Ongoing COMPAS Call for Teaching Artists

COMPAS Teaching Artist hires will begin in fall of 2023.


COMPAS is looking for new artists to add to our roster of professional Teaching Artists

COMPAS Teaching Artists connect with community members through performances, workshops, residencies, professional development, and more. Programs take place throughout the state during school hours, after school, during the evening and on weekends. Locations include schools, libraries, older adult living communities, parks and rec centers, youth program sites and other community settings.

Hiring artists embedded in indigenous communities and communities of color continues to be a high priority at COMPAS.

In order to best serve our communities' needs we are especially looking for the below in 2023-2024.

  • Performance groups (music, dance, theater, etc.) 

  • Muralists

  • Clay/Pottery artists

  • Media artists

  • Graphic Novel/Comic Artists

  • Mosaic artists

  • Writers with experience with K-5 students

  • Drummers

  • Dancers

  • Artists with experience in STEM integration

  • Artists who work with individuals with disabilities

Are you interested in becoming at COMPAS Teaching Artist? Then put in an application! We read through applications and interview artists every other year, but you can put in an application at any time.

Application and Selection 

The roster application documents includes a cover letter, resume, sample lesson plan, work samples, and work sample descriptions. Once an artist has submitted the required information, the process consists of an initial round of consideration by COMPAS program staff, followed by finalists having a face-to-face interview with our Arts Advisory Committee consisting of community partners, artists, students, and COMPAS staff. If recommended by the committee, incoming artists then attend a New Artist Orientation, followed by individual training meetings with COMPAS staff, as needed. 

Timeline 

Our next application review will be in September. The review schedule is outlined below:

  • September 15th: Application review by staff

  • October 6th: Finalists invited to interview with community panel

  • November 16th or 17th: Finalist interviews with panel (Community Panel will review materials; applicants will offer a 10 minute artist demo)

  • November 22nd: Finalists notified

  • December 15th: New artist orientation and paperwork signed to join roster Jan 1, 2024. 

Desired Qualifications 

While we are open to a wide variety of artistic approaches and backgrounds, artists with the following criteria have a higher chance of being interviewed:

  • Minnesota resident

  • Demonstrated dedication to an artistic practice

  • Prior teaching artist experience (ideally 3-5+ years)

  • Ability to fill a gap on the COMPAS roster

  • Demonstrated ability to model, breakdown, explain, and customize projects within their artform

Note: Hiring is contingent upon completing a Criminal Background Check

To Apply 

Follow this link to submit your materials. You will be expected to upload a cover letter, resume, sample lesson plan, work samples and work sample description: 

1.Cover letter (.pdf, .doc, .docx) 

2. Resume (2 pages .pdf, .doc, .docx) 

3. Sample Lesson Plan (2 pages .pdf, .doc, .docx). All COMPAS programs are educational and/or engagement based. Performances are designed to include context and/or cultural learning.

Please submit a sample lesson plan in the format outlined below. The plan should address a 1-2 hour lesson that is stand alone or a 1-2 hour lesson that is one lesson within a longer series. Do not try and encapsulate a whole course of study or a whole residency within the sample lesson. Please limit your document to 2 pages.

  • a. Teaching artist name (individual or group);

  • b. Title and descriptive overview of lesson;

  • c. Description of arts learning community (age/grade/developmental level/number of arts learners);

  • d. Time required for lesson;

  • e. Resources and equipment required;

  • f. Learning goals for arts learners;

  • g. Lesson tasks and activities toward outcomes;

  • h. Evaluation methods for assessment of learning goals;

  • i. Lesson alignment to state/national educational standards (school-based projects) or community learning goals.

At the end of your lesson plan:

  • **If you are using technology, or materials/equipment that may be costly - at the end of your document, please comment on how these components might be paid for, where they might be rented from, etc.

  • **If you offer an art form that can only accommodate a specific number of participants at a time (i.e. 12), please share that information as well. If in a school, for example, you can only engage a certain number of participants at a time, you may comment on how other students will stay active during your lesson with a smaller group.

4. Work Samples that align with your other materials ( .pdf, .doc, .docx, .jpg, .jpeg, .mp3, .wav, .mp4  from no earlier than 2020). These should be professional quality and showcase the art form that you would do if you worked through COMPAS.

Your work samples should:

  • a. Illustrate an artistic voice and technical skill

  • b. Provide evidence of the artistic quality of your work

  • c. Document your artwork itself, not the quality of teaching or the experience of a demonstration

  • d. Support the stated intentions of the proposed project

  • e. Show work made in the last four years

  • f. Be documented in a format that best represents the work.

Work sample file types:

  • Visual images/JPEG - up to 10 images

  • Audio/MP3 - up to 3 samples, each should be only up to 2 minutes

  • MP4 and Vimeo link(s) with password saved in a pdf doc - up to 3 samples, each should be only 2 minutes long

  • Written work/PDF/Word - Up to 10 pages

If you submit more than is requested, we will only be able to review the first submissions.

5. Work Sample Description. Select up to 2 files to attach (.pdf, .doc, .docx). Please attach a document that explains your work samples. This document should be numbered in the order of your submissions, and include:

Work sample description:

  • Title of the work

  • Order to view

  • Completion date: If the sample is a work in progress, state “work in progress.”

  • Type: Identify the type of work sample submitted (image, audio, video, written work).

  • Medium/Role/Genre:

    • a. For images, provide the medium (e.g., acrylic, wool, etc.).

    • b. For audio or video samples describe your role in the art work, (e.g., guitarist, script writer, lead dancer). If you have multiple roles in the work, please list all roles (e.g., composer/conductor, spoken word artist/writer).

    • c. For written work, provide the genre of the art work (e.g., science fiction).

  • Dimensions/Duration/Pages:

    • a. For images, provide the dimensions of the original art work in both numbers and unit of measurement (e.g., 24” x 12”)

    • b. For audio or video samples, state the length of the sample and the length of the complete art work (e.g., 2:00 minutes of a 46:00 minute symphony).

    • c. For written samples, provide the number of pages of the portion of the art work that will be read in the work sample. (e.g., eight pages of a 12 page scene, or three pages of a 200 page novel).

  • Statement (Optional; 250 characters maximum). You may provide information to help us understand your work sample.

To learn more about the current members of our Roster, check out the Artist Profiles

We are available for consultations to provide input on your application. If you would like to do so, or you have other questions, please contact Julie Strand