Art and Arts Education

UNESCO performs activities destined to promoting the diversity of cultural expressions through the support of the arts and artist at the national, regional and international level. Its main goal is to support artists by advocating cultural policies, exchange, consultancy and the development of capacities. Arts education performs a critical function in the transformation of educational systems, and directly contributes towards the solution of social and cultural issues confronted by the contemporary world. It is for this reason that UNESCO promotes the arts in several spaces of education throughout life.

UNESCO Santiago carries out the work on education and is committed to the focus provided by the Arts Education Roadmap, stemmed from the UNESCO First World Conference on Arts Education “Building Creative Capacities for the 21st Century” (Lisbon, 2006), and the Seoul Agenda: Goals for the Development of Arts Education (Seoul, 2010). These different initiatives are framed within the mandate of the 2005 Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Education uses the arts, cultural practices and traditions as a teaching method for general curricular courses in order to achieve the goals of learning. Also, the Arts are a form of knowledge that is linked to scientific investigation and pedagogical practices.

OREALC/UNESCO Santiago organizes activities of national, regional and international scope that helps to promote arts education, particularly related to the International Week of Arts Education, as a means of raising awareness regarding the importance of establishing an quality Arts Education. It engages in facilitating dialogue among the Ministries of Education and Culture from the different governments of Latin America and the Caribbean in order to share experiences, initiatives and good practices, as well as technically assisting with educational and cultural policy guidelines for the countries in the region. Also, UNESCO Santiago carries out studies, elaborates documentation and platforms with relevant information to raise awareness in organizations from civil society and contribute towards evidence-based decision-making.