YOUR GUIDE TO THE NEW TAG WEBSITE - PG. 32
DIANA RIVERA GIVES US ADVICE ON WORKING WITH OLDER ADULTS - PG. 6
THE FOLKS AT LIFETIME ARTS ARE PROVING THAT OUR MOST CREATIVE YEARS MAY BE AHEAD OF US - Pg. 10
ARTS IN AGING! #5
Creative Aging and Teaching Artistry August 2016
Teaching Artists Guild Newsletter: Issue 05
Executive Director: Jean Johnstone Membership Director: Kenny Allen
Teaching Artists Guild is a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives.
National Advisory Committee: Glenna Avila (Los Angeles, CA) Eric Booth (Hudson River Valley, NY) Lindsey Buller Maliekel (New York, NY) Lara Davis (Seattle, WA) Kai Fierle-Hedrick (New York, NY) Jon Hinojosa (San Antonio, TX) Lynn Johnson (San Francisco Bay Area, CA) Nas Khan (Toronto, Canada) Tina LaPadula (Seattle, WA) Miko Lee (San Francisco Bay Area, CA) Ami Molinelli (San Francisco Bay Area, CA) Betsy Mullins (Miami, FL) Louise Music (San Francisco Bay Area, CA) Maura O’Malley (New Rochelle, NY) Nick Rabkin (Chicago, IL) Amy Rasmussen (Chicago, IL) Nicole Ripley (Chicago, IL) Sandy Seufert (Los Angeles, CA) Yael Silk, Ed.M. (Pittsburgh, PA) Jean E. Taylor (New York, NY)
THANKS Teaching Artists Guild would not be possible without funding from these generous organizations:
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Teaching Artists Guild is also made possible through the generous support of our members.
Teaching Artists Guild Newsletter: Issue 05
THE ARTS IN AGING ISSUE - SUMMER 2016 -
Hello TAG Nation! Happy SUMMER. The tomatoes are ripening on the vine. The kids are in summer camps and everyone who has it, has their AC on. How are you? This quarter we take a look at another area of teaching artist work: Creative Aging, or Arts in Aging, as it is also termed. There are many layers and aspects to this work, a few of which we’ll look at in the following pages. It’s also an area that’s been gaining traction with funders of late! Delve into the work with our experts and practitioners, see what’s being done and why-- and expect that you’ll be hearing a good deal more about this in the coming years! The TAG Quarterly has officially turned 1 years old, and I want to wish a very special happy birthday to Kenny Allen, our committed and talented Membership Director, who handles the design and layout of this magazine (among many other things). Without him, this glorious and glossy thing would be just a very long email update living in your inbox! Kenny’s eye for design and unique skills and perspective have elevated this work. Thank you, Kenny! As we move forward with our Quarterly, we’ll be introducing a few new aspects: namely, a section which focuses on particular US Regions, curated by teaching artists or organizations from that area. If you have news you want to share from your region, please let us know! You’ll see this new section in the upcoming Autumn Issue, and we’re excited to share with you all a sense of the kind of work, conversations, policies, and events which are shaping this field. I am excited to share with you more news and ideas in the next pages! Dig in, put your feet up, and enjoy! In Solidarity,
Jean Johnstone Executive Director Teaching Artists Guild Page 3
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CONTENTS FEATURE STORY ARTS FOR A LIFETIME Founder of Lifetime Arts, Maura O’Malley, shows us why age isn’t a barrier when it comes to benefitting from arts education.
ON THE COVER Cover photo: Diana Rivera Diana Rivera, MA, PhD (abd) is a creativity coach and facilitator who uses art practices, coaching models and research in psychology to create innovative multi-week, arts integration programs for youth and professional development for teachers. Diana is a Psychological Assistant in Los Angeles under the supervision of Dr. Paula Bruce. Page 4
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ARTS IN AGING - 4 THINGS TO KNOW
Diana Rivera introduces us to the field of Arts in Aging by providing us with four important tips to consider when working with an older population.. Page 6.
ARTS FOR A LIFETIME
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Maura O’Malley of Lifetime Arts shares with us the work her organization has been doing, along with some insights into the field in general. Page 10.
HELPING US AGE... ARTFULLY!
Funders are starting to recognize the incredible value of creative aging work, too. One of the visionaries leading the charge is Aroha Philanthropies. Page 12.
UPDATES FROM THE FIELD We hope you will find this update on the TA community in Seattle useful and interesting. Page 14.
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TEACHING ARTIST INTERVIEWS by KATE BELL
We are just head-over-heels in love with the amazing interviews that Kate Bell has been conducting with teaching artists. In this issue we share her interview with Sergio Klafke.
stART OSCEOLA There’s something really special happening in Osceola County, Florida. Find out more on page 22..
TAG MEMBERSHIP & WEB UPDATES!
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We’ve been very busy over the last few months!. We now have a new website, a re-vamped membership program, and more to share with you! Page 31.
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THINGS
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TEACHING ARTISTS SHOULD BE AWARE OF WHEN WORKING WITH OLDER ADULTS by Diana Rivera, MA, CPC
When people hear of teaching artists working within a model of arts education, people tend to conjure images of teaching art to children and/or adolescents. The tendency may be largely due to the fact that individuals within and outside the field might assume that arts education begins in pre-school, could culminate in high school and might continue onto college. By the time you are an adult, one is not involved in arts education. Rather, one is an artist or taking classes by art professors. In other words, we take the term ‘teaching artist’ and ‘arts education’ off the table and negate that the role of the teaching artist continues throughout many developmental periods. A place for teaching artistry is with older adults. Older adults could be over the age of 55. They could be students in a community or college class, a skilled nursing facility, a senior day care center. They might be self-identified artists or hesitate to call themselves artists, yet love a creative process. In a study done by the Research Center for Arts and Culture (RCAC, 2011), they used data from the MacArthur Foundation and the U.S. Census Bureau to report that over the coming decades, the population will shift to one that is older than it is younger. This will leave an impressive opening for teaching artists to continue their commitment to arts education within this population. (Cont’d. on page 8...)
