There have been remarkable advances in arts education, both in and out of schools, over the last fifteen years, despite a difficult policy environment. Teaching artists, the hybrid professionals that link the arts to education and community life, are the creative resource behind much of this innovation. Their best efforts are redefining the roles the arts play in public education. Their work is central to arts organizations’ strategies for civic engagement and diverse audiences. Excellent research has shown that it is instrumental to the social, emotional, and cognitive development of thousands of young people. But little is known about teaching artists. The Teaching Artists Research Project (TARP) will deepen understanding of their world through studies in twelve communities, and it will inform policy designed to make their work sustainable, more effective, and more meaningful.

Phase I

For the first phase of the study, begun in fall 2006, NORC worked closely with Nick Rabkin and Columbia’s Center for Arts Policy to design the research, conducting stakeholder meetings and focus groups, and developing survey instruments for teaching artists and administrators of teaching artist programs. The study sites are Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Providence, and eight California communities (San Francisco/Alameda County, Los Angeles, San Diego, Bakersfield, San Bernardino, Santa Cruz, Salinas, and Humboldt County).

Phase II

The second phase, which started in the summer of 2008, builds samples of teaching artists and program administrators in each of the study cities, and then fields the web survey to all sample members. NORC will use a multi-mode strategy for data collection, following the web survey phase with subsequent waves of interviews by phone and mail to ensure the highest possible response rate. The surveys will collect data on some fundamentals:

• Who are teaching artists?
• Where do they work? Under what terms and conditions?
• What sort of education have they had?
• How are they hired and what qualifications do employers look for?
• How much do they make?
• How much experience do they have?
• What drew them to the field? What pushes them out?
• What are their goals?

Phase III

The third phase, anticipated to begin in the spring of 2009, will focus upon the selection of a subsample of survey respondents as well as key informants in each study site for participation in qualitative interviews. These interviews are intended to gather more detailed information on the local character of teaching artist communities, in-depth descriptions and narratives of teaching artists’ experiences, and follow up on items or issues that arise in preliminary analysis of the quantitative survey data. These conversations will illuminate the work teaching artists believe is their best and identify the kinds of structural and organizational supports that enable work at the highest level. They will investigate how to best develop their capacities, understand the dynamics between their artistic and educational practice, and how to keep them engaged in the field. They will explore how higher education can make a more meaningful and strategic contribution toward preparing young artists to work in the field.

TARP will yield new knowledge and new thinking about teaching artists that can help to sustain and amplify their positive contributions to the arts, education, and American communities, and it will inform policy changes that will make a difference – to the accessibility of arts education, to its quality, and to the lives of the artists themselves.

TARP Funders

Chicago Site Study:

• Chicago Community Trust
• Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation
• Fry Foundation
• McDougal Family Foundation
• Morse Charitable Trust
• Irving Harris Foundation
• Chicago Tribune Foundation

Boston Site Study:

• Barr Foundation
• Boston Foundation
• Massachusetts Cultural Council

Providence Site Study:

• Rhode Island Foundation
• Rhode Island State Council on the Arts
• Providence Department of Art, Culture and Tourism
  

Seattle Site Study:

• Paul G. Allen Family Foundation
• Harvest Foundation
• Seattle Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture
• Tacoma Foundation
• Washington State Arts Commission
• Raynier Foundation
• Tacoma Arts Commission
• 4Culture

Bay Area Site Study:

• Heller Foundation

California Site Studies:

• Hewlett Foundation
• Irvine Foundation

General Support:

• JPMorgan/Chase Foundation