Performing arts teaching artists in P-12 schools: reconsidering preparation, policy, and professional challenges

Abstract This afterword gathers central themes from preceding articles in the issue, including the wide range of P-12 teaching artists’ preparation, parity in the field (gender, genre, race, funding, etc.), professional challenges, and potential to reform supporting policies, and brings them into dialogue with one another. It highlights both the tension and the partnership that exist at the intersection of “teacher” and “artist” identities, and suggests that the sites of pedagogical and policy overlap, divergence, and intertwining also invite deeper inquiry, in the best interest of the student and the community within which the student is located. There are questions about and implications for P-12 teaching artist preparation and work, funding structures, school and community investment, and administrative policy.