From 25-31 May 2020, the World Alliance for Arts Education (WAAE) partnered with Creative Generation, and worked alongside UNESCO to produce International Arts Education Week (IAEW): a week-long celebration aimed at increasing the international community’s awareness on the importance of arts education and at reinforcing its co-operation by promoting cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue and social cohesion.
The 2020 celebration encouraged the global arts education community to participate in the week through a number of activities, including a social media campaign, digital learning opportunities, and more. A full description of activities is provided on page 5 of this report.
A total of 1,382 individuals and organizations from 74 nations registered to participate in the activities of the celebration. As a result, an approximated total reach of between 7.34 and 9.17 million people received positive messages about the transformative impact of arts education through the efforts of WAAE, UNESCO and their partners during International Arts Education Week.
Efforts of collaboration with UNESCO produced tremendous assets to advance the field, including a 1 minute promotional video with key messages about the outcomes of arts education; a recorded, multi-lingual statement from the Assistant Director-General about arts education and IAEW; a written statement from the UNESCO Director-General connecting arts education to the UN’s SDGs; a collection of graphical assets; and a series of “good practices” featuring promising arts education projects and programs responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The WAAE set several goals, and derived metrics of success for the celebration; some are focused on the event’s activities and others on the global impact. The following report outlines the findings. Some highlights include:
A new website for IAEW and social media for WAAE were launched on or around 13 May 2020. Significant growth occurred for each as a result of IAEW, including a 2093% increase in page views from the previous 30 day period; a 235% increase of comments, shares, and likes within the Facebook group, and substantial growth on the Facebook Page (348), Instagram (222), and Twitter (227).
A broad communications strategy was implemented with regular calls to action; 79.5% of participants felt this was “just right.”
Participants engaged in numerous activities for the week: 50% participated on social media, 88.6% attended a webinar, and 45.5% shared their work online.
Notably, the vast majority (88.6%) of participants participated in at least one webinar, and over half participated in 2-3 webinars. Of webinar attendees, over 3/4 had positive sentiments about the programming:
74.4% felt the speakers were knowledgeable,
87.2% felt the content was interesting and thought-provoking, and
79.5% learned something new.
Of greatest accomplishment, after participating in the celebration, a significant majority of participants feel more connected to the international arts education community (79.5%), more knowledgeable about promising practices in the field (69.1%), and more aware of international networks and organizations, like WAAE, its members, and UNESCO (77.3%).
In conclusion, the final section of this report outlines recommendations for the future.