Creative Teaching Artists

Access to tech and creative industry employment

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

The issue being addressed is making certain there are more opportunities in the creative fields for underrepresented groups including women, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ individuals. Creating these opportunities for these individuals is an important aspect of the work we accomplish at ANW. We have both a Board committee and a staff committee for EDIA to make certain that not only the material we present on stage, but the people working on stage and behind the scenes are diverse. Our student audiences are 90% BIPOC (we do not survey student audiences on sexuality) and one of our missions is that the stories we tell and the people telling them reflect our audience.

With hiring of our teaching artists who work as part of our education department during our 5 week Summer with Shakespeare program and also during in-school workshops, pre-show workshops and moderating our post-show conversation, it is essential that these teachers also reflect our audience. Our education department is also responsible for creating our study guides which are distributed free of charge to schools, teachers and students.
Each year we put out a call for teaching artists and look through hundreds of resumes to find individuals who will help shape the next generation of theatregoers. It is essential that we hire teaching artists who reflect our student audience which is 90% BIPOC. Once hired, the teaching artists go through a week long orientation/training in order to learn how to better serve our student audiences. This training begins just prior to the Summer with Shakespeare program where each teaching artist is assigned an age range of students. There are four age ranges that participants are in - 3-5, 6-9, 10-13 and 14-18. Each of the groups (except 3-5) will learn theatre basics and create sets, costumes and perform in an abridged Shakespeare production. Teaching artists will also travel to local schools for trainings lasting between 1 and 5 days with underserved schools. Over the course of a season ANW works with over 200 schools either during student matinees or with in school workshops. Our teaching artists are the ambassadors with those schools.

The theater industry has almost exclusively focused on eurocentric narratives, texts and performers, excluding diverse communities. 73% percent of residents in LA County are black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and are more likely to experience negative social determinants of health such as poverty, food/housing insecurity, urban linguistic isolation, and incarceration.
By continuing to employ individuals who are traditionally underrepresented and to feature productions with a diverse cast and crew, we are able to bridge the gap so that the people of LA County are truly represented in the arts. By nurturing partnerships with community based organizations that are focused on BIPOC youth education and workforce awareness related to entertainment industry careers we will have a more representative workforce in the arts. This participation helps achieve our mission of expanding personal awareness and challenging individual perspectives.

This is an existing program that this grant will allow us to expand by 25%. Because of this program we have been able to hire over 100 teaching artists. Working at ANW was the first teaching artist position for many of these individuals & they have gone on to have successful careers. We measure impact of this program through surveys to teachers, students, staff, & organizational leaders. We have consistently scored a 95% approval rating on these surveys. Some comments
“I especially loved the diversity in the cast, as an American Asian I loved seeing all types of people in the cast.” Student "Through their performers and teaching artists, ANW does the essential work of opening a window into how young people see the world." Teacher “My daughter is a theater enthusiast, and my son is on the autism spectrum. They were both able to have a wonderful, supportive, & meaningful experience due to the incredible programming and top-notch staff. The program is positive and inclusive" Parent