Multistakeholder Dialogue

Celebrating the International Arts Education Week 

Unleashing the transformative power of Culture and the Arts in and through Education 

UNESCO is committed to developing strategies that strengthen the culture and education nexus in new ways that equips individuals to become creative, active and engaged members of society and to keep pace with rapidly changing technology and work environments. Culture and education, together, play a crucial role in building societies that are inclusive, peaceful, resilient and innovative.  

This vision, anchored in the International Commission’s report on the Futures of Education, Reimagining our Futures Together: A new social contract for education (UNESCO, 2021) also echoes the UN Secretary-General’s Vision Statement on Transforming Education calling to fundamentally rethinking the purpose, content and delivery of education to promote quality and relevance, equity and inclusion, in order to holistically prepare learners of all ages, throughout life, to face future uncertainties and be empowered to shape more just, sustainable, healthy and peaceful futures. 

Realizing this renewed vision of culture and arts education requires the commitment and cooperation among  a diverse range of actors. The engagement and active participation of all is essential to ensure responsibility   and ownership in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes. 

This is at the heart of the 2-day Multistakeholder Dialogue. It will provide a unique platform for open and interactive dialogue between representatives of Member States, policymakers, IGOs, NGOs, academia, cultural and education institutions, educators, artists and cultural professionals, and the private sector. 

It will bring forward a diversity of voices around crosscutting issues in culture and arts education, to provide inputs for developing the future UNESCO Framework on Culture and Arts Education, and to create a momentum through a broad mobilization in the lead up to the UNESCO World Conference on Culture and Arts Education to be held in Abu Dhabi in December 2023. 

The future Framework on Culture and Arts Education will be enriched by the contributions and insights of the Multistakeholder Dialogue with a view to fostering horizontal approaches in policy and planning, geared at integrating the diverse dimensions of culture, from heritage to creativity, while equally reflecting the contemporary challenges and opportunities that impact profoundly the cultural and education sectors, including those resulting from the expansion of digital technologies and the evolution of socioeconomic development and the future of work.