The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Arts Education K-12 Residency programs are all custom created for the school/community we are serving. Residencies are led by professional teaching artists, can be in any art form, and have no requirement either for number of days or minimum number of students served. We intentionally design our programming to be accessible to, respectful of, and inclusive for all learners, from all ages, cultures, abilities, and perspectives.
A unique opportunity for students to learn an art form from a professional artist in their community. Arts enrichment is especially useful for schools and after school programs that do not already have a permanent art or music teacher. In addition to learning an artistic craft, students will practice “soft” skills such as creativity, fine motor skills, social emotional learning, and collaboration.
We offer one-off workshops or residencies of 4-12(+) sessions. We can plan the workshop or residency experience around the needs and interests of your students. Timing is also flexible based on the days and times that work best for your teachers and students!
Teaching Artist: Gil Teixeira
In this residency, we will venture into a radically different approach that empowers Music teachers to create original ensemble repertoire on the spot. This Collaborative Music Making Toolkit will help Music, Band and Orchestra Teachers generate new music with each class that will perfectly respond to the skill level and musical taste of each individual student, with the added layer of ownership and belonging associated to any shared creative process.
Teaching Artist: Liza Barley
This residency explores the poetry and songwriting of a few different artists as a jumping off point to having students create their own original songs that can then be performed individually or by a larger group. While infusing ELA learning into the music classroom, we are also getting in touch with each student’s self-expression through finding their individual authentic voice and using elements of melody, rhythm, and harmony to powerfully enhance their verbal expression through the composition of original songs.
Teaching Artist: Gil Teixeira
The Ukulele is the perfect starting point for any young wannabe singer/songwriter. It's easy to hold, easy to play, and there's lots one can do with it: chords, melodies, percussion, etc. In this workshop we will use the Ukulele as a key to unlock our musical creativity, regardless of any prior musical training, through the creation of original songs. Besides learning how to play the Ukulele, participants in this workshop will also explore different strategies and use a variety of tools for the creation of original lyrics, melodies, vocal harmonies and solid structures for their songs.
Teaching Artist: Liza Barley
This residency places a violinist/violist with nearly 20 years of teaching experience in strings (violin, viola and cello) into existing string classrooms to support and augment the strings lessons that are already taking place. Specifically catering to instrumental teachers who need an extra hand or would like some fresh techniques or ideas on how to work individually, in small groups, and in large groups with string players from beginner to advanced. We can focus on technique, music reading, improvisational techniques, ear-training and ensemble skills.
Teaching Artist: Chantal Braziel
The of this residency is to teach youth the importance of basic singing, and for them to be creative and passionate in their voices. They will learn the basics of technique such as voice and pitch, and we will go over different styles of music and genres of their liking, either individually or together as a class. The goal for the youth is to enjoy their singing and uniqueness of their own music.
Teaching Artist: Cam Chambers
This residency uses the history of African American music from early African drum circles to soul, jazz, blues, Motown and gospel to teach connectivity across genres. Students will find their sense of expression through different musical activities from drumming to singing and discover why certain styles and genres were so important for their time. Students will then create their own songs and perform them at the end of the residency.
Teaching Artist: Gil Teixeira
The sounds made by traditional musical instruments are just a tiny island in the world of sound. In this residency we will explore the musical potential of that wider world through the combination of deep listening exercises with the exploration of digital samplers and other sonic manipulation tools to create amazing original soundscapes from everyday sounds.
Teaching Artist: Gil Teixeira
Making something out of nothing is a really hard thing to do. The ABAC pattern is a centuries old trick that music composers/producers have been using to bypass that problem and make beautiful music. In this music making residency we will explore the potential of the ABAC pattern in endless ways: as the shape for a perfect melody, as the structure for an awesome beat, as the form for an entire song, etc.
Teaching Artist: Allison Lento
Students will learn about endangered animal species while utilizing a variety of Eco-art supplies and techniques. Eco-artwork is a creative way to spread awareness about the importance of reusing and reimagining single-use items and protecting animal habitats.
Teaching Artist: Allison Lento
Make models and dioramas using a variety of Eco-art materials and techniques! This art form allows the imagination to soar and create animal habitats, robots, movie sets, or even your own community! Using cardboard attachment techniques, students will build 3D dioramas and decorate them to create amazing decor, playsets, or gifts!
Teaching Artist: Allison Lento
In this program, we will design a board game from scratch! Using the Eco-art principles of reimagining materials, we will utilize everyday items to design an original game board setting and game pieces. Work individually or collaboratively to write a rulebook including rewards and challenges for your game characters to face.
Teaching Artist: Hannah Ditmire
Create art that will have a lasting impact on the students in your care as well as the broader community. Working together with local artist Hannah Goforth, students will learn how to put together a mural or other art piece for display in their school or community. Not only will students be part of the planning process, but they will also take on the task of executing an artwork that is larger than life!
Teaching Artist: Hannah Ditmire
Does your school or community program lack the resources for providing ceramics for your students? With local artist Hannah Goforth, students will learn the basic techniques of hand building pottery and the process of firing pieces in a kiln.
Teaching Artist: Allison Lento
Meet a live turtle! In this program, students will hone their drawing skills by studying a live model. Students will apply knowledge of 3D forms by studying a live model and replicating observations of shape, texture, and value into several illustrations.
Teaching Artist: Lindsay Woge
This residency combines creative storytelling with art and design in order to create fanciful small worlds in two and three dimensions. Learners will explore how the concepts of scale and perspective influence how we see, think, and act by exploring books like Spot by Dave Wiesner and They All Saw Cat by Brian Wetzel as well as the wonderful world of miniature-making. While crafting small-scale secret cities, half-pint non-human hideaways, and more, learners will experience art as a portal to a tiny universe of big dreams!
