Teaching Artist (Visual Arts)

Teaching Artist (Visual Arts)
Part-Time; 16 hours at 2 days/week/year-round
$27.58/hour

• This is a 12 month grant funded position; continued employment is contingent upon grant funding. 

Teaching Artists are members of the Snow City Arts staff, with guaranteed hours and benefits.

About Snow City Arts
Snow City Arts (SCA) inspires and educates children and youth in hospitals through the arts. SCA provides one-on-one and small group instruction in the visual arts, creative writing, poetry, theater, music, dance and media arts to patients at Rush University Children’s Hospital, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and Children’s Hospital University of Illinois (UIC). 

In March 2020, Snow City Arts’ programming pivoted to virtual instruction to meet the needs of pediatric patients at our hospital partners, who are under severe visitor restrictions making an already challenging situation even more isolating. SCA is now employing a hybrid programming model, with Teaching Artists teaching both at hospital sites as well as virtually.
Snow City Arts’ curricula are steeped in studio practices and benchmarked by the National Core Arts Standards and Common Core State Standards. SCA works in close partnership with Chicago Public Schools and suburban school districts. With permission, student’s learning outcomes and portfolios are sent to their schools in order to generate credit assignment for work completed with SCA. The Snow City Arts team includes an administrative staff of 4 and an artistic staff of 6 part-time, professional Teaching Artists, as well as numerous interns, work-study students, and volunteers. As a small, yet mighty organization, our team values an “all hands-on-deck” approach balanced with a commitment to wellness. Snow City Arts is committed to generating a work environment that centers on learning, equity, and inclusivity. A cohort member of Enrich Chicago, SCA is committed to advancing systemic change in the arts and is building a vision and framework for anti-racist work across the organization.

Summary of Position
SCA seeks insightful, equity-focused Teaching Artists committed to cultivating spaces for student-centered learning that privilege the abilities of all young people. Teaching Artists are responsible for developing and delivering Snow City Arts’ rigorous project-based curriculum both virtually and in-person, recording and assessing student learning outcomes in the SCA custom-built database and contributing to regular professional learning activities. Teaching Artists report to the Program Director and are members of the SCA staff on payroll, with guaranteed hours and other such benefits.
Curriculum Development and Delivery
● Project Proposals: Create innovative, artistically and academically rigorous curriculum specifically designed for both in-person and virtual healthcare environments and includes multiple pathways for differentiated instruction for learners with diverse cognitive and physical abilities. Write detailed project proposals that outline clear learning objectives, situated within an anti-racist framework. Collaborate with the Program Director to ensure each project is artistically and academically rigorous, aligned to learning standards and SCA assessment outcomes, provides multiple pathways for differentiated instruction and is situated within an anti-racist framework.
● Virtual and In-Person Workshops: Facilitate SCA’s project-based curriculum through workshops to all interested and available students on the pediatric floors of SCA’s partner hospitals, as well as to virtual programming referrals, offering individualizing instruction to meet each student’s learning profile.
● Collaboration: Seek to develop projects in tandem with a fellow Snow City Arts Teaching Artists, resulting in cross-disciplinary work.
● Hospital Partners: Develop and maintain collaborative relationships with pertinent staff at SCA’s partner hospitals, including in-hospital teachers, Creative Arts and Child Life teams and nurses.
● Testimonials: Occasionally write and submit narratives that describe exemplary SCA workshops to illustrate our process to external audiences.
Program Documentation
● Daily Documentation: Record student information, workshop details, artwork, and workflow in SCA’s custom-built database.
● Assessment: Document student learning outcomes for each workshop, aligned to SCA’s internal assessment rubric and learning standards.
● School Reports: Work with the Administrative Assistant and Research Specialist to ensure that comprehensive assessment data is completed, and artwork portfolios are uploaded for all eligible students, to be submitted to students’ schools, often at the close of a semester.
● Archival Work: Maintain hi-resolution digital records of student artwork and transfer this data to the SCA artwork archive quarterly.
● Compliance: Collect and upload consent and release forms for new students and perform bi-annual renewal of release and consent forms whenever possible.

