Staten Island Arts works to increase Arts Education in our community through Arts Education grants, professional development for teaching artists, and special projects. Stand-alone workshops for teaching artists are offered as part of Staten Island Arts’ Professional Development services. We have also created a more in-depth, sequential training called the Staten Island Teaching Artist Institute (SI TAI). Learn more about the the SI TAI below.
Arts Education supports the belief that the arts are central to both teaching and learning. It’s as much about how students learn, as it is about what they learn. Whether it’s using computers in a music harmony class or creating a mural that examines the interrelationship between different ecological systems, arts-centered experiences provide students with new ways to learn from more engaged points of view. To learn more about our Arts Education programs, contact our Executive Director Pia Agrawal at (718) 447-3329 x1002 or by email at pagrawal@statenislandarts.org.
Why is Arts Education important?
Arts Education fosters personal growth and development. The arts help students succeed in school and life by strengthening habits of mind such as critical and creative thinking, perseverance and dedication to task. Active participation in serious arts learning helps young people to see that there are multiple ways to view any situation, and multiple creative solutions for any given problem. Both visual and performing arts can provide engaging, accessible doorways to unfamiliar cultures and histories, and increase understanding of and empathy for others. Professionally-instructed art projects can also build rewarding collaborative experiences that motivate students to work together, demonstrating that we can often accomplish more ambitious and exciting things as a team than we can as individuals.
Arts Education provides skills, insights, and opportunities for cross-learning that can’t be replaced by any other discipline. For these and many other reasons, despite the decline of resources for classroom art, Staten Island Arts continues to support and fight for Arts Education in our borough.
Staten Island Teaching Artist Institute
The Staten Island Teaching Artist Institute (SI TAI) is a professional development forum for Staten Island teaching artists who wish to develop their craft and teaching technique, while fostering a greater sense of community among educators in Staten Island. The SI TAI was originally created as a partnership between Staten Island Arts, Sundog Theater, and the Center for Arts Education.
Our curriculum covers essential skills for arts educators to create arts instruction, engagement and exposure at local schools, senior centers and in community settings. Workshops are offered for beginner, intermediate, and advanced teaching artists, and have incorporated topics such as obtaining residencies in schools; creating lesson plans; classroom management; navigating Department of Education requirements meeting standards for Common Core and the NYC Blueprints; and fundraising.
Past participants have gone on to work for arts education organizations, have partnered with schools and museums for workshops and classes, and have been awarded grants to provide residencies in public schools. The program is not a certification program for becoming a full-time teacher; it is specifically geared towards working artists who wish to expand their teaching practice. Make sure to sign up for our emails to receive upcoming calls for applicants, like the current one below!
Arts Education Resources
Get facts on how Arts Education programs help students, learn about innovative teaching artist practices, connect with professional Arts Education organizations, and more. Below are some of our favorite articles and resources. Looking for more general resources for your art or cultural project?
Blueprints for Teaching and Learning in the Arts
Learning About New York State’s Standards for the Arts
New York State Learning Standards for the Arts
New York States Resources on Implementing the Standards in Your Curriculum
Arts Alignment: Blueprint Benchmarks and NYS Performance Indicators
NYC Arts in Education Roundtable
New York Foundation for the Arts
Afterschool Programs: A Review of Evidence Under the Every Student Succeeds Act
Something to Say: Successful Principals for Afterschool Arts Programs
Arts Education Grants
Staten Island Arts currently administers two types of Arts Education grants: ABC Regrants for artist residencies in K-12 schools (funded by the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency); and SU-CASA Grants for artist residencies in senior centers. SU-CASA is a citywide program funded by the New York City Council and administered by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Department for the Aging. Learn more about these programs here.