Illinois Arts Council
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Arts education is all too often on the sidelines of discussions on American public education. The National Endowment for the Arts Education Leaders Institute supports the design of K-12 education with arts at the core through pioneering thinking and intensive dialogue. Established by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), ELI brings together school leaders, legislators, policy makers, educators, consultants, and scholars to envision a healthy national education environment founded on powerful arts education programs.
Multidisciplinary state teams receive Endowment support to participate in these institutes. Together, these teams will discuss a shared education challenge, and jointly create designs to strengthen their state’s education policies and programs. National speakers and experts attending the event support state teams, providing information and resources. As participants exchange ideas, innovative partnerships emerge, coupled with renewed commitment to arts education at the state level. By striving to make powerful, sustainable, and thriving arts education systems throughout the nation, participating states strengthen general education for all children.
“By addressing these varied state challenges, we support state general education, arts education policy-makers and practitioners as they participate in the national conversation on public education,” said NEA Education Director Sarah Cunningham.
The NEA Education Leaders Institute is undertaken in cooperation with the Illinois Arts Council and its partner, the Illinois Humanities Council.