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Art education is critical to all stages of development and, in effect, supports many levels of human functioning. Creating art is a creative process and it helps people at various levels in one’s emotional, mental, physical and psychological well being. As a teaching artist whose work has extended into research and clinical psychology, I have had the chance over these past three years to work with older adults in their healing process. Coming from years of working with children, adolescents and young adults in arts education, there were many immediate aspects I learned working with older adults and some critical components to consider with respect to creativity at this stage of development. It goes without saying that creativity, like aging, is unique to each individual as both are processes that demonstrate the most human aspects of a person. It is possible to see patterns and speak to general traits of experiences and/ or behaviors that increase awareness without universalizing the uniqueness of one’s creativity, nor what it means to age. The following are some considerations for your teaching practice with older adults:
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1.) Creative Process, like Aging, is Not Time Bound: There are various emotions that come up with time and its inherent limitations. To perceive or experience that one’s life is limited by the tick of a clock, days of the weeks, months of a year, can be oppressive. Studio practice can be glorious because one could be free to absorb more in the creative activity and let process have its own timing. Teaching artists can support this notion by being less time focused and more in the flow of the creative process. This could mean tailoring your curriculum to meet the speed of the participants or doing less in order to create more deeply. It could mean not timing every single minute with an activity. It also could mean not referencing time with limits. 2.) Experimentation is Healthy for the Mind: Whether it is in the visual or performing arts, to use materials to create art promotes healthy mental functioning. The mind is a muscle and it changes throughout a lifespan. Depending on an individuals cognitive baseline, neuronal connections can strengthen and/ or establish new ones that could result in positively increasing one’s perception, behavior, language, memories, and so on. To keep the mind flexible is easily achieved in the studio when students use new materials, create something out of scratch or provide space to reflect upon others works of art. 3.) The Body is a Multi-Sensory Instrument: The body is an elegant and complex instrument of many perceptual parts including sight, audition, olfaction, gustation, touch. A bias for many might be that older adults might be deficient in one sensory area over another, however, the same can be true for children. It is good to pay attention to how students respond to the environment and the materials as a rule of thumb. For examples, the temperature may run too hot or too cold, which could impact one’s ability to keep focus. Or, you may see that a student is unable to hold a paint brush that is too long and may prefer one that is shorter. Or, your workshop may ask for participants to stand for too long or sit on the floor, which could be difficult for older adult bodies. Observe and also ask students what works for them in order to increase focus and attention in the creative process. 4.) Art Increases Resilience: Older adults have decades of experiences within them. Art is a way to be creative and process those experiences. Memories emerge that include positive and negative thoughts and emotions. At the same time, creating art can help one cope with these realities. The positive psychologist Mihayl Csikszentmihalyi has written extensively about creativity and flow, and has looked into the lives of artists in his
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book, “Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention.” What can be seen in the study of creative people over and over again, especially in their older age, is that to create art can support coping as a result of enhancing one’s rich inner dialogue. That inner dialogue could help increase hope and self-worth. What of this sparks your interest to expand your arts education practice to work with older adults? For more information, I encourage you to join The National Center for Creative and Aging (NCCA) to get updates on conferences, research and other events.
Diana Rivera, MA, PhD (abd) is a creativity coach and facilitator who uses art practices, coaching models and research in psychology to create innovative multi-week, arts integration programs for youth and professional development for teachers. Diana is a Psychological Assistant in Los Angeles under the supervision of Dr. Paula Bruce.
VISIT HER WEBSITE!
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Benefitting from Arts Education:
What’s Age Got to Do with It? by Maura O’Malley generations – including the dynamic “Baby Boomers”.
Not much apparently. It turns out that chronological age has little to do with one’s ability to learn art-making skills or to benefit from arts learning. In fact, with his 2006 landmark publication, “The Creativity and Aging Study: The Impact of Professionally Conducted Cultural Programs on Older Adults,” Dr. Gene D. Cohen, demonstrated that - active, engaged learning in the arts has multiple psychological, physical and emotional health benefits. Those of us in the arts have always known that the arts are good for you. The booming field of Creative or Artful Aging is proving that arts education is especially good for older adults.
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This is not “sing-a- longs” or learning how to make a pot holder – or gluing macaroni on cardboard. Creative Aging is arts education for older adults; professionally led, sequential, skill-building, experiential programming in all arts disciplines. It’s no surprise that teaching artists are playing a key role in defining and testing best practices for this fast growing area of practice. Take a look! (Mastering the Art of Teaching Adults) Who are “older adults” and why is this happening? We’re talking about folks 55 and older – a huge, diverse and growing demographic that spans 50 years and 3
Every day, 10,000 Boomers turn 65. This demographic change is not a passing phenomenon; by 2050, there will be more people over 65 than under 5. People are living longer, healthier lives and as a result, views of aging are shifting from a negative/deficit based view – to a positive/asset based notion of aging. More and more people now see older adulthood as a time ripe with opportunity, engagement and creativity. Community organizations of all kinds are adjusting their programming to respond to the diverse needs and interests of today’s older adults. Lifetime Arts Armed with Cohen’s research, and our experiences as arts administrators and as caregivers, Ed Friedman and I founded Lifetime Arts in New York in 2008. We saw a need to shift traditional “senior programming” from passive entertainment to engaged learning by promoting arts education specifically for older adults. Established as a service organization, we set
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out to provide practical help and resources to organizations and teaching artists so that they could expand programming beyond the K-12 population into the realm of lifelong learning. Initially, working out of a spare bedroom in my home, Ed and I began our work by contacting as many teaching artists as we could find. Fortunately, both of us had hired, trained and supported teaching artists for many years in the NYC arts community. We needed to identify teaching artists who were experienced or interested in working with older adults. There was no central source to find this out – and so we started an online database that has grown into the Lifetime Arts Roster. Now, this online free resource provides a directory of over 180 professional teaching artists – from over 20 states – and representing all disciplines. The Roster applicants are vetted through a rigorous quarterly panel review process. Every month we feature one of our Roster artists - check out this month’s Teaching Artist. For Lifetime Arts, training teaching artists, organizations and others is key to our mission. Over the years, we have partnered with master teaching artists to develop, field-test and implement training programs. Our curriculum continues to evolve
to meet the needs of the field. To date, we’ve trained over 800 teaching artists across the country and we have learned as much from them as they have from us. Our expert colleagues include Annie Montgomery, now our Director of Training and Professional Development. With over 15 years as a teaching artist – eight of them with older adults, Annie heads up our recently expanded services for teaching artists. These include multi-day training institutes, a mentoring program and to support expansion of our services – a Train the Trainer program. As a service to the field, over the past year, Lifetime Arts has conducted three national surveys investigating Creative Aging and Teaching Artistry. The first report offers an interesting snapshot of the state of teaching artist training in Creative Aging. 50 arts organizations told us about their programming for older adults and whether and how they provide training for teaching artists. It’s no surprise that ageism was cited as the greatest barrier to developing regular, ongoing and standardized training for teaching artists; it affects every aspect of our work. The report also confirms what we’ve suspected – there’s no common language or shared standards, a hodgepodge of training styles and
formats – and no consistent or consequential funding. By identifying trends, service gaps and varying approaches to the work, this survey, and the others underway, will help move the field ahead. So, take a look at the Survey – and be on the lookout for the next reports. At Lifetime Arts, our work is based on our professional, personal and collective experience as artists and as caregivers. Underpinning the work is an effort to combat ageism and isolation, to promote cross-sector partnerships, employ existing program delivery mechanisms and to build communities of practice. We have lots of work to do.
