Relevance: Support long-term studio residencies in public elementary schools that develop children’s capacities for creative and compassionate transformation through on-going participation in meaningful, hands-on, socially, and environmentally just visual arts learning.
Equity: Seek equity of access for children to engage in the visual arts within their local neighbourhood elementary school as an integral part of public education. Prioritize funding for and artist placements in schools with socio-economic disadvantage.
Diversity: Support studio residencies in the visual arts that reflect a diversity of artist cultures, identities, experiences, and arts practices with an emphasis on socially just representation; provide inclusive programming that respects the diversity of student cultures, identities and experiences and the foundational importance of indigenous perspectives and ways of knowing.
Artistic development: Support artists in the development of art practices and pedagogies through a community of practice, collaborative research and mentorship.
Reciprocity: Recognize that the voices of children through art inform and enrich our understanding of the role and value of artmaking in contemporary culture.
Collaboration: Work collaboratively with artists, teachers, school districts, and community partners to support vibrant working studios in elementary schools that strengthen and integrate learning across the curriculum and core competencies.
Community: Recognize the value of art that is rooted in and directed towards the learning and wellbeing of all students in the context of community; in which every child’s creative contribution is valued as integral to the expression and nurture of authentic inclusive communities within schools that extend out to families and the natural world.
Research and Advocacy: Gather feedback on AIRS as a working model for equitable and sustainable access to visual arts education in public elementary schools. Document the impact and role of long- term artist residencies in schools for student learning and wellbeing to promote and protect the arts as an integral and vital component of public education in BC.
