training and preparation of teaching artists

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Training and Preparation of Teaching ArtistsPatti Saraniero aa University of San Diego and University of California , San DiegoPublished online: 06 Oct 2009.

To cite this article: Patti Saraniero (2009) Training and Preparation of Teaching Artists, Teaching Artist Journal,7:4, 236-243, DOI: 10.1080/15411790903158704

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Introduction

About fifteen years ago I welcomed our newly hired teachingartists to the first day of professional development. I was a verygreen education director in a regional theatre, full of enthusiasmand ready to lead these artists into greater capacity and more fullyrealized potential. I was loaded down with flip charts, handouts,and photocopied chapters to read. I personally loved academiclearning and ran the session in traditional “chalk and talk” style. I was writing on the flip charts, referring to those handouts, andhanding out the chapters. When we finished a few hours later, I looked up at the assembled artists. Some were asleep, some weredoodling. No one was engaged. One appeared to be payingattention (although I would swear she could sleep with her eyesopen). Gamely, I asked, “Any questions?” One brave artist halfraised his hand and hesitantly asked, “So, what did we learn … ?”The training, in a word, tanked.

Needless to say, I learned a lot about teaching artist professionaldevelopment that day (or, rather, what professional developmentfor TAs was not) and in the subsequent years have sought adviceand guidance in designing professional development for the artists I have employed. Much of this advice came from the artiststhemselves.

I recently completed a study about teaching artists during whichI gathered data about the experience of being a teaching artist.The study sprang from the recognition that there is a slim body ofresearch about teaching artists. Adding to this area of research wasan enticing opportunity to make a much-needed contribution to thefield. Not surprisingly, training and professional development forteaching artists was a big part of the data I collected. Once again,through this study, teaching artists taught me about professionaldevelopment.

236TEACHING ARTIST JOURNAL 7(4), 236-243Copyright © 2009, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

ABSTRACT

An in-depth surveyreveals surprising factsabout how TAs aretrained.

Training and Preparation of Teaching Artists

Correspondence regarding thisarticle should go to:

Patti [email protected]

Patti Saraniero

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Methodology

I studied teaching artists in my region ofthe country—San Diego County, California.San Diego County is large—geographically itis larger than most New England states. It isalso diverse. It encompasses one of thecountry’s largest cities as well as ruralfarming communities. We have wealthybeach towns, middle-class suburbs, and low-income urban centers. I believe that whatwas learned about teaching artists in thispart of the country will resonate with othercommunities as well.

A major challenge in studying teachingartists in San Diego County was findingthem. Teaching artists are not organizedhere. There is no organizing body or sharedform of communication. A six-month searchfor artists was conducted through artsLISTSERVs, arts organizations, universities,school districts, foundations, and publicagencies for the arts. Ninety-three workingteaching artists weresurveyed about theirworking conditions aswell as their overallexperience of being ateaching artist. Forthis study, a teachingartist was defined assomeone whoseprimary art form istheatre, dance, visualart, or music, as theseare the art areasidentified by theCalifornia K–12 visualand performing artsstandards. Inclusion in these categories wasbroad; for example, storytellers weregrouped in theatre. In addition, studyparticipants had to earn income both in theirart form and their teaching work. There wasno minimum income required as this can behighly variable in working artists. Finally,participants had to have provided at leastone educational service in a public school ordistrict sometime in the two years prior tothe study.

In addition to the survey, ten teachingartists were drawn from the surveyedsample and were interviewed at length. The

interviewees represented a diversity of artforms, ages, and ethnicities in order to drawon the broadest range of TA experiences.

Both qualitative and quantitative datawere gathered from the teaching artistsample. The qualitative data were drawnfrom the ten teaching artist interviews andthe open-ended questions on the teachingartist survey. Quantitative data came fromthe closed-ended questions on the teachingartist surveys. The quantitative andqualitative findings presented in this articleare integrated to offer greater depth andbreadth.

Demographics of the TeachingArtist Surveyed Sample

The ninety-three artists who participatedin the survey were mostly women (74%) aswell as mostly Caucasian (82%). Theaverage age was thirty-nine years old.

Theatre artists madeup the largestsegment ofparticipating teachingartists, with themajority identifyingas actors. Visualartists were the nextlargest group, withpainters the largestportion of visualartists.

