For Artists

What is the Artist in the School Program?

Artist in the School provides high quality, engaging and culturally diverse programming to students across the territory. Over the course of the 2023-24 school year 37 artists travelled the Yukon to deliver over 2,300 arts encounters to elementary and secondary school students. Workshop programs include music, dance, visual arts, literary arts, theatre and digital media.

Who is eligible to apply?

Professional artists* with proven teaching experience in all artistic disciplines are invited to apply. A follow-up interview will be arranged with the Artist in the School Coordinator to review the application and answer any other questions you have about the program.

* A professional artist is defined as someone who has: a) specialized training in the artistic field (not necessarily in academic institutions) b) is recognized as a professional by his or her peers (artists working in the same artistic tradition) c) has proven teaching experience.

Already part of the program?

Artist in the School instructors are able to update their website content any time of the year. Catalogue updates are only available in the fall and make it into the schools by early winter.

How does the program work?

Every Yukon school is allocated a certain number of AIS hours to spend working with Artists. The base number of hours is 20 per community school, per year and 16 per Whitehorse school, per year. The number of hours increases depending on school enrollment (1.50 additional hours per 50 students).
Each school has an Artist in the School representative that coordinates how that school spends their AIS hours. Some schools use their AIS hours on one big project involving the whole school, others divide the hours between individual classes.
There are 2 Special Project allotments of 20 hours for Yukon schools (1 for communities and 1 for Whitehorse) available on a first-come, first-served basis. These hours are meant for projects involving multiple classes/grades.
Once an artist is accepted in the program, they are listed on the AIS website and in the AIS catalogue which is accessible to all teachers across the Yukon.
Interested teachers will contact the artist to discuss dates, times, and availability. (Please ensure that you clarify both the number of preparation and instructional hours needed for your project when organizing programming with teachers.)
When dates have been confirmed between the artist and school, the school will then submit an Artist Request Form to the AIS office with the dates and number of AIS hours needed.

How do Artist Hours and payment work?

Artists are paid $75 an hour for both instructional and prep time.
Both instructional and prep time is taken out of the AIS hours allotted per school.
Artists are paid directly through the AIS office. An Artist Payment form signed by both the school and the artist needs to be submitted to the AIS office in order for payment to be issued. Please allow 3 weeks for payment to be processed.

Does AIS cover travel expenses?

If an artist is booked into a Yukon community school for a minimum of a full day of programming (5 instructional hours) they are eligible for Travel Expenses.
Artists are responsible for contacting the AIS office before their workshop to ensure their travel expenses are approved. Artists (not schools) are responsible for submitting any applicable travel receipts.