Art Education Teacher Recruitment and Retention Task Force

NAEA is committed to supporting our current and future visual art, design, and media arts educators. Pandemic burnout, early retirements, rise in school violence, lack of clear career pathways, and ongoing pedagogical cultural wars—among other challenges—make the recruitment and retention of art teachers increasingly more difficult. To better understand and address the obstacles that current and future art educators face, as well as the growing issue of educator staffing shortages, the NAEA Board of Directors has formed a national “Art Education Teacher Recruitment and Retention Task Force.”

The Task Force will investigate the obstacles and opportunities to entering and serving the field of visual arts, design, and media arts education, and engage with the membership, peer organizations, and external experts to gather data and draft a report of findings and recommendations for short, mid, and long-term action to be presented to the Board.

An open call was held in early 2023 for seasoned and/or emerging leaders with the experience, skills, and/or desire to carry out work related to these issues. Representatives from all NAEA divisions and geographic regions will lead this charge. Meetings began in April 2023 and the work of the Task Force will be completed no later than April 2024. The group will meet for virtual monthly meetings and convene in person in July 2023.

Co-Chairs:

Cathy Rosamond

Theresa McGee

Task Force Members:

Dana Monroe

Cam McComb

Harmony Murray

Caitlin Deutsch

Alex Heine

Nick Hostert

Tempa Nyswaner

Alicia Robinson

Expert Contributors:

Tina Atkinson

Kristin Vanderlip Taylor

Christina Hanawalt

Le Ann Hinkle

Stephanie Silverman

Lisa Stuart

LaDonna Canup

Lucy Bartholomee

Alicia Peters

Libba Willcox

Paige Colwell

Erick Figueras