Exhibitions of Student Artwork
● Self-Curation: Organize all relevant works of art and submit the best representations of student artwork to the curatorial team for consideration for Gallery Night, our annual student exhibition, and other installations.
● Installation Assistance: Provide all reasonable and relevant assistance to the curatorial team for largescale artwork installations.
● Presentation: Advise curatorial team on best practice for presentation of genre-specific artwork.
Professional Development
● Attendance: Participate in bi-monthly all-staff professional development sessions, unless an approved previous commitment precludes attendance.
● Participation: Engage in SCA racial equity trainings and working groups to including, but not limited to monthly lunch-and-learns, racial identity caucusing, and SCA racial equity resource databank, demonstrating a commitment to continue to grow personal their critical analysis of anti-racist frameworks and practices.
● Presentation and Knowledge-Sharing: With specific objectives in mind, occasionally present to the SCA staff in personal areas of expertise within the field of arts, education, anti-racist education, or other relevant topics. Share ideas for future opportunities and provide feedback on presentations.
Miscellaneous Duties
● Hospital Partners: Complete and uphold the principles of all mandatory education and orientation as required by SCA’s hospital partners and follow all procedures outlined by hospital partners.
● HIPAA/FERPA**: Complete and pass an annual HIPAA Compliance test to maintain understanding of patient privacy and uphold HIPAA and FERPA-compliant practices in all work.
● Presentation: Act as an SCA ambassador by occasionally attending outside events and speaking on current projects and best practices at SCA.
● Special Projects: Contribute to special projects at SCA including conferences, exhibitions, fundraising events, strategic planning, and anti-racist initiatives, based on availability.
● Space Maintenance: Regularly organize supplies and workspaces to maintain a professional work environment, if physically able to do so.

Requirements

Priority Skills and Experience
• Strong verbal communication skills and the ability to adjust communication style to accommodate multiple audiences.
• Working knowledge of curriculum development benchmarked on state learning standards.
• Maintain a professional artistic practice in one or more chosen disciplines.
• Strong understanding of trauma/healing informed practices with an interest in arts education practices and pedagogy.
• Committed to developing an anti-oppressive work environment.
• Demonstrates a commitment to continue to grow their critical analysis of anti-racist frameworks and practices.
• Interested in working within a culture of collaboration, cooperation, and accountability.
• Ability to navigate tense or challenging interpersonal dynamics in a manner that is centered on trust, respect and shared vision.
• Commitment to innovation and life-long learning.
• Maintains the ability to respond to shifting priorities and support multiple aspects of program delivery.

Desired Skills and Experience
● Experience working directly with youth and families, especially youth and families who identify as ALAANA***, queer or LGBTQIA, newcomers, first-generation immigrants, and people with diverse abilities.
● Background in arts education and/or youth development.
● Ability to manage and manipulate artwork files with proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite; knowledge of Google Drive.
● Familiarity with the public school and arts education landscape of Chicago.
● Passion for arts in health and/or arts education.
● Ability to speak and write Spanish and English proficiently.
● Experience with filmmaking and editing as a creator and/or educator.
● Interest and/or experience in curatorial decision making, exhibition preparation and gallery installation procedures.
Compensation and Benefits
● This is a part-time, non-exempt staff position hourly rate of $27.58/hour, 16 hours a week, divided over 2 days/week/year-round. There are 9 paid days off annually split among vacation, sick, and holidays and we offer a flexible work environment. We offer a Flexible Spending Account as well as an employee retirement SIMPLE IRA account with up to a 1-3% match from Snow City Arts.
Background Check and Health Records
● A criminal background will not automatically eliminate you from consideration through a criminal history background check will be conducted on the final candidates prior to beginning employment.
● A variety of documentation (typically related to vaccines and annual tests and a 10 panel drug screen, which are paid for by Snow City Arts) is required to meet the health documentation requirements of our hospital partners.
Covid 19 vaccines, including documentation, are required prior to or within the first two weeks of employment.