Teaching Artists
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Roundtable Announces 2026 Cohort for the New York State Teaching Artist Mentorship Program
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York, NY – The NYC Arts in Education Roundtable is proud to announce our 2026 cohort of the New York State Teaching Artist Mentorship Program. This program pairs 22 mid-career Teaching Artists from across the state with mentors to help them develop the networks, skills, and increased capacities necessary to support career advancement. In addition to mentorship, participants will also attend professional development programs focused on the business of teaching artistry and complete field hours exploring multiple arts education settings. The NYS Teaching Artist Mentorship Program is made possible by the New York State Council on the…
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Everything is Waiting for Us
Teaching artists are humans with interpersonal relationships—friendships, families, lovers, peers, and mentors—whom they grieve. This blog post offers practical advice around philosophies and steps to process and transmute death and grief, both solo and in collaboration with others. There are questions waiting – questions that ask us to consider the making or unmaking of life. Some of us have the choice and privilege to prepare our answers. The night before my dad died in July 2025, I was in a Zoom discussion with artists who make work about their relationship with care, dementia, and death. A couple months later, Dante…
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NYS Teaching Artist Mentorship Program Mentee Spotlight: DaShaun Hightower
Get to know DaShaun Hightower, a participant in the Roundtable’s 2025 NY State Teaching Artist Mentorship Program, in this mentee profile interview conducted after he completed the program. DaShaun shares about his artistry, the road to working in the arts education field, and his experience in the mentorship program with the Roundtable. Learn more about applying for the 2026 NY State Teaching Artist Mentorship Program here – applications are currently open and close on Friday, January 30 at 11:59pm ET! My name is DaShaun Hightower and I am from New Britain, Connecticut. My work revolves around using textile art and…
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Now Accepting Applications: 2026 New York State Teaching Artist Mentorship Program
The NYC Arts in Education Roundtable is proud to launch the fifth cohort of the New York State Teaching Artist Mentorship Program. This regrant opportunity seeks to proactively help mid-career Teaching Artists from across the state develop the networks, skills, and increased capacities necessary to support career advancement and sustainability. The program connects at least 22 mid-career Teaching Artists with a mentor educator or arts leader for 7 months. This program is dedicated to providing funds, mentorship and connections to artist educators across New York State working in and with communities that have been systemically marginalized in the arts education field. Each participating Teaching…
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A CV That Opens Doors: A Short Guide to Self Presentation
This past year I had the honor of serving as a mentor for the Roundtable’s NY State Teaching Artist Mentorship Program. My experience with Anna Warfield—a visual artist whose work is right up my alley with pink balloon letters made of fabric, spelling out poetic phrases—was deeply satisfying, and strangely serendipitous. I was just beginning to build handmade sets for a strange new experiment in my artistic practice. Anna wanted to make a book that teaches, and I had recently published a book that teaches. It clicked. I wish everyone in the teaching field could have this experience, or others…
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Between Two Languages, and Two Histories, I Chose to Make Stories
“Think about ‘Home’ in both the physical and metaphorical sense that it carries to you, and in three lines, use only the words you had chosen to write an instant poem.” I wrote this on the whiteboard while repeating it aloud. I had repeated this prompt several times, with short breaths, broken words, and my accented English. I noticed the students’ silent smirks when I mispronounced a word or used a verb tense that only made sense in my mother tongue, Farsi, not English. They giggled behind their history books, held their hands to their mouths, and mocked my accent.…
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Notes from the Field: Energized by the Teaching Artist Community at LCE’s Summer Forum
I have worked as a Teaching Artist in NYC’s public schools for more than 15 years and things have been rocky at times, with unpaid fees, unmet promises or unreasonable requests. In the Teaching Artist community I have found support when there’s been struggle. Things got better for me ten years ago when I was hired by an organization with more support and consistency. I felt set, but two years ago things changed without a warning and without complaints. I suddenly felt that I was no longer as valuable of an asset to the organization as I used to be.…
