Teaching Artists: Visual Art, Design, Music, Music production, Theater, Poetry, Dance, Entrepreneurship, Career

Teaching Artist Position

Dream Yard is currently accepting applications for Teaching Artists in Visual Art, Design, Music, Music Production, Theater, Poetry, Dance, Entrepreneurship, Career Readiness, and more for the 2023-24 school year. We are looking for passionate, experienced candidates with a strong practice in teaching for social justice and racial equity for in-school, after-school, and summer residency opportunities at our Bronx partner schools and the Dream Yard Art Center.

TAs must have demonstrated previous experience teaching in their discipline, in NYC public school settings or youth-centered spaces.

Dream Yard’s Teaching Artists are a powerful force in moving our educational system towards racial equity. Dream Yard Teaching Artists are highly skilled artists and educators, committed to creating equitable learning spaces through collaborative teaching practices and social justice pedagogy. They report directly to the Program Director and are supported by Dream Yard Department Heads and Program Coordinators.

In our In School Programs, TA’s work closely with classroom teachers and school administrators. In School Residences are 90-minute or 45 minute sessions per classroom, per week plus weekly planning sessions with the classroom teacher from September through May (30 sessions).

In After School (school-based) Programs, Teaching Artists lead two 90-minute sessions per class, per week from September/October through May/June (60 sessions).

Out-of-School Programs at our Dream Yard Art Center closely mirror the structure of our In School Programs. Teaching Artists lead one to two 90-minute sessions per week and Saturday High School Program Teaching Artists lead 4 hour sessions each Saturday. Art Center Program Residencies run for 25 sessions (October through May).

In our Legacy Internship Program residencies, Teaching Artists provide real work experiences as well as build career awareness and readiness by unlocking industry-specific knowledge, skills, and networks. Teaching Artists in these residencies exhibit expertise in entrepreneurship within their artform through an educational degree and/or professional accomplishments. A thorough understanding of Work-based Learning and its unique benefits and challenges in bridging the distance between work and school is a plus for this position.

Qualifications:

• Expertise in an arts discipline exhibited through an educational degree and/or professional accomplishment (published writing, exhibited artwork, performance experience etc.).
• Minimum two years full-time (or the equivalent, e.g. 4 years part-time) teaching an arts discipline in a school and/or community-based setting. Teaching experience in NYC public schools preferred.
• Bachelor's degree and/or Masters degree in arts discipline or related area.
• Department of Education fingerprinting (PETS) will be required (cost partially covered by Dream Yard).

Responsibilities:

• Design and facilitate robust project-based learning through a social justice lens.
• Residencies can include up to 9 hours of weekly planning meetings (with classroom teachers for In School residencies);
• Providing instruction in the arts (development of skills in arts disciplines consistent with NYC Blueprint) and through the arts (the achievement of academic goals as outlined in a school’s curriculum) by:
• Teaching and planning for 2-8 in-schools per week and/or possibly as many as 4 after schools per week;
• Developing long-term project-based unit designs (in collaboration with classroom teachers for In School residencies)
• Assessing participant learning based on learning goals and residency objectives;
• Organizing at least 2 sharings of student work.

For In-School Residencies:

• Working in close collaboration with classroom teacher partners to:
• Plan lessons and projects during one in-person 45-minute planning session per week (and via email and phone as well, when necessary);
• Share skills with the teacher to build capacity for arts instruction at the school;
• Co-teach lessons in which both TA and teacher partner have clear roles and responsibilities for generating student learning;
• Coordinate at least one trip to an NYC cultural institution and/or one…