The Association of Teaching Artists, the oldest independent organization serving Teaching Artists in the US, announced the winners of the 2020 Annual ATA Awards.

The Wichita Falls Alliance for Arts and Culture will receive the Teaching Artist Ally Award at the annual event. The honor is given to teaching artists or organizations in acknowledgment of their contributions to the field of teaching artistry. The award will be accepted by WFAAC executive director Margie Reese.

The Wichita Falls Alliance for Arts and Culture launched its Teaching Artist training in the summer of 2016 to create a pool of artists prepared to work with children in out-of-school time settings. To date, the organization has a solid corps of 24 local artists and classroom teachers who have participated in the Lincoln Center Institute training hosted by The Alliance.

The ceremony will be streamed on Thursday, July 23rd as part of Lincoln Center “Activate” professional development series for Teaching Artists.

Established in 2002, the ATA Awards were the first in the nation to recognize artist educators. The ATA Awards seek to raise the visibility of Teaching Artists within the arts in education and community arts fields and in the organizations and institutions for which they work as well as honor innovation in teaching artistry. Nominations are made by peers in the teaching artistry field and winners are selected by panel review.