Committee on Lifelong Learning (LLL) Column: Feb/Mar 2022

The columns for this issue of NAEA News were written prior to the 2022 National Convention. As such, you may find information about Convention sessions and references to past occurrences in the future tense.

Welcome to the National Art Education Association’s Committee on Lifelong Learning! All members of NAEA: active, retired, institutional, and students are eligible and encouraged to join. Annual dues are $15 for active members of NAEA and free to student and retired members. Connect with a diverse group of art educators and arts administration professionals passionate about quality art education for learners from “womb to tomb” in both formal and informal education settings. Share your research, teaching, and creative practice during quarterly Zoom meetings. Help us chart the future path for lifelong learning in, with, and through the arts.

Many wonderful developments have occurred for the Committee on Lifelong Learning. The Pearl Greenberg Award for Teaching and Research in Art Education, honoring LLL founder Pearl Greenberg, was created for established scholars last year. This year we honor her spouse, as well, with the Murray Greenberg Award for Emerging Scholars in Lifelong Learning in Art Education. Both awards are being funded with a research/travel stipend of $2500 and $1000 respectively through support from the Pearl and Murray Greenberg family’s generous donation of $100,000 to the Committee on Lifelong Learning. The Committee on Lifelong Learning, established in 1990, also welcomes matching financial contributions for these awards.

Members are adding to the scholarship in our field on topics ranging from intergenerational and community-based arts learning to creative aging. Below is a synopsis of what some of our membership is currently working on:

Melanie Davenport (Georgia State University) and Marjorie Manifold (Indiana University) are finalizing a manuscript for an anthology to be published by NAEA, titled Art Education and Creative Aging, that features 12 chapters addressing art education, museum education, art therapy, intergenerational learning, and community-based art education. This collection highlights the contributions of lifelong learning in art education to the growing creative aging movement.

Pamela Harris Lawton (Maryland Institute College of Art), Margaret Walker (University of Maryland), and Melissa Green (independent artist–educator), authors of Community-Based Art Education Across the Lifespan: Finding Common Ground, published by Teachers College Press and NAEA in 2019, are presenting on their theoretical framework and CBAE practice in an NAEA professional learning webinar—register!

Liz Langdon, Chair of the Committee on Lifelong Learning, is looking for assistance in advocating for continuance of the art education program at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. The program, over 75 years in existence, is slated for termination next year. If you have strategies to offer Liz, please contact her at lizlangdon@ku.edu. Advocate for the Arts!

Susan Whiteland, senior editor of the Journal for Lifelong Learning in Art Education, is investigating how puppetry can be used as a therapeutic tool for people experiencing dementia or end-of-life care. If you have used puppetry in your teaching/research, Susan would love to hear from you. Contact her at swhiteland@astate.edu.

Are you planning to attend the NAEA Convention this year? If so, please support our members and scholars in lifelong learning. Below is a listing of presentations sponsored by our group:

Thursday, March 3
9:00 am–9:50 am
Committee on Lifelong Learning Business Meeting
Liz Langdon

11:00 am–11:50 am
Portraits of Creative Aging
Melanie Davenport, Marjorie Manifold

3:00 pm–3:50 pm
Presentation of the Pearl Greenberg Award for Teaching and Research in Lifelong Learning and Murray Greenberg Award for Emerging Scholars in Lifelong Learning
Liz Langdon

Friday, March 4
8:00 am–8:50 am
Relational Ecologies: Artistic Engagement and Mentorship of Adults in Community Spaces
Rebecca Bourgault

12:00 pm–12:50 pm
Critical Conversations: Real Talk From Three Generations of Black Women Artist-Educators
Pamela Lawton, Gloria Wilson, Amber Coleman, Asia Price

Saturday, March 5
1:00 pm–1:50 pm
Artist Collectives as Sites of Mentorship, Artistic Growth, Healing, and Transformative Learning
Pamela Lawton, Adjoa Burrowes, Gail Shaw-Clemons, Kamala Subramanian

3:00 pm–3:50 pm
Bridging the Gap: Two Millennial Perspectives on Facilitating Creative Aging Programs
Marica Whittemore, Harrison Orr

Do you have research in lifelong learning, community-based art education, creative aging, or intergenerational learning to share? Are you interested in reviewing articles on lifelong learning? Do you have a theme you’d like to see us address? Please consider our peer-reviewed journal, International Journal of Lifelong Learning in Art Education. https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/ijllae

Liz Langdon, LLL Chair
Email: lizlangdon@ku.edu