AN INVESTIGATION ON THE GROWTH OF EDUCATORS' CREATIVE AND PROFESSIONAL CAPACITIES

Abstract

Participating artists and artist-teachers in two arts education professional development programs, one on a national level in Canada and one at the state level in the United States, are the subjects of this study. Through collaboration with artists and arts organisations, both programs seek to assist classroom instructors in cultivating arts-integrated pedagogical practices. This article describes the experiences of artist-teachers and artists who had participated in the programs for a minimum of two years. It is based around survey data and interview with administrators, instructors, artist-teachers, and students. The research primarily focused on four areas: (1) artists' perceptions of their art forms changed, (2) artists' views of the difficulties in modern public education, (3) artists' perceptions of their jobs as educators changed, and (4) artists' ways of describing the positive impact of the arts on youth. Towards the end of the paper, they talk about some things to think about when researcher making professional development programs for artists and educators.