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Artists should meet with teachers before the residency to review curriculum

Teachers should remain in the classroom during the residency

Artists should incorporate a culminating project into the lesson plan

When arts administrators and artists consider community residency activities, schools generally come to mind first as the setting most conducive to program development. The National Endowment for the Arts currently provides block money to state arts commissions for Artist-in-Education (AIE) programming: a state roster lists approved artists for AIE programs. Many arts administrators have collaborated with school districts in the development of arts programs that both provide expressive outlets for students and enhance student success in the existent academic curriculum.

The structure of the traditional AIE residency has not changed much over the years. Artists are contracted for approximately 20 hours per week of classroom activity, with residencies running from one week to nine months. Often a school district or school will request a specific artist year after year. The artist becomes an accepted member of the academic community, familiar to students, faculty and parents.

Problems occasionally arise for artists working in classrooms. These difficulties develop, not so much from differences between the art world and the school world, but from the similarities. Artists-in-residence are not classroom teachers, and that distinction is sometimes evasive. Artists who arrive in the classroom through an AIE program are usually accomplished instructors: establish rapport with students; have a diverse curriculum which operates reasonably well in 50 minute blocks; generally have the flexibility to adapt their activities to the needs and interests of the class. (State and local arts agencies look for these criteria when selecting artists for residency opportunities.)

Sometimes it is difficult for classroom teacher's to share their classrooms with an outsider. Artists have almost instant popularity. Teachers can achieve a balance by working with the artist when needed and then demonstrating learning skills by participating in activities alongside the students. When the artist is gone, instructors are urged to integrate concepts from the art experience into the regular curriculum.

For students, the classroom is a daily stage. The more comfortable the transition between the expressive performance of the artist and the academic performance of the teacher, the greater the ease of learning will be for students. If the teacher can extend student enthusiasm into the regular curriculum, a dynamic but relatively seamless learning environment is achieved.

Artists should meet with the teacher to look for areas of parallel content between classroom instruction and art activities planned. More and more, states are mandating teachers to cover certain essential elements of skill or knowledge in the classroom. Lesson plans have to demonstrate how those elements will be approached, and students take competency tests which are used to determine how well the faculty and school administration are doing their jobs. The more artists know about what is being covered in the classroom by the regular teacher the more relevant and complementary the activities will be.

Artist residencies are self-contained programs, but must be carried out in tandem with the classroom teacher. Artists have none of the legal authority or protections exercised by regular classroom teachers. Artists are not always familiar with school disciplinary policies concerning student, behavior, and do not have the authority to implement those policies. The teacher must be a presence in the classroom; the teacher who leaves as soon as the artist arrives is granting that artist authority which is unwarranted and potentially harmful to the residency and the development of future programs.

Artists should be aware that art instruction in schools is a politically charged topic. Music and visual arts instruction has traditionally been part of public school instruction, but many of these programs have been gutted as schools contend with shrinking budgets. Some administrators and school boards see the arts as non-essential. When faced with making monetary cuts, the band or orchestra will be the first to go. Visual art teachers are often "shared" between schools rather than having their own campuses, and talent shows are substituted for drama programs. Artist- in-Education residencies are not a substitute for regular art instruction, and clear distinctions should be drawn between the role of a guest artist and a certified art teacher.

Culminating projects are relatively easy to achieve in school settings. Campuses provide ready-made audiences for performances and exhibitions. Students can perform for other classes during school hours or for parents and the public after hours. Wall space is also readily available for visual arts exhibitions. Copiers enable literary artists to produce anthologies of student work.

ARTISTIC ABILITY

To conduct an arts residency, an artist should be able to provide a resume or portfolio, which demonstrates professional achievement. For a poet, this may be in the form of publications, for an artist - exhibitions, for a dancer - performances. The artist in the classroom not only provides aesthetic techniques but exemplifies a career option for youth and adults. The greater the knowledge the artist has about the arts profession, the more useful the artist is to his or her students in imagining how to engage in that world.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Two critical characteristics are the ability to teach and the ability to work well with staff, administrators and other artists.

Artists who have enormous talent are not necessarily able to share that talent with others or work with others in a collaborative process. Every arts organization asks applicants at some point in the selection process, "What activities would you like to do in a workshop?" Most of them then follow up with, "Now show us how you'll do that." The administrator, staff and other artists generally sit in on interviews or demonstrations by applicant artists and ask questions to determine not only what the artist's classroom style might be, but whether that artist's talents will match well with the setting.

CARING AND COMMITMENT Workshops are often composed of children or teens living lives with not nearly enough attention from adults. It is necessary that artists have a desire to work with kids and that it be important to them however demonstrating overly idealistic "change the world" expectations is not conducive to a successful residency. The notion of commitment complements caring. Acceptance to the program requires a commitment to see it through no matter what else comes along. A sustained relationship with participants is critical.

An artist should be interested in working with the target population of the residency. Some artists prefer working with young children, others prefer teens or adults. Some artists only want to work with women, others feel comfortable working only with men. If an artist has a definite preference, this ought to be made clear from the outset.

FLEXIBILITY

Artists should be highly adaptable. If an activity isn't working, a viable alternative needs to be quickly found. Logistically, residencies never go exactly as planned. The supplies the artist is counting on may not have arrived. The group may have expanded to twice its size from one week to the next, or it may be missing the star actor one week before a performance. Community arts projects have a fluidity that can be very frustrating, and the artists that thrive best in this environment are those that can create a great plan and readily adapt or abandon it when situations change.