Whereas community arts education is a dynamic and inclusive approach to learning and engagement in the arts, fostering creativity, cultural expression, and social transformation within communities;

Whereas community arts education encompasses a broad range of artistic disciplines and practices that empower individuals to develop their artistic skills, deepen their cultural understanding, and cultivate a sense of belonging and agency within themselves and their communities;

Whereas community arts education is a participatory and transformative practice that engages individuals in the creation, exploration, and critical dialogue of the arts within a community context, and community arts education goes beyond individual skill-building or personal expression and it connects through a larger social context;

Whereas community arts education leaders, which can include culture bearers, teaching artists, and administrators, play a vital role in providing essential arts instruction and learning to diverse communities, both within and outside of formal educational settings;

Whereas community arts education is liberatory by uplifting our communities’ culture, heritage, and history in many forms such as dance, music, theatre, literary arts and other modes of self-expression;

Whereas community arts education can build people’s imaginations, build critical learning and life skills, promote better health, and generate a sense of shared culture and community belonging;

Whereas research has shown that community arts education positively impacts individuals of all ages and develops social emotional competencies like confidence in self-expression and ideas, social awareness, and self-regulating emotions; and

Whereas students who actively participate in the arts tend to enroll in competitive colleges, as well as four-year colleges in general, at higher rates compared to students with lower engagement in the arts: Now, therefore, be it