Teaching Artist: Maggie Negrete
In this residency, students will use simple paper crafts to learn about story structures and character design. Students move from thumbnailing in mini-zines to full size booklets that can be copied and distributed. Students will design unique and effective characters and book covers. Students will be familiar with basic story structure and its application to their own ideas. Students will complete, reproduce and distribute their own six page booklet.
Teaching Artist: Conor Coleman
Nature Art brings an experienced Teaching Artist to your school to facilitate nature-based art experiences, regardless of where your school is located! The TA will utilize what nature there is in and around your school to inspire students’ connection to nature, to self-expression, and to encourage ethical stewardship of our home environments. Students will learn art-making techniques dating back 40,000 years and gain consequent hope and resilience in the face of changing climate realities, all the while growing as a group and having a blast making art!
Teaching Artist: Morgan Swartz
Students will learn about printmaking and pattern by using found objects like leaves and Legos to create artwork.
Teaching Artist: Morgan Swartz
Students will follow several guided painting sessions to observe and practice composition, painting technique, and color mixing skills. Then they will apply what they learned to their own paintings based on photos they choose or take themselves.
Teaching Artist: Conor Coleman
In “Make Your Mark”, students will be able to splash, spray, and scribble their way towards an exciting mural arts project! Week by week, basic visual art competencies will be developed in solo and group formats to strengthen connections to visual arts as a form of self and community expression. Looking to many inspirations - Jazz music, Pittsburgh artists like Andy Warhol and Romare Bearden, and the patterns of nature - campers will locate their own creative power and join forces to create something beautiful. In the process, SEL skills will be developed alongside technical visual art skills across 8-12 exciting weeks of programming. No permanent wall available to be painted on? No problem! Canvas can be hung to allow all students the unique opportunity of expressing themselves at scale.
Teaching Artist: Diarra Imani
Build a world from wonder! Students will tap into SEL skills to create community, discuss ground rules, and use materials such as LEGOs, wooden buildings, and recycled materials to build large skyscapes. Physics and maker-space, STEAM and curiosity meet at the perfect intersections.
Teaching Artist: Christina Muzzie
Students will have fun getting their hands fuzzy as they learn the lifelong skill of hand sewing in a whimsical exploration of fibers, art, and nature. Students will individually create items for them to keep, which may include fabric hand puppets, nature inspired dyed fabric pillows, or stuffies created from their own artwork.
Teaching Artist: Caroline Heckman
‘The Art of Self: Exploration Through Portraiture’ will foster self-expression, emotional exploration, and creative thinking in students through various introspective creations, leading up to a final self-portrait and resulting classroom gallery show. By incorporating elements of art and a variety of mediums, students will get to create their own self-portrait that represents them emotionally and develop their artistic voice and style. Students will explore their identities and develop unique artistic styles by experimenting with various mediums and techniques. There will be a balance between technical skills and personal expression, building both emotional intelligence and confidence in art skills.
Teaching Artist: Imani Batts
This residency focuses on using fabric as a medium for visual art. Students will create art pieces by repurposing and redesigning textiles, learning about sustainability while exploring creative expression through fabric manipulation, collage, and mixed media techniques. The workshop encourages both artistic development and eco-consciousness.
Teaching Artist: Hannah Ditmire
This arts enrichment course is perfect for a school or organization with potter’s wheels on site, but no one to teach students how to utilize this magnificent tool. Local artist Hannah Goforth will guide students through the basics of creating thrown pieces of pottery and give students the opportunity to glaze their work to create fully functional artwork.
Teaching Artist: Morgan Swartz
In this residency, students will learn about relief block printing by carving and printing their own designs. They will experience different block types such as clay, wood, and rubber, and print on different materials including paper and fabric.
Teaching Artist: Lydia Aceto
Students will learn about sequential art (comics) and learn how to create their own short comic. This comic will be adapted from a work of literature of their choosing, allowing them to engage more closely with this work and to learn the skill of adaptation. Over the course of this class students will produce a 4-5 page comic that adapts a section of the work they choose (this can be contemporary literature or can be restricted to classic literature).
Teaching Artist: Imani Batts
In this residency, students will learn how to transform old clothing and materials into new, creative pieces while promoting sustainability. Through hands-on projects and design challenges, participants will explore the environmental benefits of upcycling and develop practical skills in fashion design and innovation.
Teaching Artist: Christina Muzzie
Use a printed image from a photo or magazine to create your own stuffie ornament! In this workshop, participants will explore a process to transfer images on to fabric and embellish them with embroidery. Make a keepsake from magazine photos of pop icons, an important historical figure that has meaning to you, or a whimsical mash up animal that you create from your imagination!
Teaching Artist: Imani Batts
This sustainable fashion extensive educational residency old teaches students how to transform old clothing and materials into new, creative pieces while promoting sustainability. Through hands-on projects and design challenges, participants will explore the environmental benefits of upcycling and develop practical skills in fashion design and innovation.
Arts Integration is an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form. Students engage in a creative process which connects an art form and another subject area and meets evolving objectives in both. - Kennedy Center
An Arts Integration Residency is between 4-12(+) sessions with a Trust Arts Education Teaching Artist, meeting once or twice a week and is meant for core academic content (collaborative, not competitive).
We can work with you to identify the days and times that work best for your teachers and students.
Trust Arts Education Teaching Artists are all professional artists working in their fields and have extensive experience in and out of the classroom. We engage in regular professional development to keep up with current trends and best practices related to arts enrichment and arts integration.
Teaching Artist: Katalina Salcedo
Teaching Artist: Cassidy Adkins
Teaching Artist: Gabby Wilson
Teaching Artist: Diarra Imani
Teaching Artist: David Minniefield