The Community Arts Caucus is an issues group of the National Art Education Association.  Our goal is to connect arts educators and community arts practitioners in meaningful discussion and collaboration within and across the wide field of arts education.

We need conditions that enable us to act collaboratively to create communities that both support our abilities and nurture our interdependencies.

— The Care Collective

Nothing that has existed so far was the right way for everyone, but there are pieces out there we can begin to imagine together.

— adrienne maree brown

In the spring of 2021, during our Town Hall meeting the Community Arts Caucus went through a restructuring of our executive board to better reflect our hopes for the group and to better support the interest group as a whole. This shift is a response to our collective experiences working in hierarchical structures that do not serve our needs. We seek to better serve our collective needs by imagining and following collaborative models that seek to continuously dismantle hierarchies. With this being said, we have moved to a co-directorship model for the executive board. This will allow for changes to grow and shift as needed and in in dialogue with each iteration.

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In this model there is an allowance for slowness as the Community Art Caucus is being formed again, new and in relation to the old. 

Please bear with us in this slow growth and as we move to bring the website into the fold of this dialogue. If you are interested in being part of this conversation, please join us during  the upcoming annual NAEA convention in Louisville. Or email us: communityartscaucus@gmail.com

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Goals (at formation in April of 2012)
To accomplish its mission, the Community Arts Caucus:

1. Fosters a diverse and inclusive national network of Community Arts practitioners, including practitioners, artists, educators, students, and researchers, that works to represent and advance the concerns of members and the field.
2. Encourages the development of relationships among those who teach art during school and outside of school within their communities.
3. Advocates for the recognition of Community Arts.
4. Assists in providing leadership in the professional development of Community Arts practitioners and researchers.
5. Works for the greater support for the work of Community Arts practitioners and researchers within the field of art education.
6. Works to encourage the advancement of art education outside of schools, in community settings, and for school-community partnerships.