From April 2020 – December 2021, Creative Generation was named an ITAC Innovator and focused on developing an infrastructure within the International Teaching Artist Collaborative (ITAC) to address the gap in research and resources produced by and for the field of teaching artistry. The project engaged volunteers in the teaching artist field from a cross-section of countries to collect, validate, and disseminate tools, resources, and creative/scholarly research in a number of capacities. These include retrofitting the existing knowledge shared through the 2019 Think Tanks, building each into a digital learning module; formulating a strategy to catalog, publish and disseminate research and resources shared through the 2018 and 2020 ITAC conferences; and researching and recommending a sustainable and scalable framework for a clearinghouse of new tools and resources created by and for the field of teaching artistry to be located within ITAC’s digital platform. Read more about this project there.
From this work, ITAC hosts monthly Think Tanks, where a host from a different part of the world shares insights about their work, and in discussion with attendees, digs deep about the ways this could help you develop your own practice. The Think Tanks are edited, archived, and connected to additional resources across the sector.
Check out the latest archives here:
Together And Different: Building A Culture Of Peace In Schools Through Playback Theatre (August 2019)
By: Rasia Friedler (Uruguay)
How can theatre empower students to critically examine the roles they play amongst their peers? How can dance and music empower students to understand the power they have to change what they see around them?
In August of 2019, Rasia Friedler (Uruguay) led a highly interactive session with members of the ITAC community about the value of playback theatre in schools to help students tackle questions of identity, compassion, and violence typically portrayed through bullying. While the discussion sections are not featured in this archive, Rasia deftly captures the values of the playback theatre movement and graciously explores her work with SaludArte.
The session showcased a forward-thinking approach to making a case for arts education and the arts by embracing a well-respected and impactful system.
The Next Generation Of Teaching Artists: Art As Activism - Activating Your Own Truth (September 2019)
By: Clara Bloomfield (United Kingdom)
What can teaching artists learn from their students? What can students learn from their teachers and teaching artists? Does the way that we teach need to change?
In September of 2019, Clara Bloomfield moderated a panel discussion of her students from Edinburgh College. She used the guiding themes and questions of ITAC4 to explore what the students thought of their current and burgeoning careers in teaching artistry. The questions were:
What is the role of teaching artists as contributors to social justice?
What is the responsibility of the 21st-century artist as they engage in different communities?
How can artists transform skills and institutions as learning in radical ways?
What is the role of art as activism?
Over the course of an hour, it quickly becomes apparent that the future of teaching artistry is bright if youth like these are planning to make a change.
The students were Callum Thomson, Cat McInally, Hannah Louise MacFarlane, Rebecca “Becca” Thomson, Rhona Louise O’Donnell, and Zuzanna “Zazu” Klebba.
They were all part of the 2029/20 BA(Hons) Dance & Drama (Drama) cohort at Performing Arts Studio Scotland, Edinburgh College with Kingston University. As part of this degree program, students study Applied Theatre. The aim is to develop a greater understanding of current practice within a real Scottish Context whilst simultaneously interrogating their own, to arrive at a new understanding of their own Praxis as a Teaching Artist.
Teaching Artists & Artists Teaching: How Do You Perceive The Different Perspectives Of Artists/Teachers As Artists In Classrooms/Schools (November 2019)
Victoria Ryle (Australia)
What does it mean to be an artist who teaches? A teacher who is an artist? Is the distinction as pronounced as administrators make it seem or is the distinction fuzzy - blurred?
In November of 2019, Victoria Ryle led a panel discussion on the role of teaching artists in Tasmania, Australia featuring several of her colleagues. Guests from around the world also weighed in to provide their perspective on the nuances of existing as an artist and a teacher - working in and outside of traditional classrooms. Concepts of the arts being viewed in a limiting binary and the value of the term “expert” in the creative and education fields are explored.
Simon Spain, Abbey MacDonald, Selena DeCarvalho, and Sarah Astel served as Victoria’s co-hosts in this interactive panel discussion.