DEADLINE TO APPLY: SEPTEMBER 30, 2023 at 5pm EST

  Any artist working in community settings will encounter young people who have been affected by trauma. While teaching artists rarely have details access to a participant’s personal history, there are tools they can use to identify a young person who is potentially trauma-impacted and strategies that they can employ to accommodate and engage that young person.    

Note:  While this program is being offered virtually so is accessible anywhere, priority will be given to teaching artists in the Philadelphia region.  If you are outside of Philadelphia and interested in opportunities for this training, you can sign up for updates here or email us  to find out about bringing the training to your community.

Structure of the Training: Over the course of five, 4-hour sessions, a cohort of up to 12 teaching artists will deeply engage in rigorous presentations by leaders in trauma-informed practice and its application in a range of artistic  disciplines.  Participants will be required to complete outside reading and reflection questions and, when possible, test the strategies they are learning in real time in their classrooms.

Teaching Artists must commit to attend all five, 4-hour training sessions to be held via Zoom conferencing on Saturdays from 9am - 1pm. Independent work will be assigned from 9 - 9:30am with live class beginning at 9:30am each week.

What you will learn:

 Upon completion of the training, teaching artists recognize:

• The neurological and psychological nature of trauma.
• How trauma affects the brain, behavior, ability to trust, and ability to forge healthy relationships.
• How trauma can affect self-image, and lead to shame and fear.
• Behavior in students that indicates potential trauma, fear, shame or stress.
• What a trauma-impacted student does (and doesn’t) need to successfully participate and learn in a workshop setting.
• How arts can be healing, and what particular skills can help to heal trauma.
• The signs of secondary or vicarious trauma in themselves or in teaching partners.

Upon completion of the training, teaching artists can:

• Provide moments of consistency, ritual, and choice-making in their workshop culture.
• When a moment of trauma arises, provide students with a series of  options that can help them release and regulate themselves through that  moment.
• Adapt their lesson plans into a trauma-informed model.
• Adapt their facilitation practice into a trauma-informed model.
• Responsibly address trauma by creating moments of positivity and healing in their workshops.
• Find moments to guide students through personal reflection about  themselves, to help them recognize and acknowledge positive traits.
• Follow a safety plan for themselves and regularly incorporate self-care into their lives.

Who is Eligible?

• Teaching artists in all disciplines.
• Strong priority is given to teaching artists in the greater Philadelphia area.
• Track record of at least three years of working with communities affected by trauma in- or out-of-school settings.
• Committed to teaching artist work with young people (K-12) as a significant part of your creative practice.
• Desire to be part of an ongoing learning community of teaching artists.

Your Commitment to the Training

• Attend all five, 4-hour training sessions on Saturdays, 9am - 1pm, on November 11 and 18 and December 2, 9, and 16. There will be no class on November 25th. Class will take place entirely via Zoom video conferencing.
• Prepare pre-work and be ready to contribute to each session to make workshop time efficient.
• Engage in each session with focus, curiosity and an open mind.

Bartol Foundation Commitment to You

• Convene practitioners in the field as presenters and participants who will bring knowledge and commitment to the training.
• Create an organized, supportive virtual environment for learning including learning materials, screen breaks and follow-up as needed.
• Listen fully to suggestions to improve the training both in real time and for future cohorts.
• Support the ongoing continuation of a learning community at the conclusion of the training, if desired by the participants.

Stipend:  Upon successful completion by teaching artists of all five sessions and a final project,  the Bartol Foundation will provide a stipend of $200 to each teaching artist in recognition of their participation.

Timeline

• Application Opens: Wednesday, August 30
• Application Closes: Saturday, September 30 at 5pm EST
• Notification: by October 9
• Acceptance of Slot: by October 11

Co-Facilitator: Mae Early (she/genderfluid) is a writer, theatre artist, and educator who lives and works in Philadelphia. As an arts educator, she believes that we all deserve a safe and supportive environment to explore our voice and identity. In service of this mission, she facilitates arts workshops for all ages and ability levels at schools, community centers, corporations, and nonprofits. For twelve years, she was the Director of Education at Philadelphia Young Playwrights, a theatre education organization which uses playwriting as a vehicle to increase students’ comfort with writing, literacy, and creative expression. Currently she is the Program Manager for Bartol's online trauma-informed training initiative, and she is also the creator and lead facilitator of Bartol's 20-hour trauma-informed training for teaching artists and arts administrators. She is also a co-creator of Whole HeART Teaching, a resource center with curated materials like lesson plans, activities, and other supplementary artifacts that are  healing-centered and place student agency at the center of learning. A freelance consultant and facilitator, Mae regularly facilitates professional development across sectors and ages in the areas of trauma-informed and healing-centered teaching,  teaching artistry, arts education pedagogy, creative writing, theatre, and workforce development.

Co-Facilitator: Candy Alexandra González (they/them) is a Little Havana-born and raised, NYC and Philadelphia-based, multidisciplinary visual artist, poet, activist and trauma-informed art educator.  Candy received their MFA in Book Arts + Printmaking from the University of the Arts in 2017. Since graduating, they have been a 40th Street Artist-in-Residence in West Philadelphia, a West Bay View Fellow at Dieu Donné in Brooklyn, NY, Leeway Art and Change Grant Recipient and the 2021 Linda Lee Alter Fellow for the DaVinci Art Alliance. Candy is currently an Art + Art Education doctoral student at Teachers College, Columbia University.  Candy is a graduate of the Bartol Foundation’s training in Trauma-Informed Practice for Teaching Artists and Trauma-Informed Teaching Artist Practices and Identity. They also completed training with Lakeside Global Institute including Group Facilitation, Enhancing Trauma Awareness, Deepening Trauma Awareness and Applying Trauma Principles.