Melanie Billark

Town of Oakville  (Oakville, ON)

Studio Assistant        September 2018- Present 

· Responsible for all in school and group visits for our Arts Studios at Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre.

· Responsible for booking School and Group Visits, Master Art Instructors, Facilities, and administration work

·Working with the Registration team to generate invoices and Administration Personals to book facilities and spaces within our centre.

· Making sure all materials are prepped and organized for Art Instructors.

· Ensure clear communication with various clients.

·  In charge of booking facilities through CLASS, and creating spreadsheets for communication and bookings.

·Assist arts instructors with anything they may need for each workshop.

·Ensure studios are prepped and set up appropriately for each group 

·Communication for partnerships and grants for qualifying school bookings for our studio arts programming. 

·Ensure schedules and bookings are up to date

Avenue Road Arts School (Toronto, ON)

Art Instructor        September 2018- Present 

· Create lesson plans and curriculums for off-site and on-site classes and workshops for children and youth.

· Responsible for providing quality lessons in fine art ranging in mediums such as: Painting and Drawing, Mixed Media, and Sculpture.

· Responsible for prep and clean up of each class.

·Responsible for the safety of participants in each session. 

· Maintain professional on off-site lessons and workshops, coming prepared with all materials to each location.

· Able to work in a collaborative and independent setting, while collaboratively maintaining shared studios.

Fern Ave Public School (Toronto, ON)

Contracted Art Educator for TDSB      September 2016- Present 

· In charge of communicating directly with the teachers and parent council coordinatorCreate my own curriculum alongside the teachers, tying into their classroom curriculum, grade interests, and topics

. Ensure trust with financials, creating a budget, purchasing materials, and reconciliations 

.Teach within class times as part of Artist in The Classroom program

.Provide unique and educating programs within the arts 

Charb Arts (Toronto, ON)

Art Director/Art Facilitator         September 2014-2018

· Help to develop programming and course lessons.

· Responsible for a large number of children ranging from 2-15 years of age.

· Develop and re-structure annual programming,course lessons, and curriculum.

· Provide children with art education; teaching them about art history, introduce specific artists, as well as a variety of materials and techniques such as painting, drawing, mixed media, and sculpture.

· Responsible for prepping for the classes as well as clean up.

· Ensuring that the children have a safe, positive, and happy environment to be creative in.

· Responsible for time management and executing projects in the time that is allotted.

· Problem solving, working and thinking creatively in a shared space.

· Able to create current lesson plans within contemporary art and drawing inspiration from the past.

· Create and run the art programming all year for after school programs, summer camps, and functions.

· Come up with and run fundraising events for the business.

· Bi-annually curate children’s art show.

· Help promote the business through various social media accounts.

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO)   (Toronto, ON)

 Visitor Services (Temporary Contract)            October 2014-May 2015

· Responsible for providing excellent customer service to our guests.

· Cash handling responsibilities such as ensuring your float is accounted for, your till is safely handled, and handling money transactions from the guests.

· Being able to answer the guest’s questions about the gallery itself, as well as the content within the gallery.

· Being able to relay knowledge about the various specialty exhibitions as well as the permanent collections.

· Ability to multi-task and switch to different positions within the gallery such as: ticketing, scanning, info desk, and coat check.

· Responsible for your own time management and being able to work independently as well as part of a team.

AGO Camp Councillor 

 Summer 2014

· Responsible for a group of children from 5-15 years ofage.

· Checking attendance, making sure an authorized adult was signing the child in and out at the beginning and end of every day.

· In charge of daily recreational activity planning during free time.

· Responsibly for the children’s safety and well being throughout the duration of the camp.

· Helped and assisted the art teacher by helping with art activities, preparation, and clean up.

· Helped and encourage and assist the children through various creative tasks.

· Lead the group through mini gallery tours, coming up with creative ways of learning and absorbing the art in the AGO.

Smock Café  (Toronto, ON) 

 Course Developer/ Instructor     2013- 2015

· Created and led an Eco Art summer course for kids 6-10 years of age, with Eco-friendly driven projects and education on sustainability.

· Lead the children through various mixed media projects by using 2-d and 3-d techniques.

· Educated the children on various artists, techniques, and materials.

· Responsible for preparation of the class, curriculum, daily activities, and daily clean up of the class.

The Living Arts Centre (Mississauga, ON)                    

 Substitute Teacher       2012-2013

· Taught and prepared lessons to children ranging from 6-17 years of age.

· Educated the children about proper proportions of the human figure.

· Demonstrated different drawing and shading techniques.

· Helped and assisted children through final drawing projects.

The Old Orchard Children’s Centre (Burlington, ON)  

Course Developer/ Instructor      2011-2012

· Lead, prepared, and created weekly lessons for children ranging from 3-6 years of age.

· Encouraged and assisted the children through various creative processes, resulting in a final project once a week.

· Created simple art projects that could be executed at different ages and accomplished within 2 hours.

· Responsible for creating the art lessons for approximately 15-20 children weekly, bringing in supplies and materials the children would need, and cleaning up after the class was over.

Dundas Valley School of Art (Dundas,ON)

Teacher’s Assistant       2008-2010

· Responsible for a group of children ranging from ages 4-15 years.

· In charge of attendances, taking the children for recess and lunch breaks, and making sure a legal guardian is signing them out at the end of the day.

· Assisted the teacher and helped to encourage the kids through various art projects and tasks.

· Helping the children problem solve and overcome any challenges also assisted in the clean up and set up for lessons.

· Lead various groups of children through activities such as basic pottery techniques in hand building, sculpture, and the pottery wheel, drawing and painting techniques, as well as 3-D and 2-Dprojects.

· Was a lead hand and responsible for children with various mental disabilities. Working with the child one-on-one for the week leading and encouraging them through various medium-based craft exploration such as: basic pottery and hand building skills, cutting and pasting, painting, etc.