Teaching artists, along with their arts teacher colleagues, carry the work of theaters, museums, and writing projects into unpredictable,under-served classrooms, afterschool programs, or vacation and summer camps. In that sense they are the first responders in a crisis where access to realizing your creativity is too reliably predicted by income and address. Yet, despite being essential workers in the arts, teaching artists have been hit hard by the COVID-19 shuttering of cultural institutions, regularly having their hours reduced or being furloughed indefinitely.

Our teaching artists and administrators are always learning new roles within their scope of responsibilities to the “Public Benefit” becoming a hybrid artist/social worker/community leader, and now diving deeply and quickly into technological depths that were not in everybody’s radar 3 months back. In the end, it’s our teaching artists, arts administrators, and leaders who will continue to be at the forefront of need making a case for the arts and art making.