Arts Professional Story: Arnold Aprill, Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education

A discussion between Arnold Aprill, Executive Director of Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education and Rachel Thorne Germond, CAR Dance Researcher

Rachel, you asked that question in an interesting way- because not only are dancers interested in sharing their dance expertise with young dancers, but dancers are also interested in sharing dance as a mode of thought, experience, and expression for all learners.

Chicago has a long history of being a center of innovation for partnerships between practicing artists and schools, going all the way to Jane Adam's Hull House- where the arts were seen as an essential way for orienting new immigrants and displaced populations. Chicago has a number of arts education organizations that hire artists to form collaborative teaching relationships with public school teachers, recognizing aesthetic learning as being central to all learning. Perhaps the oldest is Arts Resources in Teaching (over a hundred years old), which focuses on visual arts. Several organizations are multi-arts, and are great places to work for dancers interested in sharing dance as a way of thinking. In an increasingly creative information economy, the sorts of thinking that dancers have to share with schools will become increasingly important. Unfortunately, we are halfway between a manufacturing and an information economy, and these important jobs for dancer-educators are not yet stable, and do not yet typically provide the needed benefits that these pioneers deserve.

What are some of the organizations that hire dance artists to do this important work? And how would a dancer apply for these positions?

Arts education organizations in Chicago that engage dancers include After School Matters, Urban Gateways, the Center for Community Arts Partnerships at Columbia College, and the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education. Each of these organizations has their own approaches to identifying artists to teach in their programs. The qualities they are all typically looking for include:
- A love of dance and a passion to share dance with young learners - Rigor and innovation in dance practice
- An interest in both the cognitive and expressive aspects of making and experiencing dance
- An intellectually curious and collaborative nature
- Experience with and respect for young people
- Experience with and respect for teachers and schools

What should dancers expect from this work?

First of all, loving dance and loving kids is not enough. Teaching dance and collaborating with classroom teachers is an art and a discipline all its own. Expect lots of planning meetings. Expect lots of unexpected frustrations and obstacles. Expect to learn a lot about school culture and the challenges of classroom management.

Understand that teachers are focused on their own academic content, and are usually intimidated by dance, so you will have to learn how to negotiate between your world and their world. It is a challenging journey, but very rewarding for those who are up to it.

Yes, it's a great way to reach out of your little, tucked away, microcosmic world.

Exactly! Which is why we became artists to begin with! We can get trapped in our craft, and not get to experience the deep communication that art is really about. For dancers interested in CAPE (Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education), please look at our website (listed below). We commit to artists for the long haul, so we don't add artists to our roster very often, but send a letter and a resume. And I recommend visiting a program in action at a school for any organization you are approaching.

Anything else you think dancers interested in education should know?

Teaching artists now have their own journal- called, appropriately, the Teaching Artist Journal. I encourage dancers to subscribe to this journal, and to submit articles for publication. Dancers, speak up!

Links:

* Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education

* After School Matters

* Urban Gateways

* Center for Community Arts Partnerships at Columbia College

* Teaching Artists Journal


Arnold Aprill is the Executive Director of the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE), a network dedicated to school improvement through the arts. He is one of the co-editors of Renaissance in the Classroom: Arts Integration and Meaningful Learning. He has been recognized for exceptional leadership by the Chicago Community Trust and by the Leadership for a Changing World initiative supported by the Ford Foundation.