Teaching Artist Research Project

As evidence of the power and value of arts education has mounted, the work of teaching artists has assumed new strategic meaning for the arts and education. These hybrid practitioners of art and education have pioneered a new generation of initiatives that transform young people’s lives, produce compelling and authentic art, and help build communities.

Teaching artists work in arts organizations, in schools, and a wide array of community settings, from parks and prisons to community schools of the arts.  They lead the outreach and educational programs that are key to strategies to expand and engage new audiences.  They create decisive “gateway” experiences for young people and other audiences, and enrich experiences for existing ones.  They expand opportunities for early experiences in the arts, particularly in public schools; and lower barriers to arts participation by providing informal education opportunities for adults.  Their best efforts in schools are redefining the roles the arts play in public education and transforming classrooms, school culture, and student experiences.  Teaching artists’ work is vital to the future of the arts, public education and communities, yet we know very little about them. 

The Teaching Artist Research Project (TARP) is a two-year initiative that will focus attention on the human resources at the core of high quality arts education.  It will begin with studies of Chicago and Boston, and eventually include six cities.  It has three principal objectives:

 - It will collect demographic, economic, artistic, and educational data about teaching artists.  Who does this work, what are their educational and artistic backgrounds, how have they learned the skills of teaching artistry, and what are the terms and conditions of their work?

- It will deepen our understanding of the supports, conditions, professional standards and development that teaching artists need to do their very best work. 

- It will offer practical policy suggestions designed to support teaching artists and advance their practice.   

TARP will help us understand more about the ecology of the field, and stimulate policy discussions focused on concrete and practical efforts to support the human resources of teaching artistry in each study site and nationally.     

We have partnered with the National Research Opinion Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago to conduct the TARP study.  NORC is a nationally renowned organization whose mission is to conduct high quality social science research in the public interest.  Our approach will include focus groups, surveys, and in-depth interviews that provide comparative data among the study sites.  For more information about NORC and its projects, visit www.norc.org.