About the Teaching Artist Program Specialization

Teaching Artists Program is for the undergraduate who is committed to utilizing theater as an educational tool for students in K–12 classrooms. In learning how to incorporate theater fundamentals to the core curriculum, students take a program consisting of two courses which analyze the major concepts and processes in the development and implementation of curriculum in the educational setting, and serve one or more quarters in a teaching apprenticeship program in UCLA's ArtsBridge program.

The Teaching Artists Program provides classroom training for performing artists in the: creation and implementation of classroom lesson planning, understanding and effective practice of classroom management techniques, collaborative practice with classroom teachers and the understanding and development of standards and measurements, all for the purpose of determining effective teaching strategies.

The program provides students with hands on training by partnering promising performing artists with LAUSD teachers for the purpose of creating strategies for integrating theater into the academic curriculum. These partnerships are intended to support classroom learning and generate enthusiasm for active classroom learning.

Previous classroom partnerships have created a range of teacher/artist collaborations, integrating theater training with the history of the underground railroad and coded quilts, environmental awareness, the study of the articles of the constitution, the Jewish holocaust, Lewis and Clark's Expedition, and many other topics.

.

The UCLA Theater program is not a training conservatory and is not for the student who is eager to begin working professionally right away. For those persons we recommend one of the acclaimed BFA conservatory training programs found across the country. The UCLA Theater program is for the student who sees him/herself as a scholar/artist — one who is eager to learn and wants a great university education from one of the world's major research institutions. Roughly half of the student's classes are in subjects other than theater. This education will prepare the graduate to be an informed citizen of an increasingly complex world, an original and critical thinker, as well as providing one of the best theater educations offered in the country.

Like all other undergraduate specializations, this is not a "major." There is no "teaching artists program major." All undergraduates in the program are theater majors and graduate with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Theater.

All Theater undergraduate students (from any specialization) may audition for most departmental undergraduate productions.

Please note that students in the UCLA Theater department cannot transfer to UCLA's Film/Television/Digital Media department at any time during their four years here, nor can they change from their specialization into the acting or musical theater specializations.