In Our Library: Final Report from the Teaching Artists Research Project

Teaching Artists and the Future of Education: A report on the Teaching Artist Research Project, the final outcome of the Teaching Artists Research Project, a three-year study by NORC at the University of Chicago, is now in the GIA online library. The extensive report was authored by Nick Rabkin and Michael J. Reynolds along with Eric Hedberg and Justin Shelby, and published in September of 2011.

The study found that teaching artists are an underutilized resource. They are abundant in larger cities with well-developed arts institutions and communities, but they are present in smaller communities as well, even rural communities. Most work part-time, earning about $10,000 a year from their teaching, and are eager for more work. They can be an important element of any strategy to reverse the long-term decline in arts education for American children and serious assets to schools intent on becoming more creative places for children to learn.