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Artist Salon Request for Proposals: Gathering for Good Trouble
CALL FOR ARTISTS – PAID OPPORTUNITY The NYC Arts in Education Roundtable’s Task Force on Equity & Inclusion (TEI) is soliciting applications from artists of all disciplines and genres to share artwork that addresses the themes of gathering and/or good trouble for our upcoming Artist Salon: Gathering for Good Trouble on Thursday, December 11 at El Puente Brooklyn. This event is an opportunity for members of the greater arts in education community to share their artistic work in a supportive, welcoming setting and engage in meaningful exchange and dialogue with one another. Selected artists will be compensated at a rate…
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Roundtable Announces 2025 Cohort for the New York State Teaching Artist Mentorship Program
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York, NY – The NYC Arts in Education Roundtable is proud to announce our 2025 cohort for the New York State Teaching Artist Mentorship Program. This program pairs 26 mid-career Teaching Artists from across the state with mentors to help them develop the networks, skills, and increased capacities necessary to support career advancement. In addition to mentorship, participants will also attend professional development programs focused on the business of teaching artistry and complete field hours exploring multiple arts education settings. The NYS Teaching Artist Mentorship Program is made possible by the New York State Council on…
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“Making It” Through Collaborative Mentorship: My Experience with the NYC Teaching Artist Mentorship Program
“Making it” in the entertainment industry is extremely competitive; “making it” as a dancer even more so, and in New York City, it is a category of its own. New York City ranks among the most competitive cities in the world, and navigating opportunities in the city that never sleeps as an independent performing artist and educator can be simultaneously daunting, enriching, and unpredictable. Yet New York is an epicenter of culture and artistry, with an experience and collection of opportunity like no other. The demands of such a life practice that requires intensive commitment, diverse skills, and risk-taking can…
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NYC Arts in Education Roundtable Announces Third Cohort of the New York State Teaching Artist Mentorship Program
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York, NY – The NYC Arts in Education Roundtable is proud to announce our 2024 cohort for the New York State Teaching Artist Mentorship Program. This program pairs 20 mid-career Teaching Artists from across the state with mentors to help them develop the networks, skills, and increased capacities necessary to support career advancement. In addition to mentorship, participants will also attend professional development programs focused on the business of teaching artistry and complete field hours exploring multiple arts education settings. The Roundtable’s New York State Teaching Artist Mentorship Program is made possible by the New York…
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The Power of an Hour of Arts Education
As a teaching artist with programs based in vocal empowerment through theater arts, I never feel I have enough time with students. I always want sessions to be longer and greater in number to allow adequate time for sequential learning and reflection. Most of my programs are residencies varying in length from three to twelve weeks, with some programs running year-round. Some schools want a single workshop for a grade. I know I can’t always get what I want, due to school schedules and funding sources, yet I always wondered if a single workshop had any lasting impact on young…
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Artist Salon Request for Proposals — Acts of Rest-istance: Best Practices for Artists at Rest, Joy, and Play
Opportunity Overview CALL FOR ARTISTS – PAID OPPORTUNITY The NYC Arts in Education Roundtable’s Taskforce on Equity & Inclusion (TEI) is soliciting applications from artists of all disciplines and genres to share artwork that addresses the topics of joy and rest through the lens of equity and inclusion for our upcoming Acts of Rest-istance: Best Practices for Artists at Rest, Joy, and Play salon on February 22, 2024 at 651 Arts in Brooklyn. This event is an opportunity for members of the greater arts in education community to share their work in a supportive, welcoming setting and engage in meaningful…
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Learn About Art Education & Education Theatre Programs at The City College of New York
Interested in applying to Arts Education programs at The City College of New York? Join CCNY for Info Sessions on their Visual Art Education or Educational Theatre programs. Programs include tracks for NY State Certification, Masters only, and distance learning programs. 2023 Admissions Information Session Dates, all times ET
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Don’t Be Quiet: A Vow to Myself
