http://tajournal.com/
1. How long have you been a teaching artist?
I've been a teaching artist since 2002.
2. What discipline(s) do you teach?
I teach theatre.
3. Describe the setting(s) in which you teach.
(K-5, after school, university, community center, etc…)
I've taught in all of the above settings. Most often, I
teach in K-12 school settings in rural Alaska schools.
4. Who shaped your initial thinking about teaching art?
My first teaching artist experiences after college were
while I was a company member with Aquila Theatre Company-- members of that
group helped me learn ways to teach Shakespeare that can be playful and
accessible.
When I moved to Juneau, Alaska, I found two great mentors--the
woman who then ran the high school theatre program, and another woman who
designs programs and writes grants for rural arts projects. They've guided me,
respectively, on good strategies for modeling performance for young people, and
on navigating cross-cultural landscapes as an educator. They also both took
risks with me, signing me on to projects that were beyond my past experience
and which stretched me.
Before all that, I started getting involved in theatre in middle
school, with a children's theatre in north Georgia. The director of that theatre
was a big influence on me. She had a huge passion for making art at a high
standard and making it accessible to kids and families.
5. Describe the relationship between your personal art
practice and your art teaching?
I see the two as coexistent and feeding each other. There have
been times when I've opted to accept a teaching gig over performing or
directing a professional project. Among many other things, teaching theatre has
helped me become more facile with articulating my processes and techniques as
an actor and director.
6. How do you sustain your art while teaching?
I seek out TA opportunities in which I can experiment
artistically in ways that I couldn't or am not ready to do with adults. For
example, in 2011-12 I did a year-long puppetry project with a school district.
I wouldn't have felt comfortable telling adults I could teach them to build
puppets--but I told the kids that! And we all learned together.
7. What training in the arts and/or education have you
had?
I went to undergrad at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts for
Drama and English. I also spent one summer back at NYU in their graduate
program for Educational Theatre. I've participated in several summer Basic Arts
Institutes for educators through the Alaska Arts Education Consortium. A lot of
my learning has been by doing.
8. What are the biggest challenges you face as a teaching
artist?
I think my biggest challenges include finding consistent,
adequate planning time with teachers. My dream gigs are those in which I really
feel like I'm co-teaching with a teacher, that s/he is learning alongside me
and I alongside him/her. But it doesn't often happen that way. Part of the
reason it doesn't is because teachers have way too much on their plates to
begin with.
Another challenge I face, in Alaska, is budget cuts. Two major
programs I depended on have gone away this year, and so the arts education
landscape is changing a bit. There are still plenty of opportunities here for
me for school engagements (thankfully), but my rate of pay has dropped
drastically, so I'm having to adjust my standard of living accordingly.
9. What are the unexpected rewards of being a teaching
artist?
I've lived in Juneau for 10 years now, and began doing
school arts projects my first year here. One thing I couldn't have anticipated
then is how well-connected I feel with the community because of the projects
I've done. I know lots of parents. Many kids who were in high school have gone
away to college and come back--or they never left--and now here they are, with
jobs and kids sometimes, and they're my peers now. I love it.
10. What advice do you have for other artists interested
in teaching?
Do it!
Classroom management is key. Find/experiment with
playful/artistic ways to create behavior routines with students. And don't be
afraid of being a disciplinarian.
I think, for me, as long as I'm having fun, I can pretty much
bet that the students are as well. And I always look for teachers who are
interested in mentoring me and helping me improve my teaching practice.
*Bonus*
Please share one anecdote of a memorable Teaching Artist
experience or your favorite resources for lessons.
This website is not that impressive looking, but teachers
consistently love it:
There's a helpful link for Reader's Theater. I've realized a lot
of teachers don't really know what RT is, per se, and they're sort of sheepish
about that. This website is a useful resource for those of them who want to do
more RT--which is to say, to get their kids reading with fluency and
motivation!
Please share any upcoming events or shows you are involved
in so we can find out more about your personal art practice. Provide links to
websites, event sites, etc.
I'm currently involved with Theater Mitu's production
"Juarez: A Documentary Mythology":
And I'll be leading the Drama section of the summer Arts
Education Institute in Alaska:
I'm facilitating a residency now in Juneau, a joint puppetry project between Thunder Mountain High School and Glacier Valley Elementary.
In October, I'll open a new performance installation at the Juneau Arts & Culture Center Gallery, "This Hour Forward."