Maura O’Malley is the Co-founder and CEO of Lifetime Arts. Maura is an arts specialist with over 30 years experience in program design and implementation, arts education policy and funding, non-profit arts management and community cultural work.
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ARTFUL AGING WITH Aroha Philanthropies (who, full transparency, has been a major funder of TAG) has delved deeply into the arena of Arts and Aging. They have generously funded many projects and programs across the United States in this area, including a series of impactful videos, and founding the “Seeding Creative Aging” initiative. Here we showcase some of their material, focusing on the work of teaching artists with older adults. We dare you not to cry while watching “The Wall!”
VISIT THEIR WEBSITE FOR MORE RESOURCES!
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CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO SEE THE VIDEO ABOUT “THE WALL” AND HOW CREATIVE AGING WORK CAN CHANGE OUR EXPERIENCE OF OLD AGE.
CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE TO SEE THE VIDEO ABOUT MASTERING THE ART OF TEACHING OLDER ADULTS.
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REGIONAL UPDATES COMING SOON TO THIS SECTION: In the next issue of the TAG Quarterly, this section will look a little different. We are currently building out a network of regional partners who will report to you from this section each quarter. You’ll get a overview of the field and how the teaching artist community is moving forward. We think you’ll really enjoy it. Below is an update from the Seattle, Washinton, area courtesy of Lara Davis and Tina LaPadula!
SEATTLE, WA The Creative Advantage, Seattle’s K-12 arts education initiative, is restoring access to the arts for all students in Seattle Public Schools (SPS). Investing in the quality and development of teaching artists and school educators is core to this effort. Through an annual learning series and summer institute lead by Seattle Art Museum, practitioners reflect on their practice, gain skills and make connections. From January - May, participants engaged in workshops focused on: Best Practices for Partnership, Social Practice in Arts Education, Strategies for Youth Voice, Trauma Informed Practice and Social Emotional Learning. Generous funding from the Laird Norton Family Foundation supported the launch of a Media Arts and Technology Integration Training Series for secondary teachers, co-facilitated by teaching artists, industry professionals and Career Technology Education instructors. Within the Creative Advantage, SPS works in close partnership with leading nonprofit, Arts Corps and Dr. Dennie Palmer Wolf to carry out the 21 st century assessment project for visual and performing arts teachers. This multi year collaboration between arts specialists and teaching Page 14
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artists aims at expanding student assessments to inform teaching and students learning and track student growth beyond arts skills to include 21st Century Skills like creativity, communication, critical thinking, growth mindset and collaboration. The project wraps up at the end of June as work teams: • Calibrate rubrics with student work samples, • Revise Cornerstone and Baseline assessment activities, • Select and upload student exemplars for the rubric into SPS’ Schoology Database The Washington State Teaching Artist Training Lab wraps up it’s 5th successful year. This eightmonth professional development program focuses on supporting arts education as part of basic education in K-12 schools. Participants benefit from ongoing learning over eight months, individualized coaching from master teaching artists, connections to state and national organizations and peer learning and reflection. The TAT Lab cohort will includes roughly 35 teaching artists per year, working in all artistic disciplines and all regions of Washington State. For more info: http://www.sct.org/For-Educators/TAT- Lab/ The Creative Advantage is Seattle’s city-wide commitment of ensuring every student at every school has the opportunity to learn through the arts, every year from kindergarten through 12 th grade. It is being realized thru a public-private partnership between Seattle Public Schools, the Office of Arts & Culture, the Seattle Foundation, community arts and culture organizations, and teaching artists. http://www.creativeadvantageseattle.org/ Lara Davis (Seattle, WA) has been active in youth development and community arts education for more than a decade. She has served as a Seattle arts commissioner and as program director for Arts Corps, an award winning Seattle-based youth arts organization. As arts education manager for the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, Lara manages the Creative Advantage, a public/private partnership to ensure equitable access to high quality arts learning for all Seattle students. Tina LaPadula is an east coast transplant and warrior for equitable art making and learning opportunities in Seattle Washington. For more than 15 years she served Arts Corps as a teaching artist, and administratively as the Program Director, and Education Director. As a performer, Tina makes work that explores stories of human connectivity and celebrates the voices of the marginalized.
