March 20: A Message from Thom Knab and Mario R. Rossero

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We wanted to reach out and connect with each of you, to express our appreciation and provide some updates and resources. Although last week’s decision to cancel the 2020 NAEA National Convention was a difficult one, we know that it was the right course of action for everyone’s health and well-being.

True to form, our vibrant NAEA community has already pivoted to action, supporting one another and sharing great approaches on NAEA Collaborate for distance/online learning, digital units, analog lunchbox lessons, and helpful tools to navigate the current and ever-changing environment. If you haven’t already, we urge you join the rich exchange of ideas happening via Collaborate—our 24/7 online community for visual arts educators. Simply go to collaborate.arteducators.org and enter your NAEA login credentials to view, initiate, and engage in conversations. If you have been sharing, thank you!

We are happy to announce that the NAEA Board of Directors is acting swiftly to publish a Remote Learning Toolkit. Representatives from every NAEA division will collect, curate, and share strategies, approaches, lessons, units, and tools to support you over the coming weeks as we are faced with the challenges of and opportunities for distance learning. This information will be available soon on the NAEA website. Watch your inbox for details!

Finally, we want to keep the spirit of the NAEA National Convention flowing through the NAEA20 Mobile App. We invite all scheduled presenters to make a recording of themselves giving their presentation or workshop, share a link to the published recording, and then the link will be added to their session listing in the app. Presenters can still share handouts for their sessions via the mobile app, too. See this page for details.

Once again, we thank you for your patience, flexibility, creativity, and spirit of community. As a reminder, you can find all information regarding cancellations and next steps here, which includes helpful FAQs.

We are thinking of YOU and your families, colleagues, and communities at this unprecedented moment in time and sending warmth and support your way.

On behalf of the NAEA Staff and Board of Directors,

Thom Knab
NAEA President

Mario R. Rossero
NAEA Executive Director