Teaching Artists Invite You to Policy Discussions

NECAP and its local partners, the Rhode Island Foundation and Lesley University, are convening gatherings with national researcher and author Nick Rabkin. Nick will review and discuss the policy implications of his study, the Teaching Artist Research Project (TARP). Boston and Providence were two of the twelve TARP study sites.

There are two venues set for the discussions; the first meeting is at the Rhode Island Foundation, Providence, RI between 4 and 6:00 p.m., on November 8. The second meeting is at Lesley University, Cambridge Massachusetts between 2 and 4:00 p.m., on November 9. Funded in part by the These meetings are free to attend, but there is limited capacity so we recommend that you respond early.

Despite a difficult policy environment, there have been remarkable advances in arts education in the last 15 years, both in and out of school. Teaching artists, professionals who link the arts to education and community life, are a creative resource behind this innovation. Their work is central to defining the roles the arts play in education, economic development and civic life.

Excellent research has shown that arts education is instrumental to the social, emotional and cognitive development of young people; however, little is known about teaching artists.

The Teaching Artist Research Project (TARP) deepens our understanding of the world of teaching artists, and these dialogues with Nick Rabkin will help inform policies designed to make their work more sustainable, more effective and more meaningful to the region.

You can sign up for either of these conversations at the NECAP website.
About Nick Rabkin

A consultant and researcher for arts organizations and arts policy, Nick’s career in the arts began producing new works for the stage as executive director of Chicago’s Organic Theater Company, in 1980. He was the deputy commissioner of cultural affairs for Chicago under Mayors Harold Washington and Richard M. Daley, the senior program officer for the arts and culture at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and directed the Center for Arts Policy at Columbia College Chicago. He’s done extensive research on arts education and, in particular, on teaching artists, writing widely. His major work includes Putting the Arts in the Picture: Reframing Education in the 21st Century (2005), and Teaching Artists and the Future of Education (2011). He blogs on Huffington Post, and is a member of the team that developing a new cultural plan for the City of Chicago.

View Nick Rabkin’s blog on the Huffington Post.