World Alliance for Arts Education: A response to the 2006 UNESCO Road Map

Abstract

Following six years of preparatory meetings, the World Alliance for Arts Education (WAAE) was formed during the 1 st UNESCO World Congress on Arts Education held in Lisbon, Portugal, March 2006. At that time IDEA, InSEA and ISME formed the basis of the organization. Within two years the WDA officially joined the WAAE. Drawing membership from more than 90 countries, our global alliance of arts education organisations involves leading practitioners and promotes innovative practices in arts education internationally. Through our national affiliations and individual memberships, we draw on the experiences of teachers, artists/performers, researchers, scholars, community leaders, administrators and policy makers who are connected to a variety of learning environments throughout the world. Creating the WAAE network has allowed us to collectively advance professional practices and policies for visual arts, music, dance, and theatre/drama education. Moreover, since 2006 the WAAE has held annual summits and in 2009-2010 embarked upon a worldwide effort to encourage regional summits. Each summit built upon preceding summits while also exploring a variety of timely topics such as creativity, intercultural understandings, cultural development and arts policy.