At the start of my second year of grad school, after a number of pep talks from my program director and encouragement from my classmates, I knew it was time for me to start teaching. Everything was falling into place: I was going to be a substitute teacher in the NYC DOE and work as a teaching assistant with an organization that brings teaching artists to schools in the five boroughs of New York. As a TA I was placed in two schools, one in the Bronx and one in Brooklyn. On my first day in Brooklyn, the lead teaching…
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Roundtable Announces Second Cohort for the New York State Teaching Artist Mentorship Program
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York, NY – The NYC Arts in Education Roundtable is proud to announce our cohort for the second year of the New York State Teaching Artist Mentorship Program. This program pairs 14 mid-career teaching artists from across the state with mentors to help them develop the networks, skills, and increased capacities necessary to support career advancement. In addition to mentorship, participants will also attend professional development programs focused on the business of teaching artistry and complete field hours exploring multiple arts education settings. The Roundtable’s New York State Teaching Artist Mentorship Program is made possible by…
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Roundtable Announces Inaugural Cohort for the New York State Teaching Artist Mentorship Program
Roundtable Announces Inaugural Cohort for the New York State Teaching Artist Mentorship Program FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York, NY – The NYC Arts in Education Roundtable is proud to announce our inaugural cohort of the New York State Teaching Artist Mentorship Program. This program pairs 14 mid-career teaching artists from across the state with mentors to help them develop the networks, skills, and increased capacities necessary to support career advancement. In addition to mentorship, participants will also attend professional development programs focused on the business of teaching artistry and complete field hours exploring multiple arts education settings. The NYC Arts…
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The Box
How is it already April and taxes are due? Last month, I was already feeling a sense of dread as the April 18th deadline approached, the pile of W2s and 1099s just kept getting bigger, and letters from the IRS remained unopened on my desk. I don’t even have a retirement account. I frantically Googled how to do finances on your own and came across an email from the Roundtable about a webinar on taxes for teaching artists. It felt like a sign. There’s something comforting about commiserating in the daunting task of finances as a community. I have eleven W2s…
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The Emily Davie and Joseph S. Kornfeld Foundation Awards the Roundtable Funding to Support Third Cycle of the Arts Educator Emergency Relief Fund
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Kimberly Olsen, kolsen@nycaieroundtable.org New York, NY – The NYC Arts in Education Roundtable was recently awarded $15,000 by The Emily Davie and Joseph S. Kornfeld Foundation to support the third cycle of the Roundtable’s Arts Educator Emergency Relief Fund. With their generous support, the Roundtable will achieve its goal of awarding over $1,000,000 in critical assistance to New York City’s arts education community, which has been among the hardest hit by the pandemic. This cycle of the relief fund will distribute $335,000 in one-time, unrestricted grants of $1,000 to teaching artists and arts education administrators who…
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Just Go Live! Turning Outward When the World Folds Inward
Roundtable Note: Filomena Jack is a participant in the inaugural New York State Teaching Artist Mentorship Program. Follow her at @FilomenaJackStudio and FilomenaJackStudio.com. *** When the world was put on pause in March of 2020, like a lot of people, I had to make some quick pivots in terms of how I kept my career afloat and my spirits up. How was I going to make sense of what the hell was going on out there? I felt like I didn’t have any control but knew that I wanted to do SOMETHING to help others who were struggling. What did I…
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DCLA Awards the Roundtable Funding to Support Third Cycle of the Arts Educator Emergency Relief Fund
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Kimberly Olsen, kolsen@nycaieroundtable.org NEW YORK, NY — The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) recently committed $375,000 to fund another round of the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable’s Arts Educator Emergency Relief Fund program. This generous award doubles the investment DCLA made in this fund last year as a way to support the hard-hit teaching artist community. The first two cycles of the Roundtable’s Arts Educator Emergency Relief Fund provided $673,500 in support to 677 arts-in-education professionals. The fund awards one-time, unrestricted grants up to $1,000 to teaching artists and arts education administrators who…