Pittsburgh the ‘right place’ to host the National Forum on Arts Education
Pittsburgh is the place for a gathering of educational innovators, the Arts Education Partnership (AEP) has discovered. That’s why they’re holding their next National Forum on Arts Education here Sept. 11-12.
“Pittsburgh has been very deliberate and intentional to make it an incredible place for children to grow,” says Laura Johnson, an AEP senior associate. “We certainly have discovered why Pittsburgh is the place for us to be.”
AEP’s event will attract national leaders from education, the arts, business, government, and philanthropy. The forum presents attendees the chance to exchange ideas about what is working across the country in arts education, to hear about emerging research in that field and to discuss how these new developments can change educators’ work in classrooms and communities.
While there are standout school districts and organizations bringing the arts to kids of all ages, says Johnson, “there are still millions of children who do not receive any sort of arts education. Everyone is aware that the education landscape is changing at a rapid pace and presenting a chance for the arts to take a leadership role” in creating education improvement.
Overall, the forum will focus on the country’s transition to higher learning standards in schools, on how the instructional workforce can be better prepared to be arts educators, and of course on fresh classroom innovations, especially the technological variety.
Experts from around the region and the country will lead sessions on such topics as community-based learning, integrating the arts with STEM (science, technology, education and math) subjects, everyday arts for special education, and “Does innate talent matter in arts education?” Bill Strickland, founder of the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild and Bidwell Training Center, will headline the event.
“There seems to be such an incredible village around students in Pittsburgh,” observes Johnson, along with “the many ways Pittsburgh is re-inventing itself to be the best place for children. It will be a great place for our national leadership to learn from, listen to and share. Pittsburgh is the right place at the right time to have this conversation.”
You can still register for the forum here, which is being aided locally by the Arts Education Collaborative and the Heinz Endowments. AEP is part of the Council of Chief State School Officers and was created nearly two decades ago by the National Endowment for the Arts, the U.S. Department of Education, and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.
