What does a teaching artist do?

A Teaching Artist is responsible for teaching knowledge and skills in art, including drawing, painting, lettering, and art history. They also develop, submit, and implement lesson plans.
Teaching artist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real teaching artist resumes:
- Perform weekly at NYC schools, lead talkbacks, and conduct workshops for students of all ages.
- Lead an outreach art program in a public school in the Bronx for 4th and 5th grade students.
- Utilize computers and software to develop teaching materials, manage classroom records and email, and produce PowerPoint presentations.
- Demonstrate effective communication skills, well-execute and expedient application of makeup to achieve the look guests desires.
- Participate in OFAR's social sculpture and create an installation-base film dedicate to social justice and engagement
- Teach classes in improv, sketch, acting, and playwriting
- Advance econometric modeling & time - series forecasting using SAS.
- Work with over 50 k-12 schools and over two dozen colleges.
- Create syllabus and produce material samples for demonstrations and class marketing.
- Develop, structure, and coordinate lesson plans for grades pre-k through 5th.
- Provide one-on-one support to 1st graders in ELA and 3rd graders in mathematics.
- Plan and implement lessons with clear goals base on the standards for ELA instruction.
- Facilitate assignments educating children about the basic laws of physics, chemistry, and biology.
- Tutor students by assisting students with their class work and class activities in world geography.
- Implement a phonics program teach to students in kindergarten and first grade through music and movement.
Teaching artist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 13% of Teaching Artists are proficient in Art Curriculum, Arts Education, and Art Lessons. They’re also known for soft skills such as Speaking skills, Writing skills, and Artistic ability.
We break down the percentage of Teaching Artists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Art Curriculum, 13%
Created art curriculum for 2nd graders and 6th graders based on my art practice.
- Arts Education, 5%
Assist with the art integration program and Early Childhood Music Arts Education classes at Christina Cultural Arts Center.
- Art Lessons, 5%
Designed and delivered visual art lessons to students and to teaching professionals on a contract basis.
- Public Schools, 5%
Provided instruction and choreographed performances in modern, jazz, step and creative movement (grades 1-12) in NYC public schools
- Creative Drama, 4%
Facilitated two separate once-a-week creative dramatics classes for preschoolers and 1st-2nd graders.
- Poetry, 4%
Researched and developed poetry curriculum for adults for Creative Writing and Performance Poetry.
Common skills that a teaching artist uses to do their job include "art curriculum," "arts education," and "art lessons." You can find details on the most important teaching artist responsibilities below.
Speaking skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a teaching artist to have is speaking skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "postsecondary teachers need good communication skills to present lectures and provide feedback to students." Teaching artists often use speaking skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "facilitate written and spoken word workshops for high school students and serve as team coach for a poetry slam team. "
Writing skills. Many teaching artist duties rely on writing skills. "postsecondary teachers need strong writing ability to publish original research and analysis.," so a teaching artist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways teaching artist responsibilities rely on writing skills: "design and facilitate a 12-week residency that introduces pre-k through 12th graders to theatre, acting and playwriting. "
The three companies that hire the most teaching artists are:
- COCA
3 teaching artists jobs
- The Boys' Club of New York2 teaching artists jobs
- Cleveland Play House2 teaching artists jobs
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Teaching artist vs. Music educator
A professor is a teaching professional who provides instructions to students on various academic and vocational subjects in colleges, universities, and vocational schools. Professors design curriculums for courses and ensure that they meet college and department students. They continuously conduct research and experiments so that advanced knowledge in their field is completed. They share their research and works by publishing them in books and academic journals. They also provide assistance to graduating students.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, teaching artist responsibilities require skills like "art curriculum," "arts education," "art lessons," and "creative drama." Meanwhile a typical music educator has skills in areas such as "music education," "music theory," "music curriculum," and "music program." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
On average, music educators reach similar levels of education than teaching artists. Music educators are 2.6% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 1.8% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Teaching artist vs. Professor
Music Internship is a work experience offered by employers for students or graduates to gain exposure in the music industry's vast segments, such as from a media conglomerate, a music platform, or a music production company. For instance, a music production internship at Tik Tok entails assessing audio and music quality, composing different music styles, designing sounds for various applications, cross collaborating with engineers to produce musical products, and assisting the production team in music cataloging.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real teaching artist resumes. While teaching artist responsibilities can utilize skills like "art curriculum," "arts education," "art lessons," and "public schools," professors use skills like "philosophy," "curriculum development," "c++," and "literature."
On average, professors earn a higher salary than teaching artists. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, professors earn the most pay in the education industry with an average salary of $148,195. Whereas teaching artists have higher pay in the government industry, with an average salary of $42,282.In general, professors achieve similar levels of education than teaching artists. They're 3.8% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 1.8% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Teaching artist vs. Director of dance
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from teaching artist resumes include skills like "art curriculum," "arts education," "art lessons," and "creative drama," whereas a director of dance is more likely to list skills in "dance classes," "alumni," "school administration," and "community organizations. "
Directors of dance typically earn lower educational levels compared to teaching artists. Specifically, they're 12.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Teaching artist vs. Music internship
Types of teaching artist
Updated January 8, 2025











