Welcome to Teaching Artists Organized (TAO)             

               a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives

Read about TAO......................................   ..

 ................................................................. Check out the Integrated Learning Specialist Program

........................................................................and upcoming qualified electives...

          Featured TAHO:    Performing Arts Workshop                          

We call them TAHOs - Teaching Artist Hiring Organizations

They are the employment and community engagement engines of our field.   

This month's TAHO, and founding member of TAO, is San Francisco's Performing Arts Workshop, established in 1965 by teaching artist Gloria Unti (pictured left), who developed a teaching method on the conviction that the creative process of art-making drive learning, problem-solving and communication.

Executive Director:  Jessica Mele (also serves on TAO's Executive Committee)

Artistic Director:  Gary Draper

Program Director: Karena Salmond

Program and Communications Manager: Anne Trickey

Cool fact:  Each year PAW partners with over 100 different community and school sites throughout the Bay Area.  Currently, the Workshop also partners with Global Writes, a 3-year project that allows local middle schoolers to share original poetry with their peers in NY City via video technology.

Hiring:  The Workshop hires artists with teaching experience in Dance (Creative Movement, Modern); Theater Arts; World Dance; Creative Writing; and Music (Drumming, Choral, Rap/Hip-hop, etc.)  More details here.

Performing Arts Workshop (PAW) in San Francisco’s Bay View Hunters Point neighborhood has its eyes wide open for teaching artists who possess skills in creating community in the classroom, school or community site, the kind of teaching artist who can make relevant connections between students’ lives, their experiences, and the art form. 

Anne Trickey, Program & Communications Manager
 at PAW, shares the following anecdote to illustrate those peak moments when such a teacher knows he/she is doing it right.

Devin, a 4^th grader, had not spoken a word in school since beginning kindergarten. A selective mute, he spoke at home, but not at school. Theater gave Devin new ways to communicate and succeed in class. Through pantomime, he was able to participate alongside his peers. Midway through the semester, something changed. His teacher asked what he did for Thanksgiving. Unexpectedly, he whispered his response. Afterward, he began to whisper a few times a day. By the end of the semester, in a class in which students were improvising scenes on a real stage, it was Devin’s turn. And he spoke!  Out loud! His teacher was in tears. And Devin was smiling proudly.

Performing Arts Workshop looks for teaching artists like the one in this anecdote. Right now, PAW seeks artists to teach during summer, artists who can bring Theatre to another level in the classroom by engaging students in critical thinking and creative expression while learning the basic tenets of the art form. They also seek highly skilled hip hop dance artists who feel comfortable teaching to a wide range of populations.  Read more on PAW.

Click on the "Featured TAHO" page under "What's Going On" for previously featured TAHOs including Youth in Arts, Galileo Camps, Cal Shakes