2025-26 Resident Teaching Artist Application

Each year, CAM hires Resident Teaching Artists (RTAs) to lead our ArtReach in-school programs and teen studio programs at the Museum, including LEAP and New Art in the Neighborhood (NAN). RTAs meet regularly to form a community of practice that includes skill sharing and professional development. Each season, select RTAs work with CAM staff to organize an exhibition of their students’ work at the museum.

Programs

LEAP: LEAP Middle School Initiative is a ten-week program offered on Thursdays from 4:30–6:00 pm in the Fall and Spring for students in grades 6–8. Selected LEAP RTAs are responsible for developing and implementing a course curriculum that exposes students to a particular contemporary art practice or medium. Compensation: $950 per semester.

NAN: New Art in the Neighborhood (NAN) is a twelve-week program offered on Saturdays from noon–4:00 pm in the fall and spring for students in grades 9–12. Selected NAN RTAs will collaborate with CAM's Teen and Adult Program Manager to collaborate on co-designing the curriculum and co-teaching. Compensation: $2,000 per semester.

ArtReach: ArtReach RTAs bring contemporary art into our partnerships at Vashon and Sumner High Schools. Selected ArtReach RTAs work closely with the Education Manager to determine project scopes. Compensation is calculated based on the confirmed teaching load, estimated around $1,550 per quarter.

2025-26 Theme: Collaborative Futures
Selected CAM Resident Teaching Artists will create curriculum that responds to the theme for the 2025–26 academic year: Collaborative Futures.
We encourage projects that utilize experimental human- and community-centered design and socially engaged art practices alongside familiar means of artistic expression–all with the aim of enhancing students’ abilities to create the world they wish to see.
Essential Questions around Collaborative Futures include:
- How can art serve as a tool for creating positive change in our communities?
- What role does collaboration play in transforming individual creative visions into collective community action?
- What artistic expression help you best communicate your values and goals in ways that others will hear?
- Whose voices are at the table when designing for our community’s future?

This theme might inspire the following processes/media:

• Large-scale artworks like a mural or collaborative painting
• Social practice and/or performance
• Digital media
• Mixed media and collage

This information is shared for transparency and context; Applicants do not need to have projects ready at the time of application nor a proposal of how to link with this theme.

APPLICATIONS REQUESTED BY MAY 18, 2025 at 11:59 PM CST. Applications received by this date will be given preference; application received after will be considered on an a case by case basis.

Questions: programs@camstl.org