Jobs, Internships, and Volunteer Positions

SAM AND ALFREDA MALOOF FOUNDATION FOR ARTS AND CRAFTS
Job Description – Teaching Artist The Job

State of California funding for Expanded Learning Opportunity Programs (ELOP) available to local school districts has fueled demand for after-school artmaking experiences. ELOP has created the opportunity for the Maloof Education team to develop and implement new after-school programs.

The Teaching Artist will lead classes in a new “Artful Living” curriculum designed to teach art appreciation, creativity, and artmaking as integral to the fulfillment of joyful and purposeful lives. The class will be offered during after-school hours at local elementary school sites, taking place across 4 weeks, meeting twice a week for 1.5 hours with additional time allocated for setting up, clean up, training, and prep.

The ideal Teaching Artist will be skilled, smart, and creative—a gifted teacher who understands art experiences as essential to meaningful lives. You will be working directly with K-12 students, teachers, and artists. Compensation is commensurate with experience.

Though few K-12 students of art are likely ever to become professional artists, every student can learn from their artistic pursuits how to use tools, materials, and imagination to explore possibilities, find connections, solve problems, and collaborate in making the world a healthier, happier, more generous, and inclusive place.

Who We Are
The Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts is a Smithsonian Affiliate art center and museum built on the legacy of its founders, California Modernist woodworker Sam Maloof and his wife and business partner Alfreda Ward Maloof. Married for half a century, the Maloofs collaborated in building a woodworking studio famous for exquisitely crafted handmade furniture treasured by collectors and fine art museums, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum and others.

This job is designed to fit with the Maloof Foundation’s priorities in creating desirable, humane jobs and working conditions. The Maloof Foundation encourages its employees to lead artful lives with commitments that may include family, art practice, education, and community engagement.

The Maloof Foundation values and endeavors to support diversity, equity, inclusion, and access within its organization and communities. We welcome and encourage candidates of diverse identity (Black, Indigenous, Persons of Color, neurodiverse, persons with disability, veterans, LGBTQ+, and others).

Working at The Maloof Foundation
The Maloof Foundation is home to the world’s largest collection of Sam Maloof furniture, as well as drawings, paintings, ceramics, fiber art, and multimedia works by artists of Southern California and the Inland Empire region. In addition to hosting touring exhibitions, The Maloof Foundation originates exhibitions and collaborates with other art and educational institutions on projects such as Neo Native: Toward New Mythologies , an exhibition and symposium organized in collaboration with UC Riverside’s California Center for Native Nations, and California Handmade: State of the Arts , an exhibition of contemporary art and craft works, developed in collaboration with Craft in America. The Maloof Foundation also produces online content and publishes exhibition catalogs. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, The Maloof Foundation is part of the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios consortium established by the National Trust. In 2021, The Maloof Foundation was awarded a “Save America’s Treasures” grant from the National Park Service.

The Maloof Foundation property encompasses nearly six acres in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. Our drought-tolerant, water-wise Discovery Garden includes eight distinct landscape zones and is a Certified Wildlife Habitat. The garden is home to more than 350 species of plants, including many used in traditional Gabrielino Tongva food, medicine, and weaving, which are highlighted in existing interpretive materials.

The Maloof Teen program was launched more than a decade ago as an after-school art and education program offered free of charge to students at seven local high schools. Since its founding, the program has received grant support from the California Arts Council, California Humanities, and several philanthropic individuals and foundations. Maloof Teen participants learn about art, history, and the environment, including Native American horticultural traditions. Young adults also develop team-building, public speaking, and leadership and interact with artists and museum professionals, learning about careers and opportunities for higher education in the arts and other fields. Maloof Teen students participate in the planning, designing, and installation of a small art exhibition, held annually in the spring, spotlighting works by students from local high schools.

Beginning in 2017, the Maloof Education programs expanded to serve local K-5 public schools, with Maloof Teens playing an essential role as tour guides and workshop assistants serving younger students who visit The Maloof Foundation on field trips, participating in tours, artmaking workshops, and other activities. Elementary school programs prioritize art in relation to mandated curriculum, skills development, creative problem-solving, collaboration, and social-emotional learning.

Elementary schools in our service area are 88% Hispanic/Latino and 97% non-white; 82% are counted as Socially Disadvantaged. Four out of five local high school students come from communities of color in a district that is 54% Hispanic/Latino, with 52% qualifying as Socially Disadvantaged. In a recent survey of more than 4,000 local public school parents, the arts ranked first in priority among desired after-school learning opportunities. The Director of Museum Education leads the development, delivery, and evaluation of Maloof Education staff, volunteers, and programs as they expand and grow.

Qualifications:
● 4-year college degree/higher with emphasis on art/education or equivalent experience.
● Passionate about Art/Education
● Comfortable leading groups with knowledge of classroom management techniques.
● Knowledge and familiarity with contemporary K-12 teaching methodology/practice.
● Proven experience as an arts educator
● Hands-on studio art expertise in one or more of the following:
Drawing
Painting
Ceramics
Fiber arts
Familiar with American Craft History and themes
● Creative and energetic
● Well-organized and committed
● Bilingual/Spanish preferred.

Responsibilities:
● Prepare for lessons by ensuring the material is known and understood before presentation.
● Create an activity schedule for each lesson.
● Collaborate with Maloof Foundation Staff and fellow teaching artists to ensure program consistency.
● Presenting pre-planned hands-on lessons comprehensively, using visual, audio, and hands-on means to facilitate learning.
● Provide individualized instruction to each student by promoting interactive learning. ● Track teaching materials and report low inventory for reorder.
● Mentor students and interns in their artistic practice.
● Interact with the Ontario-Montclair School District, school teachers, and parents and represent the Maloof Foundation positively in interactions with the general public.
● Observe and understand student behavior and psyche and report suspicions of neglect, abuse, etc.
● Manage student classroom experience and provide student feedback.

Abilities:
● Project a mature and positive attitude in a learning environment and a team setting.
● Understand and execute classroom management effectively.
● Speak, read, communicate with students and colleagues, and give oral and written instructions.
● Maintain a cooperative working relationship with staff, parents, and youth.
● Demonstrate sensitivity to the diverse socioeconomic, cultural, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, and ethnic background of a community and in a K-12 environment.

Physical Demands:
● Stand for an extended period.
● Lead activities that include bending, lifting, pushing, stooping, twisting, and reaching.
● Move art supplies and equipment weighing up to 45 pounds
● Function well in a noisy, busy environment, both indoors and outdoors
● Assume postures that allow physical and visual contact with children

Pay Range $25-$32 Per Hour.

To Apply Please send a 2-page resume, 1-page cover letter, and email outlining your education, experience, and interest in arts, teaching, and art museums. Submit via email with the headline “Teaching Artist Candidate” to:

Education@malooffoundation

Applicants invited for interviews will be asked to share examples of their previous work in planning and developing art teaching curricula and the teaching of artmaking workshops for young people. Please be prepared to provide contact information for checking of academic qualifications and three personal and professional references. Candidates for the job must be able to pass a pre-employment background check.

No phone calls, please.
The Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts
5131 Carnelian Street Alta Loma, CA 91701