The artists in thesample were welleducated bystandards for most

professions. Fifty-one percent of the artistshad completed a bachelor’s degree. A master’s degree was held by 38% of thesample. Seventeen percent of therespondents held a terminal degree (MFA ordoctorate) in their area of expertise.Eighteen percent of the surveyed teachingartists held a teaching credential inCalifornia.

Surveyed artists provided a variety ofservices in schools. Eighty-one percentreported that they had taught about theirart form, whereas 54% indicated theyintegrated the arts to teach other content

Teaching Artist Journal 237

Teaching artist training would dowell to mimic arts trainingwhenever possible. Both mentoringand role modeling are approachesthat are traditional in preparingand training artists in their artforms and thus are familiar andaccessible to teaching artists.Historically, the master–apprentice model has defined howartists trained for work.

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Findings

This section describes aspects of howteaching artists trained for their work. Thefirst part reviews where teaching artists findtraining. The second part draws on theinterview data to examine how teachingartists utilize experiential learning as aprimary mode of training. The third partfocuses on the importance of mentors inpreparing for teaching artist work. The finalsection addresses the challengingrelationship between training and artmaking,as well as the question of credentialingteaching artists.

Where Do Teaching ArtistsReceive Training?

The majority of the surveyed teachingartist sample had training to prepare themfor their work as teaching artists. Artistswere then asked to answer the question,“This training or education to prepare you tobe a teaching artist was provided by …” andthe largest number of respondents identifieda college or university as a source of training(Table 1). Arts organizations were the nextmost frequent provider of training, with 55%of respondents having been trained there.Artists were not asked follow-up questionsabout the types of training (or its content)from each of these sources, so inferencesthat can be drawn here are limited.

There was limited description in theinterviews of organized professionaldevelopment for teaching artists. Only twoof the ten interviewees described attendingteaching artist trainings. Both Sarah theactor and Kelly the singer attended suchtrainings. Sarah was trained by an artsorganization, and Kelly was trained by aschool district. Both positively described in-depth trainings that covered such topics ascurriculum and classroom management.

How Are Artists Training forTeaching Artist Work?

The interviewed teaching artists describedless structured and more informal

areas. Fifty-three percent of respondentsreported performing in schools, and thesame percentage reported teaching an after-school program. Curriculum developmentwas reported by 37% of the TAs as wasproviding professional development forteachers. The smallest percentage ofrespondents at 18.5% coached teachersone-on-one.

From the ninety-three surveyed artists,ten teaching artists were interviewed. Theseartists represented a range of experienceand art forms. Some were veteran teachingartists who had been in the field for over 20years. Others were new, having just foundteaching artist work. Some described apassionate and successful attitude towardtheir teaching artist work, while others werediscouraged or disliked it. I would like tointroduce the interviewed artists who arefeatured in this article. All names arepseudonyms. Eight of the ten interviewedartists discussed their professionaldevelopment experiences as teaching artistsand are included here.

Xavier is an eclectic choreographer andthe artistic director for a long-standingdance company in Southern California. Kellyis a singer and arts educator with a broadrange of performance and teaching credits inmusical theater and opera both locally andthroughout the United States. Carol firstrealized her talent as a dancer with aPhilippine dance company. It was in thisorganization that she learned of theimportance of cultural identity and artseducation. Elaine works in the artscommunity as a pianist, musical director,conductor, choral director, vocal coach, andteacher. She is first and foremost a pianist,having performed as soloist with severalorchestras. John is a trombonist. Heperforms and tours extensively and teachesat area universities and colleges and has anumber of private students. He is a doctoralcandidate in music. Jennifer is a painter.She carries on with teaching, her mural andpainting commissions, as well as showingher work with galleries across the country.Sarah is an actor, director, playwright, andthe artistic director of an up-and-comingtheatre company. Milton is an actor andretired classroom teacher and principal.

238 2009 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 4


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approaches to learning about teaching.There were two key methods they used—experiential learning and mentoring.

Experiential Learning.Among the interviewed teaching artists,

experiential learning was the most frequentresponse as to how they prepared for thiswork. Seven of the ten interviewed teachingartists reported learning about teaching inthe “doing.” Elaine the pianist recognizedthis approach to learning was commonamong her fellow teaching artists. “There’s alot of very talented and very experiencedartists who have years in the classroom withkids, who know about classroom discipline,who’ve learned so much on the job. There’sso much hands-on teaching experience inthis.”

