COMPAS Teaching Artist

COMPAS keeps an open application to grow our teaching artist roster. Our next application review will be in September. If you are interested in joining our team, please follow the guidelines below to apply.

COMPAS Teaching Artists connect with community members through performances, workshops, residencies, professional development, and more. Programs take place throughout the state during school hours, after school, during the evening and on weekends. Locations include schools, libraries, older adult living communities, parks and rec centers, youth program sites and other community settings.

To best serve our communities’ needs at this time, we will only focus on artists who fit one or more of the descriptions below. 

For residency and workshop artists:

• Visual Artists
• Media Artists
• Writers who have experience teaching in elementary schools
• Drummers
• Artists from outside the Twin Cities Metro
• Artists living with a disability
• Artists who identify as Native American or Indigenous

For performers: 

We will also look at any applicant who is only looking to offer performances in the community, particularly performers and performance groups that teach about or celebrate their culture.

Application review timeline:

• September 13: Application review by staff
• Sept 27: Finalists invited to interview with community panel
• Week of Oct 21: Finalist interviews with COMPAS Community Panel (COMPAS staff, partners, and participants Community review submitted materials; applicants are interviewed and will offer a 10-minute artist demo)
• Nov 1: Finalists notified
• Dec 5 or 6: New artist orientation and paperwork signed to join roster Jan 1, 2025. 

Application review process described:

The roster application documents include a cover letter, resume, work samples, work sample descriptions, and a sample lesson plan (for performance-only applicants, this can be a description of what makes your performance educational or interactive). Once an artist has submitted the required information, the process consists of an initial round of consideration by COMPAS program staff, followed by finalists having a face-to-face interview with our Arts Advisory Committee consisting of community partners, artists, students, and COMPAS staff. If recommended by the committee, incoming artists then attend a New Artist Orientation, followed by individual training meetings with COMPAS staff, as needed. 

Desired Qualifications:

While we are open to a wide variety of artistic approaches and backgrounds, artists with the following criteria have a higher chance of being interviewed:

• Minnesota resident
• Demonstrated dedication to an artistic practice
• Prior teaching artist experience (ideally 3-5+ years)
• Ability to fill a gap on the COMPAS roster
• Demonstrated ability to model, breakdown, explain, and customize projects within their artform

Note: Teaching Artist base pay starts at $75 with possible additional pay toward prep, planning, cartage, etc.; Performers pay is variable and negotiated with artist/artist groups.

Note: Joining the roster is contingent upon completing a Criminal Background Check.