Pratt/VACI Fellowship in Pedagogy

The Chautauqua School of Art is an incubator of inclusive and expansive programming in the visual arts composed of workshops and one-on-one time with mentors covering all media. The curriculum intentionally breaks apart the traditional methods that silo disciplines from each other and instead embraces a full range of studio and pragmatic studies including professional development for artists, the art of pedagogy, writing in the 21st century, archiving and the relevance of art history today.

Pratt Fine Arts and the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) at Pratt Institute created a partnership with the Visual Arts at Chautauqua Institution (VACI) in offering the Pratt/VACI Fellowship in Pedagogy.

This Fellowship is an opportunity for a Pratt Institute Fine Arts graduate student to attend the Visual Arts at Chautauqua Institution (VACI) Residency Program, teach a course through a mentorship with Hasan Elahi, VACI Core Faculty within the residency program.

The aim of the fellowship is:

To provide an opportunity for the selected fellow to advance their own artistic practice within a community of peers, and with regular access to VACI visiting artists
To enable the fellow to actively participate in theoretical and practical explorations around new pedagogies under the mentorship of Hasan Elahi
To enable the fellow to practice teaching over 18’s in an experimental forum. The emphasis will be on teaching as an art form without external boundaries.

Hasan Elahi

Hasan Elahi is an artist, Associate Professor at the University of Maryland and board member of Creative Capital. Hasan will be working with participants at Chautauqua School of Art on developing new formal and informal academic curricula that respond to a changing creative economy while focusing on a balanced academic and artistic life.

The selected Pratt/VACI Fellow receives the following:

All expenses fully funded, including tuition, transportation to and from Chautauqua School of Art, housing, meals, and material fees
A gate pass for the length of the residency, allowing the Fellow to access to Chautauqua grounds as well as all amphitheater, chamber and Festival Schools programs
Studio space
Mentorship by Hasan Elahi, Core Faculty Member of VACI
Access to all VACI Residency opportunities (please see here for comprehensive information about the VACI Residency: https://chq.org/schools/school-of-art)

The selected fellow will be expected to:

Complete the full residency at Visual Arts at Chautauqua School of Art.

Teach a 3 week-long painting, drawing or collage Course to students over the age of 18 who are not participants in the VACI Residency.
Keep a journal or blog, documenting their work/learning experiences during the Residency
After the conclusion of their Fellowship, Share their VACI experience and learned pedagogical skills with faculty, staff, and peers at Pratt Institute:
- Conduct an informal presentation and discussion for Pratt faculty, staff and peers
- Present a more formal research-presentation at the Pratt Research Open House
- Present a formal report (in any creative format) that captures their Fellowship experiences, their work and learning regarding the Art of Pedagogy.