by Jini Stolk
The first PAEO Roundtable on January 31 was an extraordinary opportunity to create an action plan to strengthen our arts education networks, improve collaboration and sharing, learn together, and communicate more effectively.
The participants – which included arts education specialists, artistic and managing directors, and service organization leaders – developed clear goals and decided to achieve them by organizing in constellations: working groups functioning independently (with support) to pursue actions around five priorities. The constellations’ activities and achievements will be fed back into the network, inspiring others to get involved.
We’re currently organizing to:
Communicate – working especially to evaluate, understand and clearly communicate the achievements and impact of performing arts companies’ arts education activities
Collaborate and share – working especially to share what we learn in our own programs, assist each other to grow and improve, and help develop a body of knowledge and experience that can contribute to the international conversation around arts education
Tap into existing arts community networks including a.s.o.’s– working especially to develop and expand the network across the country
Advocate – working especially to develop productive relationships and ongoing dialogue with the Ministries of Culture and Education
Develop strong and lasting partnerships with the educational community – working especially to involve them as active participants in the performing arts education network
Each constellation could use a few more good minds. If you’d like to be involved please contact Jini Stolk at jini.stolk@creativetrust.ca or Patty Jarvis at patty@prologue.org.
