Opinion with Aine Lark
Aine Lark
Sunday, December 1, 2019
Arts education for everybody. Every student. Everywhere.
On 28 October 2019, the 9th World Alliance for Arts Education (WAAE) international conference was held in Frankfurt, Germany. 150 experts from 47 countries gathered to report on whether and in what way access to participation in arts and cultural education had further developed, and if the objectives of the Seoul Agenda had been achieved.
The conference theme was encapsulated within three probing questions: Arts Education for Everybody? Every Student? Everywhere? Not designed to preach to the converted, these questions were a direct call-out to organisations like UNESCO to take notice that Arts Education has a role in the running of the planet, and to ask what is being done to meaningfully implement this belief.
If any sceptics require convincing, they need only experience the performance of Afro Raiz. Through music, dance and drama these children of the Amazon, sons and daughters of fishermen and washer-women, offer a profound experience as they perform the story of their afro-indigenous communities, choking and dying as their trees are felled, air becomes polluted and their river, their life source, dries…up.
As they suffer the worst drought in living memory, these young people engage in artistic forms of expression to empower themselves and to educate the world about the destruction of their lands by global elites and huge mining companies. It was devastating to hear one performer state that she hadn't realised she lived in the Amazon — she thought it was somewhere else.
This young company was ending a gruelling tour of their performance in Frankfurt and so it was fitting that they both began and ended the conference, reminding us of the transformative power of the arts and the indisputable value of the arts as a vehicle for exploration and discovery, as well as being didactic in nature. This, and many other incredible examples of successful arts projects, were shared as testimony to the specific characteristics and qualities which are unique to arts education and how it can inspire positive change.
And yet, here we are in the UK, battling with a government which seems intent on clearing the arts out of our education system in favour of a narrow curriculum, denying young people the opportunity to thrive in creative settings. The call from Frankfurt, which we will resound loudly, is that we all need to step up and commit to making a difference together, to save our planet. Arts education for everybody.
Every student. Everywhere.
Áine Lark is the chair of National Drama and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She is a full-time teacher in state education and represents Drama teachers on the council for Subject Associations and various other national and international panels.