Connected Arts Networks - An Exciting EdTA Partnership
The Connected Arts Networks (CAN) project is a partnership with the National Art Education Association, the National Association for Music Education, the National Dance Education Organization and New York City Public Schools that focuses on professional learning communities supported with rich professional development focused on teacher practice, leadership and agency across three areas:
- Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
- Social and Emotional Learning
- Educator Leadership
The CAN grant project is aligned with the EdTA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Plan and recent work to build an SEL Lesson Plan Library model lesson plan embedded with SEL instruction. The project began in October 2021 and will continue through September of 2026.
Program activities for this project are fully funded through the U.S. Department of Education’s Assistance for Arts Education Program.
CAN Theatre Teacher Leaders
In 2022, after an all call to the field and weeks of interviews, the Educational Theatre Association chose a team of educators to become the Theatre Connected Arts Network Teacher Leader cohort. Under the guidance of Joshua Rashon Streeter, this first cohort trained for a year to become professional learning community facilitators for teams of 10-15 educators. Each teacher leader will co-lead one of these virtual professional learning communities, making possible a nationwide project with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, social and emotional learning, and teacher leadership. The Theater Connected Arts Networks Teacher Leaders are comprised of a mix of elementary, middle school and high school theatre educators from across the nation representing diverse teaching situations from rural to small village to suburban to urban settings.
Connected Arts Networks: Leveraging Arts Learning Communities for Teacher Leadership and Student Achievement
The Educational Theatre Association serves as the Theatre partners for the Connected Arts Networks Project, joining the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) and the New York City Public School district in this initiative led by the National Art Education Association.
Connected Arts Networks (CAN), a five-year project to create nationwide virtual Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) with educators in visual arts, music, theater, dance and media arts. The overarching vision for CAN is to build a sustainable model of professional learning for arts educators which will strengthen their pedagogy and instruction and leadership skills in order to better serve students. This project is modeled after the successful structure of the PLC program in New York City, initiated by the Office of Arts and Special Projects (OASP), another partnering organization.
