The Role of Arts, Culture, and Creativity in the Future of Education

We, along with our colleagues at Creative Generation, read UNESCO’s International Commission on the Futures of Education’s paper outlining nine ideas for public action in education in a post-COVID world with great interest.

UNESCO’s recommendations are necessarily vague, so as to be applicable to the broadest set of communities, but they are a strong jumping-off point that is well-aligned with Creative Generation’s mission and practices with regard to equity.

At Creative Generation, we seek to inspire, connect, and amplify the work of young creatives who lead social change and those adults who are committed to cultivating their creativity. Education is an essential part of our work, and education systems directly influence both the youth and adults with whom we work.

What did UNESCO want to know?

The Commission demonstrates a clear commitment to equitable access to information. It asks educational stakeholders — including teachers, students, parents, philanthropists, and governments — to democratize education by creating more public and open-source resources, emphasizes that voices of students and young people should be centered in the education space, and calls on governments and other funders to to pay educators fairly and protect funding for public education.

The Commission also emphasizes that a “broad, humanistic” approach to science is essential for “the development of the whole person, not just academic skills” (18). Its emphasis on contextualizing each student’s role in a global community suggests a commitment to arts, culture, and humanities in education that’s not explicitly recommended herein.

As educators, artists, cultural workers, and life-long creative learners, I feel strongly that arts and cultural education is fundamental to the development of engaged and informed citizens of the United States and the world. We know several of our colleagues agree; as such, we reached out to our stakeholders and asked them what feedback they wished to share about the futures of education.

What does the Creative Generation community think?

There was consensus, among our respondents, that an arts and cultural education is an invaluable tool for the academic and social development of young people. Several folks pointed out that the arts provoke and encourage curiosity. Curiosity, in turn, fuels active learning, fosters empathy, and encourages students to perceive the world as it could be, rather than as it is. The arts are a valuable tool for cultivating a life-long enthusiasm for learning. They motivate students to attend school and engage with the material. 

Respondents to our call for comments uniformly indicated that educators are employing the arts and culture to address topics like racism and police brutality from multiple perspectives that may differ from the student’s own. Arts and culture offer a point of entry for understanding others’ lived experiences and valuing diversity.

Finally, arts and cultural education can help adolescents and young adults form a sense of identity and establish a figurative home. Students learn to express themselves in productive, nonviolent ways.

We agree with UNESCO that education is a human right that has the capacity to combat inequality. We agree that education has tremendous intrinsic value and that the best way to demonstrate that both students and teachers are valued is by financing public education, paying teachers fairly, and elevating students’ rights. We agree that it is imperative that curriculums emphasize scientific literacy and interpersonal connections. 

But we also believe that arts and cultural education is an essential component to each of the nine actions that UNESCO put forth to advance education in the future. 

According to UNESCO, “this is not the time to step back and weaken [our core] principles, but rather to affirm and reinforce them. … We would be wise to seize the moment: history has taught us that transformational change can happen suddenly and often in the immediate aftermath of crisis” (8). 

We agree. And we submit that the transformative power of an arts and cultural education is an essential element in any moment of growth.

What now?

Over the next few weeks, we will be posting other responses to UNESCO’s call (which were all filed by the 15 October 2020 deadline!). Keep an eye on the blog to learn how your peers and colleagues vision he future of education.