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TEACHING ARTISTS INTERVIEW:
SERGIO KLAFKE BY KATE BELL
All right! I’m here with Sergio Klafke, originally from Brazil, who is an amazing painter, poet, and Teaching Artist. Sergio, how long have you been a Teaching Artist? Almost three decades. In New York, I have worked for Children’s Art Carnival, the New York City Housing Authority, in their NYCHA Community Centers, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Berkeley Carroll school. And I started working for Marquis Studios in 2005. And now you only work for Marquis Studios? Only for Marquis. Yes.
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Wow. I have to say that you are the only Teaching Artist so far that I have talked to that only works for one organization.
I know! I know this!
So tell me about your current teaching projects.
I have never been so busy. I was planning on only working three residencies this year, but they offered me five, so I’m working five, teaching multi-media projects. But what happens in most residencies now, it’s about self-portraits. That’s my specialty. Somehow, I found out that all my work can be about self-portraiture, no matter the type of residency. In drawing, in painting, in mask, it can all be a self-portrait. All of my residencies become one. And it has saved me a big deal of time in lesson plans.
I’m so busy!
So you are making
Oh yeah? The only one. Everybody else that I’ve interviewed has worked for at least three. Oh, I am happier this way! Yeah! Just working for one. I love working there!
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multi-media self-portraits with what ages? It’s fourth, sixth, and seventh grade. So where are you? Where are you going to these fourth through seventh graders? Oh, far away. I travel. I’m a traveler. I got used to it. Every moment I’m reading, or planning a class. Because I take a lot of trains and buses. Bergen Beach, Sheepshead Bay, out past Flatbush, another in Coney Island. Ozone Park. So you’re very Brooklyn this winter! Tell me the most memorable teaching moment you’ve had recently, or not even recently. What’s a teaching moment that stands out to you, either positive or challenging? I have two moments that stand out in my memory now. Encounters that show me the meaning of what I’ve been doing. It was last month, but it’s happened before, too. I was on a train in Harlem. And someone called me. “Sergio!” And I saw this big guy, and I said, “What’s up?” And he said, “Oh no! You don’t remember me!” So I start talking with him, and I realized, he studied with me, right? And then I said, “Malik!” “Yes!” I can’t believe I could remember his name, because he is almost thirty years old, and he was twelve! More than
fifteen years, and I could recognize him, by instinct. There was a connection there, because he was someone who studied with me, he stayed in my memory since that time. He was so charismatic! And it was him. So it made me feel so good. And then we talked, and he talked about his life, and that he likes art because of me… Oh my god! And still today, he draws. He became a plumber… It pays the bills! It pays the bills! He has his family, and he still draws and likes it. But it was a great moment. More than anything else, that’s a recognition. That I made a friend in life, and I recognized him. That was the most amazing thing.
That’s really cool! The other moment, it’s last week! Normally, I talk to every little child. I have like thirty-three of them in a class, but I try to have a personal relationship with all of them, I have some exchanging of dialogue, a commenting, feedback or something, with each of them. And by doing the self-portraits, we are building part by part, how you build a whole body, like arms, legs, shoes and shirt. And I’m asking everybody to keep at the same pace, the same rhythm. Nothing that might interrupt the next class. You can’t be behind. You have to finish the arms today. Everybody! And there was this little kid, in fourth grade, he was struggling to do the arms, no? And I showed everybody how to do both arms the same way, by folding the paper, the symmetrical way,
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the way I want. Do you box? I did once in my life. Once in my life I did, and I like boxing. I like watching boxing. Cool. And so, punching and painting, like Jackson Pollack-y?
but he just made one arm. So I asked everyone, out loud for everyone to hear, “Let’s see what’s happening with our friend here. He has one arm, and he has the legs, he has everything, but he is missing one arm. What happened with you?” And he said, “Oh, my character. He was in a battlefield, and I decided to leave him without an arm.” Oh my god! (Laughter.) And I was just like, “Really?” And he says yes. “It’s not because you’re having trouble with making the arm?” “No. He was in a battlefield, and he lost one arm.” Somehow I like this memory. I was just like, “That’s fine! That’s good!” That’s a good answer. I will not force him to do the other arm.
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So tell me, you said that you had been painting this week, tell me about your own creative work right now. What are you working on? It’s always self-portraiture. (Laughter.) And my struggle… it’s about construction, the presentation of the figure. Or just the motion through the shapes and colors, and mixing the materials. And so I experiment. I don’t have one way of working. I always am experimenting, creating this, what I call the aesthetic for the portraits. But it’s very loose, and not so representational. I like boxing, and I’ll do thirty-four portraits of boxing, because I’m just throwing my hands, but I can control the painting. There is a true punching there, with the painting, a controlled movement. So I’m experimenting with this. As I have my studio now, I can throw paint around
Well, that is this thing, too. Because now when you throw paint, you drop paint in some ways, it’s associated with Pollack. So it’s not exactly that, it’s a mixture, there are a lot of references that I have in my work. It can be Pollack, can be de Kooning, can be Miro. I love Miro! But I’m also creating my own language, my own vocabulary, getting into some expression that I can show all of my feelings, what I am feeling in that moment. In a free way, in an experimental way. I’m trying to find out, digging into myself, without worries about the result of it. Throwing things out, digging in there, to find out…because I have no compromise to anything. I have no intention to sell it. Of course, it would be great, but it’s not the point. It’s my survival. It’s my way of living my daily life. I’m still like a kid. I was coming here, and on the corner, the sign they have there, “Don’t Grow Up!”
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(Chuckling.) Indeed! I keep the child in me. When I paint, I paint like a child. That’s why I am a Teaching Artist. Because I learn, I share, I experiment, I dialogue with the children. You know that old Picasso saying, that how to make the things he wants to have in life, his achievement would be to paint like a child. And it’s a therapy, too. I feel better when I do this. And I feel good because I don’t have a judgment, it’s good or bad, it’s sellable or not sellable, it’s just what I do. We should all learn from you!
