​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture​


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​Creative Curriculum​

Teachi​ng Artists in the Schools

Launched in Spring 2022, Creative Curriculum is a teaching artist program that uses the arts, including creative writing, visual arts, and other disciplines, to get students excited and engaged about learning. Working closely with teachers, district specialists, and Office staff, local artists create lesson plans, develop trainings, and provide in-person instruction to help students achieve district standards and goals.​​


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Spring 202​3 Call to Artists

  • Compensation: $3,600 stipend
  • Commitment: 12 hrs/wk over six weeks (specifics outlined below)
  • Required Qualifications: Previous teaching experience with youth
  • Deadline to Apply: January 19, 2023, at 11:59 p.m.
  • Apply: www.surveymonkey.com/r/CCSpring23

Call to Artists

The Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture is seeking a visual artist with elementary-aged youth instruction experience for a Spring 2023 placement at Heatherbrae Elementary School.

Working in close collaboration with staff members at the Office of Arts and Culture and the Heatherbrae Elementary School classroom instructor and school principal, the educational artist-in-residence will help develop, administer, and evaluate a variety of exercises, lesson plans, resources, and tools to help third-grade students get engaged and excited about visual arts in accordance with district standards and goals.

Compensation and Commitment

The education artist-in-residence is a contracted position expected to work up to 12 hours a week meeting with teachers, developing curriculum, and instructing students over a 4-week in-classroom period from February 13 to March 10, with an additional two weeks for preparation and wrap-up (total 72 hours). For this work, the artist will receive a stipend of $3,600, including mileage and travel. Pending any changes in district policy, the artist is expected to teach in-person twice a week. Instruction will take place during regular school hours. Meetings with teachers and staff members may take place virtually. Materials and supplies will be provided by the City of Phoenix. Other details will be determined at the start of the program.

Eligibility and Qualifications

  • Visual arts background, education, practice (e.g. drawing, painting, collage, etc.)
  • 1-2 years teaching or educational experience with elementary-aged youth in academic, community, or other settings
  • Dependability and strong communication
  • Strong organizational skills
  • Positive attitude, sense of humor, and flexibility
  • Availability to complete the duration of the placement
  • Passed background check and fingerprint clearance card from the Arizona Department of Public Safety (required after hire)
  • Preferred: Bilingual in Spanish and English

Applying to the Position

To apply, submit a cover letter, a resume, and three references through an online form at www.surveymonkey.com/r/CCSpring23. Applications are due January 19, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. Virtual interviews will take place the following week. All applicants will be notified by January 30, 2023.

More Information

For more information, contact Grants and Community Engagement Director Sarah León at 602.262.6164 or sarah.leon@phoenix.gov.​

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 ​Meet our Spring 2022 Educational Writer-in-Residence
​Sean Avery Medlin​
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Sean Avery Medlin (they/them) is a gamer and Hip-Hop nerd, whose only wish in this world is to watch an unproblematic, Black sci-fi T.V. show. Till then, Medlin teaches creative writing and guides cultural work across the state of Arizona, while also creating rap, poetry, prose and performance. Their music, literature, and theater all question the limits of Black masculinity, media (mis)representation, and personal narrative.

Medlin’s work has been featured in Phoenix New Times, Chicago Tribune, Afropunk, Blavity, and the 2020 Tucson Poetry Festival. Their Hip-Hop play and album, skinnyblk, along with all their previous work, is available online at superseanavery.com. 808s & Otherworlds: Memories, Remixes, & Mythologies is Medlin’s debut collection of essays and poetry, is available at local bookstores Grassrootz, Palabras​, Changing Hands​, and anywhere else books are sold.

To learn more about Medlin's work, you can listen to interviews or read reviews:


Local poet and writer Sean Avery Medlin ​ participated as the first educational writer-in-residence for the Creative Curriulum program. Medlin taught creative writing at Barry Goldwater High School in the Deer Valley Unified School District, helping students improve their understanding of narrative writing, figurative language, and figures of speech.​​​​

Program ​Materials and Links​

​2023 Spring Full Guidelines
Submit your application

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