About the 2019 Conference

The Conference for Community Arts Education is an annual conference presented by the National Guild for Community Arts Education.

Here’s what we’ll be doing together at the conference:

Sharing practical tools for measurable success in the many facets of arts education, from teaching artistry, to creative youth development and youth-led activism, to creative aging, to documenting and communicating impact, to board development, to organizational structure, to cross-sector partnerships, and much, much more.

Lifting up groups from across the country that are dismantling and reimagining oppressive systems through their practice of arts education, so that the arts ed community can learn from and apply these strategies in their own work.

Providing a space for the arts education community to come together and be vulnerable, grapple with challenges and things that we are trying to understand, and having real, transparent conversations―all while being surrounded with a supportive network of peers sharing their own successes and challenges.

Exploring the past, present, and future of arts education – providing a place where we can dream up what the arts ed world will look like in 20 years and begin to work towards it, while being grounded in a wealth of collective experience and expertise.

When designing the Conference, we envisioned a learning event that is:

• • Rooted in social justice and racial equity;
• • Infused with creativity and artistry; and
• • Designed to showcase innovative, transferable strategies for advancing our work.

When selecting session to be part of the conference, our criteria included:

• • Topics relevant to a national audience―across program types, settings, disciplines, and student populations. Transferrable principles.
• • Focus on innovative and/or exemplary practices.
• • Substantiating effectiveness (sessions that show, don’t just tell).
• • Clear learning objectives―participants will gain new knowledge that can strengthen their practice, their organization, and their community.
• • Facilitators/presenters who are content experts and effective communicators/teachers, and represent a variety of perspectives.
• • Key criteria: relevance, equity, clarity of outcomes, and interactivity/creativity.

The Conference for Community Arts Education was planned through a participatory process that engaged local organizations and stakeholders.

To prepare for the 2019 conference, in February and March the Guild held town hall-style meetings of arts education leaders and stakeholders in four Texas cities: Austin, Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. These regional meetings were co-hosted with the Texas Commission on the Arts, Texans for the Arts, and Texas Cultural Trust at community sites including the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center (Austin), the Latino Cultural Center (Dallas), SAY Sí (San Antonio), and Art League Houston. The planning and production of these meetings was also supported by members of this year’s state-wide host committee. More than 100 leaders representing nonprofit organizations, government agencies and foundations, as well as independent teaching artists, participated in dialogue that identified a host of issues affecting the field, which are prioritized in this year’s conference programming.

2019 Host Committee

Liz Cass and Martha Rochelle, Armstrong Community Music School

Matt Hinsley and Travis Marcum, Austin Classical Guitar

Byron Sanders, Big Thought

Karen LaShelle, Lonnie Cooper and Stephanie Chavez Noell, Creative Action

Meghan Wells, Cultural Arts Division, City of Austin

Carl Settles, E4 Youth

Brent Hasty, MindPOP

Jon Hinojosa and Nicole Amri, Say Si

Ann Graham, Texans for the Arts

Gary Gibbs and Chuck Winkler, Texas Commission on the Arts

Jenny Parry, Texas Cultural Trust

Jessica Slade, Webber Family Foundation

Mary Mettenbrink, YA of Houston & Arts Access Initiative