When I paint, I paint for myself. I have my apartment, and I have many paintings I keep for myself. Because I love it, and I spread it all over my place, and I live with it, my
images. And I keep changing it. So my apartment, it’s like a womb. You have your own gallery! You live in gallery of your own journey. That’s fabulous. Can you also talk a little bit about balancing teaching work and your own creative work. Is that difficult? Are there times when the teaching kind of takes over, when your own creative practice kind of falls away? Or do you find a way to balance it pretty consistently? There can be a balance. Normally I don’t leave my own way of creating when I’m working in the schools. Of course, I guess, there is the burden of having too much work sometimes, and the tiredness of the whole day with 150 kids. You can’t go home and work after that. The only problem is this fatigue. That’s what I’m looking for, every day, working less in the teaching, and working more on my own work. It’s just about time. Lately, I’ve been teaching too much, and painting less, because when you go into a school sometimes your energy stays there. It’s totally different when you’re only concentrating on your own work. You don’t have to share your energy with hundreds of others. So what is the overlap between your teaching work and your own creative work?
Is it on a continuum? Or do they seem like separate worlds? Does it wax and wane? No, it’s not totally separate worlds. They are totally integrated. One feeds the other. My work itself feeds what I do in the schools, and I’m always learning in my expe-
rience in the schools. There are always children doing something I have never seen, there is now a dialogue with the children. My teaching and my painting, they are the same, they are not totally different. That’s the reason I’ve been doing this for thirty years. It’s an extension…it’s not like a “day job.” No, it’s not. But when you are committed only to your own work, when you don’t have other commitments about time, I think you can go further, you can go deeper.
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But as a teacher, you are split somehow, because you have these other commitments, you are in half, you are not totally one. I think it’s impos-
Yes, yes. It depends on what you do.
For you and for your students.
But the collaboration with students and schools can be very different.
For my work with my students, and for myself. I could use them for myself, too. And this was a great support. Those art materials are very expensive!
It’s different because you have more boundaries that you can’t cross. You always have to be aware of some areas or topics that you can’t explore or expose.
sible, teaching five days a week, and being a painter or a poet or a theater person, it’s very hard. Now I think somehow the teaching, that will take more, that will take more of you than just working on your own art. Why? Because you are, as an artist, you are totally free, you are creating your world. You are not having to relate to other people. You don’t have commitments of timing, to go to some place to have dialogue with other people. Unless you’re doing something like theater, where you’re collaborating with other people to make theater, you know what I’m saying?
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So, of the organizations that you’ve worked for, do they actively support and encourage the connection between your teaching practice and your creative practice? And I’m asking this because sometimes I find it frustrating when I’m applying for a Teaching Artist job, and I’m supposed to be an accomplished artist, and I’m also supposed to be an accomplished teacher, and so sometimes I look back at the organizations that I work for, and I want more support in terms of both of those realms. So talk a little bit about that. In my experience, I didn’t have this kind of support from an organization for my personal artistic work. No. But, in another way, I did with the Housing Authority, when I worked in the Community Centers with the kids, in a sense, because they provided me with materials. We had free materials to work with.
Yes, they are! But the organizations that are sending us into schools…of course not! I don’t think they care about what you are doing in your personal practice as an artist. Are you okay with that? That’s the nature of the work. I don’t expect anything, any support for my creative work from an organization that’s aiming only at education. They’re not there to serve you as an artist. No, not as an artist, no. You are on your own as an artist. If you could change one thing about your life as a Teaching Artist, what would it be? (Laughter.) One thing I would change… I give you the power to do anything you want. What are you going to change? Probably, and that’s the next step, I would stop working
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too much, too big of a schedule, with the residencies, and start working more in giving workshops for the teachers in the schools, for the parents. For adults? For adults. And keep some children. Because children is what gives me a lot of joy. But, on the other hand, one thing that I’m very fortunate to be doing, is working as a volunteer, teaching in a school on the beach in Brazil, for fishermen’s children. I had a wonderful experience there, so I want to continue to do this. But as a volunteer. And I’m planning now, I’m going to go there soon…I’ve been splitting my time.
it. Teaching children for me, it’s a great joy. Don’t make money, but you get a lot of joy, where everyday, at the end of the day, I get home happy. That is beautiful. Are there any final things that you want to say that you haven’t said? Or do you have any plugs for work of your own or the work of others? Events that you’d like us to keep an eye out for in the coming months? Let me see…related to my own work, I’m planning now
That’s another topic. That’s another story. (Laughter.) But I am working on my book now, so that’s what my plan is now, to have an exhibition, and then getting to this book that has been in process, that has been on the back burner for two decades. It should be a good book! Well…it will be my core. What I am. I’m just writing for myself. Not to publish it. To be a poet or something. It’s just a dialogue with myself. Very, very cool. Thank you so much, Sergio, for this interview!
Right. And being a Teaching Artist is an occupation that can allow you the freedom to do that. That’s the great thing about this. You can work, or you can not work. You have the option to take your leave, your sabbaticals. Now I want my eternal sabbaticals. (Laughter.) But I can’t live without children and art. It belongs to my life now. Forever. And I am prioritizing it. So I’m going to Brazil now in April, and I stay for two months. And there I divide my time between Sao Paulo and the beach. I can go and I work with the children there without any commitments, for the fun of it, for the joy of
to have an exhibition, to start exhibiting again because I stopped like ten years ago. I’d like to exhibit here and in Brazil, my paintings, and I’m on the verge of getting rid of some writer’s block, and I’m working on a book of poetry. We didn’t even talk about your poetry!
Interview by Kate Bell
www.katebell.info
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ARTS EDUCATION IN OSCEOLA COUNTY, FLORIDA BY MARCUS CRAWFORD GUY
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Recent Juilliard graduate, Matilda Sakamoto leads a warm-up before Dance class. Page 23 Photo Credit: Kristin Wessling (2014 workshop)
Teaching Artists Guild Newsletter: Issue 05
Lochwinnoch, Scotland. Small village, quiet life: home to a commonwealth rower; a distinguished poet; a gift shop; 3 churches; 3 pubs; and (until recently) a post office. Almost everyone is identifiable by their genetic make up. Population: 2,000.
