TEACHING ARTIST

Teaching Artist
Temporary Part-time Position: up to 20 hours/week
Application Deadline: August 10, 2023
Reports to Director of School and Teaching Artist Program

Celebrating over 30 years as a high-impact arts education organization, artworxLA re-engages students through the arts and provides a creative pathway to a future beyond high school graduation. We combat the high school dropout rate in LA County by providing long-term sequential arts programming across 32 alternative high schools, including continuation, county community, and juvenile camp schools. We cultivate effective partnerships between artists, educators, cultural centers, and community organizations to amplify our collective impact and the voices of over 1000 students we serve each year.

The Teaching Artist inspires students’ curiosity and connects them to thematic content, their environment, and community; motivates students to complete a project; emphasizes problem solving in the creative process; and instills a reflective practice that helps students build self-awareness. The Teaching Artist works closely with a Workshop Coordinator, who co-facilitates workshops; ensures that artworxLA‘s program goals are met; and provides support in the ordering of supplies and other administrative tasks.

Key responsibilities of the Teaching Artist include:

Participate in training in thematic content and healing-centered, trauma-sensitive, and strengths-based strategies for working with youth.

Attend monthly in-service training and weekly check-ins with a Workshop Coordinator (and Program Director, as needed) to develop lesson plans and communicate workshop needs.

Assist Workshop Coordinator in preparing art supplies and art kits.

Conduct research into thematic content from cultural partners for entry points and in-depth explorations.

Develop a ten-week curriculum for the Fall and Spring semester that includes a written syllabus, weekly lesson plans, supply lists for the project-based portion of a workshop series, and a workshop summary for each school at the end of each semester.

Facilitate up to five classroom workshops sessions per week (up to two hours per session).

Set up and debrief with Workshop Coordinator 30 minutes before and after workshops.

Cull images, video, sound files, and other appropriate content to share in the workshop experience.

Create samples and demonstrate use of materials/methods to ensure student safety and understanding.

Participate in the fall and spring Public Presentations of student work.

Assist Workshop Coordinator with the installation of artworks for in-person student presentation events.

Provide documentation of the workshop, including workshop summaries/wall text for student art exhibitions, an evaluation of your experience, and additionally requested materials.

Assist students with the writing of their artist statements.

Prepare students to communicate about their workshop experiences for Public Presentation.

Model mutual respect, adhere to school rules/culture/dress code, and model creative thinking skills for students.

Welcome students, communicate expectations, encourage participation, and monitor student pacing/progress throughout the workshop series.

Take ownership of students’ artistic progress and show an active interest in students’ achievement.

Terms of Employment

Temporary part-time staff position from August 14, 2023 through June 21, 2024. Position is non-exempt, $30 hourly with a maximum of 20 hours per week, with health and retirement benefits. Weekly schedule is determined by school sites. Must have a car with insurance, proof of COVID-19 vaccination, and the ability to travel to school sites throughout LA County. Teaching Artist must be flexible and prepared to teach in virtual, in-person, or hybrid settings..

How to Apply


To apply, please submit a cover letter and résumé to jobs@artworxLA.org with “Teaching Artist” in the subject line no later than August 10, 2023.