In the world of the arts in education, we feel the greater societal upheaval. We are uncertain about our work, the arts education field, and the education sector itself. Advocacy—and a relentless focus on positive outcomes for youth-- will help us feel less alone, less lost as we navigate the storm.

ArtsEd Tennessee is has a free online course, Building a Strong Voice for Arts Education in Tennessee. The course is designed to advance knowledge and understanding of arts education advocacy and provide immediate action steps for engagement.

The fifth article in the series Case-making and Systems Change in Arts and Cultural Education, expands on the theme of Advocacy for the Sector, describing how history has shaped the system of arts education, with a review of the components of our current system.

In the Introduction to Case-making and Systems Change, I shared an emerging model for how practitioners – such as artists, educators, community leaders, and more – can make the case for and also advocate through arts and culture to drive systemic change and address the complex challenges we were facing.