Download your state’s voter information and Be a Teaching Artist Leader by sharing the information!
As independent contractors, part-time employees and gig workers, teaching artists continue to struggle.
Use the customizable letter to write elected officials – locally, statewide and nationally. Let them know we are here and continue to need their support. Created in March 2020, we encourage you to update THE LETTER to DEPICT THE CURRENT SITUATION.
In these unprecedented times, we turn to our community that is both rich in spirit and generosity for inspired local and regional networking! We are stronger when we are connected.
If you are struggling to connect to zoom to join a session, using the eventbrite email and zoom instructions, contact us. We will arrange a private specialized training to walk you through the steps. We want to make sure every TA in the Mid-Atlantic is connected!
TA CAFE: Mondays | 9:30AM
Start your work week out with TAMA! The Cafe began at the top of the pandemic as a place for us to share our grief. Then we supported each other in unemployment paperwork and shared ideas for virtual teaching. Now as Teaching Artists are invited to reinvent their work, this is an opportunity to share your dreams and invent the future together. More importantly, in August, the Cafe became a place where we brainstorm, plan and write advocacy pitches, and strategize on our personal and collective advocacy efforts. Consider:
Pre-Covid: You’d find yourself alone in an elevator with an administrator or an education director who could help you get work. What did you say? (What do you wish you had said?)
Now: Social media is the metaphoric “elevator” and it’s crowded! What do you say? Who do you say it to? Who is in your sphere of influence? What is your game changer request for the next 1-3 months? How will you get enough work?
Let’s take the ROAD TO TA LEADERSHIP together. TA Leaders know it is their responsibility to advocate for the field. Become a TA advocate with us. We have expertise among us and we break advocacy into a 5-step process that is on a quarterly repeat:
Identify Potential: Who do you ask and what do you ask for?
Plan Advocacy Pitch: Develop connections to activate your audience
Write Advocacy Pitch: Structure, develop and revise your pitch
Share Advocacy Pitch: Rehearse, share and get feedback
Advocacy Strategy: Invest and connect
What is the advocacy game-changer on your list for the next 1-3 months?
Scroll to see available dates. Eventbrite requires you to register for individual sessions. Refresh the page to register for multiple sessions.
Genesis: TAs of the Diaspora: First Tuesdays | 1PM
Genesis is a group, within the Teaching Artists of the Mid-Atlantic, which consists of Black and Brown by-Artists-for-Artists who support, uplift, and give voice to all Artists of Color who have ties to Africa by way of direct lineage, heritage, bloodline and/or experience, and have been impacted by any form of racism.
This network organized on April 21, 2020 when individual teaching artists of color were hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Led by TAMA NJ State Director and Certified Life Coach, Wincey Terry-Bryant, the network continues to grow and engage Black and Brown Teaching Artists in collaboration.
Early Childhood Network: Every Other Wednesdays | 10:30AM
A network for TAs working in Early Childhood Education. Session topics largely focus on delivering programs online. Share and learn from your Early Childhood TA colleagues, as we gear up for the year ahead bringing programming to ages 0-6 and their families and caregivers.
DELAWARE, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, MARYLAND, NEW JERSEY, NEW YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, VIRGINIA, WEST VIRGINIA
Email us with networks and resources you learn about that may benefit Teaching Artists in the Mid-Atlantic – locally, statewide and regionally. TAMA will filter and tailor the information to each network region, so that each Teaching Artist receives the most relevant and timely support.
When you join our mailing list we advise you to UPDATE YOUR PREFERENCES in your TAMA mailing list account. By doing so, you tell us a little bit about yourself. This link is always available in the footer of every email TAMA sends, so you can easily make changes to what information you receive. This increases our ability to sort and segment our mailing list geographically, by art form, skills, expertise and interest. This is an increasingly valuable feature. Our needs will differ from community to community, and much of our strength and stability will come from our ability to connect and respond locally.
TAMA Networks are VITAL!
Won’t you join a network? Explore the current groups throughout each state and get connected in your region! Don’t see a group in your region or that works with your schedule? Step up as a Local Coordinator! Reach out for support as you create a local network. This guide makes the task of starting a group manageable and achievable!
Many of you have a social media audience. TAMA strongly believes in the power of our togetherness. Let’s unite our realms of influence to foster a regional conversation about the field, our collective work and the impact it has on our communities. #TATuesdayTakeover is an opportunity for a Teaching Artist to be featured on our platform. You post as many or as few pics and details about your Tuesday to both tribes (TAMA and YOURS). This is a great way to expand your audience, post your awesomeness for a full day and give people insight into the everyday life of a teaching artist. You have stories to tell about the power of Teaching Artistry in action. You’ve experienced obstacles because Teaching Artistry is isolating, the field is evolving and not established in the general mindset. Let’s advocate together for a greater awareness of what Teaching Artists do and how they do it. Let’s curate our story through the vehicle of social media! Learn more on how you can get involved today!
It’s 2020, and TAMA – the organization that is by, for and about Teaching Artists – is here and now!
We continue to build the TA network with no membership fee. Over the past 2½ years, with no income, we carried out our mission by:
electing a board with Directors in Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania (and seeking representation in DE, DC, NY, VA, WV);
adopting a strategic plan and governing by-laws;
conducting Quarterly Regional Networking Meetings with live online access and that have moved throughout the region – so far we have visited Olney, MD; Bethlehem, PA; Newark, NJ; Washington, DC and Richmond, VA;
sending newsletters and notifications with information pertinent to the livelihood of a TA;
developing a website that continues to grow;
providing resources and promotional tools for you to organize and host your own local networks; and
supporting Teaching Artists to organize and share their voice at the table where decisions are made!
We ask that you donate $20 to help TAMA achieve its mission. Your donation will support:
complete website design to launch in September 2020 with a public artist roster and private section for donors;
video and sound equipment for network events so everyone can hear and be heard, and can see and be seen, both in person and online;
more opportunities for Teaching Artists to market, to learn and to network;
and, honestly, overhead (you know, all those pesky business expenses such as the web domain, PO Box, Zoom and MailChimp accounts, etc., etc…). Note: we have no employees at this point – we’re all volunteers.
These initiatives are pulled from the ideas you have requested in the TAMA survey. We are growing TAMA, together. If you have questions, concerns or interests in how your funds will directly support TAMA, please contact us.
By donating today, you will show your commitment and add your voice to our emerging network and our program goals for the field in the Mid-Atlantic region!
Teaching Artists of the Mid-Atlantic (TAMA) is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of TAMA must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” only and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
