What’s worth teaching?

20/20 Slide Presentation Performed at the

Annual Convention of the National Art Education Association
April 2010
Elizabeth Manley Delacruz, Ph. D.
University of Illinois, Urbana
 What’s worth teaching?
Connecting art education to civil society, that realm of
individuals, private voluntary associations, and public
agencies or institutions working toward the public good.

Creativity
Collaboration
Community
Commitment
Caring
Civil Society

The Global
Commons

Shared Public Assets :

air, water, food, energy, parks, beaches, historical sites,
museums, schools, hospitals, wildlife, airwaves, outer space

Teach how to share &

take good care of things
The New Creative Economy of the 21st Century

• new social, spatial, ecological, and economic

arrangements

• potential for wealth and job creation

• ascent the "creative class”…cultural creatives

• who by 2015 will comprise nearly 40 million

workers or roughly 1/3 of the workforce

Teach that creativity matters, now more than ever

Creative individuals shaping the new economy:
• are educated, work hard, play hard
• value creativity, individuality, diversity
• seek a sustainable, communal lifestyle
• are risk takers, want social change
• love technology
• have empathy
• are connected to local & global civil society

Teach how to make communities both vibrant and sustainable

 Cultural Creative
Rebecca Plummer Rohloff
U Illinois Graduate, Artist, Visiting Prof Penn State

NGO Casa & Clinica Wuqu' Kawoq

Providing medical care delivery in the indigenous
highlands of Guatemala

Teach possibilities of creating a better

world through public work
 Charlene Teters
Mom, Artist, Educator, Activist & Member of the Spokane Nation

Charlene came to UI for an MFA in the late 80s. Shocked by Chief Illiniwek,
she questioning Anglo representations of Indians & started a movement.

Teach that it’s good to question things

 Peggy Diggs: Collaborative & Installation artist

Teach Stay-with-it-ness

Milk Carton Project. These milk cartons were placed in stores.

9 dairies turn this project down before one finally agreed.
James Luna
Performance artist

Teach that
playfulness & humor
in art …works!

In Artifact Piece, Luna placed himself into a museum exhibition of Indian

artifacts, gazing back at surprised viewers who came to see the Indian art.
REPOhistory
NYC collaborative
Civil Disturbances was a
public art project that
presented two sets of 20
street signs created by
teams of artists working in
collaboration with legal
QuickTimeª and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
scholars for more than a
year and a half.

http://www.repohistory.org/

Teach that civil discourse is

informed & engaged & civil
 AIDS
Memorial
Quilt
TIa
FF QuickTip
m eªsand a QuickTimeª and a
re(n
Un
ec
eo
dm
edt ro
es
see
ed)h
t dec
ispom
ic p
ture
re.ssor
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.

QuickTimeª and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Teach that there is
power in numbers
Teach that one’s own family
narratives have much to tell
Teach how to tell your own stories & create new histories for
generations to follow
Teach how to recontextualize and re-
present “selected” familial narratives
Teach Media Literacy
Teach how to
talk back to media
representations of
your culture!
Teach strategies of parody and satire
Teach research skills using
online sources
Museums-in-Action students
art fun @Krannert Family day

ArtSpeak Interns Rantoul

@Multicultural Festival

Teach how and why to engage

Local Culture

Rantoul Community Mural @ Latino Cultural Center

The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, the American Counseling Association, the American Indian Language and Culture
Education Board, the American Indian Mental Health Association, the American Indian Movement, the American Jewish
Committee, the American Psychological Association, the American Sociological Society, the Asian American Journalists
Association, the Association on American Indian Affairs, the Buncombe County Native American Intertribal Association
(North Carolina), the Center for the Study of Sports in Society, the Council for Indigenous North Americans (University of
Southern Maine), Eagle and Condor Indigenous Peoples' Alliance, Fontana Native American Indian Center, Inc., the
Governor's Interstate Indian Council, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Greater Tulsa Area Indian
Affairs Commission, Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council, Gun Lake Band of Potawatomi Indians, Hutchinson Human Relations
Commission, Illinois State University Student Government Association, Inter-Ethnic Children's Council (Los Angeles), Inter-
Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes, Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Kansas Association for Native American
Education, Latino Children's Action Council (Los Angeles), the League of United Latin American Citizens, Little River Band
of Ottawa Indians , the Maryland Commission on Indian Affairs, Medicine Wheel Intertribal Association (Louisiana), the
Menominee Tribe of Indians (Wisconsin), the Michigan Civil Rights Commission the Michigan Education Association, State
of Michigan, State Board of Education, the Minnesota Indian Education Association, the Minnesota State Colleges and
Universities Board, the Minnesota State Board of Education, the Modern Language Association, the Morning Star Institute,
And most importantly…
the NAACP, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the National
Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, the National Conference for
Community and Justice, the National Congress of American Indians, the National Education Association, the National Indian
teach empathy
Education Association, the Native American Caucus of the California Democratic Party, the Native American Indian Center of
Central Ohio, the Native American Journalists Association, the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, the New Hampshire
State Board of Education, the New York State Education Department, the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi, the North
American Society for the Sociology of Sport, the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs, the North Dakota Indian
Education Association, the North Dakota State University Student Senate, the Office of Native American Ministry, Diocese
of Grand Rapids, the Ohio Center for Native American Affairs, the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, the Presbyterian
Church, U.S.A., the Progressive Resource/Action Cooperative, the Rainbow Coalition, the San Bernardino/Riverside Counties
Native American Community Council, the Society of Indian Psychologists of the Americas, the Southern California Indian
Center, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, the Standing Rock
Sioux Tribe, the Tennessee Chapter of the National Coalition for the Preservation of Indigenous Cultures, the Tennessee
Commission of Indian Affairs, the Tennessee Native Veterans Society, the Unified Coalition for American Indian Concerns,
Virginia, the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, the United Church of Christ, The United Indian Nations of
Oklahoma, the United Methodist Church, the United States Commission on Civil Rights, the Virginia American Indian
Cultural Resource Center, the Wisconsin Indian Education Association, the Wisconsin State Human Relations Association,