UNESCO CHAIR IN ARTS AND LEARNING

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News from the Chair   Resolution Drafted by Larry O'Farrell Adopted by UNESCO

On 6 July, 2007, a UNESCO Chair in Arts and Learning was established at the Faculty of Education, Queen's University with an initial mandate of two years.  The Chair's mandate was renewed in 2009.   This was the first UNESCO Chair in the field of arts education in the world, and remains one of only two to be approved by UNESCO to date.  The Chair has been active on a number of fronts related to its national, regional and international mission of capacity building in arts education.  It collaborates with other UNESCO Chairs and Observatories in Canada and around the world.

Chairholder, Larry O'Farrell is Professor in the Faculty of Education, Queen's University, Canada, where he teaches in both the Bachelor of Education program and the Graduate program. Larry served two terms as President of the International Drama/Theatre and Education Association (IDEA).  He is currently Chair, Board of Directors, Canadian Network for Arts and Learning and a member of the international advisory board of the World Alliance for Arts Education.  As a member of the international advisory committee and General Rapporteur for the UNESCO World Conference on Arts Education (Seoul, Korea, 2010) he was instrumental in preparing the final version of the Seoul Agenda:  Goals for the Development of Arts Education. In October of 2010, the Executive Board of UNESCO unanimously adopted a resolution inviting Member States to implement the action items contained in the Seoul Agenda.