Arts Educators

What is it like to work as Arts Educators Services in the arts sector?

Image courtesy of Suhaimi Abdullah

Arts Educators are primarily practising artists with a teaching practice and an artistic practice that inform and complement one another. They tend to work in a variety of settings such as schools, private studios, arts organisations and community centres that provide full-time, part-time employment or freelance work opportunities for Arts Educators as music teachers, dance instructors and drama educators, to name a few. 1 in 2 arts professionals who work in the Arts Education field operate as Self-Employed Persons (SEPs). 

Arts Educators deliver arts education programmes that encourages the appreciation of and participation in the arts and/or achieve other learning goals through an arts education programme. They play an important role in providing Singaporeans with quality arts experiences from a young age. They help to develop new arts audiences and nurture future arts professionals and cultivate patrons who appreciate and support the arts.

My greatest happiness is to share both the tangible and intangible qualities of Malay dance. The tangible qualities will be what you see on stage — dancers being able to perform correctly and with feeling. But that’s not the core of my teaching. The core of my teaching is transmitting what is intangible, values like respect, care, friendship and love. You have to remember that in Malay dance, there is no principal dancer. You are dancing together with 20 friends. If one is no good, then the whole team is no good. So we need to learn to support one another.

— Som Said, pioneering Malay dancer and choreographer, founder and director of Sri Warisan Som Said Performing Arts, 1987 Cultural Medallion Recipient

As a practising artist, I constantly push new engagements with the medium, the concepts and the readings. What gets me excited is the ability to share these new discoveries with my students.

— David Chan, Visual Artist and Arts Educator

Desired attributes of an Arts Educator

There are two career tracks in this sector

Educator Track

Arts Educators are responsible for designing and delivering arts lessons, guiding students in their creative pursuits and nurturing their artistic abilities. Their arts education programmes are typically informed by their own artistic practice.

Arts Educators teach various arts forms, such as Dance, Digital Media, Music, Literary Arts, Theatre and Visual Arts, to students of various ages and proficiencies. Arts Educators are not only proficient in their art form, but also invested in sharing their skills and knowledge with students.

Generally, qualifications in the art form, or at least substantial training with a reputable artist/company, is required of Arts Educators. Some jobs might require applicants to have a degree in Education or a teaching certification for the particular art form, and/or some experience teaching the relevant student profile(s).

Researcher Track

Some Arts Educators may choose to branch out into research as an Arts Education Researcher. Such individuals review literature, conduct studies using various research methodologies, analyse data, and present findings to the larger arts education community. Their objective is to refine existing teaching methods and the quality of the arts education curriculum. 

Arts Education Researchers collaborate with educators, artists, administrators, and policymakers to identify gaps and explore interests in selected arts fields and propose recommendations related to arts education and beyond. They typically conduct research in the context of institutes of higher learning, arts organisations, or independently.