The Chicago Academy for the Arts

Animation Instructor

The Chicago Academy for the Arts (chicagoacademyforthearts.org), Illinois’ premier visual and performing arts high school, seeks a part-time animation teacher for the 2022-2023 school year. 

The Academy’s educational model is co-curricular: students engage in rigorous academic classes for five hours each day before immersing themselves in 3-5 hours of professional-level training in dance, filmmaking, animation, writing, music, musical theatre, theatre, or visual arts. (Note: The Chicago Academy for the Arts is a different school than “ChiArts”, a CPS school.)

Students at The Academy are characterized by an extraordinary sense of purpose and community. Most continue with the arts after high school: alums include hit songwriters, Grammy Award nominees and winners, Broadway stars, internationally acclaimed dancers and visual artists, and award-winning filmmakers and writers. Students also pursue degrees and careers outside of the arts: many alums are successful professionals in the fields of science, mathematics, technology, business, law, healthcare, and many more.

Reporting to the Media Arts Department chair, the animation instructor will teach various media skills and theory at least 2 days a week for roughly 34 weeks during the regular school year, from late August to late May. They will attend Media Arts festivals and other activities associated with The Academy's Media Arts program. The position may involve a 5-week Saturday morning class for prospective students that comes with additional pay. 

The ideal candidate will have:

• Knowledge of Adobe Creative Cloud, animation principles, and broad concepts of animation industry and education standards
• A clear ability and desire to interface with media & film critically and analytically
• Experience teaching high-performing adolescents
• The skills and desire to teach beginning through advanced level animation classes
• Students currently work with a broad variety of software, techniques, and styles. They use digital and traditional skills, 2D, 3D, and stop motion.
• An engaging and energetic personality

Successful teachers at The Academy are passionate about their subject area and its pedagogy, believers in the ethos of independent schools, committed to ongoing communication with colleagues and families, and have the interest and energy to uphold a rigorous curriculum while having a greater degree of autonomy than is typical at a larger high school.

The salary for this part-time position is budgeted at $8,000. Expect a mission-driven, creative working environment.

In your resume and cover letter, be sure to highlight both teaching and creative technical experience. Please submit a cover letter and resume via email to Sarah Hiatt, Media Arts Department Chair.