What's Up at the Arts Education Partnership?

The Arts Education Partnership (AEP) is our nation’s network of more than 200 organizations dedicated to advancing arts education. Created through a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Department of Education, AEP is dedicated to building the leadership capacity of arts education leaders to support students, educators and learning environments.

AEP is housed at Education Commission of the States (ECS), the organization that equips state and jurisdictional policy leaders to create effective education policy within states. ECS works most closely with governors, legislative education committee chairs and chief state school officers. The ECS board is currently chaired by Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas.

In representation of state arts agencies, NASAA serves as a partner organization to AEP. We also participate in AEP’s quarterly interagency partnership meetings that track its progress, alongside the federal agencies, ECS and the National Association of Elementary School Principals.

I’m pleased to share some recent news and resources from AEP and ECS.

Early each year, ECS tracks all the governors’ top education priorities noted within their state of the state addresses. The addresses often signal what’s ahead in legislative sessions and for the year. ECS’s analysis reveals the following trending education priorities for 2024:

workforce development and career and technical education
K-12 funding and teacher workforce
early care and education
academic achievement and literacy
physical and mental health

This information is also mapped and available through an interactive U.S. map that can be found on the ECS website.

In additional news, ECS has a new president and CEO. José Muñoz began the position earlier this year, and he brings 30 years of cross-sector education expertise to the role, which includes oversight of AEP.

This month AEP is accepting session proposals for its annual conference, scheduled to take place September 12-13, 2024, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Proposals that share strategies to support an excellent arts education for all learners are encouraged. They will be accepted until April 26.

Important up-to-date and evergreen resources from AEP are available to you. Among them, ArtsEdSearch is the nation’s hub for research on the impact of arts education. ArtScan is the clearinghouse for the latest state policies supporting arts education from the states, District of Columbia and the Department of Defense Education Activity.

Feel free to connect with the AEP team, led by Director Jamie Kasper, if you have any questions about their programs and services. You can also reach out to me, and I’ll be happy to incorporate your questions or ideas within NASAA’s work with AEP.