CAL Partners to Develop and Launch Ohio Teaching Artist Roster
The Center for Arts-Inspired Learning (CAL) and its arts and education partners across the state have developed and launched the Ohio Teaching Artist Roster with a new online search tool to help connect communities with well-qualified teaching artists across the state of Ohio. Available on the Ohio Arts Council’s (OAC) website, the Ohio Teaching Artist Roster is designed for use by the public, particularly educators, to assist in identifying teaching artists who can lead high-quality, arts-integrated creative opportunities that are aligned with academic content standards. Teaching artists are professional artists who are also trained in improving student outcomes through arts education.
CAL has partnered with the OAC, Ohio Alliance for Arts Education, OhioDance, and VSA Ohio to develop the Ohio Teaching Artist Roster. These partner organizations share administrative maintenance responsibilities and manage the roster and related professional development opportunities.
“We are grateful to have worked with our fellow arts and education organizations on this unique partnership,”said Marsha Dobrzynski, CAL’s Executive Director. “Being able to maximize our collective expertise throughout this collaboration has allowed us to define the role of teaching artist at the state level. These newly established guidelines and qualifications help ensure access to high quality arts education to children across Ohio.”
The roster is searchable by art form and focus, geography, and other key criteria. Educators can currently browse 44 profiles of individuals or organizations specializing in a variety of arts disciplines—ranging from comic and graphic novels to film and media. Working as both professional artists and educators, teaching artists partner with schools and other educational providers to supplement and build on existing arts and non-arts curricula.
Those listed on the roster underwent an extensive application review and approval process before being accepted. Applicants were asked to provide sample lesson plans, their teaching artist philosophies, examples of specific arts-related teaching experiences, and a portfolio of past artistic accomplishments, among other materials. To maintain their status on the roster, teaching artists commit to participating in ongoing professional development to sharpen their skills necessary for collaborating with schools, educators, and learners of diverse abilities and backgrounds.The roster will be updated annually to ensure that returning artists’ information remains current and to give more artists the opportunity to apply. Teaching artists interested in applying to join the Ohio Teaching Artist Roster can do so in the spring of 2020, when applications will again be accepted. The roster is open to working artists living in Ohio.