Reese Fellowship

Empower your teaching with the William S. Reese Teacher Fellowship, an enrichment opportunity open to all educators teaching 5th–12th grades. Whether you’re affiliated with a public, private, or charter school, this fellowship invites you to explore innovative ways of enhancing your curriculum by creating interdisciplinary connections to American books and art. Selected fellows will create classroom lesson plans by leveraging primary sources found in Crystal Bridges’ collection of rare books and manuscripts, with the opportunity to include objects from the museum’s art and archival collections.

Sponsored by Dorothy M. Hurt, the William S. Reese Teacher Fellowship celebrates the contributions of William S. Reese to the print cultures of the Americas and to the development of Crystal Bridges’ special collections.

The fellowship combines professional development and curriculum development over a two-month period in summer 2025. Fellows will receive a dedicated workstation at Crystal Bridges Library, a staff reference support, and a $5,000 award. Two fellowships will be awarded in 2025; individual teachers and two-person teaching teams are eligible. (Each fellow, whether working alone or in a two-person team, will receive a $5,000 award.) Additional travel support is not available. Past fellows have typically taught at schools in and around Northwest Arkansas, but teachers from outside the region who would like to use a portion of the award to cover travel expenses are encouraged to apply.

Selected fellows will embark on a journey that begins at Crystal Bridges with a two-day orientation to the museum’s library and art collections and workshops on arts integration led by certified professional development providers on the School Programs team.

Fellowship proposals will include a timeline for regular research visits (typically two to four over the two-month period) and touchpoints with Crystal Bridges’ staff as the lesson plans are developed. Fellows conclude the onsite portion of their projects with a presentation to Crystal Bridges’ Learning & Engagement Division staff, who will provide feedback and support to help shape the final lesson plan(s).

Crystal Bridges Library holds about 3,000 artists’ books and rare books covering a wide variety of humanities and STEM subjects, including US history, literature, botany, and geography. Dates range from the 16th to 21st centuries, with a high concentration of volumes from the 19th century. Among the most significant holdings are bird and mammal folios by John James Audubon and a 1788 first edition of The Federalist. The library also has a small collection of rare books and printed matter documenting Arkansas history.

Fellows will also have access to the library’s reference and archival collections, and to Crystal Bridges’ American art collections. The library catalog, which includes instructions for searching within the rare book collection, is available here. For assistance searching the collections, please contact library staff at Library@CrystalBridges.org.

Application Deadline: April 14, with announcements by May 5.

Eligibility: Active teachers for 5–12^th grades can apply individually or as a team of two.

Project Scope: Proposals should detail the subject to be explored, alignment with curriculum standards, and desired resources to be utilized from Crystal Bridges’ collections. The project should unfold along an approximately two-month timeline during the 2025 summer school holiday.

Expected Outcomes: A key outcome of the fellowship is the creation of a curriculum that benefits the fellows and their learning communities. Fellows will produce at least one lesson plan supplemented with audiovisual resources. Fellows are encouraged to consider tools for digital engagement and methods for sharing educational resources with broad, diverse audiences.

The application form is available here. Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. CST on April 15, 2025.

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For more information on the fellowship program or the Crystal Bridges’ collections, please contact us at Library@CrystalBridges.org.

Featured Fellowship Projects

Masterpieces in Math

Masterpieces in Math is a five-lesson arts-integrated unit blending 7th-grade geometry, proportional reasoning, and number concepts with the visual arts. Featuring ready-to-use daily slideshow presentations, the unit brings Crystal Bridges’ collections into classrooms to enhance student learning and teaching practices.
By 2024 Fellows Ruth Jatib O’Connor and Kabe Moen

Bridging Literacy Gaps with Art

Help middle grade and secondary age students become comfortable and confident readers by using American art to appropriately fill gaps in their literacy education.
By 2023 Fellows Chandra High and Kendra Turner

Engaging Empathy

Engaging Empathy integrates the artwork and library resources of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art into lessons designed to strengthen empathy and literacy in secondary schools.
By 2019 Fellows Julie Griggs and Heather Hooks

American Painting, Poetry, Prose, and “Progress” in the Nineteenth Century
Explore the intersection of 19th-century art, literature, and history in a module that provides educators of various disciplines the components needed to adapt existing lesson plans or create entirely new ones.
By 2018 Fellow Bob Fenster

The Intersection of Poetry and Art

This site features the work of more than 60 prominent and lesser-known American visual artists, as well as poems to pair with them. All disciplines are incorporated, making this a unique resource for introducing art and poetry to any classroom.
By 2017 Fellow William Plaschke