that we demand excellence of ourselves in both our art form and teaching. We are improving our practice through action research, arts integration and documented outcomes. We are professionals. Let’s be like other professionals and ask our bosses for a raise. While we’re there, let’s ask for a larger workforce to meet the real demand for arts education in our communities.

We deserve a living wage that includes enough money to pay taxes and have health insurance. What we do has incredible value to the education of children around the world. It’s time to show policy-makers that value by introducing ourselves to them. We don’t generally have that opportunity. After demonstrating the value of arts education through testimony about our practices, we just ask for more money. That’s really it. What’s beautiful is that the better we do for ourselves, the better we do for kids.

Arts Education Month is in March. During that time, let’s make a commitment as Teaching Artists to Testify for Arts Education in March 2011. This is an important time in the budgetary process for school systems. Decisions made during this time will dictate school budgets for the next year. If arts education partnerships are not in the budgets at this time, it’s harder to “find” the money for a teaching artist later. The Board of Education determines the budget for the entire school system. If they require all schools to have budgets for arts education programs, then that

becomes policy for the system. If not, each principal decides on how to allocate discretionary budget lines, including artists or transportation.

Teaching Artists have direct evidence about the benefits of arts education. We must gather our lesson plans, compile our anecdotes, line up our slides and write speeches about how our programs have affected students’ lives. We must tell the board members our stories and convince them to spend more money to create more stories like that. Let’s tell them why we are Teaching Artists.

While we are with the Board of Education, we must also advocate for arts specialists in every school building. The truth is that arts specialists make it possible for us to have the impact that we do. Teaching artists are complements to specialists, not replacements. We must always make that clear to policymakers.

Join Teaching Artists and other arts education advocates across the country in a new social community at www.testifyforartsed.ning.com. Our goal it to build a grassroots movement of people that want to make sure that kids in our communities have arts education. It requires everyone’s help. Teaching Artists must be at the table of school reform, arts education standards and school system budget decisions. Showing up and testifying is a great start. Please e-mail me at joan@creativityandassociates.com to share your story or ask questions.

Here’s what to expect in the latest issue:

Wendy Strauch-Nelson on book making and book learning.

Eric Booth on bringing the heart and soul of El Sistema to the U.S.

Terry Ann Thaxton on creative writing with people with memory loss.

Katarzyna Kosmala and J.M. Imas on art, teaching artistry and green
awareness.

Alt/space edited by Laura Reeder: Meet the TA reporters for TAJ’s new news bureau; a groundbreaking fellowship for TA’s; and much more.

Research Review edited by Dan Serig: An interview with Dr. Rob Horowitz on the art and science of evaluating arts ed partnerships.

Resource Exchange edited by Becca Barniskis: Reviews of Diane Ravitch’s new book on school reform, Creativity Matters: the Arts and Aging Toolkit, and much more.

To know who you are, you must know where you come from. So too for the emergent profession of teaching artistry, which might be described as a fast-growing teenager—past puberty but still not moving with a twentysomething’s confident stride. This essay aspires to trace briefly the history of teaching artistry. It does not provide the academic rigor of a proper history, and I hope an ambitious historian will take up the challenge and provide an authoritative version for us all. Nor does the scope of this essay allow me to identify the dozens of specific organizations and individuals who have provided important flagstones on the path, or those who are currently doing exemplary work around the country—they deserve to be recognized and thanked.

This essay offers a distilled sense of the journey, its general contours, in order to ground our sense of the complex present and clarify its proliferation of opportunity. Even though the characterizations of decades and phases are oversimplified, given the jumble of activity that unfolded during each decade, I feel the following descriptions are accurate enough to propose as the truthful story. I also offer two organizational constructs at the end of this essay; I hope they provide useful distinctions to elucidate our ongoing evolution. I welcome others who wish to take this essay and expand it in additional foundation-building ways.

In setting our historical context, let’s openly acknowledge some of its “negatives.” The field of teaching artistry does not speak in a unified voice—never has and possibly never will. (This does not negate it as a field at all; does politics speak with a unified voice?) Our growing body of writing about teaching artistry enables the field to begin to know itself. There are increasing numbers of surveys that illuminate aspects of teaching artistry (the insights of which have not been gathered for handy dissemination), and a first national research study coming to fruition. However, there is no widely accepted definition of what a teaching artist is, no established set of work parameters to clarify what a teaching artist does, nor any set of basic practices that may be considered the key tools that teaching artists use. There is not even a sense of what teaching artists should teach; a strength of teaching artistry is responding inventively to specific goals, opportunities, and needs rather than delivering any established curriculum.

Teaching artistry has no national organization, no national certification processes (although local and regional processes are developing), no central location, no suggested sets of curricula, no designated advocates (although many advocate out of personal mission). This lack of key organizing elements may be viewed as a sign of the immaturity of the field, or as a healthy refusal to adopt structures that do not derive organically from the heart of the practice—there certainly is truth in the former view, but I incline toward the latter. In some ways I think this field is growing more wisely than it knows. Teaching artistry is indirectly choosing not to become what hasn’t worked particularly well for other arts and arts learning fields. Teaching artistry hasn’t found the embodiment as a professional field of the authentic tools that provide its power in practice. Yet.

Read the entire essay from Eric Booth.