Career Exploration and Work Readiness Teaching Artist

The Organization

DreamYard Vision:

Building Artists- Building Community- Building Dreams- To change the world. DreamYard Mission and History

Job Description

DreamYard is currently accepting applications for a part-time, Career Exploration and Readiness Teaching Artist for the school year. We are looking for a passionate, experienced person with a strong interest in social justice and racial equity art education for a high school and college aged work based learning program. TAs must have demonstrated previous experience teaching work based readiness curriculum, ideally in NYC public school settings.

DreamYard Mission and History:

DreamYard, founded in 1994, is a Bronx-based organization that uses the arts, social justice pedagogy and digital and connected learning to inspire youth, public schools and communities. DreamYard's yearlong arts programs develop artistic voices, nurture young peoples' desire to make change and cultivate the skills necessary to reach positive goals. By committing to sustained learning opportunities along an educational pathway, with 45 partnering public schools K-12th Grade, with our own DY Prep HS School and at the DreamYard Art Center in Morrisania, DreamYard supports young people as they work toward higher learning, meaningful careers and social action. We seek to be effective locally while having a national impact through partnerships, collaboration and learning exchanges.

Anti-racism Commitment:

At DreamYard, we commit to being an anti-racist organization. We lead with race because we operate in a country founded on the genocide of Indigenous people, the enslavement of African people, and the oppression of countless others. We acknowledge the role this history plays in perpetuating inequity and dominant white culture.

We are intentionally building a path toward racial equity by:

• Challenging oppression and its intersections

• Using art and education as a platform to offer a hopeful vision of the future

• Identifying and uplifting the power and cultural assets that exist within our community of educators, artists, dreamers, young people and life-long learners

• Encouraging the principles of justice, unity, equity, creativity, and joy

• Transforming policies, procedures, practices, and programs (for example: striving for transparency and equity in pay and compensation structures regardless of race, culture, gender, ethnicity, creed, etc.)

• Understanding our staff, community members and partners are at different levels on the anti-racist continuum and embracing that we all have a place in this work

As a DreamYard employee, we invite you to join us on this journey.

Co-Executive directors Jason Duchin and Tim Lord founded DreamYard in 1994. Over the past quarter century, DreamYard has worked with more than 100 public schools and over 100,000 young people and families.DreamYard has developed a robust educational community in the Bronx – from its in-school partnerships and launch of the DreamYard Preparatory High School to its Out of School Programs at the DreamYard Art Center in the Morrisania neighborhood of the Bronx. Our role is to nurture, resource, encourage, inspire, and sometimes simply remind our community members of the power and endless possibilities that they hold. We do so by encouraging personal stories, acknowledging and working to change oppressive conditions, and fortifying each individual's personal power to transform.

The Position

DreamYard Teaching Artists are highly skilled artists and educators, committed to creating equitable learning spaces through collaborative teaching practices and social justice pedagogy. They report directly to the Program Director and are supported by DreamYard Department Heads and Program Coordinators. 

With the Work, Learn, and Grow Program, the Teaching Artist will lead 32 hours of Career and College exploration workshops with a focus on creative career pathways. A 2 hour session will be held per week from October through Mid December with two cohorts of high school students. These workshops will dive deep into examining individual relationships to work culture, evaluating personal strengths and areas for growth, and honoring culture-based work narratives.

A similar curriculum with additional material will be covered during a 90 minute session with a cohort of college-aged students bi-weekly starting October 2021 through May 2022.

Qualifications

• Expertise in Multi Media & various art forms exhibited through an educational degree and/or professional accomplishments

• Minimum two years teaching a visual, digital or performance art and/or other arts discipline in a school and/or community-based setting. 

• Bachelor's degree and/or Masters degree in related areas.

The ideal DreamYard TA is

1. Creative: Brings innovation, passion and past experience to create a vibrant learning community.
2. Collaborative: Flexible and open to others' ideas and knowledge; proactive, direct and sensitive communicator.
3. Mission-driven. Aligned with DY's mission for youth development and school and community reform.
4. Reflective: Holds high expectations for students' achievement and is thoughtful about the process in which they get there; Holds high expectations for self as instructor, is thoughtful about his or her effectiveness as an educator, and is committed to ongoing improvement.
5. Professional: Punctual to all DY commitments. Completes tasks within the time allotted and pro-actively communicates challenges that may impact accomplishing duties. 

Salary Range (per residency, multiple placements possible):

$2600 - $5900

COVID19 Protocol:

Please note that proof of vaccinations will be required as a DreamYard COVID 19 health and safety protocol.

DreamYard is committed to the principles of arts education, educational reform and social justice, and fashions its programs to specifically address the needs of urban communities that are typically underrepresented because of race, sex, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Accordingly, we welcome and encourage applications from a diverse range of individuals. Bronx-based and Spanish-speaking applicants are strongly encouraged to apply. DreamYard Project, Inc. employs without regard to race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, age, disability, or any or other attributes not related to superior performance.

Please submit your resume and cover letter to the link below:

Include the arts discipline that you are applying for in the subject line

Eg.  Career Exploration and Readiness Teaching Artist – Joe Smith