Off-campus UMass Amherst users: To download dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your UMass Amherst user name and password.
Non-UMass Amherst users, please click the view more button below to purchase a copy of this dissertation from Proquest.
(Some titles may also be available free of charge in our Open Access Dissertation Collection, so please check there first.)
ARTISTS GO TO SCHOOL: THE EXPERIENCES OF ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE
Abstract
The artist-in-residence concept has grown in popularity in the last fifteen years. During the 1970s artists were employed in a variety of arts and general education programs calling for curriculum change and school reform. In programs designed to increase the impact of artists' residencies, they found new relationships to schools through teaching, curriculum development and teacher training. Little has been written about the actual experiences of artists in these kinds of programs. This research addresses the need for a more thorough description and understanding of artists in schools and provides insights for the management of creative people in other types of organizations. A qualitative study was conducted which examined experiences of eight artists--four poets and four visual artists. Artists and twnety-three related teachers and administrators were interviewed. A core outcome of the study is a description of the circumstances encountered by artists and their processes of adjustment to their work environments. Artists' experiences were shaped in significant ways by their professional self-definition, work history and beliefs and values. Characteristics of the settings that impacted outcomes were: the socializing forces of the schools, scope of the programs, extent to which artists were required to perform tasks beyond their art and the degree of interdependence called for among artists and teachers. "Artist/educators" for whom teaching was a kind of a "second career" tended to be more successful in negotiating satisfactory roles than artists who saw themselves more narrowly. Administrative structures to bridge the differences between artists and teachers are crucial in reducing conflict and aiding collaboration.
Subject Area
School administration
Recommended Citation
COHEN, JOYCE, "ARTISTS GO TO SCHOOL: THE EXPERIENCES OF ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE" (1984). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI8418850.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI8418850