Teaching artists are at the core of the Music Center's work with our partner schools. We devote significant resources to the recruitment, training, and support of outstanding teaching artists. Below we present an overview of our approach and some of the specific strategies we use to support teaching artists. To learn more about the national field of teaching artists, you might visit the Association of Teaching Artists, based in New York.

Experience the quality of a Music Center Teaching Artist in the classroom.

Watch Video 1: A Teacher/Teaching Artist Partnership in a Classroom Residency

Watch Video 2: Expanding the Students' World

Watch Video 3: Very Special Arts Festival & Mainstreaming Special Needs Students

Watch Video 4: One Teaching Artist's Perspective on Incorporating the California Visual and Performing Arts Content Standards

The Artist Chronicles

The Artist Chronicles s a publication featuring articles by the performing artists, teaching artists, and the education staff of the Music Center. As a leading international performing arts center, the Music Center is home to world-class artists in dance, theatre, music and visual art who serve children and young adults across Southern California. The Artist Chronicles is a forum to share and celebrate extraordinary artistic and educational work. It is a place to learn, grow, discuss and be inspired, as well as a resource to connect with other arts organizations – both nationally and globally – in order to share the excellence and skill that the outstanding artists and staff of the Music Center have to offer.

Download the latest issue of The Artist Chronicles (Spring 2010). (1.2 MB PDF)

Download The Artist Chronicles (Winter 2010). (1.1 MB PDF)

Download The Artist Chronicles (Summer 2009). (1.8 MB PDF)

Download The Artist Chronicles (Winter 2009). (1100K PDF)

Download The Artist Chronicles (Spring 2008).(1805K PDF)

The Artist Chronicles is edited by Music Center Master Teaching Artist, Madeleine Dahm. For more information, please contact Sandy Seufert at sseufert@musiccenter.org.

Teaching Artist Training

Download the application (PDF Version) (Word Version) for the Fall Teaching Artist Training, September 29, 2009-December 1, 2009.

Video: Learn about our Teaching Artist Training and see excerpts from the classes.

Download the Teaching Artists Study Group Report (PDF)

Testimonials from Music Center Artists

This exemplary workshop series of ten four-hour sessions focuses on training artists in all art forms to create and implement high quality, integrated lessons in the arts. Subjects covered during this course include the Visual and Performing Arts Content Standards for California Public Schools, Best Practices as well as meaningful tasks and culminating projects, criteria, rubrics and assessment strategies. There will be model lessons presented by seasoned Music Center Master Teaching Artists that capture the power of the arts within Standards-Based lessons. The participating artists will be guided as they design a six lesson series for elementary grades, culminating with a meaningful project. The six series outline and the complete first lesson will be presented to the group by each artist for constructive critique.

Each participating artist will be assigned a mentor who will be available to work with them on their lesson plan development.

An Overview of Each Week:

Session 1: "Big Idea: Understand the big picture of arts education and how it supports general education. Identify key components of the California Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Content Standards, focusing on the five Strands."

Student Outcomes:

• Build a foundation of knowledge based on the VAPA Content Standards
• Relate the foundation of the five Strands to one?s own artistic and educational work
• Discuss how the Standards allow artists and classroom teachers to "speak the same language" and build a sequence of skills and knowledge for students
• Identify "Standards-Based" learning goals for students at each grade level

Session 2: "Learn the foundations of good lesson planning based on the Four Wheel Learning Cycle (1. Assessing Prior Knowledge; 2. Getting Smarter; 3. Becoming an Expert; 4. Making Connections), building on to the VAPA Standards."

Student Outcomes:

• Experience and practice a basic structure for well sequenced lessons that lead to effective learning in the arts
• Analyze the Four Wheel Learning Cycle and how it provides an effective strategy for lesson planning

Session 3: "Big Idea: Design a lesson plan sequence applying the concept of Backward Mapping (scaffolding and layering). Identify a Culminating Task for the lesson series and then, create Tasks and Criteria for each lesson building to that culminating task."

Participants Will:

• Demonstrate skills and strategies to create a lesson series incorporating well-defined tasks and criteria to achieve long-term goals and meaningful student outcomes
• Review and discuss strategies for ongoing assessment of student work

Session 4: "Big Idea: Integrate the arts into the academic curriculum. Identify a variety of connections, relationships, and applications between the arts and classroom curriculum."

