Teen Empowerment

In 1977, Sierra Arts Foundation formed an alliance with Washoe County School District to provide various onsite arts education instruction to elementary, middle, and high schools in the areas of literary, movement, theater, and visual arts.

Teen Empowerment
through the Arts

Sierra Arts Foundation’s Teen Empowerment program is an 8-week long collaboration project. In this program teaching artists and middle school social studies teachers collaborate to incorporate arts integration strategies with classroom social studies learning. This program brings arts integration into sixth and seventh grade social studies classrooms to enhance student engagement and depth of knowledge in social studies as a core academic subject area. Arts Integration is a modality that has been shown to work successfully across all socio-economic boundaries

Artist Residencies

Sierra Arts Foundation recruits, hires, and trains professional teaching artists to bring art integration initiatives into schools in Washoe County School District. Our teaching artists are two-career professionals, working as both an artist and arts educator. As a working artist, they are involved in an ongoing process of discovery, creation and exhibition, and refinement of skills in their discipline. As a working educator, they are a crucial resource for students lifelong learning in the arts. Our teaching artists will spend six consecutive weeks onsite in each classroom during school hours teaching middle and high school students base art lessons in areas of literary, movement, theater and visual arts. Sierra Arts Foundation provides all teaching materials, art supplies, and teaching-artist salaries.

Our teaching artists are two-career professionals, working as an artist and arts educator.

Artists and Arts Educators

Teaching artists are selected based on following criteria: a MFA or BFA in an art discipline, expertise working as a professional artist, and three years of direct K-12 teaching experience

Arts in Education Schedule

Sierra Arts appoints teaching artists to serve at selected WCSD elementary school, one-two times a week, for one school year.

Sierra Arts Foundation provides all teaching materials, art supplies, and teaching-artist salaries. Teaching artists spend 6-weeks in each classroom until all grades have been served arts education.

Artist Selection Process

Teaching artists are carefully selected based on their expertise working as a professional artist and arts educator.

Preference may be given to applicants with a BFA or MFA and three years of direct k-12 teaching experience. Qualified applicants are reviewed and interviews are scheduled for the top candidates.

Support Arts Education

Sierra Arts creates and manages spaces and venues throughout our community for artists to perform and display their work. We have many resources for the artists in our community.