Deadline: Deadline: November 14, 2011 4 p.m. EST
Contact: Kimberly Bartosik, SATF Program Director
Telephone: 212/557-0010, ext 256
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Applications will be available online beginning July 5, 2011.

Program Description:

The Surdna Foundation announces the twelfth year of a national initiative to support the artistic revitalization of outstanding arts teachers in public arts high schools.* Surdna recognizes that arts teachers often lack the time and resources to reconnect with other arts professionals and with the artistic processes they teach. Through the Surdna Arts Teachers Fellowship Program (SATF), Fellows design individualized courses of study that provide both immersion in their own creative work and the opportunity to interact with other professional artists in their fields. Surdna believes that this approach to professional development will enhance the effectiveness of arts teachers and will directly benefit the young people they teach.

Teachers will be expected to design a fellowship program that provides opportunities to interact with professional artists and enhances their understanding of current techniques, activity, and thinking in their artistic domain(s). It may include: study in arts courses; attendance at advanced art-making workshops, festivals or institutes; residencies at artists' colonies; formal mentor relationships with recognized professional artists; independent study towards the completion of an artistic project (which includes interaction with other professionals), or other artistic entities.** (See Resource List on the website for examples of possible sites and previous fellowship projects.  Feel free to explore and create other options.)

All Fellows-accompanied by school leaders-will convene in fall 2012 in New York City to share experiences and discuss relevant issues and concerns (location, TBD). Fellows will also be expected to work with colleagues and school administrators to carry out post-fellowship plans, and submit a report on the impact of the fellowship.

* Eligible schools include specialized public arts high schools and arts-focused magnet and charter high schools.  All schools must have the following characteristics: a clearly defined mission that is related to the development of student artistic talent; an extended school day; sequential arts courses as a requirement for graduation; career guidance; arts program coordinators; and artists as teachers. Please note that teachers from high schools that are not arts-specialty schools are not eligible to apply at this time even if those schools have an arts concentration.

** The SATF program is for artistic revitalization.  Proposals which will not be considered include: participation in educational conferences, development of pedagogy, academic research or graduate study, curriculum building, learning of new skills solely towards the development of new courses or accreditation.

Arts Teachers Fellowship Awards:

Arts Teachers Fellowship Awards: Twenty awards of $5,500 each, with a complementary grant of $1,500 to the Fellow's school to support post-fellowship activities, will be made. The fellowship award may be used to defray the costs of tuition and other fees, room and board, travel, purchase of materials and/or equipment for personal art-making, childcare, and other relevant expenses.

Eligibility for Arts Teachers Fellowship:

All permanently assigned full- and part-time arts faculty in public arts high schools are eligible. Teachers of all arts disciplines are invited to apply – visual arts, photography, theatre, stage design (sound, lighting, set), music, dance, film, video, multidiscipline, and creative writing.  Applicants must be minimally in their fifth year of teaching arts in high school, and plan to continue as an arts teacher in their public arts high school in 2012-13. Previous fellowship recipients cannot re-apply.

Selection Criteria:

Proposed fellowship plans will be evaluated based on:

• Quality and relevance of the selected fellowship venue/project to applicant's artistic goals.
• Quality and realistic expectations (realistic match of goals and proposed plan).
• Stature of the artists-mentors.

• Anticipated impact of fellowship experience on future teaching.

 

TO APPLY FOR FUNDING:

This is a two-step process:

• Step 1: Submission of a Letter of Intent to Apply.

• Step 2: Following a review of the Letters of Intent to Apply, Surdna will invite those teachers with the strongest proposals to submit final applications. Final applications will be reviewed by a peer panel of artists and arts educators.

STEP 1 -- LETTER OF INTENT TO APPLY

DEADLINE: All Materials Must Be Submitted Online by 4PM (EST) NOVEMBER 14, 2011

To submit a Letter of Intent to Apply, please complete the online Surdna Arts Teachers Fellowship Application Form and submit it with an attached Resume or Curriculum Vitae. (Please do not include work samples).

The Letter of Intent to Apply must provide the following information (up to 800 words):

• A specific description of the applicant's professional artistic goal(s) and how the applicant will reach that goal(s) with the proposed project.
• A description of the proposed fellowship project, including the specific relationship to the applicant's current professional artistic work, needs, and artistic investigations.*
  Please be sure to include: the name and description of program(s) the candidate plans to attend (with short bios and names of lead artists or artist/teachers if possible), and/or organizations or mentors the candidate plans to work with, along with a projected timeframe. Independent study projects towards completion of a specific body of work are accepted, but applicants should include how this will connect them to other professionals and current trends in their field.

• The anticipated future connection of this fellowship to the candidate's work with students as well as professional artistic life outside of school.

*We hope that the process of creating a Surdna Arts Teachers Fellowship proposal will help you better understand your artistic process, plan a desired program of study, and assess your current professional artistic needs.  Please be realistic and specific in letting us know how the proposed project will help you attain them!

Finalists will be notified by email no later than December 2, 2011.

Please note that faxed or e-mailed applications will not be accepted.

STEP 2 - FINAL APPLICATION

DEADLINE: February 10, 2012

Following a review of the Letters of Intent, a select number of candidates will be invited to submit a final application. Finalists will be asked to submit a full project description, project budget and all available supporting materials (including notification of venue acceptance and mentor letters).  Fellowship Awards will be informally announced by March 30, 2012, with public notification in May 2012.

Please direct all inquiries to: Kimberly Bartosik, SATF Program Director, by email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or phone: 212-557-0010, ext. 256.

The Surdna Foundation, a national family foundation established by John E. Andrus in 1917, seeks to foster just and sustainable communities in the United States-communities guided by principles of social justice and distinguished by healthy environments, strong local economies, and thriving cultures.