Cultural Encounters and Northern
Reflections
WAAE Summit 2012
(Nov. 7-9, Rovaniemi, Finland)
The abstract
deadline has been extended to 30 August. Abstracts will be
reviewed by an international peer review committee. Notifications of acceptance
will be sent out by20 September 2012.
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Background and Context
UNESCO held its first
World Conference on Arts Education in Lisbon, Portugal, in March
2006. A key element of that Conference was a Joint Declaration by the
International Drama/Theatre and Education Association (IDEA), the International
Society for Music Education (ISME), and the International Society for Education
through Art (InSEA) to work together through a World Alliance for Arts
Education (WAAE). The Joint Declaration included the statements:We have united
to define an integrated strategy that responds to a critical moment in human
history: social fragmentation, a dominant global culture of competition,
endemic urban and ecological violence, and the marginalization of key
educational and cultural languages of transformation.
We believe that today’s knowledge-based, post-industrial
societies require citizens with confident flexible intelligences, creative
verbal and non-verbal communication skills, abilities to think critically and
imaginatively, intercultural understandings and an empathetic commitment to
cultural diversity.
For more than half a century, our associations have
contributed significantly o the development of curricula and teaching
approaches. We are now ready to respond proactively to the diverse social and
cultural needs of our world…to collaborate with all governments, networks,
institutions, communities and individuals who share our vision.
In 2007, IDEA and the Government of Hong Kong SAR co-hosted the WAAE’s first
World Creativity Summit which assembled outstanding innovators from education,
arts, science, policy-making, trade, industry and journalism to discuss
strategies and form partnerships to advocate creative pedagogies for the 21st
Century. In 2008, InSEA and the Government of Taiwan co-hosted the second phase
of this World Creativity Summit. The WAAE reconvened and invited the World
Dance Alliance, launching three strategic working groups in research,
networking and advocacy.
In 2009 the WAAE partnered with Creativity, Culture and Education (UK) and the
Newcastle Gateshead Initiative in Newcastle, UK. This conference
prepared strategic recommendations for a WAAE delegation to present at UNESCO,
Paris, November 2009 and then for presentation at the 2nd UNESCO World
Conference on Arts Education, Seoul, Korea, May 2010. At Seoul, the WAAE
was profiled as one of UNESCO’s key summit ‘partners’ along with the Korean
Arts Culture and Education Services (KACES).
A major outcome from the 2nd UNESCO World Conference on Arts Education was a
document called The Seoul Agenda. This document translated the UNESCO 2006 Road
Map for Arts Education into a strategic planning and action orientated document
for use in grassroots level communities as well as political forums. The WAAE
had a strong voice in conceiving and developing the Seoul Agenda. WAAE also
advocated for a UNESCO International Week for Arts Education, and support for a
third World Conference on Arts Education. At the 36th meeting of the UNESCO
General Council, The Seoul Agenda was accepted as UNESCO policy and, the fourth
week of May every year will be proclaimed as International Week for Arts
Education.
In February 2011 the WAAE Executive Council met in Auckland, New
Zealand, and put in place a plan for moving WAAE forward. We put out a
worldwide call for organizations to host the next WAAE gathering. As a result
of that process the University of Lapland, Finland, in association with the
Institute for Northern Culture, will host the conference in 2012, and the
University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in partnership with the German Federation for
Arts Education and Cultural Learning, have agreed to host a WAAE conference in
May 2013.
The WAAE will hold its fourth summit in partnership with
the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, Finland,
7 – 9 November 2012, entitled Cultural
Encounters and Northern Reflections. Rovaniemi, in the
far north of Finland, fosters cultural understanding, especially those
within the Circumpolar North. Rovaniemi provides an ideal place for WAAE to
celebrate achievements to date and also prepare future agendas and action.
Guiding Aims
The Guiding Aims of the 2012 Summit are
1) Reviewing and
developing the WAAE’s strategic plans within the areas of Research, Advocacy
and Networking.
2) Developing the relationship between creative pedagogies and the cultivations
of knowledge-based societies that nurture sustainable development, global
solidarity, co-operation and human rights through strategic partnerships
between the WAAE, industry, civil society and government representatives.
Specific Objectives
The above aims are
focused through the following specific objectives:
· sharing international
arts education research on pedagogy, curriculum, cultural sustainability and
community engagement
· reviewing and
developing the WAAE alliance and strategic plans within the areas of Research,
Advocacy, Networking
· advancing
understanding of UNESCO’s Seoul Agenda: Goals for Arts Education
WAAE Presidents look
forward to meeting some of you at the Summit!
Patrice Baldwin
President of IDEA