Panel Discussion Notes

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY---Aug 6 a great success!
Click here to download notes from the Panel Discussion: What should be happening during our artist residencies, including: reasoning for the changes to programming from funders' perspective, understanding the Minnesota Academic Standards, defining the relationship between IEPs and 504s, advice for collaborating with classroom and Special Education teachers and Arts and Cultural Heritage Funds impact, resources available through the Minnesota State Arts Board, and more...

Theater Activity & Academic Standards Notes

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY -- Aug 6 making connections!
Click here to download notes from the Theater Activity & Minnesota Academic Standards in the Arts in Action. Participants explored character development through simple warm-up activities, a focus on team building exercises and performed a short scene based on a prop, poem or a picture. Following the activities, participants discussed observations and reflected on lesson objectives and how they correlate to the standards.

Program Update

Click here to download the Artists-in-Residence Grant Program and Teaching Artist Roster overview, including updates and expectations for the 2009-2010 school year. Alternative formats are available.

Teaching Artist Roster

Teaching Artists who work with VSA arts of Minnesota are professional artists with expertise in one or more arts disciplines and have skills in working with children, youth, and teachers in educational settings. In addition, these artists are familiar with various disabilities and effective methods for adapting techniques and differentiating instruction to reach all learners.

VSA arts of Minnesota is implementing a new application procedure with the intention that it will grow and evolve over time to better serve students with disabilities and their peers within our state, as well as the teaching artists themselves. The approved listing of Minnesota artists (from all artistic disciplines) will have completed a thorough application, review, and interview. The primary purpose is to identify and promote high quality teaching artists who have particular expertise working with students with disabilities. The roster is intended as a resource for recipients of VSA arts of Minnesota AIR Grants, as well as any educational settings and community groups seeking professional teaching artists to work with their special needs population.

The roster has a secondary purpose of promoting and supporting professional development for teaching artists. Teaching in and through the arts is a complex profession and a growing field - and more support and training is needed. With the new roster, VSA arts of Minnesota hopes to play a role in advancing the field of teaching artists, with the ultimate goal of supporting, strengthening, and expanding arts education for all Minnesota students.

Applications will be accepted on an on-going basis in the disciplines of Dance, Literary Arts, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts. Artists may apply in more than one discipline. For more information, please visit www.vsaartsmn.org.