Kissimmee, FL. A holiday destination: visit Mickey, get the thrills of rollercoasters and bring home souvenirs that let us taste, see and touch just a trace of the magic. Somewhere unknown - a place of un-reality, transient, somewhere you stay for just a moment, like any good dream.
The Juilliard School, New York City. The most revered artistic training institution in the world for musicians, dancers and actors alike - a Hogwarts of sorts in a city where dreams are realized.
So what do these three places have in common? Marcus Crawford Guy: a professional actor living the dream (or at least the pre-cursor to it) in New York City and a 2014 graduate of the Juilliard School Drama Division - their first and only Scotsman hailing from small town, Lochwinnoch. He graduated, the recipient of the Joseph W. Polisi Artist as Citizen Award and a huge advocate for arts education. This interest makes manifest in his position as co-director of stART Osceola, a unique arts workshop, which takes place annually in Osceola County, FL -- home to the town of Kissimmee. What is stART? How did it come to be? And what was the thinking behind it? stART Osceola was conceived in 2010, around the exact same time I was a high school senior applying to Juilliard. The program is the brainchild of professional actor and Kissimmee local, Evan Todd (4 th Man Out, Heathers: The Musical) and his middle school Drama teacher, Nina Cochran. While in training at Juilliard, Todd leaned heavily into the notion of Artist as Citizen, a concept that encourages students to realize their art forms in non-traditional environments with a heavy focus on sharing your craft offstage. The idea is detailed extensively in the book of the same title written by Juilliard’s President, Joseph W. Polisi. It led Todd to Arusha, Tanzania and to Ephraim, UT. But these experiences, while fulfilling, left Todd with questions about his hometown. Opportunity had afforded him the chance to leave, to see other places and to pursue his dreams beyond high school – but what about those with the same aspirations who hadn’t known the possibilities a college education could provide, who hadn’t had the confidence to harness their talent and make a career? Not through lack of effort, but lack of knowledge. And so stART was born… Todd created it as both a tribute to the community that had nurtured Page 24
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Nina Cochran & Evan Todd, former teacher and student reunited in NYC as collaborators Photo Credit: Kristin Wessling (2010)
his talent and as an insurance policy on the next wave of talent being cultivated there. Key principles from the Drama Division at Juilliard guided Todd’s vision for the program – community, collaboration, focus on process and rigorous programming. He hoped to develop an experience that would allow students to know what they were in for should they sign up to a conservatory edcuation. He wanted them to see the full benefit right from the first moment – a go-getter from a young age, Todd is not one for wasting time. But who would implement the program? And who would come? And most importantly, how would it be subsidized? Todd had seen first-hand the advantage of bringing artists-in-training to locations around the world. He knew that their energy and active pursuit of the same goals of Osceola County School District students would result in a rewarding experience for all involved. Similarly, Cochran had an inkling that given the opportunity to work with performing artists who had taken the next logical step, to prestigious college programs, people would be eager to get in the room. Cochran also knew that the hallmark of this program would be in holding a high standard, but not being exclusive only to those who could afford it. A third element that formed a cornerstone of her Page 25
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Student Marina in Improv & Games Class. She is one of a handful of students to attend the program each year since its inception in 2010. Photo Credit: Kristin Wessling (2014 workshop)
partnership with Todd was her commitment to getting school district employees, experts in a variety of other creative fields, involved – including her husband, Randy, who, with the help of 7 or 8 students) acts as Technical Director, Stage Manager, Set Designer and Head of Construction. Ideas formed, Cochran and Todd turned to local bookkeeper and arts enthusiast, Lorena Bruneau to see how they could make this a reality. Avoiding too much detail – seed money from the Juilliard Summer Grants program, along with continued support from the Education Foundation in Osceola County have made it possible to see over 150 students through the program annually in addition to paying for 12 Teaching artists (either in training, or early career professionals) for the nominal fee of just $40 from each participating student. For the entire two weeks! Meals included!! It takes a village to ensure that the funds remain there year after year, but with the support of District Fine & Performing Arts Resource Specialist, Debbie Fahmie, the program has become prioritized, especially as we see our graduates moving on to acquire life-changing scholarships to some of the top programs in the country. This year stART offered its first college scholarships to support two graduating artists who embody the essence of our work. It is important to mention that stART would not be possible without the support of Osceola County Superintendents who advocate for the program annually to secure significant funding from the School Board, which acts as payment for our Osceola Team. Without this financial contribution our Osceola Team wouldn’t be able to offer the time year round that is necessary to get such a large-scale program on its feet. The School Board also offers access to our facilities at no cost, which allows us to operate at the grand scale we do. We also have a committed team of volunteers & arts enthusiasts who organize fundraising events year round, which allow us to fly in artists for auditions and meet costs that arise in the process of planning. The program and our New York City teaching team arrive at the end of a long and rigorous year of planning. All of that to say – it is truly a community effort getting the program on its feet. So what happens on the program? What does a day-in-the-life look like? And how do you organize the time of over 150 students with only 12 Teaching Artists? Initially, there was no audition for the program, but year one proved so successful that more than 250 students expressed interest in attending in year two. We decided that with bridging the gap to college being our focus, we could only take students that were rising 7th graders and older and that an audition was necessary. However, it felt unfair to make this solely talent-based and so the key traits we search for in potential students are enthusiasm, willingness and curiPage 26
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osity. With such a large student body, we are also looking for self-starters and students who are willing to take risks. The audition looks like this: applicants prepare an initial audition in the major of their choosing – drama, dance, choral, creative writing, technical theatre, visual arts or instrumental. Those who show promise are invited to attend a callback later that day. There, we set a task that requires students to collaborate and create a short performance. Students may audition and be accepted in more than one major of study, but they can only choose one (for ease of programming, and not to discourage their multiplicity). The selected ensemble (of no more than 180 students) sign-up to a 10 day intensive, which takes place over the course of two weeks. This begins with a performance from the Teaching Artists, and ends with a completely original devised work performed by the company of artists. Each day can be broken down into 3 distinct sections: Class Time, Major Hour & Creativity, which are carefully designed to expose students to as many artistic viewpoints as possible. Musicians will take dance class, actors will sing and visual artists will speak text. It’s about creating a community through mutual respect for everyone’s individual talent. Students are split up by age during Class Time and circulate 5 different classes. They study: Acting, which delineates a clear process for working on text; Movement, which teaches students to use the full expressive range of their physical instrument; Improv & Play, which encourages students to find the game in their work; Making Noise, which is our way of saying Voice and Speech/ Singing (it just takes pressure off making a “nice” noise); and Dance, which asks students to engage their bodies in struc-
