Pennsylvania’s Council on the Arts instituted an arts-in-education (AIE) program about 15 years ago, the purpose of which is to promote art as a fundamental part of every child’s education. The roster includes artists of all genres and media who are willing to meet with teachers, expand the classroom curriculum, and enter into the education process by being on-site with students. This mandate has been extended to include at-risk youth, adult and senior continuing-education and rehab.
The PCA artist may or may not have an educational background or be trained in “arts-integration,” but those who qualify for the roster have hands-on experience in the classroom environment. They are not just entertainers, but people willing to help others experience what the art process involves. Residencies vary from a few hours to a few months; the groups of students may be as small as six or as large as six hundred; but in every case, the resident artist works in conjunction with teachers to provide a meaningful, firsthand experience with the arts.
I have been rostered with the PCA since 2000 and working in schools as a resident artist since 1999. I prefer to work with students sixth grade through adult but have had residencies in poetry with children as young as kindergarten age. I love working in collaboration with other resident artists, such as composers or visual artists. My background includes an intensive course in “Art as a Way of Learning” (arts integration), credits in integrating arts into the required K-12 Pennsylvania curricula (“CrossWalks” conference) and experience teaching adult ed, college and graduate 
classes in creative writing and literature (I have an MFA-creative writing from Goddard College).
For further information about the PCA AIE, contact the PCA through www.artsnet.org/pca/aie
...or write to me JuanitaFB@aol.com about how to schedule a residency even if you do not have funds from the PCA. Residencies with PCA artists do not have to originate from PCA grants; your PTO/PTA may have money available for an arts residency, or your school’s art, phys ed, humanities, English, languages, or community development departments may be able to fund a short-term artist residency.
If you are in the Lehigh Valley, the Lehigh Valley Arts Council or the Allentown Art Museum may be able to help you set something up.
Ann E. Michael is available to teach arts residencies in poetry, memoir, writing for music, and short fiction. She can integrate history, science, geography/culture, music, and even mathematics into the poetry/writing experience. She has a strong background and previous residencies in Asian poetry and art, American history, medieval/renaissance history and art, botany, and technology history.
Photo credit: Sally Ann Ullman, contact at http://sallyullman.tripod.com/index2.html