Teaching Artist Symposium

The Teaching Artist symposium is a hands-on professional development event designed specifically to meet the educational needs of teaching artists and arts educators. Participants leave with actionable solutions to real world challenges and innovative ideas and resources to expand both their artistic and teaching practice.

Agenda
8:30 - 9:00 Arrival and breakfast
9:00 Welcome
9:15 - 10:30 Master Class #1
10:45 - 12:00 Master Class #2
12:00 Lunch
12:45 - 1:45 Tour Hewitt Collection at the August Wilson Center
2:00 - 3:15 Workshops in response to Hewitt Collection
(led by Celeta Hickman, Anqwenique Wingfield, and Aaron Crutchfield)
3:15 - 4:15 Facilitated reflection and discussion

Master Classes

Teaching Artists in Communities (Amber Coppings & James Brown)
One of the unifying and driving forces behind Teaching Artistry is the need to engage our communities with the tools that help us create positive changes in our own lives through art, music, dance, language, and other creative processes. At the same time, we hope to provide opportunities for authentic dialogue and sharing within and about these experiences. Hear the stories of artists who both administer and teach arts programs in our local communities. Relate to their stories while reflecting on your own. How are you already participating in community-oriented projects? Brainstorm how you might enhance your pre-existing programs or how you can possibly start your own.

Data Is Not a Cold Dead Thing: Infographics for Teaching Artists (Maggie Negrete)
Our experiences, our lives, our mistakes and successes, they can all get boiled down to numbers in a spreadsheet. Infographics help give life back to these figures and better tell our stories whether it is to funders, colleagues, parents or social media while still packing the punch of raw numbers. In this 75 minute workshop, we will explore the conceptual nature of data, learn best practices for design and application, and even experiment with expressing data through our bodies, voices and other art making activities. Computers not necessary.

Students, Art, and Social Justice (Derek Reese)
As an educator, you probably understand that art is a powerful tool that can give a voice to students who may feel voiceless. However, the classroom may seem like a formidable setting for art activities that explore the social issues that impact your student’s daily life in and out of school time.Topics such as violence in the communities, bullying, or race are often perceived as inflammatory to parents, school staff, or the students themselves, and therefore often not given the attention they deserve. With proper preparation, communication strategies, and support from school administration, art and activism can be a fun and educational means to engage your students in the civic process, to better develop empathy within the classroom, and to enrich your art curriculum.

Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction for Artists (Deanna Burkett)
Sometimes change has to begin with you! As artists, we often are care-taking others, at our own expense. This session aims to develop skills that can be flexibly applied in everyday life to stress, pain, and illness. Through experiential learning and discussions, participants are introduced to and refine a range of self-regulatory skills that involve finely tuned attention to thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations.

The Teaching Artist symposium is a joint initiative of the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, Pittsburgh Filmmakers /Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust / Gateway to the Arts, and made possible in part by funding from the Grable Foundation.