Now Hiring: Freelance Teaching Artist
Hip-hop music production and lyric writing program for wellness and skill building.
Hip-Hop as a Catalyst for Healing and Youth Empowerment
Refresh Collective partners with hospitals, libraries, schools, and community organizations across Cleveland to bring hip-hop-based creative wellness programming directly to young people, wherever they are. As a subcontracted Teaching Artist, you'll facilitate sessions at rotating partner sites — building trust and using music as a tool for expression, healing, and skill-building.
We're looking for a freelance Teaching Artist for a dynamic, variable-hour role at a competitive rate. This position is ideal whether you want a steady stream of supplemental hours alongside other work, or the opportunity to take on a higher volume of sessions during peak periods and build this into substantial part-time work.
Weekly hours fluctuate based on partner-site demand, scheduling, and how many sessions you choose to take on. Some weeks may be lighter — or quiet between school terms — while peak weeks can occasionally reach 25 hours or more. On average, Teaching Artists work approximately 10 to 15 hours per week over the course of a year, with plenty of room to scale up or down as your availability changes.
- Facilitate hip-hop-based music production and lyric-writing sessions at partner sites across Cleveland — no two weeks look exactly the same
- Learn and implement the Cypherstyle Pedagogy and curriculum we use in sessions
- Use trauma-informed, relational teaching practices to support emotional regulation, resilience, and self-expression
- Build authentic trust and rapport with different groups of young people across a range of settings and session lengths
- Create a safe, healing-centered space wherever the session happens — a hospital unit, a library program room, a school studio, or a community site
- Adapt your facilitation for a mix of engagements: a single workshop, a multi-week series, or an ongoing partnership
- Collaborate with partner-site staff — educators, clinicians, librarians, and youth workers — on each group's goals
- Document student engagement and progress to support both wellness and skill-building outcomes
Qualifications & Background
The ideal Teaching Artist blends hip-hop artistry with a wellness-minded, relational approach — someone who can walk into a new room, with a new group of young people, and build trust quickly.
- Minimum 2-year degree (any field)
- 1+ years working with youth using trauma-informed or relational approaches
- Hands-on experience with lyric writing and beat production
- Strong writing and language skills, with the ability to guide youth through the lyric-writing process as a tool for self-expression
- Intermediate skill in digital music production software
- Comfort building trust quickly with new groups of young people across different settings
- Reliable transportation to travel between partner sites across Cleveland
- 4-year degree in Music Therapy, Education, Social Work, or related field
- Certification in music therapy, trauma-informed care, or youth development
- Experience in schools, hospitals, libraries, or other community-based settings
- Background as a substitute teacher, teaching artist, or youth mentor looking to bring more creativity and connection into your work
Hiring Process: What to Expect
Our process is designed to help us find the right fit — and to help you decide if we're the right fit for you.
- Cover letter — tell us your story and why this role calls to you
- Resume
- Three professional references (non-familial)
Refresh Collective is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for this role without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status.
Help a Student Find Their Voice — and Amplify It
Real sessions. Real relationships. Real transformation — wherever your students are.