Milton the actor’s stories about his firstyears teaching highlight the fact educationdoes not always trump experience. Miltondescribed his first year of teaching, fresh outof school, having had a wide variety ofmethods course but little experientiallearning in teaching. He described his firstyear of teaching with a challengingclassroom of fifth graders.

I had about 10 rules on the boardsomebody had suggested in somemethods class. They said, whenteaching you need a plan. But Icouldn’t keep up with the rules myself.I punished some kid for something andthey’d say, “But yesterday Suzy didthat and you didn’t do anything toher.” I’d think, that’s right, I didn’t. I thought, I don’t even know my ownrules! I just put that up there becausesomebody told me it was a good idea.[Finally] I reduced that down to abouttwo or three basic rules—things that I was a stickler with.

Jennifer the painter stood out in contrastamong the interviewed teaching artists inthat her approach to her hands-on learningwas very deliberate, thought-out, and notimprovisational.

When I’m painting, I actually thinkabout exactly what I’m doing so thatwhen I teach I can break it downclearly. Even before I startedteaching—because I knew I wanted toteach—I would be painting and I wouldbe taking notes about what I wasdoing, so I could share it later.


Table 1Where Teaching Artists Find Training for TA Work

No. of Respondents Frequency

Trained for TA work?a

Yes 49 71.0%No 22 29.0%

Where artists were trainedb

Through college or university 32 65.3%Through arts organizations 27 55.1%Through a public agency 8 16.3%Through a school district 7 14.2%Through a foundation 3 6.1%Through mentoringc 2 4.1%Through hands-on learningc 2 4.1%

Note. Participants could select more than one response.an = 71.bn = 49.cThese options were provided responses to an open-ended answer, “Other training.”


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said, “My life was changed by a teacher. If ithadn’t been for [my mentor], I’d be aveterinarian somewhere. And I hate blood.So, I know what kind of difference a teachercan make in someone’s life.”

Interestingly, Carol the dancer struggledwith her teaching artist work, yet she wasquick to identify a teaching mentor who wasan influential choreographer. “[My mentor’s]teaching is so understandable and it is sorelaxed. She doesn’t expect too much toosoon. I attempt to base my teaching onhers.” A piece of Carol’s frustration withteaching artist work was being unable tobridge what she had learned from hermentor to her own experiences in theclassroom. Carol’s dance work was deeplyembedded in her Filipino cultural roots andshe worked very hard to meet its artisticand cultural demands. Her mentor wassomeone who garnered great respect in thecommunity for her choreography, includingfrom Carol. So when Carol began teachingartist work, she was unprepared for the lackof respect she perceived from studentstoward her art form, her culture and herdance. Her frustration with this disrespectled her to largely abandon her teachingartist work.

There were other unique role models thatemerged for the artists’ teaching work.Elaine the pianist credits the manyconductors she played for as role models. Asan accompanist, she was able to watchthem in rehearsal and performance,providing her with invaluable and uniquetutorials in teaching music.

Kelly the vocalist and Jennifer the painterboth credited more experienced teachingartists in helping them develop theirteaching skills. Jennifer’s attempt tocultivate an older artist as a mentor failedbut led her to find a resource in acontemporary.

There was a woman who was older andI really thought she was going to bethis great mentor. I was really excitedabout it. [But I discovered] she was sofar along in her teaching and so set inher ways that she wasn’t good for me.The people that I’ve been workingwith, they are at least my age or a few

These artists described the developmentof their own teaching—whether it be theirart form or the integration of their art forminto other content areas—as something theylearned in the “doing.” Even with somepreparation, such as Milton had in atraditional teaching methods course, forsome artists learning about teaching sprangfrom the experience of teaching.

Mentors.The aspect of the training experience that

was most vividly described by theinterviewed teaching artists was their workwith a mentor. Eight of the ten interviewedteaching artists described a significantmentor who had provided a good teachingmodel for them. Often these mentors werepeople with whom the teaching artiststhemselves had studied with as students.

Throughout the interviews there weredescriptions of teachers who had modeledgood teaching when the artists themselveswere students. Many of the interviewedartists asserted that their own teaching is areflection or even an imitation of theirmentor’s teaching style. Elaine the pianistdescribed her childhood piano instructor,who helped her win several significant pianocompetitions. Elaine went on to teach in hermentor’s studio.

