About ProjectArt
ProjectArt is a national award-winning arts education nonprofit that provides free, after-school art classes for underserved youth while supporting practicing artists through residencies. We partner with public libraries to activate spaces where artists teach, create, and engage communities. Our work addresses the growing opportunity gap in arts education, impacting over two million students who lack access to visual arts programs in their schools.
Over the past 14 years, we’ve served 315 artists, 64 libraries, and over 13,000 students nationwide through artist residencies and weekly, holistic art programming.
About the Residency
The ProjectArt Teaching Artist Residency is designed for emerging, local visual artists who want to engage with youth, libraries and communities while expanding their artistic practice. Residents have a strong interest in developing career-building skills and connecting with a growing local and national network of artists. They are eager to learn through professional development opportunities and explore how public libraries can serve as a resource to inform and support their art-making. Above all, they possess a genuine, enthusiastic appreciation for teaching and mentorship.
This residency runs from August through May, culminating in a joint student and artist exhibition at a professional venue. It allows artists to refine their teaching practice, develop new work, and play a vital role in ProjectArt’s mission to increase visual arts access to youth who need it most.
Commitments
A ProjectArt Resident’s commitment is two-fold. The teaching component includes paid weekly classes, regular communication with staff, and some administrative responsibilities. The artistic development component provides a supportive framework to create new work for a professional exhibition, build career skills, and leverage the library as a resource throughout the 9-month residency.
Benefits and Compensation
Exhibition: End-of-year joint artist and student exhibition hosted at a professional venue, including a $500 materials honorarium and ongoing logistical, artistic support to create new work
Teaching Rate: $75 per class ($60 for teaching + $15 for prep), bi-weekly payment processing
Resources: Teaching supplies, comprehensive curriculum planning guides, open-ended support from program administrators, and priority access to exclusive library resources, equipment, archives. If desired, studio space can be explored as a possibility, depending on the library branch.
Professional Development: Three pre-program training sessions, Internal Artist Forums (IAFs), New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) webinars, and Classroom Management support from professionals in Educational Psychology.
Networking: Connection to the national art community of fellow residents, and local cohort meet ups.
How to apply
Each year, ProjectArt selects new local artists of all backgrounds through a structured application and three-stage interview process designed to assess artistic practice, teaching abilities, technological capacity, and professionalism. Strong applications will demonstrate thoughtful responses, a clear vision for the residency year, and careful attention to the guidelines below. Ultimately, we seek Resident Artists who are both dedicated practitioners and socially engaged community members, with a genuine passion for working with youth.
Proposal Checklist
Basic information: your name, email, phone number, city, artist website (if applicable), links to your work online, and any relevant social media handles.
Resume or CV – 3 pages max in a single PDF
Portfolio in a single PDF:
5 high-quality images of artwork made within the last five years – 1 image (minimum) from the past year
Image captions must include the title, medium, and year of each artwork
Optional: Artwork or series descriptions
Artist Statement in a single PDF:
What drives your art practice
Your primary mediums and concepts
Role of teaching and community in your artwork (if any)
Minimum 200 – Maximum 500 words
Essay Responses
(150–350 words)
Please number your responses to match the questions below and include each question above your corresponding answer:
Why is arts education important, and what do you want students to take away from your classes?
What is your library branch of choice? Tell us why you are interested in working within that neighborhood.
What role does empathy play in the classroom? Briefly share 1–2 ways you believe it can meaningfully impact diverse, young learners.
How do you imagine being a library’s resident artist will influence or inform your art practice? ProjectArt residents participate in a final exhibition that reflects the connection between their residency experience and their art making. Feel free to reference current or upcoming work to illustrate how this experience might shape your process, themes, mediums, etc.
Why is the ProjectArt Teaching Artist Residency a good fit for you at this stage in your career? Please include any ongoing or upcoming projects and commitments that may overlap with or align with the residency period (August 2025 – late May/ early June 2026)
Submission: Compile all 4 PDFs into a folder, upload on the application’s Proposal section.
File naming: [First Name] [Last Name] [Document Name] (e.g., Jane Smith Artist Statement).
Folder naming: Name as [CITY] [First Name] [Last Name]
Application Deadline: 06/03/2025
Review before applying:
Request for Proposals
Residency Promo
Information Session