Black Lives Matter
As communities of color across the nation join with allies to resist the systemic racism that violently impacts the daily lives of those we are entrusted to teach and protect, NAEA is more committed than ever to be unceasing in our efforts to illuminate the necessity of greater equity, diversity, and inclusion. NAEA stands with those demanding swift justice for those individuals and institutions whose crimes against humanity and defiance of accountability will no longer be overlooked.
Black Lives Matter: An Open Letter to Art Educators on Constructing an Anti-Racist Agenda
Read “Black Lives Matter: An Open Letter to Art Educators on Constructing an Anti-Racist Agenda” written by Dr. James Haywood Rolling, Jr. President-Elect of the National Art Education Association Chair of the NAEA Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Commission Professor of Arts Education, Syracuse University for insight and suggested actions for art educators.
Download “Black Lives Matter: An Open Letter to Art Educators on Constructing an Anti-Racist Agenda”
NAEA Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Commission
Established in 2019, the NAEA Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I) Commission is working to ensure an inclusive art education professional community open to all. Commissioners work in concert with the NAEA Board of Directors, state association affiliates, and members to respond to previously unaddressed and newly emerging issues, to advance NAEA ED&I priorities, and sustain the work already begun by the NAEA National Task Force on Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion.
During June and July of 2020, the ED&I Commission is working with NAEA Board members to prioritize recommendations made by the ED&I Task Force, conducting a gap analysis and establishing actionable language, timelines, and assignments for each recommendation.
See the NAEA ED&I page to follow this work as it unfolds this summer.
NAEA Position Statements
NAEA’s platform and position statements relate to national issues or topics of interest to the profession and/or field of visual arts education and advances the mission of the organization. We are sharing the following position statements that can be helpful in communicating the need for social change and also may be helpful in supporting your students.
Diversity in Visual Art Education [Adopted April 2014; Reviewed and Revised March 2017]
Attracting Diversity into the Profession [Adopted March 2016; Revised and Adopted July 2016]
Freedom of Speech Through Visual Expression [Adopted July 2011; Update of 1991 Statement on Censorship and the Arts Reviewed and Revised April 2014; Reviewed and Revised March 2019]
Visual Arts Education and Social Justice [Adopted March 2015; Reviewed and Revised March 2018]
Use of Imagery, Cultural Appropriation and Socially Just Practices [Adopted March 2017]
Reaching Learners who have Experienced Trauma [Adopted April 2020]
Positive School Culture and Climate [Adopted March 2016; Reviewed and Revised March 2019]
Art Education Journal Instructional Resources
Each issue of NAEA’s Art Education Journal includes an instructional resource. The following are resources that can be used in the classroom and beyond to foster dialogue about and understanding of why Black Lives Matter.
- Art to Bring About Change: The Work of Tyree Guyton
Melanie L. Buffington - Eric Garcia: Warrior With a Pen
Judith Briggs - Exploring Racism through Photography
Cass Fey, Ryan Shin, Shana Cinquemani, and Catherine Marino - From the Streets to the Students: Tion Bukue and Empowerment Through Graffiti
Matt Christenson - Kara Walker: Subtlety as a Big Idea
Laura K. Reeder - Power and Control: Responding to Social Injustice With Photographic Memes
Amanda K. Arlington
Resources
- “Racial Encounters, Ruptures, and Reckonings: Art Curriculum Futurity in the Wake of Black Lives Matter”
Art Education, Vol. 73, No. 5 (September 2020)
Amelia M. Kraehe and David Herman, Jr.
