Become a Teaching Partner

Share Your Creativity. Inspire Our Community.

The Hillsborough Arts Council is seeking members who are passionate about sharing their creative skills, artistic techniques, or business knowledge through community enrichment classes. Whether you're an artist, maker, musician, writer, photographer, or creative entrepreneur, we'd love to collaborate with you to develop engaging educational opportunities for our community.

You Don't Need a Finished Class

Don't worry if you don't have a fully developed workshop or lesson plan. We're looking for members who are interested in partnering with the Hillsborough Arts Council Board to shape ideas, develop content, and create meaningful learning experiences together.

If you have expertise, experience, or simply an idea you'd like to explore, we'll work with you to turn it into a successful program.

Current Opportunity

We're especially interested in partnering with a member to develop a workshop focused on:

Marketing Your Art & Creative Business This collaborative program would help artists and creatives learn how to promote their work, build their audience, and grow their creative business. If you have experience in marketing, branding, social media, selling artwork, or creative entrepreneurship, we'd love to hear from you.

Member Opportunity

Teaching Partner opportunities are available exclusively to Hillsborough Arts Council members. Membership connects you with a growing network of local artists and creatives while providing opportunities to teach, collaborate, exhibit, and engage with the community.

If you're not a member and have an idea for an enrichment class we invite you to send an email with your idea for the class to programs@hbartscouncil.org and we will do our best to determine if we can develop such an event.  

If you wish to collab and become a teaching partner please consider joining our membership.  Visit our Membership Details page to learn about the benefits of joining the Hillsborough Arts Council.

Share Your Art, Teach Your Craft, Connect with the Community

The Arts Council is developing a new Artist Teaching Program that will give our artist members an opportunity to share their skills and creativity with the community while helping us expand the variety of arts and craft classes we offer. We are inviting Art Council members to develop a multi-part class series around an art or craft technique, project, or area of expertise.

Part 1 — Free Introductory Class at the Public Library

The first class will be offered free to the public at the library. This will be an introduction to your art or craft and will give participants an opportunity to learn something new and get excited about continuing with it.  The library will purchase the supplies needed for this introductory class, so there is no need for the artist to provide the materials.

Part 2 — Follow-Up Paid Class

The second class, and potentially additional classes, will build on what participants learned in the introductory class.  These classes will be offered at another available venue where the Arts Council can charge participants a class fee. The venue is being provided to the Arts Council at no cost, allowing us to create a revenue-generating teaching program.

What We Are Looking For

We are looking for artists who have an idea for a class that could work well as a "learn it for free, then take it further" experience.

For example:

• Introduction to watercolor → Intermediate watercolor techniques

• Beginning jewelry making → Design and create a more complex piece

• Introduction to drawing → Developing your own drawing style

• Basic photography → Taking better photographs and developing a personal project

• Introduction to fiber arts → Creating a more advanced fiber-art project

• Beginner printmaking → Creating a series of prints

The possibilities are wide open. Your class does not have to fit a traditional art category. We are interested in creative, hands-on experiences that members of the community would enjoy learning.

Why Participate?

This program gives Arts Council artists an opportunity to:

• Share your artistic knowledge and passion with the community

• Introduce your work to potential new students and supporters

• Develop a class around something you already enjoy doing

• Reach people who may not have experienced your art before

• Potentially teach a series of classes rather than just a single workshop

• Earn income through the paid portion of the program

The Arts Council will work with selected artists to help develop the class concept, determine appropriate pricing and scheduling, and promote the program.

Interested in Teaching?

If you have an idea for an art or craft class that you think would work well in this format, we would love to hear your idea!  You don't need to have a complete class curriculum prepared. Simply share your idea, what participants would learn or create, and what you envision for the follow-up class.  Complete the Teaching Partner Course Proposal Form  and we will schedule a meeting to discuss your cirriculum idea.  To assist you in completing the form here is a paper static copy you can use to develop your responses prior to completing the online form.

Together, we can create educational opportunities that support local artists, encourage lifelong learning, and strengthen our creative community.