TeachingArtist
Certificate

“A practicing professional artist with the complementary skills, curiosities and sensibilities of an educator, who can effectively engage a wide range of people in learning experiences in, through, and about the arts.” -Eric Booth, Teaching Artist and Author of Making Change: Teaching Artists and Their Role in Shaping a Better World

“Teaching artists are practicing professional artists who have dual careers as educators.” -Berklee College of Music

“The primary goal of a teaching artist is to positively enhance one’s experience with a work of art through some kind of interactive, hands-on, creative, experiential, multi-modal process, thus effectively creating an environment in which one can more deeply engage with the work of art at hand.” -Dr. Emily Ondracek-Peterson, Violinist, Artistic Director, and Educator

Teaching artists do not serve to replace school certified arts educators. We believe teaching artists can serve as valuable resources and partners to our teachers.

• Current undergraduate and graduate students and change-of-career individuals with a creative practice in Creative & Dramatic Writing, Dance, Film & Media, Music, Theater, and Visual & Multidisciplinary Art.
  The Teaching Artist Certificate is open to college students from any institution and not exclusively Rutgers students.
• Artists who lack teaching experience and foundations of educational, teaching, and learning methods. This program is not open to experienced teaching artists.

You will apply through Rutgers University-Newark’s Forms Portal online where you’ll need to create an account to login. It is recommended you view and complete your application on a computer.
Application is now live. Deadline to apply is April 2, 2025, 11:59 PM.

Application Materials 

1. Curriculum Vitae
2. Personal Statement 
   • In a 3-minute video response, please answer the following questions:
     • How does your creative practice intersect and inform your desire to become a teaching artist?
     • What draws you to this program and why now?
     • From your experience as a student, what qualities make an effective educator, and how do you envision bringing those qualities into your teaching practice?
     • What are some specific ways you were taught in your art form that you would like to maintain and what are approaches you’d like to do differently?
3. Creative Work Sample
   • Please submit a sample of your creative work that best represents your artistic practice. These samples may be from past work, a creative work-in-progress, a performance recording, short clips or images of multiple pieces. Provide digital samples of your work by uploading them directly or by providing links to your website, blog, YouTube/Vimeo channel or online gallery. 
4. Context for Creative Work Sample
   • Provide context for your creative work sample. Be sure to credit other artists involved in your project (e.g., if you’re submitting choreography performed by a group, you’ll need to credit the other dancers in the performance). Please respond to as many of these questions as possible that are applicable to your practice (500-700 words or three minute video):

• • • What inspired you to create this type of work, and why did you choose this as your sample?
    • What was the process like? Were there any challenges, and how did you overcome them? 
    • Were there any specific discoveries in the process that you would be excited to share with people?
    • Are there any ongoing questions you’d like to explore in future works?
    • How is this creative work sample representative of your artistry as a whole?
    • Where do you express your artistry in other areas of your life?

Work Sample As Attachments

When uploading work samples to the application, files must be in one of the following formats:

.docx or .doc 

.PDF 

.jpg 

.mov 

.mp4

.pptx or ppt

To provide work samples in other formats, such as video and audio recordings, you will need to use links (see below).

Work Samples As Links

There is a place in the application for you to provide a URL for your website, blog, YouTube/Vimeo channel, online gallery, etc. You may include additional URLs in the narrative sections of your application, but please note that these links will not be active.

A link to a public Google Drive or other shared folder is acceptable if you don’t have a website. In consideration of the review panel, please only provide links or share files that do not require the creation of user accounts.

Types of Samples

Imágenes: Individual images must be uploaded to your application in .jpg format. To include multiple images, save them as a single PDF or provide a link to an online gallery. You are encouraged to have some “detail” images that are close-ups of one of the other images.

Video/Audio: One audio or video sample may be provided and should be no more than five minutes long. Please note your role in the sample: composer, editor, choreographer, performer, etc. You may provide these types of work samples as links; YouTube, Vimeo and SoundCloud are standard websites for these submissions. You may also link to a public shared drive or folder, but remember not to link to any site requiring reviewers to create a user account.

Film and Media

• Filmmakers, videographers and artists working in film, video and media should submit one sample of a film, video or new media work (no longer than five minutes).

• Designers and performers should submit a portfolio of work in the form of a PDF or PowerPoint presentation (no more than 10 images) or audio/video files (no more than five minutes in duration) that may be accessed online.
• Note whether the sample is a complete work or an excerpt and what role (director, co-director, writer, performer, etc.) you played in creating the piece.

Creative and Dramatic Writing

• Fiction, creative nonfiction and other creative prose writers (including writers of graphic novels) should submit a complete work or excerpt of no more than 10 double-spaced pages total (including any images if working in mixed media/graphic language arts).
• Poets should submit no more than five single-spaced pages.
• Screenwriters and playwrights should submit up to a five-page writing sample of a play, screenplay or teleplay (either a complete work or an excerpt of one or more works).

Performance and Theatre

• Directors, choreographers, designers and performers should submit a portfolio of work in the form of a PDF or PowerPoint presentation (no more than 10 images) or audio/video files (no more than five minutes in duration) that may be accessed online.
• Directors working on devised pieces or adaptations may submit a writing sample, following the guidelines for the relevant discipline described above.

Visual and Multimedia Arts

• Visual artists should submit a portfolio of work as jpg files of individual images. To include multiple images, save them as a single PDF or provide a link to an online gallery. For time-based media, mp4, mov or viewable, link to YouTube or Vimeo totaling five minutes maximum.
• This may include up to 10 images and/or links to digital or audio files — totaling no more than five minutes — that may be accessed online. This could include 2-D, 3-D and time-based media.

Once you submit your application, you will receive a confirmation email of your submission. Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis until all seats are filled. The priority deadline is April 2, 2025. Decisions will be communicated through email.

No. This certificate program is not a Career and Technical Education (CTE) program and does not provide credentials that are similar or equivalent to it.

Those who earn a Teaching Artist Certificate through this summer intensive receive credentials of best practices, field work experience, and foundations in educational, teaching and learning methods. This will better prepare you for teaching artistry, facilitating arts engagement in community, professional development, healthcare, in-school residency spaces, and more.

There are no current scholarships available for the Teaching Artist Certificate.

The program fee to attend the five-week intensive is $2,000. A down payment of $500 is due upon registering for the program in May 2025. The remaining balance can be paid in a customizable payment plan. Deadline to pay the remaining balance in full is Monday, July 28, 2025.