Dr John Johnston appointed UNESCO Chairholder in Issues Based Arts Education
- Education in Art
- Research
ArtEZ University of the Arts now officially hosts a UNESCO Chair in Issues Based Arts Education. During a gathering at the Posttheater in Arnhem today, Dr John Johnston is appointed as Chairholder. This makes ArtEZ the first and only university of the arts in the Netherlands with a UNESCO Chair.
The UNESCO Chair focuses on one central question: how can arts education contribute to peace, social justice and sustainable change? Johnston explores how the arts and education can respond to major societal challenges such as inequality, migration, climate change, conflict prevention and social cohesion.
An internationally recognised approach
Issues Based Arts Education (IBAE) forms the heart of the Chair. This approach does not start from pre-defined themes, but from urgent questions arising in society. Arts and learning come together in working with the real challenges faced by people and communities. At ArtEZ this way of working is already embedded in programmes and professorships, which work intensively with partners in the Netherlands and abroad.
UCAL: research in international hubs
The Chair is embedded in the UNESCO Chair Centre for Arts and Learning (UCAL), a research network with hubs in Arnhem, Belfast, Dublin, Fes, Tangier and Casablanca. Each hub works with local communities to explore what arts education can mean in that specific context. Students, artists and researchers share experiences and, in doing so, build new insights into the arts, education and how we live together.
Significance for ArtEZ and the region
The arrival of the UNESCO Chair underlines ArtEZ’s position as a research institution that uses the arts for social change. It not only strengthens the international profile of the university of the arts, but is also significant for the Arnhem region, where local initiatives work together with the Chair and UCAL.
UNESCO: arts education as a driver for dialogue
Marielies Schelhaas, Director of the Netherlands Commission for UNESCO, underlines the importance of the new Chair:
'The UNESCO Chair at ArtEZ University of the Arts in Issues-Based Arts Education brings something truly distinctive to our international network of Chairs. This is why, as the Dutch UNESCO Commission, we are pleased to support the team at the university. For us as well, it is evident that arts education should not (only) be used to learn how to hold a paintbrush, but above all as a means to initiate dialogue. Especially in the post-conflict regions where the Chair is active, UNESCO’s mandate proves its value: there, arts education can genuinely make a difference. The Chair does so with its own compelling blend of research and teaching, firmly grounded in practice.'
Find out more
Read more about the UNESCO Chair on the project page: