TLAD Community Collaborations

Students talk and laugh while designing typography for educational posters

In Teaching + Learning in Art + Design’s Master of Arts (MA) and Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) programs, you will have a variety of opportunities to work with art educators in greater Providence, including through internships, graduate assistantships, and student teaching residencies. See below for more about our recent collaborations with local nonprofits and experts in the field.

Community partners

As part of your degree program, you may work with one or more TLAD community partners. For MA students, you must complete an internship, which can take place in a local art-making space. For MAT students, you will work in a PK-12 school, following a student teaching residency model. Additionally, you can work as a graduate assistant to connect with even more art education spaces in Providence and the region.

Featured community partner

Illustration of children creating art as part of the Steel Yardlings program.
Steel Yardlings at The Steel yard

Steel Yardlings is one of the many opportunities for community teaching offered as an extension of TLAD’s MA and MAT curriculum. The program is a collaboration between TLAD and The Steel Yard, a nonprofit industrial art center and shared studio space in Providence.

Basing lessons on Steel Yard class curricula, TLAD graduate assistants guide hands-on and immersive art experiences scaled for younger learners.

Clinical educators

As part of our MAT program, students work closely with a PK-12 school, following a student teaching residency model. Over the course of your engagement with the school, you are paired with a clinical educator—a local art education teacher who guides you through the classroom teaching experience. 

Featured clinical educator

Mc. Alison's art students work is displayed on a wall as part of the exhibit "Tesselations, 5th graders explore shape, design and materials".
Alison Plump — visual arts teacher, International Charter School

From Alison: ”As an educator and artist, I see working as a clinical educator as an extension of my teaching practice. I can share my experiences and perspectives and, in return, TLAD MAT students bring fresh ideas to my art students and our school community. My elementary students have the chance to hear new voices and try new ways of making art, the MAT student gains valuable experience working in a school setting, and together we can work to ensure quality art instruction remains a vital part of education going forward.”

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TLAD programs