The Teaching Artist Project (TAP) team kicked off another season of training at the People’s Forum in Midtown Manhattan with an afternoon of intentional, creative community building! The TAP Team is excited to welcome 16 amazing artists, activists, and educators into our community!
At the kickoff orientation, trainees not only participated in group discussions with the TAP Team, but were able to ask Michele Kotler, Community-Word Project Founder and Executive Director, about her experience in teaching artistry and the legacy of TAP since it’s inception in 1997.
Trainees were grouped into teams and chose names for those teams that represented a significant color and a social justice ancestor for them. In our teams, we played our classic #TAPinto Jeopardy as a creative and fun way for participants to familiarize themselves with TAP and CWP. These small groups not only serve as teams for Jeopardy, but as support systems throughout the 8-month training.
Teaching Artist Project is in its 24th year and is the longest-standing professional development program open to the Teaching Artist field by a non-profit organization in New York City. This unique program is designed exclusively By Teaching Artist, For Teaching Artists. It is a collective of diversely-experienced arts educators training Teaching Artists who are looking for a supportive community to engage in a self-reflective, justice-oriented learning practice in service of their teaching.
The program specifically prepares Teaching Artists to provide high-quality arts education to underserved youth in New York City public schools. The rigorous training involves intensive seminars in curriculum design and teaching techniques, led by CWP staff, Teaching Artists, and the TAP Cohort. During our training, participants gain invaluable classroom experience interning with mentor Teaching Artists, in both during-school and after-school multi-disciplinary collaborative arts residencies.
Check out the creative TAP Anthology from 2022-2023 participants…
