TEACHING ARTIST JOURNAL 4 (3), 201–207 Copyright © 2006, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. 201 Dana Research editor Powell Review Editor’s Note: This issue of Research into Asian Education (2005), is a meaning- Review focuses on the interplay between arts ful resource for arts educators, researchers, education and social justice, through both and policy makers interested in arts educa- global and local lenses. Our first review high- tion and development. It includes findings lights the instrumental role of arts education from two major regional conferences. The in UNESCO’s efforts to effect global reform first gathering, held in Hong Kong in 2004, through primary education for all, while the focused on Measuring the Impact of Arts in second review tracks the impact of arts activi- Education, and the second was convened a ties on special needs students in England. year later in New Delhi, emphasizing Our hope is to shed light on the work of Transmissions and Transformations: Teaching Artists abroad, and to reinforce our Learning Through the Arts in Asia. The collective vision of a culture of peace—from report unites diverse regional perspectives the international to the intrapersonal. and situates arts in education as pivotal to —D.P. redefining and reforming quality education. The UNESCO report is best seen in rela- Educating for Creativity: Bringing Arts and tion to the global movement for international Culture into Asian Education. goals and benchmarks to eradicate poverty. Ellie Meleisea, ed. Certainly, in the context of globalization, arts Report of the Asian Regional Symposia on Arts educators around the world can greatly ben- Education. January 9–11, 2004: Measuring the Impact of Arts in Education, Hong efit from better understanding global per- Kong SAR, China; and March 21–24, 2005: spectives on culture and education. In addi- Transmissions and Transformations: Learning Through tion, for many of us who are working in the Arts in Asia, New Delhi, India. Bangkok: United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural transnational, culturally diverse, or economi- Organization (UNESCO), 2005. cally struggling communities, we can learn a tremendous amount from the ingenuity of Pursuing Quality Education arts educators and activists who contributed Through the Arts: to this publication. The UNESCO report Lessons from Asia shares detailed contextual reflections on arts in education and provides an opportunity for Amy Shimshon-Santo Teaching Artists in the United States to move UNESCO’s recent publication, Educating beyond our local frames and learn from for Creativity: Bringing Arts and Culture international approaches to arts in education. 202 2006 VOLUME 4, NUMBER 3 Arts Education and the work in arts education? The second MDG Millennium Development is to achieve universal primary education Goals (MDGs) for everyone in the world. The Millennium Goals Report 2005 found that “Of the 115 It is important to begin by placing this million children out of school in develop- report within the context of international ing countries in 2001, some had dropped development activism and the United out, others had never been enrolled at all.” Nation’s Millennium Development Goals This problem is particularly grave in (MDGs). Southern Asia and Africa. The UNESCO Goals report emerged from the international attention galvanized around the MDGs, but 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and takes the commitment to educational hunger access a step further by interrogating the 2. Achieve universal primary education quality of education itself. 3. Promote gender equality and The UNESCO report studies how arts in empower women 4. Reduce child mortality education can redefine and achieve quality 5. Improve maternal health education in Asia. It suggests that arts in 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other education plays a crucial role in redefining diseases and achieving quality education, and, 7. Ensure environmental stability therefore, is significant to achieving the 8. Develop a global partnership for MDGs. This, in itself, is a crucial contribu- development tion to our field that should not be taken lightly: that arts in education is not merely Few U.S. residents are aware of what a small interest group of creative people exactly the MDGs are, and this is a reflec- who love the arts, but, instead, is a pivotal tion of the geographic myopia that contributor to educational reform and com- arguably plagues our country. While peo- munity development at home and abroad. ple are increasingly aware that globaliza- The MDGs are not only relevant to interna- tion is dramatically changing our neighbor- tional contexts, but can also be applied to hoods and schools, the challenge to con- address the highly unequal social condi- nect up to regional and international initia- tions plaguing communities right here in tives in culture and education is complicat- the United States. ed by the many daily struggles in our lives A recurring theme throughout the and communities. While many arts educa- UNESCO report is what constitutes a tors have grown accustomed to shifting meaningful, culturally relevant, and quality between community and university set- education that contributes to a culture of tings, and within diverse cultural neighbor- peace. In his public appeal at the turn of hoods, globalization has undoubtedly the century, Koichiro Matsuura, argued that deepened the contradictions within and “Today we are clearly and strongly aware between our communities. Interestingly, of the important influence of the creative UNESCO’s report allows us to hear about spirit in shaping the human personality, arts education issues that are increasingly bringing out the full potential of children relevant to U.S. residents, and allows the and adolescents, and maintaining their reader to recognize diverse stories and emotional balance—all factors which foster contributions of Asian artists, scholars, and harmonious behavior” (145). In his activists, to the field of arts in education. “Appeal for the Promotion of Arts How many of us even know about the Education and Creativity at School,” MDGs and how they relate to our daily Matsuura reiterates that a culturally diverse TEACHING ARTIST JOURNAL 203 Research Review arts curriculum is imperative for cultivating view art merely as a skill rather than a tool human understanding, achieving social jus- of expression ... using the existing formal tice, and mutual dignity among diverse approach to art education, does not allow individuals, communities, and nations. children to exercise their creativity, but The articles in this report often use a instead makes children lose their creative multilayered approach to cultural educa- impulse” (108). tion that recognizes the contentious inter- But the contributors did not stop at cri- play between recovering and validating tra- tiquing defunct, or nonexistent, arts educa- ditional cultures, and, at the same time, tion practices. Victor Ordoñez argues that, engaging with global youth culture. “There is an increasing sense of frustration Recognition of this difficult mediation among today’s educators regarding the fact process is a useful contribution to arts edu- that education systems and programmes of cators who come from, and work with, study remain stubbornly unchanged while culturally diverse and immigrant youth in the world around us changes rapidly” (80). Asia and beyond. However, Ordoñez explains how the reform movement in the Phillippines creat- ed alternatives to the dominant system by Culturally Grounded developing the notion of makabayan, or and Integrated Approaches citizenship. Makabayan became a term for to Arts Education designing comprehensive curriculum that The report is structured into seven “grouped arts education, music, health, major sections, with helpful introductory civics, and physical education” (81). analysis, vivid case studies, and intricate Another culturally grounded alternative is annexes of the conference participants and presented in Sangeeta Isvaran’s “Rasa and topics. The first section overviews a com- Dance: Bringing Creativity into Education.” mon vision for arts education in Asia. The Isvaran recovers the Sanskrit concept of regional meetings are then overviewed rasa to revitalize dance education. Her before presenting a series of heteroge- standard for quality arts education neous case studies from a broad range of becomes the essence of rasa—which she countries including Indonesia, Cambodia, translates “as a form of ... fulfillment’ or Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, Korea, ‘satisfaction’” (Isvaran 57). India, and Central Asia. Common streams flowing throughout the divergent analyses include recovery of culturally grounded Defining a Common Purpose frameworks, a preference for integrated for Arts Education “arts in education” versus arts-only focused In a U.S. environment where arts edu- curriculum, and a commitment to creative cation is increasingly guided by formal expression over rote learning in the arts. standards-based structures, Jane Cheng’s Contributors to the UNESCO report “Artists in Schools: Integrating the Arts in often expressed dissatisfaction with stifled Education” is refreshing. In her case study, approaches to arts education. Writing from the open-ended project goals (which were India, Pawan Sudhir critiques prevailing supported by lofty partners including the approaches to arts education as part of the Hong Kong Development Council, the problem and not the solution. Sudhir Hong Kong Bank Foundation, and the explains, “The way in