Participants Will:

• Experience and identify strategies for making relevant connections between your art form and the academic areas
• Apply thinking strategies that encourage one to identify authentic connections and universal concepts in and between the arts and other areas of learning
• Observe examples of students involved in integrated learning and discuss and practice some techniques of integration that align with "Principles of Best Practices"

Session 5: "Big Idea: Focus on designing and directing strategies for inquiry and insightful discussion with students."

Participants Will:

• Identify ways to increase cognitive awareness in students' perception through inquiry
• Discuss and apply strategies to help students attach meaning to their thoughts and be able to express and communicate them effectively
• Apply the concepts and strategies of Bloom's Taxonomy in designing both Student Outcomes and Assessment Questions
• Apply principles of Best Practices, including "Meta-Cognition" (Thinking about Thinking)

Session 6: "Big Idea: Identify developmentally appropriate classroom management strategies, including pacing, effective transitions, and spatial use arrangement for productive, student-centered lessons."

Participants Will:

• Gain knowledge of salient issues in child development
• Clarify the role of the teaching artist in the classroom
• Set achievable and meaningful goals for your students aligned to their developmental stages
• Employ good classroom management strategies

Sessions 7-10: Workshop participants individually present an overview of the six lesson series and one prepared lesson (#1 of a series of six student workshop sessions) followed by a group discussion and a meaningful and constructive critique.

This course is required for teaching artists on the Music Center's Artist Roster and is open to teaching artists from the community by application, as space allows (fee may apply). Music Center performing artists interested in becoming teaching artists and creating workshop programs can also participate. In addition, other institutions have contracted with the Music Center to adapt this program to train artists in other communities, including the Louisiana Institute for Education in the Arts and the City of Glendale Arts and Culture Commission. The Music Center also partners with the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, The Armory Center for the Arts, and Culver City Unified School District to conduct a 22 week "Arts for All" artist training course for artists throughout Los Angeles County. The participants of this program engage in 6 weeks of classroom instruction, 6 weeks of observation of a Music Center Master Teaching Artist teaching in a CCUSD elementary or middle school, and 6 weeks of teaching their newly developed lessons at a CCUSD school site. In another program, with a special grant from the Ahmanson Foundation (and additional funding from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Annenberg Foundation, and Washington Mutual), the Music Center created a pilot program of professional development seminars for artists, based on feedback from artists. Over the past few years the Music Center has continued to develop and refine its artist training program, growing the course from six, 3-hour sessions to ten, 4-hour sessions.

Teaching Artist Seminars

The Teaching Artist Seminars are developed by the Music Center and key Music Center Master Teaching Artists. These seminars help to support the range of services that teaching artists provide to students and teachers. With many years of experience in bringing professional artists into the community's schools, the Music Center recognizes the importance of quality artist training.

Please join the Music Center Apprentice Artists as they share their insights and research on a variety of topics of interest to artists and teachers working in schools, in and through the arts. Click here for information on our next Teaching Artist Seminar on Tuesday, June 22, 2010. (PDF Download)

The Music Center plans to present more Teaching Artist Seminars this Winter and Spring. Please check back on the website or contact Sandy Seufert at SSeufert@MusicCenter.org to get more information on these future Seminars.

"I found this a fascinating subject and one that brought a lot of insight to the choices I have made and continue to make in developing curriculum. This kind of inspiration for me leads to a place of greater depth in all aspects of my work as an artist and a teacher. Thank you for all of your efforts in making these kinds of seminars available. I think their value goes beyond measure."

"I thought it was terrific and one of the best I have attended so far. The topic is very relevant to teaching in a multi-cultural city like Los Angeles. The participants raised very interesting points and the dialog was great. More like this!"

"Alvaro did an excellent job in instilling a sense of security in his participants. He created a non-threatening, safe environment in which to share."

"This topic is particularly relevant and timely, and was a personally important affirmation that I'm on the right track in my art form and teaching worksho...Alvaro was great, as were the rest of the Music Center staff and Teaching Artists in attendance."

View Past Music Center Teaching Artist Seminars

Additional Teaching Artist Seminars for 2010 to be announced soon. Please check back.

Teaching Artist Apprentice Program

Learn more about the Teaching Artist Apprentice Program, a multi-faceted teaching artist training opportunity with six major components. The Music Center, with the support of The Dana Foundation, is proud to present this premier teaching artist training opportunity to support the field of arts education.

For more information, contact Sandy Seufert at sseufert@musiccenter.org.