Teaching Artist, Jessica Savage leads and exercise encouraging breath support in extreme physical postures. Photo Credit: Kristin Wessling (2011 Workshop)
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tured phrases, repetitive action and technique. Major Hour has dual-purpose. Firstly, we want the students to have a place where their specific pursuits following high school can be discussed with people in their field. Arts Teachers from Osceola County are crucial resource for this. They facilitate classes in Creative Writing, Technical Theatre and Visual Arts – fields that make our program truly all-encompassing and not simply a micro-version of Juilliard. We use this time to craft original work for our final performance: a piece of choreography, a musical number, an orchestration for our musicians and a visual arts element that finds life on stage. Our Band Director and Choral Director really get to show their expertise in Major Hour, addressing up to 50 artists during this time, an acquired skill that we do not expect students out of New York City to readily possess. There is no point in the program where any given person, from director to student, is not in a position of learning. That is the draw for everyone involved - this is a place to both share skills learned and be taught new ones. The final piece of the puzzle, Creativity is when we mix students of all disciplines and ages and ask them to create a performance based on our theme. It’s about combining all of our skills and experience to create something that clearly conveys an idea or tells a story. We only ask that all material is devised or accessible within the public domain. This ensures maximum creativity and clears the issue of property rights. In the first four years, Creativity took fairly open ended themes and gave the students free reign, but we now challenge ourselves to create a performance that is cohesive and legible to a viewer that doesn’t live day to day in a creative industry – and let’s face it, that’s the majority of our audience. The success of this is fully dependent on the source material we offer our students as inspiration. In 2014 we devised work looking specifically at the court of King Louis XIV and last year we took on Vaudeville and the Ziegfeld Follies. This summer we will look at modes of communication throughout time focusing on language, storytelling, gestures and symbols. A secondary benefit of this is that working with a traditionally educational theme makes it easier to invite in educators and professionals in non-artistic fields and have them see the program’s value. In addition to these three main elements, we always find time for students to reflect, share, and listen on the program. We finish week 1 with a ‘jam-session’, which allows students to informally improvise and collaborate with other artists, often in a non-verbal manner. The energy is invariably contagious, celebratory and without judgment. It is testament to the confidence, belief and respect our entire teaching team instill in the student body in just 5 short days. To ensure our students are aware of the scope of options available to them after high school, we host an annual college talk. This is designed to steer their focus to What’s next? , to scholarships and to further education choices long before they think they need to. We offer creative ideas to make them stand out in the college application process, encourage them to use us as resources (even once the program has finished) and to aim higher than they believe possible. This, really, is where the program’s title stART finds its essential meaning. We want to be the springboard that allows students to feel energized and confident in the pursuit of their long-term goals – the place where they begin.
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The team from New York City is typically comprised of 2 dancers, 8 actors, and 2 musicians. We find that a diverse teaching team only offers our students more perspective, dispelling more myths about the college audition process. We like to bring a mix of undergraduate and graduate students to emphasize the fact that, excepting dance, we all have time to lay the appropriate groundwork to reach our long-term goals. It’s about encouraging our students to take the first step on the path that is built for their specific needs. When the program concludes each year, our students go off into their new school term invigorated and our New York team hopefully return to their own studies or career with renewed momentum. But, it is our Osceola Team, who our students cross paths with regularly, that serve up constant reminders of the experience we shared. They encourage students to have the same energy and enthusiasm they had on a Friday afternoon in July, on a Tuesday morning in December when their belief in their abilities may be fading. Now that 6 years have past it is clear to see the success of our students and the efforts of our teaching artists and Osceola Team. Danielle Brooks (Orange is the New Black) taught with us in 2010 and has just received a Tony nomination for her Broadway debut in The Color Purple. She taught Angelique Rivera who attended the program that same year and just made her network television debut in a series regular role on American Crime Story. We hope that be those two communities will begin finding more professional connections proving that the program is not about elitism or putting an idea of success on a pedestal. We simply want our students to believe that their own success is possible, encourage them in that direction and then share in that success with them. And so where does a Scotsman fit into this puzzle? I first visited Osceola County in 2011, enthusiastic to teach and thrilled to be spending summer break doing something socially conscious and not unrelated to my studies. I flew in to Orlando directly from Glasgow on a flight full of holidaymakers and immediately felt the buzz of Disney. It was bold, it was everywhere and it was exactly what everyone described. But it was not what I had come to see. I was met with a different buzz. Inside a middle school cafeteria I met 150 kids whose aspirations were ready to be propelled beyond what they knew to be possible. It struck me that while students could articulate their wants, their pursuit of them seemed to stall there – I can’t. It’s too hard. I’ll never make it to college. I thought of my family back home, my friends and their experiences in this very same place (and the sheer price tag on that), as well as my privilege to attend Juilliard – a dream that, though distant, was never questioned. It instantly became clear that Evan & Nina had created an experience that could act as the turning point in young people’s lives. I knew that it would live on structure, on money and on great organization but would only thrive on great enthusiasm and belief in the students. I knew I could offer this and I knew I would be back. I have returned to Osceola County every year since, mesmerized by the way the students challenge the paradigm I’ve built for myself of what’s possible within my craft. I learn repeatedly that being a teaching artist is less about helping by giving knowledge, advice or technique and more Page 29
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about entering an exchange, building a space where we can individually present ideas, amalgamate them, and create something larger than the abilities of one single mind. It revitalizes me and reminds me that my own work as an actor will shift and evolve and that I can still surprise myself. The students fuel me as I fuel them. In my role as co-director, I aim to challenge our students’ expectations, to present themes that put everyone – students and artists – in a position of active learning and to give the program the recognition it deserves by inviting in press agents, and working hard to keep caught up with social media (which is how I found TAG). Most of all, I want to make sure that the program is fun. This is the hardest part for me. Fiercely competitive in nature and determined to a fault, I often forget to look up, breathe in and celebrate the magnitude of what we have created. I want to see each student soar, and I won’t stop until I do.
