TAO Consortium & Mission
Teaching Artists Organized (TAO) is a collection of organizations and individuals sharing a passion for the important work that teaching artists do in schools, communities and institutions. A unique artist and education hybrid, the teaching artist has opportunity to share with people of all ages the critical role that the arts can play in their personal lives, social interactions, and educational success. We are interested in sharing information and quality professional services, expanding awareness about the value of teaching artists, and creating networks for employers and teaching artists to find one another.
Loosely identified as the "Founding Members" of TAO are California Shakespeare Theater, Theatre Bay Area, Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and the Community Network for Youth Development (CNYD). Teaching artists from all disciplines are invited to participate in our workshops, services, conversations and surveys.
Frequently Asked Questions about TAO
What is TAO?
TAO, an acronym for Teaching Artists Organized, is a consortium of Bay Area organizations working together to enhance the professional development of teaching artists in schools and communities.
What is a Teaching Artist?
A Teaching Artist is a professional artist, or arts organization, with skills in both teaching and the arts who work with students in a variety of school and community settings providing education in the arts, thereby expanding the horizons of young people in the community.
Who is involved?
Consortium members are Berkeley Repertory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Community Network for Youth Development, Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, and Theatre Bay Area. For more information about each member, please visit each organization’s website.
How can my organization or I get involved with TAO?
TAO is focused on working together to strengthen the field of teaching artistry in our community. If you or interested in being a part of this work, you can contact Bronwyn Eisenberg at California Shakespeare Theater at 510-548-3422 x 115 or at learn@calshakes.org.
What is TBA?
Theatre Bay Area (TBA) is the nation’s oldest and largest performing arts service organization. Founded in 1976 by theatre workers, TBA is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to unite, strengthen and promote theatre in the Bay Area by providing communications networks and opportunities, creating resources for theatre companies, theatre-makers and theatergoers. TBA exists to raise public awareness, mobilize support and galvanize actions in behalf of our conviction that theatre and other performing arts are an essential public good, critical to a healthy society as a source of personal enrichment and a locus for building community.
Theatre Bay Area serves more than 375 member theatre companies and 3,000 individual members in the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California. We provide services to our members; however, we are not a presenting organization or a casting agency.
As a member of the TAO consortium, Theatre Bay Area has provided its website as a home for the TAO Teaching Artists Directory. By becoming a member of Theatre Bay Area, you will have access to a wide variety of resources that support teaching artists in our community
