Welcome, META Cohort 2026!

Marwen’s Emerging Teaching Artist (META) cohort for 2026 Spring and Summer Terms is a thoughtful group with a passion for the arts and education!

The Marwen Emerging Teaching Artist (META) program is an opportunity for adults who are looking to grow their skills as teaching artists. For the Spring and Summer 2026 terms, METAs will provide studio support to Teaching Artists and receive mentorship from Marwen staff to further develop their teaching artist practice and experience.

On Tuesday, January 13, the cohort came together for the first time to discuss their excitement, their nervousness, and their big ideas for the next two terms at Marwen. Thoughtful reflection and open discussion was imbued with a genuine desire to be mentors and supporters of our young artists, and the first round of ideas for Spring Break workshops were bold and impressive.

Rooted in the core values of Creative Youth Development, METAs are committed to supporting young people’s stories, ideas, and dreams through creative expression and honoring their lived experiences. The META program fosters youth-centered, inclusive, supportive, and collaborative teaching artist environments that support the facilitation of visual arts programming for Chicago’s young people in grades 6-12.

We are so excited to see how this enthusiastic group learns over the next two terms and watch them join the ranks of others who have grown from METAs into full-fledged Teaching Artists in their own right!

Please join us in welcoming the 2026 Spring and Summer META program cohort!

Along with these METAs, we have our Marwen LAB META crew already working with young people: Mario, Brianna, and Eric!

To learn more about this program, visit our careers page.