Jazz Trumpet player and Teaching Artist, Riley Mulherkar leads a band rehearsal. Photo Credit: Kristin Wessling (2014 workshop)
Article by Marcus Crawford Guy, Co-Director, StArt Osceola Photo Credit: Kristin Wessling
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With family so far away from where it all happens and their Disney-fied associations with the word ‘Florida’, it often seems like stART is something of a secret I’m keeping. People don’t understand, or they get sidetracked, memories flood in and their nostalgia for a place is flavored differently from my own. I hope that one day they’ll see it: that my own Nina Cochran (an actress and teacher back in Paisley (as in the pattern)), Mhairi Gilbert of PACE Youth Theatre, will see that as she invested belief in me when I first got itchy to be on stage, I work fearlessly to do the same for others.
Teaching Artists Guild Newsletter: Issue 05
MEMBERSHIP 2.0 If you’ve been on the TAG website recently, you’ve noticed that our membership pages look a little different. Based on feedback we got from our members towards the end of last year, we reworked our membership program to make it even more useful and impactful for teaching artists. There are now two levels of membership for individuals, and we have added a membership level specifically for organizations. As an individual, you can join as a free member and access the majority of our member content and resources. You’ll get a bi-weekly email with updates from the field, job listings, and tips and tricks to make your life as a teaching artist easier. You’ll also get a member profile on our site, which means you’ll be easier to find if an arts organization is hiring in your area, and you’ll be better able to connect with other teaching artists in your area! Did we mention this level of membership is totally free?
BECOME A MEMBER TODAY Then, if you’re ready to step it up, we have a premium membership that brings you access to even more amazing resources. Premium members have access to special discounts on services like Fractured Atlas, website marketing tools, discounts on local art supply stores, and of course- the TAG Careington card! We also just added a TAG membership card that will be mailed to you after you sign-up, so you can proudly show the world you belong to a strong, professional community of teaching artists.
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Teaching Artists Guild Newsletter: Issue 05
WEBSITE UPDATES Hey! Kenny here, TAG’s membership director (and occasional website designer/developer). I am excited to announce to you the launch of a brand new website, accessible at www.teachingartistsguild.org. I wanted to take a minute to walk you through some of the nifty things we’ve added to the site, and ideas for how you can use the website to make your life as a teaching artist even better. First, why did we re-do our whole website? As I’m sure it’s always the case, several reasons led us to embark on a redesign of our site. For starters, the site we had been using was built on a free wordpress theme that just wasn’t that flexible. We wanted the site to be able to handle the exciting new projects we have planned for the next year (Teaching Artists Asset Map, Payscale Project, Social Justice Resource Database) and our current theme wouldn’t allow for those expansions. Second, TAG has matured a lot as an organization since our first site was built, and we wanted to create a design that more intuitively guided web users through our many resources, whether they were brand new to TAG or veteran members of TAG. Lastly, we wanted a facelift! We have received such great feedback about the design of the TAG Quarterly, and we wanted to add some of that same design focus to our website, to more vibrantly and professionally communicate the value and the voice of the field of teaching artistry.
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So, where are we now? The website now has a few new features. We have a member center, which is the go-to page for our members, where they can easily see (and use) the resources and perks available to them, and they can give us input on what perks and resources they want us to add next.
We have also added a national resource directory, which we will be focusing on greatly expanding over the next year. The vision is that this becomes the largest collection of resources for teaching artists of all levels and from all artistic backgrounds. Once we’ve expanded it fully, if you need to find a tool or resource related to teaching artistry, you’ll just do a quick search in this directory. If it’s not in the directory - it doesn’t exist! (That’s the vision at least.)
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We have now also added organizational memberships to our list of offerings, and therefore, this website now includes a new organizational membership page! We did this because many organiational leaders were asking us about ways they could support the teaching artist community, and we wanted to equip them with the tools they need to better support the TAs they hire.
Lastly, we have greatly expanded the member directory… check it out! There are so many new people here…
So that’s that! Please head on over and check it out. Send us feedback. Tell us what you want, that still isn’t there. Feel free to email me personally with any suggestions. Page 34
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BECOME A MEMBER OF TEACHING ARTISTS GUILD TODAY!
Teaching Artists Guild (TAG), a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives, is a member-driven organization committed to the professionalization and visibility of artists who teach. We are the voice of the teaching artist, communicating the depth and breadth of work that teaching artists provide our educational systems and communities.
You can support our work by becoming an Allied or Full member. Our membership provides Teaching Artists with the tools and resources they need to take their career to the next level. Want to learn more? Visit us on the web: www.teachingartistsguild.org
MembersHIP BENEFITS:
TAG Careington Card – comes with big discounts on Dental, Vision, Alternative Health Providers, Tax, Financial, and Legal services, LASIK Surgery, Pet Medications, Online Shopping, Identity Theft, Child and Elderly Care, and Concierge services. Need we say more? • • • • •
These services are not insurance.*
Free access to the TAG Job Board. Featured placement on the TAG Member Directory Placement on the Teaching Artist’s Asset Map Free access to the TAG Events Calendar Free and discounted in-person and online professional and social events and • Discounts to businesses and organizations in your area that provide you with the tools & experiences you need to enhance your art (shows, admissions, supplies)
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TEACHING ARTISTS GUILD
www.teachingartistsguild.org