CAN is a five-year grant initiative to create nationwide virtual Professional Learning Communities with educators in visual arts, music, theatre, dance and media arts, managed by the National Art Education Association, in partnership with the Educational Theater Association, the National Association for Music Education, the National Dance Education Organization, and the NYC Department of Education’s Arts Office. 

CAN Mission

The purpose of CAN is to build a sustainable model of professional learning for arts educators in public schools and public charters to strengthen their pedagogy, instruction, and leadership skills in order to better serve students.

CAN Goals

The objectives of CAN are to:

• Reach and serve all students by developing highly effective arts educators through sustained, intensive professional learning
• Recruit a local and national cadre of arts educators, building their content knowledge and leadership skills in order to expand the impact of arts learning for students and school communities.
• Design arts-based instructional materials, strategies, and toolkits to disseminate to arts educators nationwide, such as the CAN Action Research Model, which teachers will use to evaluate and improve their teaching practice.
• Create a model for developing, deepening, and maintaining effective partnerships among school communities, Local Education Agencies (LEAs), and national arts education associations.

Partner Organizations

In phase one of the grant, teacher leaders were chosen through an extensive application process to join the first cohort. In phase two (years three through five) each teacher took on leadership of a professional learning community, growing the connected arts network.  

MEET THE TEACHER LEADERS

In early 2024, another application process began to identify additional skilled teacher participants.
EdTA was thrilled to welcome more theatre educators from around the nation to CAN to form expanded professional learning communities. 

MEET THE TEACHER PARTICIPANTS