Read our Anti-Racist, Art Education Action Group (ARAEA) Newsletter...
Five years ago, 25 May 2020, George Floyd was killed. In the days, weeks, months and years that followed, the Anti-Racist, Art Education Action Group (ARAEA) was formed, working together to create accessible and practical anti-racist art education resources. ARAEA's work has continued. We have revised our ARAEA curriculum checklists, created training, published more resources and a special issue of AD magazine. But, in more recent years, with global events, changes in governments, policies and laws that will perpetuate racism, ARAEA’s work is as urgent and as pressing today as it was in 2020.
Powered by the aims and inspiration of ARAEA, we have collated a newsletter which begins with the header: Five years, five months, five week, five days… Repeat. The ARAEA work continues. Read our newsletter here.
In the newsletter, we have collated some of ARAEA and UBAE’s (United Black Art Educators network) actions undertaken 2024-25. Thank you Marlene Wylie for your stewardship of the newsletter, and to everyone who wrote copy and helped to edited it.
But, the newsletter does not even scratch the surface – it’s four-pages long – it could be 50 pages plus. Indeed, there is so much of what ARAEA and UBAE members have undertaken – in workshops, projects, in schools & universities, and in cultural organisations – that could not be included in this short round up of five years activity.
The ARAEA group will be meeting again. The purpose of our next meeting is to plan the actions and priorities ahead.
Most importantly, as we reflect on George Floyd’s murder and look ahead to the next five years, we know that anti-racist art education makes the world a better place and that the work will always continue. UBAE, ARAEA – on behalf of art educators across the UK and beyond – thank you for making this work possible. It’s safe to say, this is only the start!