Creative Generation is pleased to welcome the Black Teaching Artist Lab (BTAL) to the Incubator for Creative Impact. Over the course of five months, the team at Creative Generation will guide BTAL through conducting original research to understand the status and needs of Black teaching artists in the United States and to build a foundation for future iterations of research and programming for BTAL.
During their first year of operations, BTAL offered Afrocentric Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) professional development workshops virtually via Zoom. Through their work, they discovered a lack of demographic data on Black-identifying teaching artists, lack of understanding of this population’s wants and needs, and no evaluation of available resources to meet these needs. As the racial pandemic of 2020 continues to reveal the deep-rooted nature of supremacist systems pervading American culture, missing gaps of knowledge are present within BIPOC communities, especially the field of Black teaching artists.
“The impactful work of the Black Teaching Artist Lab to date has been both responsive and powerful for its participants,” said Jeff M. Poulin, managing director of Creative Generation. “We, at Creative Generation, are thrilled to be working with Melissa and the team at BTAL to deepen their understanding through new research and build a solid foundation upon which to construct transformative professional learning experiences grounded in Afrocentric cultural practice.”
Creative Generation was founded in April 2019 as a research initiative and has grown its work throughout the United States and around the world. Through capacity building and learning initiatives in the arts and cultural education field – and the relentless support of arts and cultural educators in their work to cultivate the creative capabilities of young people – the organization regularly supports individuals and projects through customized technical assistance and a professional learning community of artists, educators, and community activists.
“I am excited to work with Creative Generation in doing critical research to better understand Black teaching artists from across the United States,” said Melissa Parke, founder of Black Teaching Artist Lab. “I believe that with this partnership, we will have foundational knowledge on the needs of Black teaching artists in order to better serve them and the communities that they serve.”
About Creative Generation
Contributing to the development of thriving communities and a more just world, Creative Generation works to inspire, connect, and amplify the work of young creatives who catalyze social transformation and those who are committed to cultivating their creative capabilities. Founded in 2019, Creative Generation operates four signature programs: The Campaign for a Creative Generation, the Institute for Creative Social Transformation, The Academy for Creative Leadership, and an Incubator for Creative Impact.
About the Black Teaching Artist Lab
A professional development and travel abroad organization that aims to connect Black teaching artists and learners from the African Diaspora through arts education, in order to unify and strengthen intercultural understanding between marginalized Pan-African populations. We believe that through the use of art—one of the most powerful tools we have for human expression—Pan-African artists will be able to share their individual stories of the lived Black experience with Black youth, everywhere.
Black teaching artists are the social, emotional, and cultural responders for young Black learners, both in our classrooms and across our world. BTAL thrives to give Black teaching artists the tools they need to become better equipped to teach Black learners, as well as to communicate and connect with other Black artists across the Diaspora.
BTAL partners with existing teaching artists’, arts and cultural, and educational organizations to develop workshops and carry out BTAL’s Afrocentric Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) framework for the Black learner. The goal of this framework is to build a healthy, strong Black identity through arts education.