introduction

InSEA is an international organization for art education consisting of a federation of National Committees of InSEA members. InSEA was a brainchild of UNESCO’s early conferences on art education and was formally established in 1951 in UK. It works on a worldwide basis for those concerned with education through art in order that they may share experiences, improve practices and strengthen the position of art in relation to education. It cooperates with those concerned in other disciplines of study outside the teaching profession and domains of education that would be of mutual advantage in securing closer coordination of activities directed to solving problems in common.

overview

For more than a half century, the International Society for Education through Art (InSEA) has been the premiere professional organization for international art education. Established in 1951 in the United Kingdom in consultation with UNESCO, InSEA is dedicated to encouragement and advancement of creative education through art and crafts in all countries and to the promotion of international understanding. This purpose is achieved by means of international professional meetings or congresses hosted within the organization’s 6 regions and a World Congress held every three years, through the International Journal of Education through Art published thrice annually, and through various international and cross-cultural meetings, exchanges, exhibitions, affiliations and the InSEA website www.insea.org.

Regional congresses scheduled in 2007 include: the InSEA Art Education Research and Development Congress, July 17-20 in Heidelberg, Germany; the Latin-American & Caribbean Regional Congress for Artistic & Cultural Education in Medellin, Colombia, August 8, 9, and 10; and the InSEA Asian Regional Congress, August 20-24, in Seoul, Korea. The next InSEA World Congress will be held in Osaka, Japan, in August 2008. Each congress includes a research conference and congress proceedings are regularly published for international dissemination. The InSEA organization features an elected World President, an Executive Board, and a World Council with elected members from the 6 regions: Asia; Southeast Asia and Pacific; Africa and Middle East; Europe; North America; and Latin America.

Although InSEA is a relatively small organization, it has developed an international and supportive professional community of art educators that has had a disproportionately significant role in disseminating ideas and research internationally, not least through the success of its congresses and published proceedings. The Society’s aim is to encourage, appreciate and tolerate individual and cultural diversity and to celebrate originality and creativity in the visual arts through humanistic forms of art education. What emerges from InSEA-sponsored interactions among art educators from many countries is not only realization that many concerns are universally shared, but appreciation of the rich multiplicity of ideas and solutions worthy of consideration. InSEA actively welcomes interested art educators from all parts of the world and invites them to join the Society by going to the InSEA website www.insea.org for the membership form, information, and instructions.

Dr. Ann Cheng Shiang KUO
World president