About

Community Arts Education started out as a small project, including the creation of an on-campus mural, that was proposed to the Faculty of Education Executive Committee in order to supplement our learning throughout the duration of our time spent in the B.Ed program at uOttawa. Since the project was approved in March of 2021, we have expanded and evolved into an active student led-collective. Our aim is to create a sense of community belonging by bringing teacher candidates and Arts educators together through a shared sense of purpose. We are passionate about creating safe equitable spaces that raise awareness of important social justice issues in both our local and global communities. By facilitating various virtual learning spaces, we hope to begin building more meaningful connections and in turn improve our overall wellness and capacity as educators. Due to the absence of casual virtual spaces during our e-learning experience during the pandemic, we are also here to support each other throughout our professional development journey as friends and new educators by sharing insights, resources and our arts-based knowledge.​

​Video by sara camus 

Our values

community

It is more important than ever to support our mental, emotional, and social well-being, as we are physically distanced from our peers, family, friends, and fellow educators. We stand with research that shows how community arts can aid us in this endeavour. Our hope is to connect people with purpose and vision. ​

decolonization 

advocacy

arts

Led by students with a Visual Arts teachable, the project has a strong arts-based component. As a minority within the B.Ed program, we hope to share our arts-based knowledge for all teacher candidates to benefit from. We believe that a strong arts education is key to teaching a well rounded curriculum that allows all students to find their voice and thrive. ​

antiracism

Holistic wellness

education

Through this collaborative, student-led project, we aim to put creative and pedagogical insights at the forefront of our teaching and learning process. Through the utilization of cross curricular links, the arts can be used as a tool to teach just about anything! We believe that the visual arts can be an avenue for increasing student choice, creativity, and innovation. ​

environmental sustainability

equity and inclusion

All events will include a strong social justice component through the representation of diverse artists and community leaders. We also plan to promote ecological sustainability through suggested upcycling and repurposing projects which can be done at home or in the classroom. Environmental stewardship will also be promoted through the representation of Indigenous pedagogy, and acknowledgement of First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples as the original stewards of these lands. By embracing a critical social justice perspective in everything we do, and sharing open-source arts lessons plans with the community, we aim to co-create knowledge that is accessible to all teacher candidates using practical suggestions for teaching through the Arts, and hopefully become a permanent fixture within the faculty of education. ​