Careers

Title: Teaching Artists and Teaching Assistants
Position Type: Part-time seasonal
Compensation: Up to $50 per hour for first year Teaching Artists
Start Date: Advance training occurs in Nov/Dec. Residencies begin in Jan/Feb.
Location: Schools across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens. Additional sites possible.
Reports to: Christina Bixland, Education Director
Posting Date: 9/18/2023

About our In-School Arts Education Program

PCC offers residencies on creating storytelling/theater performance from our own personal histories, using peer interview techniques, writing exercises, and drama activities to help youth explore senses of identity, place, and belonging. Work occurs in elementary (grade 3+), middle, and high schools. Residency goals include fostering community, empathy, ensemble skills, and cross-cultural understanding, as well as the development of confident self-expression for each individual student, particularly in their writing and performance/public speaking skills.

Position Description

PCC Teaching Artists deliver meaningful arts engagement experiences for students in grades 3-12, based on PCC's methodologies in interview-based theater & devised performance. PCC Teaching Artists will be aligned with PCC’s artist-centered, community-oriented, experimental approach to the creation of new works, excited by working in community settings, and committed to supporting social justice and equity in making the arts accessible to all. Most TAs in our cohort lead 1-3 residencies in a given school year. Residencies typically involve approximately 20 teaching hours & 20-30 prep hours over 10-12 weeks in the winter & spring months. Compensation includes: hourly rates at $50/hr (1st year solo TA’s), $40/hr (1st year co-TA’s), or $25/hr (Teaching Assistants) plus $25/hour prep rate (all) & generous travel subsidy.

Qualifications & Requirements

Responsibilities

Guide student participants through a creative process in which they:

Identify key memories that have shaped their sense of self,

Script their stories into a collective work of art,

Explore and deepen their performance skills (voice, movement, expression) for a final performance of their original theater piece.

Thorough preparation of lesson plan

Prompt arrival to class sessions and other scheduled events

Timely completion of associated residency tasks (delivering scripts, reflections, timesheets, and other paperwork when due.)

Responsive and timely communication with company staff, and dogged pursuit of open communication among school teachers and administration over the course of a residency

Engagement in reflective practice and (provided) opportunities to enhance your teaching skills through trainings, including in the areas of trauma-informed practice, differentiated instruction, and working with ESL & multilingual learners

Core Competencies

Passion for unlocking young peoples’ potential through self-expression

Commitment to equity, inclusion, and liberated, anti-racist learning environments, and appreciation of the value of diversity across intersectional identities

Self-awareness and the ability to balance holding space, taking space, and giving space in a classroom setting

Boundary awareness and the ability to establish, maintain, and respect healthy emotional and physical boundaries

Organized and reliable

Flexible, adaptable and comfortable working in a rapidly changing/responsive environment

Excellent verbal communication skills

Proficiency in Spanish and/or Mandarin a plus

Note: Teaching Artists must pass a NYC Department of Education fingerprinting process/background check.

Desired Experience

For Teaching Artists, 2+ years of experience teaching theater, spoken word, or movement-based arts education programs to youth. (For Teaching Assistants, less teaching experience is permissible, with demonstrated interest in the relevant art forms.

Background in theater, spoken word, or devised dance/theater performance

An active art-making practice of your own

Experience working in multicultural community environments

Experience working in/with NYC schools is a plus.

Training & Support

If selected to join our training cohort this year, PCC provides potential Teaching Artists & Assistants with paid training in our curriculum & methodology, and the opportunity to demonstrate their teaching skills for consideration in determining residency placements. Attending the training does not guarantee a placement in a school residency, as there are many factors to be considered in matching classrooms with TAs including schedules, skill with certain grades or languages, specific needs or requests from the school, etc, but not attending the training would prevent someone from teaching for us in that given school year.

After the training, if a Teaching Artist is matched with a school residency, PCC also provides:

Clarity on schedule and location of residency

Assistance with initial planning meetings and goal-setting in schools

Access to education staff throughout residencies, as needed, to process/brainstorm ideas and challenges

Mid- and post-residency observation, feedback, and reflection

Support in arranging culminating school performances

Periodic additional professional development workshops for our roster of TAs, on specific topics of interest.

How To Apply

Please fill out this form by October 15, 2023.

Ping Chong and Company provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. PCC is committed to building a diverse and inclusive organization. We would strongly encourage you to apply, even if you don't believe you meet every one of the qualifications described above.