Iowa Conservatory

Iowa Conservatory is a small, co-ed boarding and day school in Iowa City that centers on visual and performing arts. With enrollment under 100 students, faculty know every learner by name. Curriculum bends around each student's personal artistic goals rather than fitting learners into fixed tracks.

The school's founding mission—to build better artists and better humans—shapes what teaching looks like. Instructors spend less time delivering standardized content and more time mentoring young artists through genuine creative problems. An interdisciplinary approach pulls faculty into real collaboration. A drama teacher might work alongside a visual artist to stage a concept. A music instructor might support a dancer's choreographic research. This is not team-teaching in theory; it happens because the school is small enough to make it routine.

Iowa Conservatory hires for teaching and studio positions across visual arts, performing arts, and supporting academic roles. The school seeks faculty who can work fluidly in a small community and who view the artist's development—not just technical skill—as central to their work.

The boarding and day model creates a hybrid residential culture. Some faculty live on campus; others commute to Iowa City. Both arrangements allow for the mentorship and accessibility that small schools offer. The school is nondenominational, so the learning environment is deliberately secular and inclusive.

For teaching artists and educators who want meaningful influence over curriculum and strong relationships with students, this school offers something concrete: a place where artistic growth is not peripheral but central to everything the institution does. You will teach fewer students, know them deeper, and shape your own curriculum alongside peers in adjacent disciplines.