Overview

Nevada County Arts Council is seeking teaching artists with elementary school experience to work in local classrooms (Grades 1-5). Part-time, flexible hours. $50 hour. Position(s) are open until filled.

This is a great opportunity to have fun and foster the creativity of children. Nevada County Arts Council values a diverse workplace and candidates from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

How to apply

Send us a resume with relevant experience, along with a cover letter, to education@nevadacountyarts.org. Please include “AIS Teaching Artist” in the subject line.

Organizational overview

Nevada County Arts Council, by resolution of Nevada County Board of supervisors, is State-Local Partner with California Arts Council. A 501c3 not-for-profit organization, we facilitate collaborative efforts that promote and sustain the visual, literary and performing arts of Nevada County to advance the cultural, social and economic life of our community.

Following new legislation, Nevada County Arts Council helped to secure two designations as California Cultural Districts for Nevada County in 2017. We are now unique across the state as the only rural county to be recognized for the breadth and diversity of its cultural assets in all its incorporated communities. 

Nevada County’s two California Cultural Districts are Truckee Cultural District and Grass Valley-Nevada City Cultural District. In Truckee, it is Truckee Arts Alliance, a fiscally sponsored project of Nevada County Arts Council, that serves as administrative lead for Truckee Cultural District.

Nevada County Artists in Schools Program

Nevada County Arts Council believes that arts education is fundamental in the development of a student’s creativity, imagination and teamwork skills. By bringing teaching artists into the classroom our program strives to improve important education for hundreds of our county’s children, many of whom might not have access to arts education without it. Our residency program primarily focuses, for now, on the visual arts as a way of providing a creative space and learning where students are able to work together as innovative thinkers.

Racial and Cultural Equity at Nevada County Arts Council.

Equity is a core value of Nevada County Arts Council. We are committed to creating and sustaining an inclusive and equitable environment for the people we work with and for our community. We believe every member of our team enriches us by exposing us to a broad range of ways to understand and engage with the world, identify challenges, and to discover, design and deliver solutions.  

In turn we expect that those who work with us will promote cultural equity through assisting us with the identification and removal of barriers and cultivation of community, and we expect that applicants will be conversant in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion best practices, as well as key cultural competencies. For more information about our racial and cultural equity journey, please visit us here.

The role of a Nevada County Artists in Schools Teaching Artist

Over the past five years, with support from the California Arts Council and in partnership with Grass Valley and Penn Valley School Districts, Nevada County Arts Council has created the ARTISTS IN THE SCHOOLS (AIS) program.  Through AIS, classroom teachers and teaching artists have collaborated to create a library of approximately 120 lesson plans integrating California visual arts standards and academic subject matter standards (in math, science, social studies, and language arts) in each of grades one through five.  Professional teaching artists are hired to teach these lessons on a weekly basis to the designated grade level classes at Bell Hill, Ready Springs, Scotten, and Williams Ranch schools.

Nevada County Arts Council is seeking artists with an interest or experience in teaching to work in local classrooms (Grades 1-5). This is a part-time role paying $50 per hour, and a great opportunity to have fun and foster the creativity of children. 

Nevada County Arts Council values a diverse workplace and candidates from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply.  Teaching Artists are independent contractors, and are neither permanent nor temporary employees of Nevada County Arts Council or any school district.  

Qualifications:

Required:

1.     Skills as a visual artist

2.     Enthusiasm and interest in teaching art to children

3.     Good organizational abilities

Preferred, but not required:

1.     Experience as a teaching artist

2.     Experience teaching children

3.     A teaching credential or certificate

Contracted Responsibilities include the following:

1.     Teaching the appropriate grade level lessons developed for the program.  This involves reviewing the lesson to be taught in advance of teaching it.

2.     Appropriately managing (storing, transporting, organizing and distributing) the art supplies and materials provided by the program for each lesson.

3.     Promptly arriving at designated classrooms at designated times.  (These are the same classrooms and times each week, part of a schedule cooperatively developed by the contracted teaching artist with school and program coordinators.)

4.     Communicating appropriately and professionally as needed with school site coordinators and the program coordinator.

5.     Attending between 3 and 9 meetings (paid @ $25/hour) with other contracted teaching artists and program staff to share teaching experience, lesson tips, and program improvement suggestions.

6.     Other additional duties may be contracted optionally and separately.

7.     Some schools may have policies requiring the teaching artist to be fingerprinted.  Such fingerprinting will be at no expense to the teaching artist.

Reporting

Teaching Artists report directly to the AIS Program Coordinator and are also accountable to the Executive Director of Nevada County Arts Council.