The Routledge International Handbook of the Arts and Education Introduction

Abstract

Early this millennium, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) planned its first World Congress of Arts Education. While in the planning stages that got downgraded (in the UNESCO hierarchy of terms) to the First World Conference, which was duly held in Lisbon, Portugal in 2006. The same year, shortly after the Conference, UNESCO announced that Arts would be a Priority Area within Education. These connected events generated considerable interest worldwide, and a life in the status and profile of arts in educational systems, in some countries more than others. At the Lisbon conference, the twelve hundred delegates adopted a 'road map' for the development o..