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 reviewed and revised the 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 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.
The newsletter is 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 is not be included in this short round up members' important work.
The ARAEA group is evaluating the work and will be meeting in Jan 2026. The purpose of our next meeting is to plan the actions and priorities ahead: five days to five years ahead.
Most importantly, as we reflect on George Floyd’s murder, the current political backdrop, and look ahead we know the work always continue. UBAE, ARAEA – on behalf of art educators across the UK and beyond – thank you for asking questions, for putting words into actions and for making this vital work possible. ARAEA will be meeting in January 2026. Members of ARAEA please watch out for an update and meeting news.