I learned a lot [about teaching] from[my mentor]—just from being taughtby her. Just mirroring and applyingthings that she had given me as a kid.[Then] growing up and seeing herwhen I work in her studio and applyingthat even to my public school [teachingartist] work.

Xavier the choreographer’s mentor wasparticularly meaningful in shaping hisprofessional life. About his mentor’s role infocusing Xavier on dance as a career, he


Gamely, I asked, “Any questions?”One brave artist half raised hishand and hesitantly asked, “So, what did we learn … ?” The training, in a word, tanked.


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years older. That’s old enough. You’restill sparky with your teaching at thatpoint, you know what I mean? You’renot all rote. I’ve learned more from mypeers—people my own age, particularlyAmy [a fellow teaching artist]. I’velearned from Amy—a lot. Ask a lot ofquestions. She has been a hugeresource.

John the trombonist had several mentorsbut was the only interviewed teaching artistwho included a credentialed music teacheras being a mentor. Earlier in his career, Johnassisted a middle school band teacherwhose work is a model for how John teachestoday.

He is a tremendous educator. A lot ofpeople think middle schoolers have nobusiness playing and his top bandsounds like a really good high schoolband. That’s how fantastic they are.They are not great players individuallybut he is just fantastic to getting themto overachieve. What is really neatwith him is that he is so disciplinedthat when he says something is notacceptable, he’ll stop and nail you onit. He never lets it go. They know notto test him. They know his lines andyet he is so loving and kind. He wasjust so incredible to me. I learned a lotfrom him.

Training and Its Relationship WithArt Production

In addition to learning about specificartists’ training experiences, the survey datafrom this study revealed a fascinatingrelationship between training and artmaking.Professional development had a relationshipwith the amount of time teaching artistsspent on their artwork and not on theirteaching. Artists who had any kind ofteaching artist training worked 35 hours amonth less at their art form than those whohad no training at all. Those who weretrained to be teaching artists by schooldistricts worked 149 hours less per month attheir art than those who were not trained bydistricts. However, teaching artists who

received training through a college oruniversity worked 35 hours a month more attheir art than artists who received trainingelsewhere.

These findings suggest that perhapscertain types of training can emphasize ordeemphasize an artist’s professionalartwork. Training from a school district islikely to focus on instructional and curriculartopics, such as classroom management andstate standards. It may not recognize orfoster artistic development. However,teaching training received at a universitymay complement the artistic education ofthe artist. University training might be morelikely to foster both the art and theteaching. Higher education may be moresuccessful at integrating the teaching andartmaking in part because there is a longtradition of university faculty juggling theseelements as well.

Professional Development andCredentialing

The culmination of training in manyprofessions and fields is a certificate orcredential. Credentialing or certification ofteaching artists is a topic that is underdiscussion in many communities across thecountry. Teaching artists were asked howthey felt about a specific teaching artistcredential and would they pursue one, wereit available (Table 2). The majority of thesurveyed sample said there should not be acredential for teaching artists. However,nearly as many teaching artists said theywould indeed pursue such a credential.

During the interviews, several of theinterviewees expressed disinterest inearning a credential or did not see how theywould benefit from having one. Elaine thepianist said, “I’d be a fool, in my opinion, togo get a credential right now when theykeep cutting the arts. Why would you go geta teaching credential when nobody’s fundingthe arts?”

Kelly the vocalist was the lone voiceamong the interviewees in favor of acredential, but one designed specifically forteaching artists. She felt that some sort oftraining or certification would be useful to



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also suggests that mentoring is clearly awell-utilized training model for teachingartists and should be further explored anddeveloped. Mentoring as an effective form oflearning for teaching artists has beendemonstrated elsewhere in the literature(Seidel).

Teaching artist training would do well tomimic arts training whenever possible. Bothmentoring and role modeling are approachesthat are traditional in preparing and trainingartists in their art forms and thus arefamiliar and accessible to teaching artists.Historically, the master–apprentice modelhas defined how artists trained for work.The master–apprentice model was, ofcourse, not perfect in earlier centuries.However, it became a model of training thatpassed unique knowledge and skills downthrough generations. The soprano ReneeFleming noted how the evolution of thismodel influenced her own preparation for acareer in opera.

