An Ecological Model of Artist–School Partnerships for Policy Makers and Practitioners

The author points out that artist–school partnerships have been widely implemented to increase access to high-quality arts education in Canada and around the world. She notes that understanding the scope of influence of these partnerships on stakeholders and environments is critical to articulating their value to policy makers within different contexts. The author argues that to date, research has focused mainly on the benefits for students as well as partnership processes between teachers and artists, undervaluing the implications associated with other key stakeholders (e.g., parents, administrators, community members) and the broader contexts in which these partnerships occur (e.g., social, political, environmental, cultural). The purpose of the author's article is to explore the potential of an ecological model of artist–school partnerships that recognizes the co-learning and mutual exchange between artists, teachers, and students in the classroom, as well as the multidirectional influence of those exchanges with local and broad contexts. Part of her paper focuses on the the relevance and potential uses of the ecological model within the context of a current artist–school partnership initiative, specifically the ACE initiative project initiated by the Montreal-based English Language Arts Network (ELAN) aimed at connecting artists and arts organizations with English-speaking schools and communities across the province of Quebec.

Arts Education Policy Review

Vol. 120

no. 4

2019

en