A Survey of Teaching Artists in Dance and Theater: Implications for Preparation, Curriculum, and Professional Degree Programs

Abstract

This study investigates teaching artists whose work is rooted in dance and theater. Although the term remains both ambiguous and debated, teaching artists provide a good deal of arts education delivery in P-12 and afterschool programs throughout the United States. Based on survey data from a range of teaching artists across the nation (N = 133), this study presents emergent trends including: (1) lack of preparation, (2) workplace issues and challenges, and (3) mixed attitudes regarding teaching artist professionalization and credentialing. We conclude with several recommendations for postsecondary curriculum development in dance and theater degree programs.

Did consequential accountability policies decrease the share of visual and performing arts education in U.S. public secondary schools during the No Child Left Behind era?

“…On the other hand, for decades, dance education programs have been the least available form of arts education in the United States (Parsad & Spiegelman, 2012). According to a survey of both dance and drama teaching artists serving residencies in K-12 contexts, many of these educators experienced unsupportive school administrators, low pay, insufficient work, scheduling issues and a lack of continuity in work (Anderson & Risner, 2012). Dance educators, in particular, experience barriers to program development such as inequity of dance programs among K-12 institutions, lack of data about dance programming, and ambiguous definitions of what constitutes an education in dance (Bonbright, 2011).…”

The Combining the Roles of a Teacher and an Artist: the Analysis of the Prospective Theatre Teachers’ Action Research

“…Menininku mokytoju ir specialistu vadinamas profesionalus meno dalyko mokytojas, turintis meninės kūrybos patirties, išmanantis meno dalyką, gebantis jo mokyti, kuriantis meną su mokiniais (Anderson, Risner, 2012;Zwirn, 2005). Nedermė tarp vaidmenų atsiranda tada, kai mokytojas imasi kurti su mokiniais, daugiau norėdamas išreikšti savo idėjas ir per mažai atsižvelgdamas į mokinių kūrybos poreikį bei galimybes.…”

Pedagogies That Explore Food Practices: Resetting the Table for Improved Eco-Justice

“…Anderson (1998, 2012), from an educational leadership perspective, indicates how authenticity has been under siege, noting its decline in a global world dominated by neo-liberal preconceptions of market ‘wisdom’, and economic standards of continuous growth and environmental marginalisation. As Anderson illustrates, we see and hear this inauthentic voice in many guises, including political half-truths, advertising untruths, and in misleading organisational claims.…”

“…The difference today lies in the technological advances which, positively speaking, reveal events, situations and political movements that went unreported 20 years ago and, more negatively, allow for additional creativity in propagating the half-truth and lie. In matters of curriculum, Anderson (2012) notes, one illustration of inauthenticity lies in the presentation of dominant spaces as illustrative of reality, thus tending to strip communities of their integrity, voice and place.…”