There are many pieces involved inassembling the voice, and no oneteacher can provide everything that isneeded. … There were also dozens ofsmaller lessons from other coaches andteachers along the way, and I broughtthem all together in incrementalstages. (67)

The findings from this study suggest thatlike Ms. Fleming there are many sourcesfrom which artists can draw on for learning.Indeed, there may not be one ideal route ofprofessional development for teaching artists

“bridge the gap between the schools and thearts organizations.” Kelly saw the credentialas a “seal of approval,” indicating an artisthad certain skills and knowledge. She wassensitive to the lack of teaching preparation,fearing that untrained teaching artists inschools give the trained ones a bad name.

I think a lot of teaching artists don’tspeak the language [of schools] anddon’t really understand that they haveto. So they are sent into schoolswithout knowing the language [ofschools] and without preparing in away teachers will feel confident thatthey know what they are doing.

Kelly felt that arts organizations inparticular were responsible for providingtraining and maintaining the quality ofteaching artists in schools. “Some people inarts organizations do not understand thelanguage [of schools]. Competent artists arehired, but without the right training, theyare sent into the schools not knowing whatthey are expected to know.” In the end,though, Kelly doubted that the idea of acredential would be well received by otherteaching artists.

Conclusion

This study suggests that teaching artistsdo not currently have a formal path ofprofessional development in their work butrather are putting together professionaldevelopment in individual ways. This study


Table 2Teaching Artists’ Attitude About a TA Credential

No. ofStatement Respondentsa Frequency

There should be a TA credential 28 40.0%

There should not be a TA credential 42 60.0%

I would pursue a TA credential if there was one 39 55.7%

I would not pursue a TA credential if there was one 31 44.3%

an = 70.


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but a variety of approaches and methodsthat meet with success.

This study also found that teaching artistswho were trained by school districts spentless time at their art than artists who weretrained elsewhere. It is critical thatprofessional development providers continueto support teaching artists in thedevelopment of their artwork as well as intheir teaching. Training cannot compromiseteaching artists’ artwork but must foster it.Trainers need to consider the whole artist.To focus only on developing the teachingskills, we risk abandoning the very thing wevalue—the artist.

The majority of the sampled teachingartists reported not wanting to becertificated for their work but nearly thesame percentage said they would becertificated if such a thing were instituted.Teaching artists also expressed very littleinterest in earning a teaching credential.What is clear from the findings of this studyis that any type of certificate must bedeveloped in conjunction with the teachingartist community.

Teaching artists are a little-studiedpopulation, and this study makes initialsteps toward understanding theirpreparation for work in public schools. Thisstudy has laid some preliminarygroundwork, but much is left to exploreabout the topic. Further study into this topicshould consider an additional area of future

research. The field would benefit from aninvestigation as to why schools do not useteaching artists. Some variables areapparent, such as cost and lack of timeduring the school day. But looking beyondthese variables is important—many schoolsthat use teaching artists also face thesesame problems. Are there philosophicalbeliefs held by school leadership about therole of the arts and teaching artists in publiceducation? How might a principal’s orteacher’s own arts education—or lackthereof—influence the use or nonuse ofteaching artists at schools? How do parentsparticipate in and influence the decisionmaking to utilize teaching artists in schools?Researchers and practitioners have theopportunity to build on these findingsthrough inquiry and reflection on the roleand preparation of professional artists inpublic education.


There were other unique rolemodels that emerged for the artists’teaching work. Elaine the pianistcredits the many conductors sheplayed for as role models. As anaccompanist, she was able to watchthem in rehearsal and performance,providing her with invaluable andunique tutorials in teaching music.

Works Cited

• Fleming, Renee. The Inner Voice: The Making of a Singer. New York: Viking, 2004.

• Seidel, Steve. “Stand and Unfold Yourself: A Monograph on the Shakespeare & CompanyResearch Study.” Champions of Change. Ed. E. Fiske. Washington, DC: Arts EducationPartnership, 1998. 79–90.

Dr. Patti Saraniero is a program evaluator for arts organizations, non-profits, and schooldistricts. She is also a lecturer in the theatre departments at the University of San Diego andUniversity of California, San Diego. Previously, she directed the education programs at La Jolla Playhouse and the Old Globe Theatre.


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training and preparation of teaching artists

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