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Professional Development Opportunities for STUDIO
Artists
For STUDIO, enhancing its programs and practices includes
providing on-going professional development for its staff. The organization
is dedicated to presenting its artist/instructors with opportunities for
growth both in their capacity working with children and in their own professional
career.
Artist Training
Artist training begins each year in late August with multi-week orientation.
While some sessions are devoted to preparing new artists, orientation
is mandatory for all artists and includes many sessions of interest to
all staff members. Workshops, slide shows, and seminars are conducted
by Senior Artists, executive and program staff, and special guests with
expertise in the arts-in-education field. Program Departments hold follow-up trainings
throughout the year - often a day or afternoon devoted to a particular
topic. In the Long Term Program, monthly artist meetings allow artists
to share and discuss practices.
Artist Mentoring
STUDIO often places new and prospective artists in existing sites as studio
assistants, giving them exposure to its more experienced artists at work.
STUDIO also capitalizes on the experience its Senior Artists through the
Artist Mentor Program, which partners new artists with a Senior Artist
who is available to answer questions, work through classroom challenges,
and even conduct on-site mentoring.
Special Workshops
A few times a year all artists and other staff are invited to artist-run,
hands-on workshops. Capitalizing on a special expertise of the presenting
artist, these media-based workshops are generally devoted to introducing
fresh ideas for leading children in rich art-making experiences. Artists
often share successful strategies for projects that might seem daunting,
such as working large-scale or with an uncommon material. Many workshops
have generated such creative excitement and discoveries that artists incorporate
the new techniques or media in their own work.
NEW: Credentialing Component
Schools selected for the Long Term Program can opt to participate in a special component that provides a professional visual artist with an MFA degree who is participating in STUDIO's Long Term Certification Component. Artists remain in the school site for the two years of the full time Phase One of the program while they are completing requirements for NYS K-12 visual art certification. At the end of Phase One, STUDIO encourages the school to hire the artist as a full-time art cluster teacher. If a position is not feasible for some reason, the artist is free to seek an alternate position and the school can move into the part-time phase of the program (years 3-5) with a different artist.
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